Orig. Release Date: Aug. 25, 1972
R1 DVD Release: February 24, 2009
Studio: Seda Spettacoli/Mya
Communications
Genre: Horror/Mystery
UNRATED     1 hr 42 mins

CAST:

Michael Brandon: Roberto Tobias
Mimsy Farmer: Mina Tobias
Jean-Pierre Marielle: Gianni Arrosio
Bud Spencer: Godfrey “God”
Francine Racette: Dalia
Oreste Lionello: The Professor
Marisa Fabbri: Amelia, the maid
Calisto Calisti: Carlo Marosi

When one mentions the Italian horror movie subgenre of giallo, the first names that come to mind are Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci.  This is especially true in both directors’ early days, when the giallo subgenre was at its peak in the 1970s.  For Argento, his early days as a director included a trilogy of giallo films that were dubbed “The Animal Trilogy,” so called because the three films that made up the trilogy, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Cat O’Nine Tails, and Four Flies on Grey Velvet, all had animal names in the titles.  However, Four Flies on Grey Velvet was not released in North America, as the other two films had been.  In fact, it took almost forty years before the film saw distribution in North America.

Now, thanks to Mya Communications, Four Flies on Grey Velvet finally sees the light of day in North America.  Fans of Argento and giallo will undoubtedly recognize some of the elements that Argento is known for, as well as see where films such as Deep Red and Tenebre get some of their influences.  However, Four Flies on Grey Velvet isn’t his best work, as the viewer will find out throughout the movie.

The basic plot of Four Flies on Grey Velvet is that Roberto (Michael Brandon) has been stalked by a mysterious man in black for about a week.  One evening, Roberto decides to follow the mysterious man into an abandoned theater, where he accidentally kills the man.  Meanwhile, another mysterious figure in a bizarre looking mask appears in the balcony taking pictures of the murder.  Soon, Roberto begins to find random pictures of the murder in his house, as well as receive mementos that belonged to the victim, and before long, his wife Mina (Mimsy Farmer) and he are caught in a nightmare that sees some of their close friends and acquaintances getting killed.   The murders in this Dario Argento film aren’t quite as fantastic as some of his better films such as Suspiria, Deep Red, and Tenebre, but they are done to a point where even if you expect the murder to happen, there is considerable buildup.  For instance, there is a scene where the maid is waiting in the park and once she pulls out a cigarette, the surrounding actions cease, and she ends up finding herself locked inside the park, where she feels a presence and tries to get away before she gets killed.  That scene is reminiscent of a scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, which is one of the reasons why Argento has been referred to as the Italian Hitchcock.  Notably absent from the film is the gloved hands that usually commit the murders, an Argento trademark.  Presumably because Brandon bears a pretty good resemblance to the director and because it is always Argento’s hands that are in the films, that option wasn’t used for this film.  Four Flies on Grey Velvet is also one of the first films that takes a look into homosexuality, albeit briefly and with only one character, Detective Arrosio.  While it was meant to be humorous, the attempt falls a little flat, even when considering the actor playing Arrosio (Jean-Pierre Marielle) decided to have that aspect thrown into the character.  Occasionally, there are flashbacks to an asylum the killer experiences that figure into why the murders happened and add a deeper sense of something going wrong within the killer’s mind.  As per the usual standards of any giallo, there are red herrings thrown in to misdirect the viewer into wrong conclusions and requires the viewer to sift through all of the evidence and figure out who did it.  There is also some diversion from the plot, as the film focuses on both the loveless relationship between Roberto and Mina and the rather steamy relationship between Roberto and Mina’s cousin Dalia, both of which end up figuring into the main story of the film.  For all of the intrigue that a giallo usually provides, Four Flies on Grey Velvet feels a little longer than the one-hundred-plus minutes that it is timed.  However, the payoff is rather rewarding, as the ending sees the killer get decapitated in a spectacular car crash that ends with an explosion.

So, was it worth the wait?  Yes and no.  While Four Flies on Grey Velvet is far from Dario Argento’s best film, it provides a nice framework for some of his following films along the lines of what he presented in the movie.  It also provides some suspenseful moments that work even when the viewer is expecting the worst to happen, even if some of the murders aren’t quite as spectacular.  Giallo fans will find a lot to like about Four Flies on Grey Velvet, while the casual movie fan will be turned off to some degree about how the film paces itself.  It is also a must for Dario Argento completists, as it one of the blueprints on how some of his later films were to proceed.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet

January 8, 2010

Reviewer: Peter

DIRECTOR:

Dario Argento

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