The Case of The Bloody Iris/Review

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< The Case of The Bloody Iris
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After a young prostitute is murdered in an apartment building's high rise elevator, three of the residents (an old man and woman, and a young girl) discover her body. The scene comes off really strange because they just look at the girls bloody body and the old woman and the young girl say they need to go and just walk off. The old man hears people at the bottom of the building shouting because the elevator isnt coming down. He leans over the stairwell and yells at them to have some patience cuz "theres a dead girl up here!"

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We are then introduced to the stunningly beautiful Jennifer Lansbury (Edwige Fenech) who is an up and coming model. Her photographer is a funny guy who reminded me a little of Woody Allen. His friend is Andrea (George Hilton) who Jennifer meets and they begin dating. Andrea also happens to be the architect of the building where the girl was murdered and (coincidentally) where Jennifer is moving in with her friend.

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One of the residents who found the murdered girl in the elevator works as a night club performer, this is where we get a really wacky sequence as she picks men out of the crowd to wrestle her on stage in the dark. We see one of the men sitting in the crowd is none other than Andrea (who the girl winks at before leaving the stage). Later that night she arrives home. Its dark in her apartment. She begins hearing noises and tries to light her stove. Suddenly a masked/gloved figure grabs her. She is bound and gagged by the man. He puts her in a tub and fills it with water and she drowns. The next day, the police are all over the scene trying to find clues.

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Meanwhile, Jennifers ex-husband begins stalking her. It turns out Jennifer was part of some kind of strange sex orgy cult and left her husband without warning. Now he wants her back so he starts threatening her. His calling card is an iris which he tears up whenever he sees her. One night, Jennifer is awoken by the same masked man who has been terrorizing the building. He has his hands on her, when she screams out her roommate throws the lights on but the man is gone. Jennifer is really freaked out now. She then begins hearing people talking next door. But, the old woman next to her lives alone...or does she have someone else in her apartment? Jennifer begins suspecting the killer lives next door, and when she breaks into the old womans home, she finds what shes looking for. Its the old woman's disfigured son. Is he the killer? Is it Andrea? Is it her ex-husband? Is it the new girl who Jennifer meets and befriends? As with most gialli, The Case of the Bloody Iris has a whole host of characters that could be the killer.

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The Case of The Bloody Iris is directed nicely by Giuliano Carnimeo (credited as Anthony Ascott). The cinematography by Stevio Massi (also a great director) is beautiful. Its got muted tones but its got a very sensual look. Who can complain when Edwige Fenech is in the frame? Shes one of the legendary beauties of 70s Italian genre cinema. The music by Bruno Nicolai is solid as well. Theres plenty of great twists and turns throughout this film as well as some of that really wacky Italian humor and longtime fans of giallo cinema will surely want to see it!


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Peter Roberts is the co-founder/editor-in-chief of the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb) and contributor to the GCDb's sister site Furious Cinema. A Massachusetts native, he is an avid film fan that has been immersed in the world of entertainment and pop culture his entire life. He is a professional digital media designer and educator.

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