Autopsy (1977)

Just perfect...

A Brilliant Conflict

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

What a shame. It truly seemed like this was going to be a real great and a true original Giallo movie but after a promising start, the movie starts to go downhill.Normally I say that weird is good, especially for a movie in this genre. However in this case it did not work out too well. It instead made the movie unnecessary hard to follow and besides, the movie itself wasn't done all that well, which made it a bit of a clumsy and awkward one to watch at times.The editing for instance was totally off at times. It was amazing how incredibly bad and totally amateur like it was at times. Characters change positions, scenes don't flow naturally, it truly was all very distracting at times and totally can take you out of the movie.But obviously the story itself is also quite lacking. I wouldn't necessarily say this is even a classic Giallo that follows all of the rules by the book, which is of course not a bad thing but it is when it's not really offering you enough else for it instead. Despite of having a fine concept, it isn't really using it well enough to its own advantage. Sometimes it really takes a long while for a murder to finally occur again, which also makes this movie feel a bit overlong, even though it's a quite short movie actually.Also the mystery of the movie itself was really lacking because you simply don't ever really care about anything about it. It's all brought in a quite messy way and not as something interesting or nail biting. Besides, it was pretty much clear to me who the killer was supposed to be, pretty early on in the movie already. Normally Giallo's can really fool me but just not this one. It all was a bit too clear and obvious.The movie uses some great camera tricks at times, which can be something real awesome and impressive at times. And I also do still believe that the lovers of the genre will still get plenty out of this movie. It's being a pretty good one with its gore and it also still has a typical and very distinctive genre style and atmosphere over it.You could praise the movie for trying to be original at times but unfortunately as a whole the movie is still a real lacking one.6/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Since having been kindly passed the DVD of the film a few weeks ago from a friend,I have sadly been constantly pushing it to the back of my "must view" pile.Thankfully,I recently decided that I should put the film right at the top of my "to watch" pile of DVDs/Videos ,so I could at last say that I have seen it,which has led to me discovering a marvellous Giallo,which features a gripping screenplay,interestingly off-centre performances and brilliant nervous energy directing from screenwriter/director Juan Logar.The plot:Due to recently seeing "visions" of corpses at a local morgue "taunting" her,pathology med student Simona Sana begins to wonder if she is becoming a bit too obsessed with her study.As SImona attempts to take a step back,her city experiences sudden suicides,that men and women are doing seemingly from out of no where.Attempting to figure out a reason,it is eventually suspected that the mass suicides may be getting "set off" by "Sunspots" in an intense heatwave.Trying to relax a bit in her flat,Sana gets a sudden knock at her door from a neighbour who she has never seen before.Passing the pleasant-sounding neighbour an envelope,Sana finds out that the new neighbour lives on the same floor of the flats as her father.Strangely,the neighbour tells Simona that she has something to tell her which she must keep quite about.Before she tells her the secret,the woman gets a phone call and runs away into the night..The next day:Feeling more relaxed Sana returns to the morgue and finds out that her new neighbour has been brought in,with a suspected self- inflicted gunshot wound to the head!.Whilst the police declare it to be an open and shut case,Simona's instincts starts to make her feel that something foul may have led to the girls death.Sniffing around for clues,she begins to suspect that her father may have been dating the woman.Returning to the morgue to check on the body,Simona is confronted by an extremely aggressive priest,who tells her Sana that she must follow him,so that he is able to show her some very interesting clues.Initially not wanting to follow him,Sana changes her mind,when the priest tells her the his name is Father Paul Lenox,and that he is the dead womens sister.Feeling stressed out over the strange death,Simona's relationship with her boyfriend Edgar starts to become very strained.Things are not helped out that much,when some suspicious "sercurity" is placed at the front door of the flat to "protect her".Due to thinking that Sana's family is attempting to stop him giving her information about some strong evidence over his sister being murdered,Father Paul beats up Simona's "sercurity guard",and then makes a run for it,this then leads to both of them badly falling out.Trying to put all the pieces together over the murder,Simona starts to feel that there may be no one at all who she can trust,which includes Edgar,who seems oddly interested in asking a lot of questions about what the now-killed woman wanted an envelope for..View on the film:Checking the IMDb credits for co-writer/director Armando Crispino, (who died just before he turned 74 in 2003)I was sad to see that he had only director nine films in a very short (66-75) time period.Thankfully-if Autopsy is anything to go by,it seems that the quality of Armando's directing easily makes up for the small quantity.Whilst Umberto Lenzi's fantastic scatter-shot directing always gives the impression that this is a directer who is jumping up and down with excitement,desperate to show his next clever camera move or plot twist.Here,there is a gripping, very nervous mood to the film,which gives the film a tremendous strong feeling that Armando really does want the audience to be hooked by the film,whilst also being nervous that you might be left shocked by what pops out his jack-in-a-box.From the early,almost Zombie-horror scene,Armando and co-writer Lucio Battistrada show the this is a Giallo that has gotten off the straight and narrow path right away,with a fantastic screenplay which cleverly uses well- placed flashbacks to give the story an interesting extra dimension,and also showing some of the lead characters to be not as "clean" as they have originally appeared.For the second half of the film,Crispino shows a noticeable more calm,focus style with his directing,as the threads of the plot start to join up,to give the film an exciting conclusion (which disappointingly,has not much to do with the "Sunspots",that seemed to play a big part for the first half of the film)Looking at the great cast,I have to say that the main person that really caught me by surprise was Ray Lovelock as Simona Sana's (played by a great Mimsy Farmer,who keeps Sana balanced by always showing that she is just half a step away from solving the murder)boyfriend Edgar.Having last seen Lovelock play a fresh face rebel in Lenzi's interesting Giallo Oasis Of Fear,I was completely thrilled to see Lovelock rip any chance of Edgar becoming a "loveable" rebel into shreds,with Edgar always having a chip on his shoulder,and being someone who is prepared to rip the face off of anyone who dares to criticise him,or get in his way. Final view on the film:A very distinctive Giallo,with a good twisting screenplay,terrific performances from the cast,and fantastic,speedy directing,which will leave you breathless.

An unrelenting severe heatwave causes a rash of shocking suicides throughout the city of Rome. Stressed-out, overworked buttoned-down forensic pathologist Simona (winningly played by the lovely Mimsy Farmer) and intense, uptight, aggressive priest Paul Lennox (a fabulously fierce and forceful performance by Barry Primus) decide to investigate one of the suicides. They put themselves in considerable jeopardy when they uncover a vicious killer. Director Armando Crispino, who also co-wrote the crafty and twist-ridden script, ably creates a morbidly upsetting atmosphere, stages the murder set pieces with commendable brio, and maintains a constant snappy pace throughout. The opening montage of random suicides is truly jarring. The movie reaches its gloriously sick and jaw-dropping zenith during the delirious sequence where Simona imagines that the corpses in the morgue are coming back to life and copulating with each other. Ray Lovelock contributes a solid supporting turn as Simona's smooth playboy race car driver lover Edgar; their major sex scene is pretty graphic and genuinely erotic. Carlo Carlini's lively, polished cinematography, Ennio Morricone's creepy, throbbing, unnerving score and the truly startling, yet exciting climax are all likewise up to par as well. A pleasingly perverse and warped giallo outing which overall rates as essential viewing for hardcore Italian horror buffs.

Either I wasn't paying enough attention or the plot was too smart for me, but I just couldn't understand what was going on in this movie most of the time. Problem is, it's not good enough in other aspects to warrant a second viewing by someone just to get everything straight. Long, muddled and unengaging. (*1/2)