February 18th, 2021 Forgotten Gialli VOL 1

 Good day everyone, I hope you all are having the best Thursday. Just remember one more day till FriYAY

In planning for today's blog, I had many different ideas floating around, but I couldn't make a final decision as I can be so indecisive. With that being said, let's plug on to the actual blog. Since it's " Throwback Thursday" I decided to do a throwback review. I don't brand myself as a movie reviewer nor am I a critic. Once in a while, I do like to discuss film and television in-depth. I won't ramble on too long on these as there are three movies. 

Starting off this with the first of the set is TRAUMA from 1978. SYNOPSIS: "Daniel a writer seeking seclusion to work on his new book, finds himself stranded at a rural bed and breakfast run by a strange and prudish young woman and her ailing, wheel-chair bound husband who remains shut in his room all day. However, as night falls, a Psychotic razor-wielding killer begins stalking the bed and breakfast, brutally slashing the throats of its most sex-crazed guests whose bodies and luggage then mysteriously disappear the following morning. 

OK, so I will start off by saying that Vinegar Syndrome always puts out great releases. This one was no exception, the transfer seems pretty good to me. I'm sure some may argue, but having only seen this film on this release, I'm only going by what I saw, and that was pretty good. With that being said, I will get into my analysis. This was my second favorite of the set. It is sleazy as heck, but I like the occasional sleaze. Right away I had this pegged for a Pyscho rip-off, for many reasons. I won't get into it because I'm trying to have no spoilers. These have been dubbed " Forgotten Gialli" for a reason also for many reasons. One they don't stand up to other Giallis of the past or future. Also, they are not going to appeal to the occasional film viewer. That's really all I'm going to say about this one.        2.5/5

Moving on to the next of the set with THE KILLER IS ONE OF 13 from 1973. SYNOPSIS: " A recent widow has invited a group of family friends, to her large and secluded country home. However, what the guest doesn't know is that the reason they've been assembled is that their host suspects one of them might be her husband's killer, and she's intent on uncovering the identity of his murderer. As the guests begin to suspect each other, revealing long-kept and sinister secrets in the process an unknown black-gloved killer begins bumping them off in a variety of nasty ways." 

So, yeah basically like the Agatha Christy classic. I enjoyed this one the most out of the three as I think it had the strongest acting and plot style. I am sorry to say I started to watch this one kind of late and had to shut it off and finish the following day. However, it was the most enjoyable.  3/5

The last one of the set is THE POLICE ARE BLUNDERING IN THE DARK from 1975. This also the only Italian Gialli, the other two were Spanish.  SYNOPSIS:  " A young nude-model is violently stabbed to death with a pair of scissors. It soon emerges that three other women have already fallen prey to this unknown maniac and that all three victims have a single and unique connection: they all served as models for an eccentric photographer named Parisi. When another young woman with a date to be photographed is murdered, her journalist boyfriend decides to investigate and soon finds himself mixed up with Parisi, who reveals that he's working on a camera capable of photography people's thoughts!" 

What can I say about this one? Well, not much, I really had high hopes for this one but it ended up being the worst of the three for me. The acting was bad, the storyline was not followable ( is the even a word?) anyway. I'm glad I did get to see it, and I hope others give it a watch just because it has been released for the first time on physical media internationally. You may see something I just might have missed. However, this was a huge no for me. 1/5 

You can buy this Forgotten Gialli set by going here: Forgotten Gialli Vol 1

Or from the Vinegar Syndrome site: VS site

Also: DiabolikDVD