 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 1971 Italian giallo film The Fifth Chord And if you're big into giallo films like I am it's my one of my favorite subgenres of horror I have a whole playlist on my channel of all the giallo films. I've reviewed to date I'm almost up to date on all of the giallo films on shutter after this review I have one more to go and then I have them all so if you like giallo and you're watching on my shutter I probably have a review for the film. So let's talk about the Fifth Chord. Now This was directed by Luigi Bazzoni who also did horror film The Possessed which I have not seen Written by Bazzoni, but also Mario Finnelli and Mario D'nardo Now Mario D'nardo has also worked on the scripts for Death Knocks Twice Five Dolls for an August Moon, which I have purchased and will be reviewing The Two Faces of Fear, The Cauldron of Death, Yeti, Giant of the 20th century So those all sound like fun names. That's one of the things these Italian horror films back then typically had really good names Especially the giallo films real interesting names. So this is based on a novel by David McDonald Divine I couldn't find anything else that was really based off of their work movie-wise. So Just know that the Italian title for this film or alternate title for it is Black Day for the Ram This is what I'm talking about about these titles very interesting titles. I like that I think I like that title more just from a what it sounds like standpoint, but the Fifth Chord I think is also okay But Black Day for the Ram. I think just sounds more cool. I don't think either of them really Matter to the actual story like you don't really tie in but you know, that's a thing Critics shy did this film for having too many red herrings and being too Convoluted now. I am going to agree with the critics on this one for the most part This is too convoluted. There are too many red herrings There are too many characters in this film and not only are there too many characters in this film There are too many characters in this film introduced immediately You know, it starts with that New Year's Eve party and it's just going from character to character to character to character And it's showing little clips of these characters and then jumping to the next one jumping to the next one jumping in next one So it feels very choppy It feels like it's moving at like a breakneck neck pace And one of the biggest problems with that is that you need to establish who these characters are Let the audience soak that in under, you know, get their names understand who they are You know sees some interaction to get a feel for who they are before you're gonna Introduce a bunch of other characters now You can do like two or three characters in the beginning if you're going to kind of like have them have a conversation And then you get to know who they are and all that stuff, but they're not doing that Like it's just like here's a quick little ditty with this guy now this person now this woman now And he just kept going going going. I was just like, oh my gosh slow down. There's way too much coming at me I'm not gonna know anyone's name. I'm not gonna know who anyone is This is gonna be very confusing And it is kind of a confusing film for that reason. The other thing is like they're saying too many red herrings But that's partially because of having too many characters and having too many characters who they tried to make look suspicious at different times and Some of the characters ended up in particular just seeming like they really shouldn't have been there So I think they really should have with the script can cut down on the characters You can have a good amount of red herrings But don't have it be just like a red herring that just goes off in this tangent That then doesn't really tie into the story so much like you can have all these Red herrings, but still have it tie into the story and a lot of giallo does that well This one does not unfortunately now that said I do have a lot of things that I enjoy about this film There are just a lot of things that kind of irk me like too many red herrings too convoluted Also at times too slow Which you get that with all those extra red herrings. So anyway The slowed voice recording in the beginning It sounds very creepy. I think it's very effective I think it's a cool way to start a giallo film that really pulled me in because it sounds scary It sounds creepy. The other thing is if you're listening to actually what's being said, they're telling you what's coming They're telling you what they're gonna do and to hear it directly from the killer is a really cool way to set everything up Especially because with a lot of giallo films It's very seldom that you hear from the killer prior to the end You know most of the time when you're hearing from the killer You're just kind of hearing these Whispers and a lot of times you can't even make out what the actual words are now with this one You're hearing a lot of words. Yes, the voice is distorted. I mean you have to do that But it's it's very chilling because it's the killer and you know This is going to be the killer and you're getting into their mind a little bit And that just does not happen with giallo films in general And I like that they went a different route in that way because I think it just It's a better setup in my opinion. It's cool Yeah, so I like that quite a bit lots of people looking at each other at the New Year's party It made me think there were many love triangles or maybe just one polygon love polygon So I Thinking that early on and I do these these notes and I read them in order of when I'm putting them down So when that scene was going on in the very beginning I put that down So I ended up being right about that to agree and that ended up playing to who the killer was in the end Which was John Lubbock the guy who ends up getting jumped He's the first person who has any sort of violence Against them. He ends up getting jumped under or are in that tunnel And then I think obviously that's done so that people assume he is not the killer Let's say well, I mean who would you know, obviously someone's after this guy So it's probably the same person who's killing people but no, but anyway, so john Um ended up being interested in Isabel's husband who I forget I forget what his name was because there's too many characters and I don't even think you really see Isabel's husband all that often but that was very very much telegraphed in the New Year's eve sequence where You know john's staring at the couple and he's staring at isabel first So it's supposed to make people think that he's like interested in her and then uh isabel's husband like Looks up it husband or lover. I don't remember looks up at him It makes eye contact and it's that moment where he like runs to the bathroom and he's getting all upset It looks like he might be sick So You know the groundwork was laid there so that at the end you look back and you're like, oh, okay, that makes sense I don't like how there are so many cuts to characters immediately in the film It's better to reduce one by one or two in a conversation like I was saying When andreya kissed his part-time lover lu It was disgusting like that is the worst actual face sucking or attempted face sucking. I've ever seen It was the most non-sexy kissing scene I've ever seen in a film and then when he ends up kissing. I believe it's um helene later in the film Same situation that actor in particular in particular who played andreya gross kisser I I don't know if that was just his acting That's how he did it with when he's acting or if that's in real life because It's like overly aggressive. It's like he was trying to eat their face Not good not good the worst like I said the worst kissing I've ever seen it made me laugh the second time I saw it but the first time I saw it I was just like What what is happening? But anyway, yeah, just a small thing Observation this film jumps locations constantly this goes back to my thing about the breakneck pace Uh location scouting must have been horrible for this for that reason because they shoot it in many many places Now for that reason, I think it's cool that you see all this architecture of the time And I will say that for a lot of the uh cinematography The particular shots that they set up with the camera work They use architecture in cool ways and a lot of what they do is they use The shapes the geometry in architecture that look interesting to frame shots to just have cool designs within shots Um cinematography is great. This film looks really good great directing great cinematography um for the most part the acting was quite good too except for the face sucking but Yeah, um but locations look great like I I love that aspect of it And I I like the fact that it is kind of a journey to all these different places But at the same time like they're just do it in like these short little bits And that just makes it feel choppy once again and just kind of moving a little too fast So yeah, Andrea establishes himself as a really pushy ass Early on he has a terrible attitude. He's a terrible person. Um, he's drinking all the time He's drinking and driving very early on in the film And I think it was intentionally done that way so that you know, the audience wouldn't view him as totally good So that he would also be seen as a potential uh suspect for being the killer Especially because they bring up the whole fact that you know, he has ties to these people Who are getting killed and he also um has no alibi for the first murder the night of the first or the the first night's attack On john Lubbock. He has no alibi except I was drunk. I remember nothing Which is not an alibi. It's actually more incriminating than anything and the fact that the police don't really do much with that Like they're they literally even like have a conversation where they're just like, well, you know, we're not gonna You know press you on this or or arrest you or anything at this point, you know, just whatever It's like okay, but yeah, I think he's intentionally set up for that reason to be A not good person and then it goes to like the next level when he Slaps his lover lou off her feet literally off her feet He gave that huge slap and she like flew over onto the bed and I was like Okay, you know, I hated this guy before I hate him even more now so Not really many good people in this film Uh, so fia pulling herself around on the floor was very well acted this goes to the well the great acting I was talking about you could really feel the struggle and the exhaustion that that character was going through And notice there's no music during this which accentuates her heavy breathing and all those kind of struggling noises that she was making So that scene was really cool. So not only the acting was awesome But the sound design worked really well because you could just focus on her struggle So Andrea knew all these people involved and tries to report on the murders and the first Attempted one. He also has no alibi. Yeah, I already said that. Sorry The killer's recordings make this unique since you never get into the killer's head until the end of a jello usually I already kind of covered that one I don't understand how traverse Traversey who was that guy who was wheezing all the time and ended up dying from the heart attack in the Garden area. It kind of looked like our park Um, I didn't understand how traversey can't tell where the killer is when he was being stalked Because when he was following traversy, you know, you have that, you know, killer pov shot They're making a lot lot lot of noise There was so much rustling and the fact that he kept like looking around like he didn't know like he's heard some sort of Noise, but it has no idea where anything's coming from Ridiculous, especially because the killer was following very closely. So that didn't work out very well Plus it that scene takes way too long of him being stalked This goes back to that kind of like things being a bit slow at times, especially when they shouldn't be. I mean It was just a very long long time For that to get done Ricardo and walter act so suspicious that you just know it can't be them Um, yeah, that's another thing is usually when someone's unbelievably suspicious. It's Sorry suspicious. It means they're definitely not the killer and ricardo and walter Always going around and talking in secrecy and meeting up, you know, clandestinely here and there and And then finally being followed by andrea to that villa We find out why why all the secrecy because ricardo and his friends a bunch of other older guys uh pay Walter to have sex with prostitutes and then they watch and they film And who knows what else they do just saying I I thought that was kind of a left field thing that showed up because I wasn't prepared for that I really wasn't prepared for that in a way that it gets like kind of revealed like it's not that big of a deal I think it's kind of funny Unless she's the killer lou is a terrible pointless character And in the end she was a terrible pointless character because she was not the killer Uh, you know, she's she's another one of those characters that's there to be a red herring That's there to have some sort of spit suspicion cast on her at different points But the fact that she ended up not being the killer. She was an annoying character. She was a really pointless character She just took up time And she went nowhere and she shouldn't have been there. That's one the way they could have shaved things down You know this film's only like an hour and a half long, but it feels a lot longer because of crap like lou How about that interaction where andrea asks if lou is going to ask if she kill if he killed isabel? And she says that's your business I like So not only is she just like a pointless like whatever character, but she's also just like I don't even care if you're the killer Which I guess maybe responding like that would make people suspicious of her potentially I don't know. I just saw it as she's a terrible character and that's you know, we're ended up being The whole scene with the guy peeping on the people having sex under the bridge is weird And very oddly constructed the way it's kind of like cuts and like the angle jumps Then it makes it's very disorienting and it's just weird and from what I was surmising that was The it looked like that was the prostitutes father Who was peeping? Weird like once again, like I don't what was that scene for like what was it for it really wasn't for anything I don't know it's just weird So the significance of the murders being on tuesdays has to do with the killer's astrological Sign of when they were born and thinking that basically if they kill on a tuesday They'll they'll be more favored at that point because that's where their astrology says um I think that's cool. I think it's cool when you have some sort of motive for why a killer is doing something And I think it's fine that it's rooted in kind of wacky stuff like that because obviously people who kill aren't that rooted in reality You know, they're very out there they have their own reasons for doing things and Reasons that are very much not normal Do we need to see tony close up the uh or close up the entire house when it uh I think saline is on the phone with her son tony and she could tell that Um, there's potentially something going on that someone may be coming for him She tells him to go around and kind of close that close up everything in the house and he does it It's fine to follow him for a little bit and kind of like build that tension and they do that But it goes on too long. He goes to way too many rooms You know, you have to watch him hit the button and have those like gates on the windows come down for way too long It's just too much. Uh, another one of those things that should have been cut down The scene of the killer coming for tony through the door and in the that narrow concrete corridor Uh, I think that was attached to the garage. It looked like was pretty scary It looked really good and especially when it was all dark But the camera was focusing on the gloved hands like coming at the camera Was really cool. Um, that looked great and this goes back to what I was saying before Directing cinematography great. It's visually awesome. That was a particularly good scene. It kept the tension way up It was creepy. It was scary. It was very well done The kid actor did a good job too The chase and fight sequence at the end is pretty entertaining and pretty tense. I did like that Um, some people may think it went on a little bit too long. I thought it was great They kept it fresh. They kept it moving at a good pace so that it didn't feel like, okay Are we still doing this? Uh, it went to enough places. Um, it covered enough ground that it was cool I enjoyed it and it kind of like Ratcheted up the anticipation of finally finding out who the killer is So I did like that portion of the film The reveal of john being the killer and the reasoning of wanting isabel's man is kind of dumb Yeah, the reason behind the motivation for the killing dumb And that sucks because it stands in such contrast to how everything's set up Like I was talking about with the kind of getting into the mind of the killer early on and those recordings and how creepy they sound Like you built a good villain And then you reveal their reason for it and you're like Oh Okay, well, that's not that interesting. That's not cool. Like You kind of undid a lot of the coolness The plot to disguise isabel's death amongst those of a serial killer though Is a good idea and that's been done in at least one other giallo film I can think of I won't say which one Because I have a review for it on my channel somewhere and I don't want to spoil that for anyone if they haven't seen it yet So just saying Um, yeah, so some finishing things like I said, this cannot be stressed enough. It looks awesome directing cinematography. So good It looks good They did a great job finding interesting shapes for shots Throughout through the architecture like I was talking about before because of all their locations and the cool architecture Those uses in a lot of the camera shots are very very cool And the kills in this suck They suck they're not only kind of poorly constructed, but they're poorly conceived kills And that's one of the big things is with giallo films Or with any film where it's a killer going around killing people even back in the 70s You needed to be fresh. You needed to be interesting with these kills. Now. This was in 1971 So maybe they didn't need to be as fresh as new Because this was in the earlier phases of giallo as a subgenre and giallo didn't really fizzle out A whole lot into I think it was 1974 is when it really started to fizzle out. I was reading online somewhere. So You know three years before that so maybe they didn't really need to but I wish there were much better kills because they were not that great Just saying but anyway, I would love to hear other people's opinions on this film if you've seen this and I Hope that you've seen it if you're watching this review because of all these spoilers So put some comments down there and we'll talk about it. So out of five stars with half stars in play Very conflicted on this one because obviously there are things I really like obviously there are things I really don't like So I'm gonna Stick it smack dab in the middle and give it a 2.5 I thought about going with the two because of like the overall story issues And how disappointing the killer is and having too many red herrings and too many people and being too Breakneck pace in the beginning But I also thought about going to three because it looks so great. It's really well acted. There are some cool ideas there So Split it. I'm gonna go two and a half. So that makes sense. So Yeah, anyway comments down here, but do me a quick favor if you can and you can hit that subscribe button That's your best way to repay me if you like this review video or any video. I've ever done reviews unboxings discussions about other things whatever Just do that for me, please also If you could hit that notification bell because that way you'll know whenever I'm putting up new Videos for anything and it helps out If when you see those go up if you can get on them and watch them immediately give them some likes and stuff and Helps gain traction. So but I appreciate that but regardless I appreciate you taking your time to watch this video and until next time keep it brutal