Phantom of Death

This horror/giallo was directed by Ruggero Deodato, who was more famous for extremely controversial films such as the very unpleasant The House on the Edge of the Park. With The Phantom of Death he reigned in his excesses and produced a far more restrained affair. Its story does have an original angle. A famous pianist discovers he has a rare disease which ages him extremely rapidly. This sets off a homicidal impulse in him and he thereafter goes about murdering women. He becomes hard for the police to track down seeing as the evidence suggests a much older man is responsible for the killings.

The cast in this one is very good on paper. Michael York is the pianist, giallo legend Edwige Fenech is his wife and Donald Pleasance is the cop pursuing the killer. York and Fenech put in a bit of effort with their characters but Pleasance seems to be going through the motions a bit. The lethargy is reflected in the film overall as it is a little dull for the most part and generally lacks suspense. There is a series of murders to enliven things a little but even they don't make too much of an impact. It's a shame in some respects that it is such a pedestrian effort because the central concept is at least an attempt at something a bit different. It's definitely a watchable enough film, however, just a little disappointing considering the potential.

Police Comissioner Datti (Donald Pleasence) is investigating the murder of a female doctor whose murderer seems to be a thirty-fivish year old man. Soon other murders follow and the murderer goes on a mad killing spree prompting the police inspector to go on investigating. The prime suspect results to be a prestigious pianist, Robert Dominici (Michael York), due to his girlfriend (Mapi Galan) is found killed. But the pianist is suffering from the Progenia, a genetic disease becomes distraught and with bursts of anger, confusion and forgetfulness. The murderer also challenges Datti on the phone and says he can't be caught since he has a secret which makes him invulnerable. In the meantime the tracks seems to point in diverse directions. Let the symphony of slaughter begin! How do you catch the uncatchable ...a diabolical being walks through the streets!

A thriller about a murderer who has a rare disease and commits gruesome murders in cold blood. The film contains violence, thrills, chills, grisly killings and excellent makeup on the face of British actor Michael York. Although there is not much intrigue because we know from the first moment who the murderer is, therefore no necessary assumption what in other films of the Giallo genre it does happen, here the film focuses on the battle of wills of a person who has the disease of progeny and the inspector who chases him, developing between them a game of cat and mouse in which the police usually tends to lose. Stars the British Michael York who surprisingly gives a good performance as the disturbing and bewildered pianist. Being accompanied by the always great Donald Pleasence as the stubborn commissioner, the gorgeous Edwige Fenech, star in many Giallo films and in the sex-comedy genre, the Spanish Mapi Galán and other brief apperances of usual secondaries in Italian B series, such as Caterina Boratto, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Marino Masé, Hal Yamanouchi, Benito Stefanelli, Loris Loddi and director Ruggero Deodato cameo at a train station who hops on moped .

"Un delitto poco comune" (1987) stands out an impressive musical score by Pino Donaggo who composed various soundtracks for some of Brian De Palma's best films, such as: "Raising Cain", "Blow out", "Dressed to Kill", "Carrie", "Body Double", "Snake Eyes". It contains a atmospheric cinematography by Giorgio Di Battista shot in various Italian cities, such as: Venecia, Veneto, Olgiata, Roma, Lacio, Perugia, Umbria, South Tyrol, Italia. The motion picture was one of the most grueling films ever made in the Eighties, Un delitto poco comune (1987) being original but middlingly directed by Ruggero Deodato who also remains his most successful horror film, the infamous ¨Cannibal Holocaust¨ . Ruggero Deodato made the "Cannibal Trilogy" made up of ¨Ultimo mondo cannibale¨ (1977) , ¨Cannibal Holocaust¨ (1980) and ¨Cut and Run¨ (1984). This artisan was a prolific cameraman/writer/producer/director who has made all kinds of genres. He was a notorious Italian director especially known for this one , today considered a classic "Cannibal Holocaust". He has directed all kinds of genres with particular penchant for terror, violence, and adventure movies, such as: ¨Jungle holocaust¨, ¨House on the edge of the park¨, ¨Bodycount¨, ¨Dial help¨, ¨Phantom of death¨, ¨The washing machine¨, ¨The raiders of Atlantis¨, ¨Concorde affair¨, ¨Live like a cop die like a man¨, ¨Lone runner¨, ¨The barbarians¨, among others . Rating 5.5/10. Mediocre but entertaining. Only for Italian Giallo completists.

Off Balance (AKA: Phantom of Death):

The highlight of this one, by far, is the kills. There are a couple of good kills here, but one stands head and shoulders above the rest. It's truly a classic kill for the ages!

The special effects around a character's aging were impressive.

The score was quite good.

However, the rest of the film was rather disappointing. A lot of wasted potential. Donald Pleasence and Edwige Fenech both act well, but neither of them is amazing here. Michael York is hit or miss. Some of his scenes he really nails, and some of them are a bit out of his range. There's a soapy melodrama feeling to many of the scenes in the first half of the film.

They give away the identity of the killer rather early on. At first, the film appears to want to say something deep about aging and death, but it never gets around to saying anything interesting.

The ending was disappointing. Instead of going out with a bang, it goes out with a whimper.

A female doctor is murdered by a sword. The film makes some pretense of mystery about the identity of the killer, but it doesn't really do a very good job (and the video box gives it away completely). The killer has a rare disease that causes him to rapidly age and also causes the deterioration of his mind. Thus, one murder is thought to have been done by someone of about thirty years of age, and the next by a fifty-year-old.

The murder scenes aren't bad, but the rest of the movie does drag. The killer talks a lot, and what he says isn't of much interest. He also likes to call the police inspector played by Donald Pleasance. The police are all very bad at their jobs, fatally screwing up sting operations, letting suspects go before putting them in a lineup, and so on. Overall the movie is perhaps more of a drama musing about aging and death than it is a horror movie.

Like Psycho IV two years later, this film also has a mentally ill character concerned about passing on his genes. In Psycho IV, that made sense, since Norman had more or less become "normal" through treatment. Here, it's a little more surprising that the man whose mind is supposed to be quite deteriorated is worried about it.

I saw the uncut version of this on video. Can't say it's worth looking for - hold out for a widescreen DVD, and then it might be slightly more worthwhile.

Italian horror/thriller director Ruggero Deodato gives us this somewhat introspective, blood and guts tame by Deodato standards film about an Italian pianist who contracts a very rare disease that makes him age at an incredible rate. The pianist has bouts of memory loss and periods of losing mental control in which he kills, naturally mostly beautiful young women. The deaths are bloody(I saw the Uncut version) but not over-the-top fortunately. In fact the movie really works best as a cat and mouse game between Michael York as the pianist and Donald Pleasance as a plodding policeman not so hot on his trail, as long as you can get past the point that York and Pleasance are supposed to be Italians. The film is in no way great, but I was pleasantly surprised with its effective pacing, decent acting, and heart. York is a man not wholly evil, in many ways a victim of circumstance. He ages before our very eyes. He kills with anger and spur of the moment passion rather than cold-blooded calculation(at least most of the time). He is almost a man to be pitied, and York plays on this for the second half of the film with some obvious talent. Pleasance is Pleasance. A steady presence on film. He does a good job, but he looks physically exhausted and old. The rest of the cast is very adequate with particular attention going to Edwidge Fenech as York's girlfriend. A beautiful woman! A tense thriller!