The Flower with the Deadly Sting

A surgeon kills a lover by accident when she is impaled by a steel petal from an elaborate sculpture during the course of a physical argument in his apartment. He dismembers and disposes of the body but soon a secret blackmailer starts sending him communications indicating a knowledge of his crime.

Everyone seems to have been sleeping with one and other at some time or other in this obscure Italian giallo. The plot-line, therefore, is quite convoluted like many of the films in this sub-genre. Another characteristic familiar to the genre is that none of the characters are particularly sympathetic with the lead character played by Gianni Garko being an especially unlikable misogynist. So, welcome to the wonderful world of giallo where everybody is amoral and there is no obligation from the film-makers to spoon feed the audience with any nice characters to empathise with!

This one is overall not one of the entries in the genre that follows the classic-style serial killer format and instead focuses on the psychology of the central character and the escalation of events off the back of a murder. We still nevertheless have pleasingly familiar elements such as absurd plot twists, abundant nudity and dark secrets of the past informing the present. It would probably also be fair to say that this one isn't as visually stylish as most, although it does have a couple of beautifully shot underwater sequences which bookend the film, the latter of which culminates with a pretty audacious lesbian love scene! In truth, the gorgeous and evocative underwater opening is so captivating it does mean that the subsequent story pales a little by direct comparison to it but its relevance is confirmed by the end scene; I would probably say that those two distinctive sequences constitute the highlight of the movie overall. The Flower with the Petals of Steel is ultimately another involving giallo. It isn't really an upper bracket entry in the genre or anything but it is a solid movie which will definitely appeal to seasoned fans of the genre.

Andreas Valenti(Gianni Garko)is a respected surgeon with misogynistic tendencies.When his girlfriend Daniella(Paola Senatore)is accidentally killed by titular metal sculpture of flower he becomes the main suspect.In fact he surgically dismembers her body and disposes remains.Daniella's half-sister Evelyn(Carrol Baker)becomes suspicious and informs Inspector Garrano about possible Andreas guilt.The intrigue of blackmail and backstabbing begins...Sadly overlooked Italian giallo with fantastic underwater lesbian scene.The pace is deliberate and there are several very interesting twists and turns.The performances are splendid and there are some similarities to Luigi Cozzi's memorable "The Killer Must Kill Again".Overall,"The Flower with the Petals of Steel" is a must-see for Euro horror enthusiasts.

Following a usual day at the office, a surgeon finds his life thrown into turmoil when the suicide of his mistress at his home launches a wave of people attempting to blackmail him for the crime they believe he committed and he must try to clear his name before they get to him.

This here was quite a decent if entirely uneventful giallo. One of the main problems with this one is the fact that just not a whole lot actually happens worth caring about in here as very little of this is worth the investment. Considering the mystery/thriller aspect is so prominent in this one, the fact that there's just not a whole lot of interesting elements present here makes for quite the bland effort when it features such uninteresting material to work with. Going from the bland and plodding investigation scenes of the police inspector who is just such a bland figure that his scenes are not that interesting while the scenes of him going around trying to find out who's attempting to blackmail him doesn't make for a good or even enjoyable time. That he's not all that interesting a person to spend time with, openly treating women like prostitutes there to serve his needs only and is completely uninterested in them for any other means, berates and beats them constantly and acts with such an air of superiority to everyone else around him that it's hard to assume anyone would even want to be around him so this makes for quite a troubling set of circumstances required to get into the film. Also problematic is the fact that there's so many needless twist and plot-turns throughout here as he attempts to find the source of his mysterious blackmailer and how he goes about attempting to cover up what he did that there's just so little about what's going on in here that makes any kind of sense. Going from the investigation of the doctor to his lovers' spats with his different mistresses and finally ending up at the insane asylum looking for the repressed nymphomaniac is such a series of leaps and jumps that it makes no sense why the story goes off in such a wild series of tangents to get there, further hindering the film's overall stance. Given that all these factors contribute to a bland, sluggish entry without a whole lot of enjoyable points, it's really a disposable effort with only a few noteworthy elements here. One of the film's early highlights is the actual scene of him dismembering the deceased lovers' body utilizing his surgical skills to great effect, keeping everything involved mainly through suggestion and on-screen reading of his thoughts rather than any kind of graphic, explicit disposal of the body. The grisly outcome of the whole affair is certainly memorable, as well as the forthcoming grinding up the body that occurs here which is quite a fine moment within here. It does have a decent stalking moment in the apartment late in the film where the killer bumps off a witness, but beyond these elements the only other worthwhile part here is the solid nudity from those well- equipped to provide it that was usually the case for these films and is all that really holds it up.

Rated Unrated/R: Language, Full Nudity, Violence and a sex scene.

Gianni Garko plays an amoral, social-climbing surgeon who has had his wealthy wife committed to a mental institution. After he accidentally kills his mistress(Paola Senatore) in a bizarre accident involving the titular "flower with petals of steel" (actually a sculpture),he manages to dispose of the body, but finds himself being pursued by the woman's sister, who is also his vengeful former (Carrol Baker), and a dogged police inspector. Then he begins to be blackmailed by a strange voice on the phone. He also has ANOTHER lover, a nurse (Pilar Velasquez) who may not be what she appears.

This obscure, long unavailable(at least in English) Italian giallo has a central twist that even by the standards of the genre is pretty far-fetched. It generally works though. It is very well-filmed. Piccolo is not one of the acknowledged masters of the genre like Argento or Bava (or Martino, Fulci, or Lenzi), but he definitely does a good job. The movie begins with a beautifully shot, seemingly gratuitous underwater diving scene that doesn't make sense until the end where it turns out to be a (definitely gratuitous) underwater lesbian scene (which gives new meaning to the term "muff diving"), but I would think also the first such scene in cinema history. The rest of the cinematography and editing is impressive too (if sometimes a little dark in the print I saw), but with one rather awkward murder scene.

The acting is very good, the Italian cast much more so than Carroll Baker (who I imagine was getting tired of the genre by this time). Garko manages to make his character a sympathetic Hitchcockian innocent, who only towards the end is revealed to be real cad getting his comeuppance. Paola Senatore doesn't have much screen time, but is very effective (it helps that she's naked in almost every scene). The beautiful Velasquez also provides some sumptuous nudity, but also some good acting as she goes from a seemingly throw-away character to a very important one by the end. The print I saw was a Spanish language fan-sub, but I imagine this would only get better with a more legitimate, re-mastered release.

Being a latter-day entry in Carroll Baker's Italian giallo tenure, coupled with its essential lack of reputation (probably ascribed to the involvement of an obscure director – one of only three he helmed), I was surprised to learn that the title under review was held in higher esteem by the "Cult Filmz" website than the American star's renowned collaborations with Umberto Lenzi; in hindsight, I agree with this estimation, since I had always found that series of movies average at best (though, in all fairness, I still have one more to check out i.e. SO SWEET…SO PERVERSE [1969] and which I will do presently). Incidentally, despite her top billing, Baker is not the protagonist of the film – in fact, she is just one among a bevy of fetching females with whom leading man Gianni Garko interacts (in more ways than one) throughout. This suggests a reasonably convoluted plot line and, in fact, the revelation offered here is among the wildest (as the whole resolves itself with a bit of lesbian underwater sex!) I have seen within this genre…though I felt the added ironic twist (which sees the culprits not getting away with it after all) unwarranted and a miscalculation! For the record, two other unexpected elements here are the sheer fact that a surgeon would allow himself such an impossibly intricate love life, which would surely prevent him from functioning properly within his chosen – and ultra-delicate – profession, and also that the (hardly handsome) cop on the trail of the assassin would fall for one of the suspects, the not-so-young-anymore Baker (whose drop in stature in this case eventually numbers her among the murder victims themselves)! While the film maintains a frustratingly unhurried pace – albeit offset by a good Marcello Giombini score – along the way, like I said earlier, the premise is woolly enough to keep one engrossed trying to unravel it!; by the way, the subject of the Argento-like title is the weapon that unwittingly brings about the original killing (which party's face is cleverly concealed until the climax).