FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

radiobirdma A long Roman Holiday: That's what washed-up actor Farley Granger and his lover Bob Calhoun spent over in Italy in the 70s, resulting in the most dreadful c-flick bummers of Granger's career. So Sweet, So Dead isn't the worst of the bunch, though also not exactly a Roberto Rossellini movie: A fiendish maniaco sessuale (see Italian title) is slashing adulterous women who by happy chance all give us eye candy galore before they meet their maker – the usual stupido giallo fare, this one despite the lousy exploitation script nonetheless now and again creating a crude indiscrete-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie feel, including the quite intriguing soundtrack by Giorgio "Musica totale" Gaslini culminating in atonal territory while accentuating a Scena Carnale Grande with Miss Drop-Dead Voluptous 1972, Nieves Navarro, getting up for a truly unfaithful ride. Breathless moments the movie can't live up to, the dichotomy between clothes-off and hats-off being a fair way wider than that between the Apollonian and the Dionysian.

The_Void Released at the height of the Giallo's popularity, So Sweet, So Dead manages to take in most of the common Giallo trademarks and craft a good example of the sub-genre out of it; although it has to be said that the Giallo has been done to far better effect on numerous occasions. It would seem that director Roberto Bianchi Montero was hoping he could implement a style similar to what Dario Argento is famous for, and indeed he has somewhat as the film features a black gloved killer committing some well worked, bloody and stylish murders, although the film unfortunately seems content to revel in it's sleazy atmosphere too much and this can sometimes have a negative effect on the plot. The storyline centres on a vicious killer who enjoys slashing women who are currently engaging in an extra marital affair. Naturally, Inspector Capuana expects the murderer to be among the city's underbelly; but as the murders continue, he starts to get the idea that he may have to look to higher society; and things get worse for him when the killer sets his wife as the next target! There's a fair amount of sex on display, although it's never overly erotic, and since the film doesn't put too much focus on red herrings and the identity of the murderer, it's sometimes unclear as to exactly what the point of the film is. It's quite possible that So Sweet, So Dead was only ever meant to be a cash-in on other, more successful Giallo's, although the attention to detail with regards tributes to other genre films makes it seem that the director has a genuine interest in this style of film-making. Indeed, the film is rather incomprehensible at times; but even when the plot does start to become tiresome, it's good to know that there's an undercurrent of sleaze to fall back on, and while this isn't exactly up there with heavyweight nasty Giallo's the likes of Giallo a Venezia and The New York Ripper, it's more nasty than a lot of it's counterparts. The film benefits from a good cast, which includes experienced Giallo actor Farley Granger and a small role for the popular Susan Scott. Overall, I can't say this is a heavyweight of the genre; but it's certainly worth seeing for the Giallo fan, despite a number of imperfections.

Coventry This little seen but nonetheless notorious Italian giallo opens with the SECOND-best footage imaginable. A bunch of policemen are standing in the room where the horribly mutilated body of an attractive woman has just been discovered, and this disturbing discovery heralds the search for a sadistic killer. The absolute best horror opening would of course be that we actually witness the killer take the life of his victim but, no worries, as we're treated to that not more than ten minutes later already and several times after that! The maniac at large is exclusively interested in adulterous women with a high-society standing. He stalks them as they secretly meet up with their lovers, patiently waits until they're alone again, then kills them barbarically and leaves behind photographical evidence of their liaisons. Inspector Capuano faces huge difficulties in his investigation, as the prominent husbands of the killed women don't want to see their names mentioned in this scandal. This oddly titled Italian film (actually, NONE of the many titles is completely relevant) can be described best as a straightforward and unscrupulous giallo. The killer fully answers to all the standard characteristics (black gloves, black coat, face covered by a black veil), the gore is graphic & plentiful and every female cast member extendedly shows off her ravishing body before getting slashed. All this should already satisfy pretty much every giallo-fan, but there's more. Good stuff mostly, but bad stuff as well unfortunately.The greatest thing about "So Sweet, So Dead" is unquestionable the whole climax which, regretfully, I can't write about much. Peculiar but surely innovating about this movie is how the revelation of the murderer's identity is totally downgraded by the setting and circumstances of his last killing. The face behind the veil isn't surprising but the whole ending is definitely shocking and highly memorable! The film's negative elements are fairly obvious: the plot and message are very women-unfriendly (although many gialli are…). Only the women are punished for their salacious lifestyles even though their rich husbands & lovers aren't without sin, neither. If I have no defense for this, but to immediately label the entire film as misogynistic is a bit exaggerated in my opinion. The other and more annoying flaws include a lack of plausible red herrings, bad use of soundtrack and wooden acting performances by pretty much the entire cast. You can clearly tell that Roberto Bianchi (father of Mario Bianchi) isn't Italy's finest horror director but he does an overall adequate job. In all honesty, "So Sweet, So Dead" doesn't deserve a rating higher than 6 or maybe 7, but I'm giving it one point extra if only for that end-sequence! Definitely worth looking for if you're a giallo fanatic!

m0rphy Most movie buffs will have seen the captioned Hitchcock film from 1950 and perhaps the earlier "Rope" (1948) but here is a chance to see another Farley Granger performance 22 years down the line - I was impressed how little he had aged.He plays Inspector Capuana in this very average Italian horror film from 1972.In fact I found him unwittingly distracting because I kept thinking of the above films and how he now looked a bit like Rock Hudson in his mature years, wearing a moustache.Put simply, it is the story of a psychotic maniac who murders unfaithful wives by stabbing them after first taking the necessary photographic evidence which he then liberally sprinkles at the murder scene to "justify" his act.I was amazed how he knew who all these faithless wives were and where he found the time for his "hobby".The victims all seemed to know each other so the film seemed to be set in a hot bed of adultery.All the usual horror film cliches were present - the murderer who always seems to magically appear in the house by apparantly walking through solid doors and windows,(doesn't anyone ever lock their houses in horror films?).The chase scene where despite the girl running away, the slower moving maniac is always closer behind, the car door which is always locked preventing escape, the closed doors and windows etc.My! how all these women loved to smoke!!None of them seemed happy unless puffing away continually - its amazing they hadn't all died earlier from lung cancer!.I only bought the video to see Krista Nell but she only had one decent scene and then gets "bumped off" for her trouble before her boyfriend arrives at her house for "a bit of nooky".My video arrived with rather irritating Japanese subtitles.What was rather comical was that Farley Granger was obviously originally speaking his lines in English (the other actors in Italian) but his voice had then been overdubbed by another English speaking actor so we could understand.Instead, I kept hearing in my head his real voice from "Strangers oon a Train"..."Bruno you're crazy"!I won't provide spoilers in the extremely unlikely event anyone would want to buy this title after reading this review.The plot becomes rather repetitve after a while and the characters of the femaile adulterous victims become very one dimensional and there is a lot of bare bosom around from virtually all these lady victims.Another "comical" character was the blond mortuary attendant, he really seemed to be in his element as a rabid necrophilliac!Overall poor and I rated it 3/10.