 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 1972 Italian giallo film my dear killer And this one has George Hilton in it who has been in plenty of a giallo film So I was excited to see oh, it's George Hilton again It's a familiar face that I'm very familiar with I like him as an actor But I will say he's got a mustache in this one and mustache does not work on him or didn't work on him I don't even know if he's still alive, honestly But that's my dear killer and it's actually the last of the films I'm reviewing from the forgotten giallo volume 2 Done by vinegar syndrome. I would recommend these volumes one and two Good films and it's cool that these films were found and restored by vinegar syndrome now for at least for I think all the ones in this pack Or that box set they had Disclaimers in the beginning that we're saying like we did basically we did the best we could with Restoration on this but there were problems with the film Including in this one there were actually issues where all of a sudden there was like a piece of the scene missing Which was really weird it would just like Blank and there was like a nothingness and then it was back, but it was really kind of fast So it wasn't that big of an issue. It doesn't really distract you too much But anyway, let's talk about my dear killer And if you're big into giallo just so you know I have an entire playlist on my channel of giallo film reviews a bunch of them I'm up to at this point like 40 some so yeah, it's a lot So this one is directed by to Nino Valeri who did a lot of Western, you know spaghetti Western films As far as directing goes he he was also involved in writing the script on this also involved in writing the script Roberto Leone who had done such films as American rickshaw, which is a Sergio Martino film which I have Back here in my stack that I need to watch at some point and we'll get too soon sex diary Street people and one that it's been on my list. I haven't watched it yet Santa sangria Which is I've heard great things about so I need to get to that Franco Bucheri who did the scripts for Masters of Love sex diary street people how to lose a wife and find a lover It's kind of weird and Jose Gutierrez my so who was credited credited for co-production reasons He didn't actually do the script. He was just credited because of co-production But he's done scripts for tragic ceremony order to assassinate Triangle of lust and hotel fear now like I said George Hilton is in this one So other films of joy George Hilton's been in that are giallo The moment to kill the strange vice of mrs. Ward, which is one of the ones in my top 10 All the colors of the dark the case of the scorpions tail the two faces of fear the case of the bloody Iris and the killer must kill again. Yes, George Hilton was in a lot of giallo films And he was in a lot of good giallo films just so you know So apparently Valeri was a difficult director to work for but despite that George Hilton has actually spoken very highly of this film and he actually says that it's one of his top films He's ever been in now. He has a decent amount of IMDb credit So he's been in a lot of films and for him to consider this one of his best films And he had a good time with it even though Valeri was a total a-hole It speaks volumes and it is a good film. I really do enjoy this film It's crazy that vinegar syndrome had to be the one to pick it up You know, that's not like a swipe at vinegar syndrome It's just that I would have thought that this film would have gotten picked up first by someone bigger But the fact that vinegar syndrome got it pretty cool. I like that. I like to support them. I like their stuff Hilton's monologue at the very end of this film, which is a good monologue by the way I really enjoy that I'll comment on it more on it later the one that actually says the title my dear killer Apparently this was changed last minute the whole monologue basically So when he showed up to shoot they were like, oh, yeah, we changed this he literally had 30 minutes to Memorize that entire monologue and then he had to had to do I don't know how many takes it took But then he had to start filming but that's crazy only 30 minutes to get that entire monologue It's kind of a long monologue because you have to consider it's not just delivering the words It's also all the physical acting that goes along with it He had the mirror with him messing around doing certain things with that So there's a lot to it and to get all that down in half an hour. That's crazy I love the start of this one with the excavator and Paradisi the investigator Paradisi having his head taken off by the excavator I think it's a great start to it Not only because of what's actually just happening and the fact that when the head is Popped off that it rolls onto the ground, which looks good But also the fact that like when he's actually picked up and it's just showing like it Legitimately looks like he has been picked up by the head in real life and his legs are just like kicking He's trying to get loose. It looks great. It looked really good The only problem I have with it is in real life. There's no way that guy wouldn't have Heard it coming or felt it coming. You know what I mean? like just think about you being in that situation and someone is bringing like the arm of an excavator above your head like at Some point you would know it's coming down because it wasn't coming down Super fast and you would be able to get out of the way. You'd at least look up. So it's very Very much not believable that he would have no clue that this thing was coming to grab him by the head So that's just ridiculous. Also the fact that he just kept staring out at the swamp Like come on like he wouldn't do that either. So it is ridiculous But then again, this is a giallo film and there's a lot of that kind of quirky off stuff in giallo films We just accept it us people who love giallo. We just accept it So I do like that beginning though because it's pretty violent. It's pretty disgusting The other thing is immediately you become very aware. There's a really good soundtrack to this film And then during the opening credits, I see a neomorocone a His name pop up and I'm like, okay. Well, that is why the music is so good Unfortunately, he actually just passed away. What like a year or two ago at this point. I mean, it was it was it was very very recent So unfortunately, he's gone, but he made a lot of great soundtracks and this one is one of them Yeah bears repeating you immediately see George Hilton in this and you're like man that mustache Does not look so hot Azuini Azuini Found dead of a parent suicide Too easy the that was the guy who was the excavator Operator who they initially assume the police initially assume. Oh, well He killed Paradisi and then he ran and then he ended up killing himself because they found him hung and they're like obviously He killed himself Too easy us giallo fans. No too easy. That's not true And then George Hilton's character Luca shows up and starts really doesn't even take him all that long He starts looking at the situation and after about a minute just looking at the situation He's like no way it was a suicide It was a homicide that's been made to look like a suicide and he goes over, you know How he wouldn't have been able to hang himself that way and and all that jazz so This is a moment that's kind of done. I think To show the audience how smart this guy is how smart Detective Luca is so that you know going forward This guy can get it done and anything he's gonna come across It's probably gonna be legitimate any sort of theories he should throws out there will be quite educated So it shows that he's like well above everyone else in the police department as well It's like this is the guy. This is he's the real deal. He knows it. By the way, this is my new street trash shirt That's awesome. Anyway, side note. Sorry about that Anna really laid it down when she said to Luca that she would eventually end up calling another man and then I Guess everything's patched up without them even really talking that much because of the name of makeup sex I mean, they had to have a sex scene in it. It's giallo You always have to have sex scenes in a giallo and this one Doesn't really have a whole lot of nudity to it. Is there I don't even remember if there is any nudity in it, which is weird because giallo almost always has that but Yeah, I just thought it was a funny scene where Luca's at home with Anna and she's all like you're never around you're never around She's like he's like yes, but I you know I can call you and you always take my messages and she's like yeah, but one time I won't be taking my mess your messages and what'll happen is you'll call and there'll be another man's voice And I will have moved on and he's like, oh, I'm sorry. Let's have makeup sex She's like, yes, let's and then you never see her again. Like she's just like gone after that So I don't even really understand why she's there because that whole setup Doesn't have any significance to the film like it honestly doesn't even matter what's going on in Luca's personal life because that's what that that is that's a look into his personal life It doesn't matter because it it has no part in the film whatsoever. So whatever, but you know again That's giallo. Giallo just does wacky stuff Cool killer point-of-view shot through the blinds when they were looking at Luca and Anna in bed afterwards I guess maybe that was a little bit of a reason for having that whole scene is so that you know that the the killer is Aware of what's going on and the work that Luca is doing because he's stalking him So I guess that's kind of the reason for that scene but love that shot love the killer POV shot of him kind of like looking through the blinds at them laying in bed and In general, there are a good amount of killer POV shots in this film and I like that I love the killer POV shots, especially when they're pulled off. Well, and I feel like This has that like they're done. Well, and it's a good amount of them. I enjoy it When you see the insurance file from the Maroney case, that's when they you know, Luca's decided Oh, this must have some sort of connection to the Maroney case This kid Stefania going missing and then her father Alessandro and her being found dead You get the idea that when you see the Maroney case that someone involved in that case was the killer of Paradisi Because not only do they play that kind of like dun dun dun type music when they zoom in on the file but they show in the file like a list of names that's circled by like a red pen or marker or something and That's just a very strong indicator to the audience of like dee dee dee Someone in this list is the killer. It's very obvious. So, yeah Very ballsy for the killer to take out Paradisi's axe in a crowded area This insinuates desperation on the part of the killer Yeah, I like that part where she's going to get mail. Basically. He kills her. I think he strangled her which is kind of a That would take too long if there are people around in my opinion So I don't get that and then he like rips the mail out of her hand So the reason it's there is to basically tell you that that he's tying up loose ends Like he's taking risks that he normally wouldn't have to take because he knows that Luca is getting closer So so that's the kind of thing it shows you the mindset of the killer at that point that they're not necessarily Going to be very slow and calculated about the kills He's just gonna get the job done when he sees the opportunity because Luca's getting too close Pretty funny when the teacher slams the door on the accountant because she thinks she's being stalked by the killer That was kind of funny I did think it was the killer coming for her when she gets in that door and she like immediately slams it and he Gets his umbrella in it. It's just a funny exchange at that point Especially when you realize it's like the accountant and he's just like hey, don't you recognize me? Why are you afraid of me? And he like gets his foot in there But like he was coming at it very aggressively too, so he should understand why she was scared at that point I mean he was He was acting suspicious The jump scare of the glove on the clothesline was pretty dumb Like that's a very kind of like over-the-top moment once again giallo. I accept it. I get it Where there's like the glove outside the window of the teacher's house, and then she like opens up She's like, oh my god, and it's just like on a clothesline Drying and I'm just like that's That's kind of like a dumb moment. I had a chuck all about it though. So that's fine I'd like the way they shot the electric saw scene with the aggressive blood splatter. That was really awesome I really enjoyed that one. Obviously, that's you know an iconic thing because that's actually on The artwork for the blu-ray and this one and the actual box set which it looks amazing But that it's like fast He just like rakes it across her back and like rakes it across her leg And it's just like like the splatter of just the blood everywhere It gives this air of just like horrible violence and just like messy murder Just the blood just everywhere. It looked great. I love that scene. It's one of my favorite scenes in the film, honestly Obviously, Stefania's mother is not all there since her daughter went missing since she tells Luca Luca that Stefania will end up coming home, which I guess kind of in the end It then makes sense why Olivia, her husband, is the guy, or I'm sorry, Olivia, her Brother-in-law is not seen as much because it looks like Olivia was actually living with her at this point I may be wrong on that but that's what it kind of seemed like to me Is that he was living with her since Alessandro and Stefania were found dead Which you know is another aspect of him basically like taking over Alessandro's life after he killed Alessandro because he was upset with what Alessandro had but I'll go into that a little bit more in a bit But it makes more sense though that because she seems so like out of it and thinking that Stefania's coming home even though everyone knows she's dead that he's Olivia is able to be kind of suspicious and go out and still like kill people without her being suspicious because she's just not there Like she probably can't even pay attention. That's kind of the stage. They set with her having that interaction with Luca and saying she's coming home Notice when Luca is talking to Bozzi The painted dolls separated into pieces on the wall behind him That was right like during the time when like that naked minor comes into the scene at which I kind of don't understand Why they kept that in the film because that's disgusting But I also understand that that stuff was in some films back then and I don't know the laws around film in Italy back in the 70s either so but anyway During that scene is when you're like Lucas talking to Bozzi and if you look behind him There's like this really weird thing where like the walls painted in a few different colors and there are like baby dolls that have all their parts separated Just look look for it. It's really weird I that I think may have been there to be kind of like a visual cue to people Thinking that maybe people will pick up on that and think that Bozzi was the one who did it Because in the end of the film they kind of try to make you think it's Bozzi right before they reveal That is a live arrow because of the whole thing where you know He shows the back of the mirror to Luca shows the back of the mirror to Bozzi And he flips out and then the lights go out and it looks the way they shot that Like it's Bozzi who actually pulls the plug to make the lights go out and then he tries to run So which that doesn't make sense, but I'll talk about that more later, but I Like when Luca goes on a long monologue about his suspicions and then tells Marne They need to start all over again at that point. I was kind of like Hold on are we are we like did we just waste our time here time out? Did we waste our time here and now we're just going back to the swamp and we could have just been here the whole time Which I'm sure Marne his you know higher up at that point was thinking he's just like I think he actually makes some Comments kind of like that. He's like with all the money that we put into this. Yeah But hey, the case is the case it takes as long as it takes Luca being threatened by the one family member was pretty bold. It was not a Liviero. I forget which family member it was Who said it but one of them basically threatened him and was just like or maybe you end up dead too And it was just like oh, yeah, now's not the time to be doing something like that, especially when you know this guy is Looking at someone within your family as the killer. Do you want to be the suspect? I wouldn't want to be Glad the straight razor finally made an appearance an appearance when the killer goes and is slicing at Adelaide Or Adele as people would price in the United States Adele who was Matei's Friend I guess is who they were that was their relation because they were living in different houses. So um I just I say that I like that the straight razor showed up just because that's a commonly used Weapon for killers in giallo film. So it's just you know, it's a comfort giallo thing for me So when it came out, I was like, oh straight razor cool. I'm always kind of on the lookout for that I like Luca's monologue before revealing the drawing on the mirror. Yes, like I said, you know That's the one that was changed like 30 minutes before they were shooting Really well done really well written and I did the subtitled version of the film like audio is Italian and English subtitles So it's that translation. It wasn't English dubbed So, um, yeah, I just really liked it. I like I thought the flow of it. It was very very eloquent It had a good tension to it and how it was drawn out was Some of those scenes can have a tendency to go over the top and be way too drawn out It was drawn out without being too drawn out And it just kind of like maintained the tension and really kept you on the edge of your seat of like Who is it? Who is it? Let's figure this out because you know what's someone in the room I mean, he says it kind of immediately The lights going out and the ensuing confusion worked well when I was saying, you know How basi flips out and then someone pulls the the wire and the lights go out and there's a lot of confusion going on That worked well because it gave you this moment of oh my gosh Is the killer actually gonna get get away Then when the lights come on someone to grab basi because he tried to run and you're like, okay Is it basi then but then you find out it's a live arrow and he's Oddly, I don't understand hiding behind like a chair Um, I mean people were gonna find him. Obviously it was a bad hiding place But I guess it was this whole like shame thing where he's like, don't look at me. Don't look at me. I'm so ashamed That was kind of dumb Uh and a nice reveal with the drawing with one hand to show that olivia era was the killer Uh, yeah, I love when they kind of turn it around and you actually see the drawing of the person with one hand I was like, that's clever. That's cool. I I dig that and that's how they were able to set it up with Stefania actually getting the information out there of who the killer was Without her being able to spell or anything because she was so young Um, she was a good drawer You know, they even make a comment luka does at that point saying that she she got like highest marks in drawing in in school so yeah Which is hinted at by the way very early on in the film when that her drawing of the house That maté was staying in was found and that was what The one woman who was killed in public had in her hand. It was part of it was ripped Olivia era killed because he saved his brother and he thought everything he had should have been his This speaks to an issue of him second guessing having uh second guessing saving his brother in the first place And what it did to his life and never feeling like he was actually repaid for that sacrifice He even makes it comment early on when he's first introduced oliviero to luka about how he lost his hand Saving his brother alessandro and you find out in the end that this was all motivated by oliviero feeling Jealousy and hatred and rage towards alessandro because oliviero lost his hand saving him And for that reason he felt like everything that alessandro went on to have after that the family The daughter the money just everything Should have been his somehow and that him saving his saving alessandro's life Messed up his own life because of losing his hand And therefore he was owed so much more from Alessandro that he insinuates was not given to him and there should have been so much more Gratitude there for what he did in saving his life And that just started this downward spiral for him of just becoming insanely angry about that and jealous of what alessandro had To the point that he set up the whole thing with other people coordinating it uh to Abduct stefania hold her in that building and then Alessandro went to pay, you know, they took the money beat him up and then Killed killed him oliviero killed him and then they let he had to leave stefania So I really do think that With the way that it played out that he was totally fine with killing alessandro Like he wanted to because he was so mad at him. I do think he actually felt bad about How stefania ended up dying But it was just kind of that necessary evil that he saw at that point because he had killed and she had seen him Obviously she had seen him because she had did the drawing. So that was my take on it Uh, so a few last thoughts on this there are lots of panning shots in this film, which i'm fine with It's just something that I picked up on lots of those shots where they started and just like Lots of panning. It's a thing it was happening then The whole film is basically luca retracing the steps of paradisi if you really think about it uh, it's interesting because Paradisi when you start the film paradisi is basically about to solve it like he's he's on the right track He has the right idea He idea he knows that stefania threw something out of the window and there should be something there where the swamp is Now the swamp wasn't there at the time And he also doesn't know that mattay had actually found it and took it inside his place But he would have potentially gotten there. So basically where you start the film is paradisi basically at the end of the investigation about to solve it And then you he gets killed. So then you're basically just going backwards And luca retraces in essence all of paradisi steps He even makes comments numerous times about like how how smart paradisi was He's like, i'm sure he already figured this out. He was so smart. He knew exactly what he was doing He was right on to him. That's why he got killed. That's why oliviero had to take him out So yeah, but anyway, um as far as giallo goes, this is a good one. I enjoyed this one It's not my top 10 or anything, but it's it's up there. It's fun. I I really thought it was it was well done So out of five stars with half stars in play. I'm going to give this a very solid three and a half star rating This one is pretty good Yeah, um, so anyway, uh, we'd love to hear what other people have to say about this if you've seen it Go ahead and put some comments down there or just, you know, if you want to talk about giallo in general or anything else You have to say that's fine But do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button if you like this video or any video I've ever done That is your way to repay me and it keeps me motivated to keep doing these videos not just for giallo But for everything that i'm doing it really keeps me motivated Also hit the notification bell button because that way you'll know when i'm putting up new videos Like an in-depth movie review video like this one or some of my You know spoiler free ones for more recent films Or unboxings or any of that type of stuff, but regardless I really do thank you for checking this out because That is time you're spending watching my content and I really really do appreciate that and until next time keep it brutal