A White Dress for Marialé

(1974) A White Dress For Marialé/ Un bianco vestito per Marialé (In Italian with English subtitles)

Cinematography and directed by Romano Scavolini that opens with a father stopping his car and instructing his little daughter to stay in the car while he goes out and does something. The daughter of course does not listen and follows him anyway, and upon approaching his wife and her lover. He then pulls out a gun and he shoots and kills them both before he turns the gun on to himself. The movie then shows the credits and it is the current time, and apparently several people are offered to stay at a manor/ castle. And as soon as Massimo (Ivan Rassimov) shows up, he is then turned away by the creepy servant, Osvaldo (Gengher Gatti), but he hangs around long enough until others have shown up. We then find out that that Marialé (Ida Galli) was that little girl at the opening and that her husband, Paolo (Luigi Pistilli) is planning something on her viewers are unable to figure out what for it is most likely be her fortune.

In the '40 Mariale is an eight year old girl.Powerless,she witnesses the death of her mother and of her young lover,both killed in cold blood by her father.Years have passed and Mariale has married a young nobleman who keeps her almost captive in an old estate forbidding her to take part in society's life.A sort of love-and-hate relationship has developed between the two characters.One day Mariale decides to put an end to her seclusion;she eludes her husband's and the butler watchful vigilance,breaks the phone's padlock and sends several telegrams inviting friends for a evening at her home.As absurd as it may seems,Mariale intends to reconstruct,thanks to her guests,the tragedy she lived several years before.She wants to prove that in everyone of us exist two distinct entities.When Paolo,Mariale's husband fully understands the situation is too late.The evening turns into bloody nightmare,when unknown killer starts murdering people.Romano Scavolini's "Spirits of Death" is a stylish giallo with some gory murders.The photography is beautiful and the atmosphere is creepy and nightmarish.The identity of the killer is never explained and that makes the film quite disturbing.The cast is splendid with Ivan Rassimov and Luigi Pistilli to boost.Check it out.7 out of 10.

Another unheralded horror gem from Italy! I'm actually surprised it's directed by Romano Scavolini, since he's the one responsible for "Nightmare in a Damaged Brain", and this one seems like the total opposite of that one. "Mariale" is one hell of an elegant, sexy and disturbing chiller, that really stands out from most gialli that were being made at around the same time. The story centers around Mariale, a young woman who is kept locked up in her family castle by her own husband and his servant. As a child, she witnessed the brutal murder of her mother, by the hands of her own father who then proceed to commit suicide. She secretly invites a group of old friends to gather at the castle for a costume party, and when Mariale decides to wear the same dress her mother wore on the day of her death, all Hell breaks loose. What follows is a grotesque, nightmarish orgy right out of a Fellini film, with a little extra gore and sleaze, that in many ways predates Ken Russell's "Gothic". Scavolini firmly directs this one with style and flair, as well as providing the gorgeous cinematography, that takes full advantage of it's amazing setting, and is beautifully accompanied by the Fiorenzo Carpi's haunting score. The film also benefits from strong performances from a great cast of giallo stars, which includes Evelyn Stewart in the title role, Luigi Pistilli, Gianni Dei and Ivan Rassimov (playing against the type in the 'good guy' role). In spite of these great elements, the film does have flaws, mostly regarding the pace. The opening scene is a bang, literally, as young Mariale witnesses the brutal demise of her mother and her lover. From then on, it works quite well until the bodies start piling up. The film suddenly takes a more routine and rather dull Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, specially when compared to it's unique first 40 minutes or so. Thankfully, the great ending puts the film back on it's tracks, and will certainly stay your mind for a while once you finished watching it. Overall, an excellent and sadly obscure giallo, with a very distinctive style. 8/10. If only the middle part was slightly more gripping, it would certainly get a 10/10 for me.

"Un Bianco Vestito Per Marialé," directed by Romano Scavolini, is a haunting, erotic, and violent thriller that leaves a lasting impression, albeit with some noticeable flaws.

The film follows the beautiful Marialé, who is kept sequestered in a gloomy castle by her controlling husband, Paolo. Marialé, traumatized by witnessing her father kill her mother as a child, is forced to take powerful psychoactive drugs by her husband and his servant, Osvaldo. The story takes a turn when Marialé invites friends over for a hedonistic party, only for them to be murdered one by one.

Scavolini crafts a stylish and atmospheric film, with a standout performance by Ida Galli as Marialé. The film excels in its ability to create a sense of unease and tension, particularly through its use of music and lighting. The castle setting, with its partial ruins and surrounding park, adds to the sense of isolation and impending doom.

However, the film stumbles in its execution of the thriller formula. With a runtime of just 84 minutes, the character development is lacking, and the dialogue feels stilted and pretentious at times. The killer's identity is also predictable, taking away from the suspense. While the orgiastic party scene is memorable, it also feels out of place, as if included purely for shock value.

Overall, "Un Bianco Vestito Per Marialé" is a flawed yet intriguing entry in the giallo genre. It delivers on style and tension but falls short in its character and narrative development. While it may not be the best of its kind, it is worth a watch for fans of erotic thrillers and those seeking a glimpse into 1970s Italian horror.

Filmed at the Palazzo Borghese in Villa Borghese, Rome, which also contains the Largo Borghese, where we had a picnic with a Turkish family. Borghese!

They say that the first thing you taste food with is with your eyes, so it's good that this film has a lot of food in it. Wait, that's not right.

In a question of form over function, if I see another slow motion lesbian sex scene in another giallo my arm will cease to function wait that's not what I'm getting at.

Let's try again. A White Dress for Mariale begins with Mariale as a child watching her cuckolded father gun down his cheating wife and her nude lover in a park before turning the gun on himself. Years later, Mariale has turned into Ida Galli, who lives in a big mansion (of course) with angry husband Luigi Pistilli, who constantly feeds her tranquilisers. Ida, it turns out, has sent out invitations to a bunch of freaks and intends to hold a party.

These freaks include Ivan Rassimov, an old flame of Mariale. I can't remember the names of any other guy. There's an impotent guy and his frisky wife Mercedes, or was his wife the black girl Semy (who tries it on with a suit of armour – that's a new one). Who knows. I don't even know why they were there in the first place.

Mariale takes them all down to the basement which is full of very strange mannequins wearing dresses. She then invites everyone to dress up (one guy picks a ballerina outfit, Ivan dresses up like a pageboy etc. Mariale herself dresses up in the white dress her mother wore when she was killed – complete with the bullet holes. I think at this point Luigi gave up and wandered upstairs to watch football while everyone else got completely wasted.

This whole sequence is all rather trippy and reminded me of some of Peter Greenaway's work – what with all the food and colour schemes. I was rather taken aback at Semy's choice of dress being an orange robe and a double strap-on dildo, but then she hits it off with Mercedes later so maybe she needed it. I did begin to wonder, around the fifty minute mark, whether anything was actually going to happen in this film. Luckily, someone starts knocking off the gets in a bloody fashion. Semy in particular meets a nasty end by being smashed to a pulp in a swimming pool.

I suppose no one signs up for a giallo and expects anything profound, so the barrage of crazy visuals and silky camera work make up for the endless soap opera bickering and the fact that there's virtually no story to speak of. It does have a few stand out moments (like one guy being killed by a pack of dogs) but I was scratching my head at the end. Who was the killer?

If food was your eyes, then your stomach would feed on oh bugger off.