Autopsy

During a heat wave in Rome apparently caused by sun spots, there is a seemingly unheard of rise in suicides. Pathologist Simona Sana (Mimsy Farmer) is struggling to deal with the extra workload and begins to have hallucinations that the dead are coming back to life. She takes some time off and spends it with her erstwhile boyfriend Edgar(Ray Lovelock), but their relationship is plagued by Simona's visions which leave her frigid. When yet one more victim is diagnosed as suicide, a priest Fr Paul Lenox (Barry Primus) turns up to identify the body and claims that his sister would never have killed herself and so Simona investigates further and finds a small puncture wound which indicates that the girl had been drugged and indeed been murdered, the two team up to solve the mystery. Another bizarre entry in the world of Giallo, the film begins with a startling collection of suicides interspersed with some psychedelic shots of sun flares, the killings are deliciously inventive and set the tone immediately. Simona's hallucinations are also startling and might give the impression the film is a zombie film in the making, but we are soon caught up in a fine mystery. It's a surreal film that will keep you guessing the identity of the murderer, for a while at least, its full of the usual red herrings as each character seems to have something to hide and there's an almost perfect finale too.