Anyone that knows anything about this film knows that it's grisly and sleazy - but to be honest, up until about the hour mark; I feared that I may be in the wrong film. Don't get me wrong, I love a good slice of disgusting sleaze; but not when the resulting film is boring. The first two thirds of the film focus mainly on sex and police procedure, with just a little blood thrown in for good measure. These sections of the film really drag, and don't give credence to the opening shot that sees a young man being repeatedly stabbed in the crotch. However, you've got to expect this sort of poor plot pacing from Eurotrash cinema, and to this film's credit - it gets a lot better as it goes on, as the death scenes get nastier and the plot gets more interesting. The first major plot point sees the police find the bodies of a young couple; he has been stabbed to death, and she has drowned and then had her body taken out of the water. We then follow police inspector De Pol, as he questions several people, some of which turn up dead themselves.
The two sides of the plot; those being the murders and the resulting investigation, don't bode well at all - and Giallo a Venezia feels very disjointed as neither one compliments the other, meaning that the film isn't very thrilling overall. By keeping the focus on the unpleasantness and sleaze, however, director Mario Landi makes sure that it's always obvious exactly what the point of the film is. Indeed, even the usually beautiful Venetian canals look sordid in this film, and while that helps the look and feel of the film; it doesn't do much for the aesthetics. Jeff Blynn is ineffective in the lead role, and looks like he accidentally stepped off the set of Starsky and Hutch. The violence is extremely misogynistic, and almost every woman in the film ends up being violated in some way. The scenes of gore are mostly good, and see such delights as a man being shot and set on fire and the butchery of a woman on a table, who promptly turns up inside a refrigerator! The conclusion to the film is the best element, and Mario Landi somehow managed to make this messy sleaze flick make sense. Overall, I can't say that Giallo a Venezia is one of the best Giallo's I've seen (not by a mile); but it has its positives elements and may delight fans of morbid sleaze.
The two sides of the plot; those being the murders and the resulting investigation, don't bode well at all - and Giallo a Venezia feels very disjointed as neither one compliments the other, meaning that the film isn't very thrilling overall. By keeping the focus on the unpleasantness and sleaze, however, director Mario Landi makes sure that it's always obvious exactly what the point of the film is. Indeed, even the usually beautiful Venetian canals look sordid in this film, and while that helps the look and feel of the film; it doesn't do much for the aesthetics. Jeff Blynn is ineffective in the lead role, and looks like he accidentally stepped off the set of Starsky and Hutch. The violence is extremely misogynistic, and almost every woman in the film ends up being violated in some way. The scenes of gore are mostly good, and see such delights as a man being shot and set on fire and the butchery of a woman on a table, who promptly turns up inside a refrigerator! The conclusion to the film is the best element, and Mario Landi somehow managed to make this messy sleaze flick make sense. Overall, I can't say that Giallo a Venezia is one of the best Giallo's I've seen (not by a mile); but it has its positives elements and may delight fans of morbid sleaze.