5/10
Good idea, mediocre film
11 June 2001
This Giallo by Alberto De Martino, who made a very watchable and entertaining "The Exorcist" rip-off in 1974 ("L'Anticristo" aka "The Tempter"), boosts Anne Heywood in the female lead role as a woman that suffers amnesia after she sees the killer of her husband again five years after the murder, and Telly Savalas as the cold-blooded assassin who tries to kill her before she regains her memory.

The idea is nice, but De Martino's direction is a little bit too slow and, especially in the first half of the film, the flow of the scenes sometimes looks hacked up in a way, so it's difficult not to use the fast forward button on one's VCR. The second half is better and the film becomes a passable thriller, while the climax itself with the uncovering of the person who contracted the killer five years ago remains the best moment of the whole picture.

All in all a mediocre, rather anemic Giallo. Savalas also acted in De Martino's mafia actioner "I Familiari delle Vittime non Saranno Avvertiti" aka "Crime Boss" aka "New Mafia Boss" of the same year, which also doesn't belong to the best films of its genre.
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