 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this was for the 1974 Italian giallo film Spasmo and I've been looking forward to getting to this film because it's another umberto lensi And I've been enjoying the umberto lensi even though he does have a tendency to go a little overboard with the zooming it with the camera But I look past that because otherwise his style is really good The stories are usually pretty compelling like is the case with spasmo and I just enjoy it I just enjoy giallo in general and if you do as well. I have a whole Playlist on my YouTube channel for giallo reviews. I have like 50 some up at this point when I'm doing this Also, I have an entire playlist for just umberto lensi films So you can watch that if you're an umberto lensi fan. So anyway, 1974 spasmo Directed by umberto lensi who also did such films as seven bloodstained orchids or Gasmo a quiet place to kill knife of ice eyeball so sweet so perverse eaten alive Cannibal furrow ghost house and hitcher in the dark just to name a few I've seen all the giallo's on that list the other ones I want to see at some point This was written by lensi as well as pinot bowler and massimo friend Franciosa Massimo Franciosa also wrote scripts for such films as the magistrate the assassin She got what she asked for one on top of the other and Frankenstein Italian style Yes, literally the title is Frankenstein Italian style very interesting So apparently with this film umberto lensi added to the script well after the script was done He added the whole aspect of the dolls that are playing this film, which I actually love that aspect of it It's weird It's kind of quirky and it's introduced so early in the film that you're just sitting there for so long wondering how are these dolls going to work into the story and how they do work into the story I think is ultimately very interesting. Obviously in the end with fritz You find out that he also has this hereditary gene that makes you kind of a psychopath And so he has been killing those dolls killing those dolls To keep himself from killing actual people. So I thought that was a very good tie-in so the fact that lensi added the dolls to it and Well, that was great, but just to finish my statement, but I also thought I'm just gonna call them dolls because that's what they're referred to in the film They're more like mannequins to me personally, but we'll just call them dolls for the purpose of this review so apparently lucio fulci was originally slated to Direct this but ended up not so I kind of wonder what would this film have been like if fulci had done it because his Aesthetic and his style and the way he goes with kills totally different from a baritone lensi I kind of have a feeling that well first of all you probably wouldn't have got the doll aspect Which would suck because it's good in this film, but I think you may have gotten more gore to the film Which I think it really could have used honestly from someone like myself who really enjoys good gore Especially in giallo films. There really isn't good gore in this great story, but not good gore George a remaro shot about ten minutes for this film because they were inserted when the american version was done They were all killings because lensi chose to have it He thought he was adding suspense by not actually showing the kills So when the american version came out Apparently they had george a remaro shoot about ten minutes and they inserted it in there So they were actual kills you were seeing for the film. So I watched the original version I did not watch the remaro version. So I need to find the remaro version, which would be really nice Well, it's not really a remaro version. There's ten minutes for a marrow in it But I'm just saying that so it's easier for you to know what I'm referring to but just saying Okay, very odd in this film in the very beginning for a random person to ask for their cigarette to be lit by a random person Just sitting in a car now you was I assume much later on that that random person sitting in the car was christian I guess because they they make a habit of showing him lighting cigarettes and having a lighter throughout the film So that's just my guess Then they end up finding the fake dead woman which at first was pretty terrifying for them while they're making out Which is like there's the other thing like why are you going up to a person asking them for a light? And then just going to make out over there Near where this person is just sitting in a car. It's it's it's weird it. It's weird But you know that's giallo for you a lot of people in giallo films do things for exactly no reason And it feels like it's specifically so in this film because a lot of the characters just kind of feel like disjointed They don't feel all that real But obviously there ends up being a real reason for that because they're kind of trying to drive Christian nuts in order to get him committed to the nut house so that fritz wouldn't have to worry about him Because he had spent all his time trying to protect him from who he really was and his actual psychotic behaviors Because obviously in the end we find out that christian has been killing women and is totally unaware of it And one of the best aspects of this film in my opinion is the fact that the perspective of the film is from Christians perspective the actual killer I always love when they do that because you usually assume that whoever you're seeing the story Through their eyes. They're not gonna be a bad person. They're usually a good person You're seeing it from their perspective, so they're usually gonna be the good person So whenever they make that twist and they're actually the killer Granted in a situation for Christian where he doesn't understand that he's the killer until the very end It just has more much more impact and it's better at throwing people Getting those red herrings out there for people to follow instead, so I like that aspect of it The story Christian tells of the strangled dog. He found at the beach makes you believe that's a serial killer Stomping ground which it's a really interesting beach area with the house in the background. It's a really nice place I really love that shooting location, but the story the Christian tells about this dog being found strangled there Really just plants that seed of there's a serial killer probably somewhere Granted at this point You don't know it's actually Christian and I'm gonna bet that Christian was probably the one who had strangled the dog and Then forgotten that he had strangled the dog because he did it during one of his psychotic rages that he obviously has no Idea are going on after the fact. It's kind of one of those blackout things It seems like Intel at the end of the film. He's kind of getting these flashbacks It's like his brain has kind of uncovered the subconscious and it's like now you're being shown all the horrors of your actual actions That which you are not aware of because of your hereditary condition. Yeah Repeatedly seeing the life-sized dolls all over is very weird also creepy And it does make you wonder how it's gonna end up being tied in in the end Like I said, I love the way it ended up being tied in especially with that Impactful ending where Fritz is just like stabbing the one doll that he keeps in his like secret back room of all these dolls I assume he probably just goes back there whenever he's got the urge He's like man, I've got got field of the killing urge just creeping up on me He goes back in this room and he'll just like stab or strangle or whatever These dolls so I mean I guess that's a good way to take care of things I guess especially if you don't want to end up being committed Like he was trying to do to his brother Even though the music is up loud I would think that Barbara would end up hearing the scuffle in the bathroom and be concerned now Obviously you find out I mean that was my thought when I was watching it initially But then you end up finding out that basically Barbara was in on the whole thing And that's why she turned the music up so loud was so that it would basically be an excuse for her to not Hear what was going on when I guess his name was Tatum Was busting into acts like he was gonna kill Christian and then you know Christian kills him but with a gun with blanks So they staged the whole thing to then make him think that he killed someone and then he talks to people about it And they're like, what are you talking about? I think you're losing it and they're just trying to push push push push Until he totally lost it and they'd be like this guy get him into an insane asylum That's where he needs to be because that is where he needed to be honestly And I'm in Fritz obviously knew knew that I don't know if Fritz Knew for sure that he was killing women at that point But he probably had a suspicion and that's why he was trying to get him in the mental ward Instead of him eventually being caught and being put into jail or him realizing What was going on at that point and then having to live with the issue of finding out that Against your good nature, you've been killing people. I can't imagine what that would feel like. I Like in these films when people are like, no, let's not call the police Because that's what Christian does immediately When he thinks he killed someone Barbara's like we should call the police. It's like nah I don't really want to get them involved and that happens and like numerous times in shallow films Well, they're just be like, oh man, this thing's going on. That's terrible. We should call the police and they're like You know, maybe let's not it seems like a lot of work to kind of use that rotary dial I just you know, let's just not do that. So I just think it's kind of a funny thing Man Barbara just disappears and reappears in this and then she suggests breaking into her friend's place She's a shady individual and that's what I was thinking when she was in there initially I definitely thought there was something up with her which obviously there was because she was in on this whole plan To drive Christian nuts with Fritz and Tatum and Malcolm and Clarinda. I think that's all of who was involved in it Wait, was Alex in on it? I think Alex was in on it too actually. So yeah, but she seemed shady from the get-go So I knew there was something else going on there I just didn't know what this grand scheme would end up being until it was revealed So that's good that I didn't see it coming Christian decides not to call the police when he shoots a guy then he finds bloody lawn clippers and throws them in a well What is with this guy now? My thought on that is those bloody Lawn clippers at that point had been used for a murder. I believe was that Clarinda's murder at that point so I Or maybe that was a plant actually something that was just planted there. So my thought is if it was actually supposed to be there as a part of their Grand scheme to drive him nuts. Why did he just throw them into the well? But if they they were actually used during one of the murders, which would have been something Christian did I Did he throw them in the well because it was this kind of subconscious thing of you don't want to get caught like this Some conscious urge of like self-preservation. I don't know But I think it was planted is my guess because you you also see characters using them at numerous times During the film. So I think it was one of those planted things because I also don't remember any of Christians killings of the women being related to stabbing. I think they were all kind of like strangulation related That was just his thing. It seemed like Fritz's thing was stabbing Well actually Fritz's thing was a lot of things based a lot of things based off what you see with the dolls throughout the film Malcolm says he'd be happy to die in the place that they're in that something tells me that's foreshadowing which Yeah, it was he actually was wasn't he actually killed. I think he was actually dead in the film And Tatum had taken him out. I think it's because he got too close to Christian is what was said as Which doesn't make a whole make a whole lot of sense But you don't see the kill, you know, at least in a Berto Lenzie's original version. You don't you just find them They find them dead and they're like, oh, there's some blood You can really feel the confusion that Christian is feeling in the film things feel disjointed and very very random so for that reason Lenzie did a wonderful job Making it confusing because that's the intent like it's supposed to be confusing to the audience and the Interactions that Christian has with people are supposed to be so weird because like I said before it's from Christian's perspective So the audience should then be confused and I was confused until you find out what's going on in the end So that's a really good filmmaking to be able to pull that off. I enjoy that Malcolm seems way too calm. Everything is just fine in his estimation no matter what's going on Obviously we find out in the end. He's basically acting so for that reason You know in retrospect, it makes a lot of sense why he's way too calm about things But when you're watching it for the first time, you're like, what is with this guy like bad things are happening And he's just like, you know, whatever Kind of like when Christian was like, nah, let's not call the police Barbara is so dismissive and whiny when she interacts with Christian Makes it seem like somehow the 30 minutes that have passed at that point in this film has actually covered 30 years of their relationship How how Barbara goes from like being all about Christian within the span of the first 30 minutes of this film Which from what I can tell is like less than a day's worth of time or maybe a day's worth of time It really feels like their relationship has gone so much further. Like I said like 30 years Because then all of a sudden she's she's like had it with him. She's had enough of him She's she's totally exhausted with being with him But maybe that was all part of the act anyway, so Christian sure is quick to bone Clarenda when she shows up at his room now, obviously that was in his head. He wasn't actually boning her He was murdering her and I don't think that she was actually interested in him at that point either I think she just kind of showed up there and then The the switch happened in his brain and he lost all control in so for him I think when the psychotic aspect of his personality was kicking in it's like The regular version of him the not psychotic version of him was like having a dream Which was that sexual experience when you know the psychotic aspect of him is in control and actually murdering at that point What Malcolm says to Christian and how he says it makes it seem like he's Christians therapist That's another thing So I think that's kind of why Malcolm was getting too close to him He was trying to kind of help and I think that's not what Fritz wanted in in the end Just saying Whenever someone picks up the phone, it's always a vague conversation. That's another thing Obviously, we find out that that's for the reason of they don't want Christian hearing what they're talking about because it's all about this grand plan That Fritz has that they're following But when you're watching it for the first time you're just like this is just Increasing the mystery aspect of it is that something else is going on here and I can't wait to find out. What is it? What is happening? When you see the hand in the well, you wonder if it's a person or a doll or at least I did at that point in the end You find out it was actually a person. That was one of the women. I think that was Clarenda's body After Christian had killed her but obviously you find that out in the very end when he's having all those flashbacks. I Like when Christian Christian runs over Tatum with the with the car at the looks like a quarry, basically Pretty violent looking. It was a good scene. I enjoyed that So everyone was there to try to drive Christian crazy that makes sense because of how confusing everything was Yeah, I kind of basically already covered that who was shooting these home movies Fritz was watching. That's a big Weird thing in this film It's like they were basically a filmmaker whoever was shooting those because you see it from all these angles that you would Definitely not have for like a homemade movie unless that family was so rich Which it looked like they were rich that they actually had a filmmaker who would do their own movies So I guess you could explain it that way We'll just go with that as the reasoning But I found myself watching it when Fritz is sitting now watching these home movies just being like It's done like a film There's no way that these home movies are actually done this way and who's shooting it because it shows everyone in the family basically weird Barbara and Christian are just are just gonna bone even though Alex is in the room or close close by That was an odd choice When Christian shows up and he and Barbara bone for the last time The fact that Barbara's like Alex is nearby and he's just like I don't care. Let's get it on It's just another weird choice. I guess maybe because of his psychotic condition He's very impulsive. So I guess you can explain it that way Can't really explain it to her for her though because she's not that way And it turns out Christian killed every woman he ran into in the film. Love that twist very good So Fritz is killing the dolls It's his way to satisfy his urges to kill so he doesn't end up like Christian and his father Very solid twist on that. I love that aspect of when You're hearing that it's a hereditary thing and then even when that was happening I wasn't thinking about Fritz Being affected by it because he he seems so in control for the entire film Like you just don't really suspect that and then he goes back into this room and he's just like stabbing that doll and I'm like And there's just this great kind of aha moment to the film. So good twists to it. I enjoy Another film where the main character is the killer which works well because the audience sees from the first that Perspective and naturally trusts that they are not the killer already basically talk about that The characters speak so simple Simply and act so oddly and attached from reality that it made me think this was all in Christian's head I actually did think very early on because of how odd his interactions were with the people and how odd they were acting And how secretive everything was I really thought that what was gonna end up being revealed is that Christian was the killer in the end But not that there was some sort of like plan to make him go crazy going on I was going I was thinking and this actually would have been a really cool story, too I was thinking it would be a case where he's living alone at this location And that's like actually his house and the dolls are who he's interacting with But in his mind, he thinks it's actual people So he's just going around like interacting with all these people he thinks but they're actually dolls And then that's why they're all over the place like being found Murdered because he's having these fake relationships with them the relationships go bad and then he disposes of them So I thought in the end sorry for my voice crack I thought in the end it was gonna end up being a situation where maybe no one dies at all No one like actually dies and it's just like the dolls the whole time and Christian satisfying those urges because he's in this like psychotic state that he can't get out of But I thought that was a good idea Lindsay and his zooms are in full effect already talked about that man They do get annoying, but it's Lindsay. He doesn't well otherwise Some of the music really adds to the confusing nature of the film There are these moments of like really discordant sounds that kind of pop in that just like Auditorily let you know that something's off like you know what you're watching feels off and looks off But then when that discordant sound music wise is added to it It just enhances that feeling of things being weird and off and I like that addition to the film It's pretty disappointing though that people drink alcohol in this film and there's no J&B There is always J&B in giallo and that is probably my biggest problem with this film Where is the friggin J&B every single giallo film? I've ever seen when people are drinking they're drinking J&B or even if they're not drinking J&B The J&B is sitting right next to what they're drinking. You always see the J&B bottle What happened Lindsay? Where was the J&B in this one? I mean obviously it's not like a big problem But like it threw me it threw me for a big loop because I'm like they're drinking and it's not J&B There's always J&B in giallo anyone feel me on that go ahead and put a comment down there By the way, I had found a bunch of There's a website called red bubble that does a lot of different in like independent t-shirt designs And I was looking at giallo shirts that people have created on there And one of them literally is just a J&B label And I was like that would be kind of fun to own for that reason But anyway, that's my wrap up of spasmo glad to watch it. It was fun So out of five stars with half stars in play I'm gonna give it a very solid 3.5 star rating thought about going for but I don't quite think it's to that point Because it is kind of a bit on the slow end. I really think there should have been some actual good kills in there Other than Tatum getting run over by the car. So 3.5, but know that I thought about the four So it's kind of like in that in-between area would love to hear your opinions of spasmo though Go ahead and put them in the comments love it hate it or in the middle We'll talk about that and just you know giallo in general we can do that do me a quick favor very very quick Hit subscribe for me if you're not subscribed already if you already are thank you very much I really do appreciate that if you're not please consider it because that's your way to repay me to show me that you Appreciate any of these videos I've ever done It also really helps to motivate me to keep this stuff going. I've been doing it for some years Just trying to grow this nerdy horror community here. So help me on that But regardless I really do thank you for taking your time to watch this and until next time keep it brutal