What Have They Done to Your Daughters?

This movie's pretty blunt and straight to the point, so I can keep it brief.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Is an Italian crime/horror movie that follows a group of characters trying to catch a serial killer who's targeting teenage girls. It's the kind of premise that's been done to death, but it's the way it's done here that's interesting. It's fast-paced, surprisingly well-shot, memorably bloody, and also features some great music. In fact, it's the music that cancels out the bad dubbing, really, because while most Italian movies from this time don't have very good dubbing, this one kind of goes one step beyond, because it's really bad at points.

I can see these crime/horror/thriller movies from Italy in the 1970s being the next genre I hyper-fixate on, as I've done with kaiju movies, samurai movies, and martial arts movies. There's something really interesting about them (I'd call them Giallo movies, but I'm not entirely sure yet whether this particular movie counts as Giallo).

So overall, What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Isn't anything new when it comes to its story or characters, and it's kind of sleazy in parts, but it's well-made and consistently engaging, making it a pleasant surprise to watch, because I wasn't expecting this to be of a moderately high quality.

After an anonymous phone call, a teenage girl is found hanged in the attic of an old building in Lombardia and the police assume she committed suicide. The efficient Insp. Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) and the newcomer Asst. DA Vittoria Stori (Giovanna Ralli) assume the case and while checking the location, Insp. Silvestri sees a middle age man, Bruno Paglia (Franco Fabrizi), taking pictures of the place from a nearby building. The man is arrested and soon Insp. Silvestri learns that the 14-year-old victim, Silvia Polvesi (Cheryl Lee Buchanan), was part of a teenage prostitution ring, including the beloved daughter of Insp. Valentini (Mario Adorf). His further investigation with the Asst. DA Stori discover a tape where sexual encounters with important names in the Italian society are recorded. Meanwhile a motorcycle rider wearing black uses a cleaver to get rid of suspects and witnesses.

"La polizia chiede aiuto", a.k.a. "What Have They Done to Your Daughters?", is an excellent police story and one of the best Italian movies of the genre. The plot is surprisingly believable and with no flaws or tricks that are usual in giallos. Claudio Cassinelli and Giovanna Ralli have magnificent performances and the conclusion is realistic. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Que Eles Fizeram a Suas Filhas?" ("What Have They Done to Your Daughters?")

A young naked schoolgirl is found hanged in a room locked from the inside, the police suspect suicide, until that is the clues seem to point in the direction of murder. So when the police led by Inspector Silvestri(Claudio Cassinelli) with the assistance of the asst district attorney Vittoria Stori (Giovanna Ralli) realise that they are investigating a teen prostitute ring with some highly influential people involved, they know they are going to have a tough time convicting anyone and sure enough their investigation is dogged with interference and dead ends. Dallamano director of What have they done to Solange? again returns to his schoolgirl in peril themed story and like its predecessor it's a highly controversial topic that is handled professionally and intelligently. Despite its topic, there's very little in the way of visual sleaziness here, the offences against the girls are confined to tape recordings the police have and its from these that they build their case. The film is in fact only half Giallo and plays more like a Poliziotteschi (Italian police procedure film), we only get brief glimpses of the leather clad killer as he tries to cover up his identity by killing those who might be able to give him away. Stelvio Cipriani again provides an excellent score, the film looks good visually, no more than you'd expect from a director who used to ply his trade as a cinematographer, there's also a very memorable chase scene that livens up the film immensely. Claudio Cassinelli and Cortese provide some fine acting in their respective roles, if there is such thing as a high brow Giallo this must surely be it.

Second in Dallamano's schoolgirls-getting-killed trilogy, it's not as good as Who's Next? (Solange) but not bad in its own right. The killer is someone who rides a motorino (hey, it is Italy!) and never takes off his/her riding helmet, ala Magnum Force, the 2nd Dirty Harry film. This one's more exciting than scary, as the police hunt down this maniac. He's one of the cooler villains in film history though, because unlike the traditional drag-ass killer, this guy never speaks and just RUNS at you with a machete. He really SPRINTS at top speed, which is actually very scary, especially to a jaded horror buff used to the Michael Myers/Jason/zombie method of ambling on over to their victims, who usually have to trip in order to be caught. And there's one scene involving a light switch that will make you jump out of your undies. Stelvio Cipriani's score is again top-notch (he later reused part of it for Tentacles), the dubbing tolerable.

'What Have They Done To Our Daughters?' is an above average giallo directed by Massimo Dallamano, who was the cinematographer for Leone's spaghetti western classic 'For A Few Dollars More'. It's a kinda sorta sequel to 'What Have They Done To Solange?', which I haven't seen. But I have seen Dallamano's swinging De Sade 'Venus In Furs' and both movies have made me very interested in his work. The story concerns a police investigation into the shocking murder of a teenage girl which uncovers a prostitution ring. It stars Giovanna Ralli who was in another pretty good giallo 'Cold Eyes Of Fear' and Claudio Cassinelli who co-starred in the nunsploitation classic 'Flavia The Heretic'. It's also quite a surprise to see Farley Granger (of Hitchcock's classics 'Rope' and 'Strangers On A Train') in the supporting cast, though his performance is forgettable. Giallo fans will enjoy this one, but if you are new to genre try some Dario Argento (especially 'Tenebre') or Fulci's 'Don't Torture A Duckling' to see some of the best examples of this style of thriller. Still, this is a pretty good movie with some gruesome and sensationalistic touches.