Die Nacht der rollenden Köpfe

While waiting for the arrival of her boyfriend at an observation point, Kitty (Susan Scott) a keen photographer peers through a tourist telescope and manages to catch sight of the brutal murder of a woman through the window of a nearby house. She is unable to get a good view of the killer's face though and when her boyfriend Alberto Morosini(Robert Hoffman) arrives out of breath and limping, she tells Alberto of her ordeal. Alberto drives her to the police, who tell her they have no news of any killings locally. In the following days even the newspapers have no account of any murder, the police don't seem to have interest until they finally discover the body of the victim and then when some of the witnesses who seen the killer flee, are brutally slain, the police devoid of any leads and led by Inspector Merughi call in the limping Alberto as they believe the killer is a cripple with a cane, Alberto's name is released to the press and soon even Kitty begins to suspect Alberto.

It has to be said that Death Carries a Cane is low on thrills, but it does contain some violent murders and a nice gimmick for the killer, in that he uses his cane to hold down his victim before slashing their throats with a razor blade and in grand Giallo tradition the killer is replete with Black Hat/Gloves/Coat, the killers motive however is not revealed until the finale and we the viewer are not given much of a clue as who his identity and we only ever seen his hand or his frame in silhouette. The film itself lacks any kind of visual style, the colourless film stock is grainy which gives the impression of drabness, the locations for the most part are uninspired. There's also a back story of impotent composer Marco(Simon Andreu)and his ambitious reporter girlfriend and the seeming connection to the murderer of a girls ballet school, but even Giallo regulars Scott, Hoffman and Andreu fail to liven it up and Scott's obligatory nude scene seems like the fulfilment of a contractual obligation and less to do with the plot. Roberto Pregadio's score is generic and fails to liven up even the few moments of suspense, having said that it still held my interest and contained some nice kills but nothing spectacular. For Giallo completists only.