ReaderKenka
Let's be realistic.
Jonah Abbott
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Red-Barracuda
Co-written by Massimo Dallamano, this is the third film in the thematic 'schoolgirls in peril' trilogy. The first two films – What Have You Done to Solange and What Have They Done to Your Daughters – were directed by Dallamano himself and are among the upper bracket of the giallo sub-genre as a whole. Trauma, on the other hand, was only co-written by Dallamano, its director was the much less known Alberto Negrin. It would only be fair to say that it's clearly the least essential entry of the three. However, as is the way with most gialli, it's still pretty involving and entertaining.The story follows a detective who is investigating the rape and murder of a young girl. On the back of this other murders start. This is one of those gialli that is quite heavy on the police procedural side of things, with less emphasis on the various shady characters on the periphery of the story. It more or less gets away with this as Fabio Testi - who plays the cop - is a good presence. The movie overall lacks the sense of style and tight plotting of the first two films but it ramps up the sleaze factor with extended shower scenes and a sex-party that incorporates the use of a somewhat prominent dildo. Of course, the very fact that the young ladies in this are members of a girl school merely adds to the overall shadiness! The murder-mystery is certainly good enough, although admittedly by-the-numbers for this sort of movie. Perhaps surprisingly, the violence has been played down somewhat. Murder scenes are often very important in gialli but in this instance they aren't memorable at all and certainly not graphic in any way. It's more focused on the mystery and this is eventually wrapped up in a slightly unpredictable way it has to be said and for that it does receive plus points. Additionally, Riz Ortolani's soundtrack is once again very good and adds a lot to accentuate the suspense.
bflocket
I purchased the German DVD released by Eyecatcher Movies. The picture quality is decent (in terms of sharpness, grain, color, etc.) but it is cropped (moreso on 4x3 TVs). It was released in Germany in 2008 by Eyecatcher Movies and/or New Entertainment as "Orgie des Todes / Enigma Rosso." The disc has German, English and Spanish audio (DD 2.0 - mono/stereo?) and German subtitles. It may be uncut, as the box lists 84 minutes. I don't know many details about PAL/NTSC conversion, but know that PAL running times are slightly longer when played in NTSC.The case SAYS that it is 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. It is not. It is cropped to 1.85:1 or maybe even 1.66:1. You get better compositions and picture info than the mid-80s Wizard Video release, but when you can't read all of the opening titles, you know it is still cropped. But it sure beats a full-screen transfer of a 2.35:1 film, which is all that I had seen until I got this disc.*My ratings score (5) was for the DVD transfer/quality rather than the film, which I like more than a "5."*** I was watching it (when I wrote this) on a "regular" TV. The aspect ratio appears closer to 2.35:1 on a widescreen TV, but there IS some cropping which can be seen in the opening credits (words extending beyond screen).***
Witchfinder General 666
Alberto Negrin's "Enigma Rosso" (aka. "Rings Of Fear"/"Virgin Killer") of 1978 is a sleazy and entertaining, but overall not too memorable Giallo effort that was co-written by the great Massimo Dallamano. And the film does indeed bear Dallamano's handwriting as the theme is quite similar to Dallamano's directorial works, "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange" and "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto", only that this film can not nearly reach the brilliance of the aforementioned films. "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange" (aka. "What Have You Done To Solange") of 1972 is a masterpiece that easily ranks among the greatest Gialli ever made, and while "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" (aka. What Have They Done To Our Daughters" of 1974 is not quite as brilliant a film it is nonetheless a great mixture of Giallo and Poliziottesco that no fan of Italian genre cinema could afford to miss. "Enigma Rosso" also follows the 'crazy ripper targets naughty schoolgirls' premise, but with a lot less style and imagination this time. Nonehteless, "Enigma Rosso" is an entertaining film which is recommendable to Giallo-buffs exclusively for its sleaziness.When the mutilated body of a teenage schoolgirl is found, homicide detective Gianni Di Salvo (Fabio Testi) begins to investigate in the girl's posh boarding school, and finds out there are lots of sleazy things going on... Fabio Testi is well cast as the rough and tough, but overall kind-hearted copper. Testi always delivers solid performances (his doubtlessly greatest film being "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange") and he fits very well in his role here. Apart from Testi, the cast also includes Christine Kaufmann ("The Last Days Of Pompeii") and Jack Taylor, who is probably best known among my fellow Exploitation buffs as a regular in the films of Jess Franco. Some of the female cast members are very beautiful, and they all tend to get naked on every possible occasion. This, and a range of perversions make the film recommendable to all the lovers of the sleazier Gialli out there. The murders are not as nasty as I thought, they'd be, but not too tame either. There is also a 'funny' (and somewhat silly) subplot about the inspector and his sexy girlfriend (played by beautiful Christine Kaufmann) who happens to be a kleptomaniac. The score by Riz Ortolani is more than decent, but not one of his best, and neither highly memorable for Giallo standards. The photography is very good. Overall, "Enigma Rosso" is recommendable enough to my fellow Giallo-fans, but it is by no means a must-see. The film definitely entertains, but I strongly recommend to see "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" and especially "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange" before this one. One more aspect that deserves to be mentioned about this one: "Enigma Rosso" includes the arguably coolest jeans advertisement poster ever seen on film.
The_Void
Even though he only shares a writing credit with five other people, Red Rings of Fear is credited as being the third instalment of Massimo Dallamano's unofficial 'Schoolgirls in Peril' series; the masterpiece What Have They Done to Solange and the disappointing What They Done to Our Daughters being the other two. I went into this film with low expectations after seeing the second part of the 'trilogy', and unfortunately Red Rings of Fear only lived up to those expectations as while it has its moments, the film is certainly no masterpiece. For one reason or another, Dallamano himself hasn't directed this film, and the honour of the director's chair has fallen to the lesser known Alberto Negrin. The film retains the sleazy atmosphere that the first two delighted in, and once again focuses on schoolgirls. Red Rings of Fear starts with the discovery of a young girl's corpse. After being put on the case, Inspector Gianni Di Salvo soon learns that the girl was a part of a school clique known as 'The Inseparables', and a plot revolving around rich men paying them for sex soon unfolds.The film stars Fabio Testi, who also took the lead role in the far better 'What Have they Done to Solange'. I've seen Testi in a handful of Italian films, and he always impresses me. His chiselled good looks benefit this film as it's easy to see him at the centre of a sleazy plot, and his performance bodes well with the rest of the film. He receives decent backup from a trio of teenage actresses, as well as child star Fauta Avelli, who has worked with the likes of Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento in the past. Any film focusing on teenage girls, murder and loss of innocence is bound to be sleazy; and director Alberto Negrin does well in capturing gritty locations and upping the sleaze quota. However, the plotting isn't very well done and often becomes hard to follow - and the film also focuses too much on police procedure and not enough on the style. There are a few decent murder scenes in the film, but none of them are particularly well executed and it often feels as though the director wants to get them over with as quickly as possible, which is a shame. The resolution to the murders is good, although the killer has become obvious by that point; and I really hated how the film ends entirely. On the whole; Red Rings of Fear is slightly better than What Have they Done to Our Daughters, but nowhere near as good as Solange. I'd like to rate this higher, but it has too many problems.
