Is Riccardo Freda's "Double Face" a giallo, yes or no? Many people are likely to say no, but it's definitely a giallo in the humble opinion of yours truly. I think there exist two types. The prototypic and most common (and certainly also the most entertaining) giallo deals with a perverted, masked & black-gloved killer butchering scantily clad fashion models with a variety of sharp objects. There's usually a high body count, lots of gratuitous sleazy and nudity, and a fun "whodunit" aspect even though the end-twist regarding the identity of the killer is grotesque and far-fetched. The second, and slightly less popular, type of giallo generally deals with unfaithful husbands driving their mentally unstable wives crazy, for example via framing them for murder or faking their own deaths. These gialli have low body counts, psychedelic atmospheres, and for some strange reason they often star Carroll Baker as the leading lady in distress ("The Sweet Body of Deborah", "Orgasmo", "So Sweet So Perverse", "Paranoia", ...).
I really think "Double Face" fits neatly into this second giallo-category, although admittedly the trademarks are turned upside down. Here, it's the male protagonist - Klaus Kinski - who's being cheated on by his wife (with another woman, moreover) and driven insane. It's a highly unusual role for Kinski, but he's absolutely splendid as John Alexander who suspects that his wife Liz still hangs out in sex clubs and appears in pornographic movies, even though she supposedly died in a horrible car accident. The plot is a little thin to full a complete film with, so "Double Face" is overall rather dull and contains too much pointless padding footage. The climax is tense and fairly surprising, though, and the cast is full of beautiful people! Kinski's charisma and grimaces are indescribable, and the male spectators are spoiled with no less than three gorgeous women: Christiane Krüger, Annabella Incontrera and Margaret Lee. If you're still not convinced, I can also add that the idea for the story comes from the almighty Lucio Fulci! Check it out, Italian cult-cinema lovers!
On a less relevant note: watching the DVD-version that I own was an adventure to itself. It was a restored version, so poor quality footage constantly interchanged with high quality images, and the spoken language randomly switched back and forth between English, German and French.
