By Melissa Antoinette Garza
This film opens with a murder, a kitty and an orangutan in that order. If that doesn’t captivate you immediately, it’s on you.
After a man is murdered by an unseen individual with a cat, we see Corringa (Jane Birkin) being brought to her Aunt’s castle for summer vacation. As she enters, the camera pans up and an orangutan is seen.
Upon entering, Corringa’s mother Lady Alicia (Dan Ghia) and her aunt Lady Mary MacGrieff (Francoise Christophe) welcome her. Alicia is ecstatic to have her daughter unexpectedly a few weeks early, but she informs Corringa that the trip to Mary’s castle isn’t going as well as planned. Mary is broke and about to lose her home. She asked Alicia for money, but was refused. Now things are awkward and Alicia wants to leave in a few days rather than the long stay they had been planning.
Corringa continues to unpack her belongings when she meets her nutty, cousin James’s (Hiram Keller) french teacher, the absolutely stunning Suzanne (Doris Kunstmann). She has all the personality in the world and looks spectacular with a pitch-black, wavy bob hair cut, a long, black, dress with lace sleeves and small matching boots. A long silver chair with a locket finishes the ensemble nicely.
Immediately, there are sparks between the two women. Suzanne asks about a long garment that Corringa has in her bag and finds out that she was forced to wear it in Catholic school because the nuns feared what would happen if the girls saw each other naked. Oh nunsies, you’re just making the prospect of disrobed fem co-eds so much more alluring – and it was already palpable!
Corringa disrobes and Suzanne enjoys the view. She talks about all the trouble she got into at school (tell me more) when she accidentally throws her Bible in the fire. She goes to grab it, but Suzy lovingly stops her in fear she may burn herself. (If they want to make it up to God, give him a show! Take it off, ladies. – sorry, inner thoughts typing again) They don’t make love, but we do get to watch as they saunter into dinner together.
Alicia panics when she hears about Corringa accidentally burned the bible, but the conversation soon turns to a family vampire legend which states if one MacGrieff is killed by another, the deceased shall rise again. A cat shall reveal one’s vamp identity by jumping upon the casket at a funeral. This is the type of lore that makes Giallo films different than most American whodunits. There are always more layers, more avenues and odder family connections.
Staying at the estate and enjoying dinner are an older priest (Franco Ressel), a younger reverend, Father Robertson (Venantino Venantini), Dr. Franz (Anton Differing) and the servants. At dinner, Corringa sees the orangutan from earlier. She screams when the ape disappears and James walks in.
James is arrogant, dick-ish, but sexy. His behavior isn’t all his fault as he’s crazy, but his mother is too ashamed to get him proper help. Instead, Franz is a live in psychiatrist who hates his patient. Secretly, he and Suzanne are screwing and trying to screw the family over for cash.
At dinner, Corringa grows tired of James’s rude bullshit, tells him off and storms off with her mother. Suzanne and some other guests follow. When James leaves, Franz tells Father Robertson that the boy is a bit more than unwell. As a child, he murdered his sister!
Soon, an unseen assailant kills Alicia in her bed with a pillow-to-the-face. Moments later, Corringa sees James lurking outside her room and finds the body from the first kill. That doesn’t stop the two from getting close. When she finally finds the orangutan in James’s room and finds out he was rescued from a circus, she feels a bit less crazy. They have a decent talk where James reveals that Suzanne had just been brought there to seduce him. He had no interest in her, but he did paint a portrait. Corringa becomes attracted to him and things look as though they may heat up until she says she believes her mother’s death was no accident.
The murders continue as Corringa is plagued with nightmares that her mother has become a vampire. Father Robertson tries to convince her that it’s only mythology and a bad dream. She reveals that she has two marks on her neck that look like a vampire’s bite.
Before Robertson can respond, Franz interrupts the conversation. Corringa leaves abruptly and runs to James. He tells her to leave, but she refuses. She wants to solve her mother’s murder and tells James about her nightmare. She says that she has to go to her mother’s grave because she thinks her vampire mom could be getting revenge. James moves in and asks if Corringa is the murderer. Then, he kisses her but they both go to the cemetery. They see the coffin has been disturbed and Corringa runs home in a panic. James chases her and comforts her.
Without question, James is a boy after the damsel-in-distress. That’s why he wasn’t into Suzanne. Corringa is a missionary girl and Suzanne is a anyway babe. I love Suzanne, but to each their own. James has some vanilla kicks.
In the end, the reveal is very shocking and very well done. This film is unique in that it creates not only living suspects, but dead as well. It’s a hybrid whodunit with leanings to the monster vamp world. It’s bizarre, crazy and strange, but very entertaining and wonderfully compelling.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10
