Murder-Rock: Dancing Death

One of Lucio Fulci's "gentler" films, MURDER ROCK is not very popular among gore fans (largely because of the lack of eye gougings and disembowellments), but it has much to recommend. The story deals with a maniac who is killing the girls at a dance school in New York -- together, a cop and a psychiatrist track the maniac down. Keith Emerson contributes a dated, but enjoyable, soundtrack, and cinematographer Giuseppe Pinori makes fine use of half-lighting, a la Mario Bava's SEI DONNE PER L'ASSASSINO. Fulci cameos as an agent. Recommended for Italian horror buffs. *** out of ****

Shot in the winter of 1984 and helmed by Lucio Fulci, this giallo was influenced by the success of "Fame" and "Flashdance," just combined with "Curtains." To be expected, there's a whodunit angle with slasher bits, yet it's restrained in terms of gore, although there's an explicit hatpin penetrating a woman's chest sequence.

It starts quite entertainingly, but becomes increasingly contrived and curiously dull, particularly as it switches into the last act. Whatever was captivating about the opening is essentially jettisoned for a less interesting whodunit mystery and the detective work thereof. However, there are some creative elements, and the female cast is good. The top ones for me are Maria Vittoria Tolazzi (Jill), Angela Lemerman (Susan) and Belinda Busato (Gloria) with a nod to Carla Buzzanca (Janice).

A few years later "StageFright" and "Death Spa" would tread similar terrain and do it marginally better. Yet it's superior to "Killer Workout."

It runs about 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in the studio in Rome, with exterior sequences done in New York City.

GRADE: B-/C+

Loved it. Great suspense, disturbing murder scenes. Not too gory, but the suspense makes up for it. Very tense, the closeups, the pre-murder lighting and screams, the sound of the heart stopping. The victims' desperation is well played. Music is great to set you in the era, but you'll find it cheesy if you don't like 80s stuff. Some of the nudity was perhaps unnecessary but still stylishly done. The movie is weird but well executed. It isn't as gruesome as a gore flick, but I think it was more disturbing as it provides greater immersion. The slow killings are a shocker as you can feel them as real. I found myself trembling several times watching this, both by the murder scenes themselves and the suspense going through all the movie. Great camera shots, great scene composition, awesome lighting. The plot is simple but it works. It's interesting to watch the students accusing each other of the murders. There's an unexpected plot twist that I found rather interesting. Don't watch it if '80s cheesiness puts you off. In my case it was a plus. My first venture into giallo cinema and it satisfied me beyond my expectations. If I can find similar movies will definitely watch them. Last recommendation: do yourselves a favor and don't watch it dubbed, watch it in Italian as it's intended to be watched. Dubs for low budget movies aren't precisely good and will make the movie look fake. Get Italian audio with captions for maximum enjoyment.

A violent shocker with high level on vivid imagery and pure cinematic style in which a nasty murderer executing grisly killings by means of a hypodermic needle-wielding psycho-killer . It starts with a series of murders rock a dance academy in New York . As the mysterous and owner directress , Candice (Olga Karlatos) of a prestigious New York ballet school teams up with a suspicious male model (Ray Lovelock) to solve a series of weird murders of a few of the dancers . Along the way , a tough Police Inspector Lt. Borges (Cosimo Cinieri) investigates the bizarre murders . Save the last dance . . . For hell! .Depraved - Demonic - Diabolical - And Beyond! .New York's best dancers are dying for a part in the next Broadway hit.

Eerie and creepy thriller with full of killings , sexual violence , red herrings , grisly murders by means of a razor blade executed by a psychopath on the loose , loathsome and lots of blood and gore . A mysoginist whodunit with plenty of nudism , explicit scenes of violence and Giallo style , no for squeamish . Concerning the classic giallo plot in which a series killer with a hidden agenda carrying out a criminal spree . It has flamboyant imagery , graphic gore and moody atmospherics , while mixing disco music from Keith Emerson and dancing images in Flashdance style along with Gialli characteristics. Starring the beautiful Greek actress Olga Karlatos giving a fine and attractive acting . Karlatos surrounded and well supported by an Italian cast of usual Italian B actors , such as : Ray Lovelock , Cosimo Cinieri , Geretta Geretta , Christian Borromeo and Claudio Cassinelli who passed away a bit later on , whilst filming Sergio Martino's 'Fists of Steel' .

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Lucio Fulci , and being entertaining enough. And financed in tight budget by Augusto Caminito , Fulci's regular producer and occassionally director . Fulci was one of the most controversial filmmakers in terror genre , though frequently derided as sheer sensationalism and commerciality. Here Lucio Fulci directs in his usual style filled with flaws , failures and gaps , but professionally made because being a nice artisan . Critics are divided over both the moral and talents of Fulci (1927-1996), who sometimes directed under the alias Louis Fuller. For some reviewers many of his flicks are extremely cruel and savage , yet their gory surface often concealing social, religious , or provoking commentaries or other thoughful , intelligent issues . Nevertheless , most of them considering his works have undeniably provided a considerable influence on the terror genre , creating decent efforts on low budget flicks . Standing out his ¨Don't Torture a Duckling¨ deemed to be one of his best pictures . And in the adventure genre with two financially successful Jack London 'White Fang' adventure movies in 1973 and 1974 which were ¨Zanna Bianca¨, and ¨Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca¨. Also during the mid and late 1970s, Fulci directed two 'Spaghetti Westerns' : ¨Four of Apocalypse¨ (1975) and ¨Sella d'argento¨ or ¨Silver Saddle¨(1978), and another 'giallo' ; ¨The Psychic¨ (1977), as well as a few sex-comedies which include the political spoof : ¨The Eroticist¨(1972) , and the vampire comedy ¨Young Dracula¨ (1975) , and the violent Mafia crime-drama ¨Luca the smuggler¨ (1979) . In 1979, Fulci's film making career successfully another high point with him, breaking into the international market with ¨Zombi 2¨ (1979), an in-name-only sequel to George A. Romero's Zombi: Night of the Lving Dead (1978), which had been released in Italy as 'Zombi'. And hiis big hit ¨New York Ripper¨ , at the time rated as a video nasty , due to it and why the excessive extra violence was heavily cut or prohibited in a large number of countries . With this film established Fulci as a gore director par excellence . Over the next three years, Fulci plied his trade with finesse and flair-play , rivaling even the popularity of his "opponent" the great Dario Argento, with such sanguine classics as ¨City of the Living Dead¨ (1980) and ¨Beyond¨ (1981). These films, as well as the reviled "New York Ripper" (1982) are actually intelligently crafted, with sound commentaries on everything from American life to religion. And he went on his fall with lousy movies, but eventually Fulci at least found work in television . Rating : 5/10 . Average , only for Lucio Fulci completists .

Lucio Fulci is one of the best and most underrated directors in history. Though not all of his films were great, at least 7 of this films should be in any horror anthology. This film is hard to find, though it was released here in Argentina. In the beginning I thought this was gonna be Flashdance - The Return, but ends up being a clever thriller. The killer's method is original, and the resolution quite surprising. Not one of Fulci's best, but a very good film indeed. Score: 8.