‘Necrophilia is a very expensive vice, Professor.’
A killer is rampaging through the higher classes of society, leaving a trail of corpses marked with a small, ornamental dragonfly. A police inspector, under a cloud because of his violent methods, is assigned the task of unmasking the assassin…
Efficient Spanish Giallo whodunnit, starring Euro-Horror star Paul Naschy, who also wrote the screenplay under his real name of Jacinto Molina. León Klimovsky directs, and Naschy pairs up with Erika Blanc to solve the mystery.
After a drug deal on a nighttime street, a young painter is slaughtered at his home by a mysterious stalker, who leaves a small, ornamental dragonfly on the body. He is not the first victim of the so-called ‘Dragonfly Killer’, and three more follow soon after, participants in an orgy which includes the son of the city’s Police Commissioner (Mariano Vidal Molina). As a result, the case is given to the hard-nosed Inspector Paolo Scaporella (Naschy), who is recognised as a good detective but is constantly in trouble with his superiors due to his anger management issues and violent methods.
Trying to get him to relax when off duty, Naschy’s girlfriend, Silvana (Blanc), accepts a dinner invitation from architect Pietro Volpini (Ángel Aranda) and his wife, Claudia (Susana Mayo). The party is a gathering of old friends, including playboy-businessman Edmundo (Ricardo Merino), his wife Ingrid (María Kosty), academic Professor Sandro Campitelli (Eduardo Calvo) and Blanc’s boss, fashion designer Vittorio Darucchi (Ramón Centenero). Inevitably, the case is discussed, and Calvo shares the information that a dragonfly pinned to clothing was significant in the ancient Chaldean culture when it identified those whose non-conformist behaviour branded them as social outcasts.
To some extent, this is a very formulaic Giallo, with many tropes that will be familiar to fans of these Italian horror thrillers. Black gloved killer racking up an impressive body count, their actions inspired by a traumatic past? Check. Someone struggling to remember one small detail that would unmask the killer? Check. The hero beginning to suspect that the killer lives much closer to home than he could have imagined? Check. These are not new ideas, but Naschy and Klimovsky deliver them in a pacy, entertaining package, with the former’s script a far neater and more focused attempt than his previous efforts in the genre.
The actor also demonstrates a high level of commitment to the role of the volatile police inspector, delivering what is arguably a career-best performance. Cigar permanently chomped between gritted teeth (even in the bath!); this is one cop you do not want to cross. Even his office furniture isn’t safe from one of his violent outbursts! Crucially, though, the first time we see him away from the job, he’s wearing an apron and making spaghetti for girlfriend Blanc. Their relationship is at the core of the drama and provokes a level of audience investment not usually associated with this kind of enterprise.
Naschy and Blanc play off each other very well; her playful mocking of his intensity and obsessive nature softens his character, and their unconventional dynamic is very convincing. Somewhat inevitably, Naschy brings his work home with him and shares details of the case with her, even over an intimate birthday dinner! Later in the film, he dismisses her insights and suggestions and, in a fit of pique, she decides to pursue her own line of enquiry. Although this is obviously fanciful, both actors have laid such a solid foundation with their work earlier in the film that it seems perfectly logical.
The mystery itself might not be compelling or particularly intricate, but it’s still interesting with the secret lives of their friends lining them up as possible suspects. Italian cinema of the 1960s particularly liked to critique the idle rich, and Giallo characters did not escape such scrutiny. By the middle of the next decade, it seems affluent professionals had become more appropriate targets, as the habits of the members of Naschy and Blanc’s inner circles run to infidelity, blackmail and attending high-class strip joints where the clientele seem to be made up of men in dinner jackets and old ladies! One of them even gets his kicks in a coffin with a woman playing dead. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.
It’s also nice to see a killer who doesn’t stick to one method of operation, this example favouring an axe as a weapon of choice but also employing an umbrella, a sword and a golf club. Klimovsky doesn’t display any notable style or extravagance with the murders, and some are brief and almost bloodless. This is a little surprising after the opening scene, which seems to promise quite the opposite, with plenty of arterial spray decorating the walls of the unfortunate painter. Klimovsky also fails to make much out of a murderous rendezvous in a funfair ghost train, and there are a couple of unfortunate ‘dummy down a cliff’ moments.
Blanc was born Enrica Bianchi Colombatto in Gargnano, a commune in the Brescia province in Lombardy, in the summer of 1942. Her first featured screen role was as CIA chief Philippe Hersent’s secretary in ‘Mission Bloody Mary/Agente 077 missione Bloody Mary’ (1965), and had similar supporting roles in other Eurospy romps such as ‘Espionage In Lisbon/Misión Lisbo’ (1965) and ‘Spies Strike Silently/Le Spie Uccidono In Silenzio’ (1966). A far meatier role came in early Giallo ‘The Third Eye/ll Terzo Occhio’ (1966), and she took the female lead in Mario Bava’s excellent ‘Kill, Baby…Kill!/Operazione paura (1966).
Her subsequent career was really a journey through Italian genre cinema, hitting all the expected targets and roles. There were many Spaghetti Westerns such as ‘Blood at Sundown/1000 dollari sul nero’ (1966), the entertaining ‘Halleluja for Django/La più grande rapina del west’ (1967) and ‘Sartana’s Here… Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin/C’è Sartana… vendi la pistola e comprati la bara!’ (1970), and almost as many Gialli. These included ‘So Sweet…So Perverse/Così Dolce…Così Perversa’ (1969), and ‘The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave/La notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba’ (1971). She also gained a kind of notoriety for being the first actor to portray adult film icon Emanuelle in Cesare Canevari’s ‘A Man for Emmanuelle/Io, Emmanuelle’ (1969). After a semi-retirement in the 1980s and 1990s, she returned with a vengeance in the new century, appearing frequently in Italian movies and on television and, as of 2023, is still working.
Cool, solid Giallo, particularly notable for the excellent double team of Naschy and Blanc.
Mark David Welsh 