Now here's a giallo I saw years ago and can't remember too much about. Nice to see it hitting the digital realm though. I really enjoy most of Freda's films so I probably enjoyed this as well. I think I'll have to grab this disc for sure! Any thoughts on this giallo?

DISC DETAILS

not seen this in years either but i do remember it as being quite fun if not rather silly. interestingly riccardo freda disowned this film. all shot on location in dublin, and with dagmar lassander looking fabulous as well (and even getting involved in a pretty hot sex scene as well). the cast is also generally pretty good - valentina cortese must have liked the film - she used a publicity shot from this in her casting photos for years afterwards.

the film itself isn't too bad either.

The element I like the most is the delirious Stelvio Cipriani score, featuring a very memorable female vocalist. It's one of my two or three favorite giallo scores. It also has an excellent cast: Pistilli, Cortese, Diffring, are all in top form. The problem for me is the cinematography and direction. Freda's films usually have a "look" to them, very stylish gothic setups in his horror films, even in his pepla and Eurospy titles there's a complete stylization of the image in terms of color, painterly compositions, complex patterns and a claustrophoic atmosphere, all of which this curiously lacks. All of his high style returns in his 1980 MURDER OBSESSION. IGUANA... looks somewhat rushed and there are few compelling images. But I've only seen darkish fullscreen video dubs of it, so it may improve seen in OAR from good elements. I heard the new DVD looks like it's from VHS again.  I would still give it three stars, though.

one of freda's films in the mid 1970's was actually directed by his daughter. having spoken to dagmar lassander (who is a good friend of mine) it isn't this one, though many freda "experts" have claimed it is owing to the willy pareto pseudonym used by the director.

Directed by his daughter!? I know he said he didn't direct TRAGIC CEREMONY... Was that the one? Thanks, Kit

thats the one. yet some members of the cast remember him directing it - also - its filled with a freda mood and imagery - so much so it seems a little strange that he claimed he didn't direct it.

i wonder if it was the un-released SUPER HUMAN that he is talking about...?

Hmm, some scenes do have his imagery and mood, others are totally banal and flat. I wonder if this is another he quit on and left to whoever to finish? Was SUPERHUMAN ever made? Or that Exorcist type film you mentioned?

SUPERHUMAN was reported in the italian trade publication Ciak! in 1978 as being under direction by Freda however no casting list is given. However this is NOT to be assumed to be a shooting title for his film MURDER OBSESSION which was actually "mooted" on the same page in 1978 under the shooting title of "Sensory" but the director was to have been Roberto Bianchi Montero (!).
Interestingly Murder Obsession was eventually shot as L'ossessione che uccide [The Obsession That Kills] and also Deliria [which was later used as the Italian release title for Michele Soavi's Stage Fright] but the casting was slightly different with Ray Lovelock (he remembers the screen test and maybe shooting a few scenes) and Janet Agren - presumably in the Stefano Patrizi and Silvia Dionisio roles (of Michael and Deborah) - but the rest of the cast was the same.
I am not certain whether SUPER HUMAN was ever shot/completed - certainly was recorded as being in production for 2 months - but it has never show up. This was in the summer of 1978.

I used to have a photocopy of that very publication mentioning SUPERHUMAN which I now have misplaced. I assumed it was an earlier shoot of MURDER OBSESSION which was curtailed and begun again the next year. But what was SUPERHUMAN, a superhero? Thanks for this info, Kit.