My Dear Killer

Director Tonino Valerii is best known for his great Westerns , such as "I Giorni Dell'Ira" (aka. "Day Of Anger" 1967), "Il Prezzo Dell Potere" (aka. "The Price Of Power", 1969) and the comical "Il mio nome è Nessuno" (1973). Films like these make Valerii the Italian Western's most memorable director besides the three Sergios (Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, and Sergio Sollima). But Valerii, who also served as assistant director to Sergio Leone for "A Fistful Of Dollars" and "For A Few Dollars More", is not only a great Western director. "Mio Caro Assassino" aka. "My Dear Killer" of 1972 is an excellent and highly intriguing Giallo and the ideal proof that Valerii is also a master of Thriller/Horror cinema. This is arguably THE Giallo with the most complex plot ever, and the constant twists make this film a tantalizing and absolutely unpredictable experience that no lover of Italian Horror can afford to miss. "My Dear Killer" does not deliver casual entertainment however - This film's exceptional complexity requires the viewer to concentrate on the plot. I can assure however, that no Giallo fan will regret concentrating on this film, which is stunning throughout and excellent in all regards.

Ispector Luca Peretti (George Hilton) is investigating a murder series that is somehow connected with the kidnapping of a little girl that occurred a year earlier... As my fellow Giallo fans should appreciate, the death toll rises constantly, and the twists and number of suspects make it almost impossible to guess who the killer is. This excellently photographed film has the typical atmosphere of good Gialli from the early 70s, and the many twists are highly elaborate. Regular Giallo leading man George Hilton is great in his role as the investigating inspector. The cast furthermore includes such great regulars of Italian genre-cinema as Piero Lulli and William Berger, and all other performances are also very good. This is may not be quite as blood-soaked as some other great Gialli, such as Sergio Martino's "Torso" or most of Dario Argento's films, but the exotic choices of murder weapons should also make this interesting enough for the gorehounds out there. The film's main focus is the complex plot, but the killings are depicted in a violent and very stylish manner. None other than maestro Ennio Morricone delivers the great score, the highlight of which is an exceptionally eerie lullaby theme song. From the great beginning to the ingenious end - "Mio Caro Assassino" is a complex and tantalizing must-see for all Giallo-fans, and also highly recommended to all other lovers of suspense and great cinema in general!

From the opening strains of its eerie, baby-lullaby theme song to its haunting final shot of a child's drawing, "My Dear Killer" (1972) is a giallo pervaded with a sense of tragedy. A year before the action depicted in the film, a young child had been kidnapped from her wealthy parents' country villa and left to die, and now a wave of homicides, seemingly connected to this tragedy, opens the case anew. Giallo regular George Hilton plays Inspector Peretti here, a character who surely deserves a medal or promotion of some sort for getting to the bottom of this case; indeed, "My Dear Killer" is one of the most complicated gialli that I have ever seen. It is the type of film that you watch by the skin of your teeth, just barely comprehending the plot as things unspool; a repeat viewing--in my case, anyway--reveals that this seemingly unfathomable plot does make perfect sense. Anyway, Hilton (mustachioed here, for a change) is excellent, as usual, director Tonino Valerii keeps things nice and suspenseful, and the maestro, Ennio Morricone, provides a score that, if not his most memorable, is appropriately nerve jangling (and eerie, as I mentioned up top). While not a particularly violent giallo, a pair of set pieces should make this film of interest to all the gorehounds out there: one decapitation murder using an enormous dredging machine, and, most horribly, the death of a gorgeous schoolteacher with a circular power saw. (Don't all women have this tool lying around their apartment?) This latter scene, although not overly graphic, still proved kind of hard for me to watch. As far as the killer's identity is concerned, I suppose it IS possible to figure this one out, but my advice would be to just relax and enjoy the fun. The DVD that I just watched, by the way, from the fine folks at Shriek Show, looks just fine, but includes no subtitling option...not even with the interview extras, which are all in Italian! A pity...I would have enjoyed Hilton's comments on this very entertaining giallo, all these years later....

Director Tonino Valerii is best known in the USA for the spaghetti western "My Name is Nobody," but "My Dear Killer" is no less an excellent example of the giallo genre than "Nobody" was to its own. The plot revolves around a series of murders committed by an unknown assailant intent on keeping the deaths of a small child and her father unsolved. As is the case with most gialli, there's a detective one step behind the murderer, a lush and creepy music score (this time by Morricone), a houseful of suspects, creative and illogical murders, and a downbeat and melancholy plot. What elevates this one above all the others made in that banner year for the genre (1971), though, is the detail given to the script and production. The characters are all fully formed and functional to the story, which itself is well thought-out and clever. The resolution is well-handled, and even if the killer's identity is impossible to guess beforehand, the means in which he (or she) is finally discovered will make you smile. Add to this one of the saddest musical-score main themes in movie history, featuring a woman's voice singing a haunting child's melody, and you have a giallo that fans of the genre should definitely not miss.

This one starts out originally enough. You don't usually see someone getting murdered by being decapitated by the jaws of a hydraulic digger. The dead guy was some sort of insurance investigator (yet again), but why he wished to dredge up a water filled quarry, and why anyone wanted to kill him, is a mystery only George Hilton can solve.

Yep - George Hilton's back in yet another giallo, only this time he has a moustache! Plus, he's playing this one ultra-serious too. First off, he tracks down the driver of the digger only to find he's hanged himself...except he hasn't, as George proves using the actual corpse of the driver to demonstrate!

George has a quarry-sized mystery on his hands here which seems to be tied in with the kidnap and subsequent murder of a little girl some eighteen months prior, and it seems that the killer is trying to rub out all of the people involved. And some that aren't really that involved, for good measure. George has to retrace what happened back then to find out what's happening right now, and you know what means, right? Suspects!

Suspects! include shifty businessman William Berger, his sister, who is married to the one handed guy, and then there's the staff (especially the driver), and there's the guy who likes to paint nude children (can't see that scene occurring these days!) and also has a bunch of statues in his cupboard, similar to the one that the killer used. Patty Shepherd appears as a teacher, but isn't a suspect, so of course the killer cuts her up with a bandsaw in a rather gory scene - while she's watching Django.

The film veers wildly from gory scenes like that to drawn out scenes of policemen standing around, but, although lacking in the usual craziness, still manages to be a decent giallo due to George Hilton (and William Berger), a nice Ennio Morricone soundtrack, and taking the unusual step of having all the suspects gathered in a room for the reveal of the killer. What - no rooftop chase?

An insurance investigator, Police Inspector Peretti (George Hilton)helped by a Brigadier (Manuel Zarzo) are assigned by his chief ((Saldo Randone) the investigation of a killing via mechanical digger . As there happens several murders with bloody and gruesome executions. Some drawings seem to implicate about anybody are dieing . Meanwhile the series killer goes on a real massacre on various unfortunate victims as a man supposedly commits suicide, a women is strangled, another attacked in her apartment. Slowly more people are found dead and the inspector investigates the strange killings with numerous suspects (Monica Randall, Alfredo Mayo , William Berger).

Tonino Valeri 's great success is compelling directed with startling visual content.This frightening movie is plenty of thrills, chills, body-count and glimmer color in lurid pastel with phenomenal results. This is a classic slasher where the intrigue,tension, suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room, corridors and luxurious interior and exterior.This genuinely mysterious story is well photographed by Manuel Rojas with magenta shades of ochre ,translucently pale turquoises and deep orange-red .

The movie belongs to Italian Giallo genre that was invented by Mario Bava along with Riccardo Freda(Secret of Dr. Hitchcock) , they are the fundamental creators . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color with shining red blood, usual zooms, and utilization of images-shock . Later appears Dario Argento(Deep red, Suspira,Inferno), another essential creator of classic Latin terror films. Tonino Valeri's so-so direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and humorous and more inclined toward violence and lots of killings . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Manuel Rojas . Very good musical score by the classic Ennio Morricone. The picture is well directed by Tonio Valeri , an expert on Western as proved in ¨The hired gun ¨ , ¨My name is nobody ¨ with Fonda and Terence Hill , ¨The price of power ¨ with Giuliano Gemma and Van Heflin , ¨The day of anger ¨with Lee van Cleef and ¨ Taste of Killing¨ with Craig Hill and George Martin . Rating: Good, this is one more imaginative slasher pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style throughout a story with magnificent visual skills.