The Murder Clinic

LA LAMA NEL CORPO

THE MURDER CLINIC

Italy 1965

D: Lionello De Felice & Elio Scardamaglia

P: Elio & Francesco Scardamaglia for Leone Film//St & Sc: Ernesto Gastaldi, Luciano Martino//DP: Marcello Masciocchi//E: Richard Hartley//M: Francesco De Masi//Art D: Walter Patriarci//Costumes: Albert Miller//Makeup: Massimo Giustini.

Cast: William Berger, Francoise Prevost, Mary Young (Anna Maria Polani), Barbara Wilson, Delphine Maurin, Philippe Hersent, Harriet White, Massimo Righi, Patricia Carr, Ann Sherman, Germano Longo.

Mary is a new nurse at the Vance Clinic. The facility is run by Dr. Robert Vance and his wife Elizabeth and is home to several mentally ill patients. In the woods nearby, Claudine, a thief, escapes her captors and is taken into the clinic by a sympathetic Dr. Vance. As she stays there, she hears strange noises in the attic. Upon investigation, she discovers a disfigured woman. Claudine begins to suspect foul play occurring at the clinic and tries to bribe the good doctor. Patients are being terrorized by the disfigured woman and Claudine is found dead. Dr. Vance reveals that the woman upstairs is his wife's sister. He was to marry her when a jealous Elizabeth caused her to fall into a lime pit. A storm is raging outdoors as vengeance finally getting its reward that very night.

The film is very much a classic Gothic Giallo with both a fine performance by Berger and effective direction by Scardmaglia. The sad thing is Scardmaglia never directed another film due to his producing duties. Based on this film, fans of Italian horror were denied some potentially great works in the genre. Berger's performance is amazing, especially when you consider what a cad his character really is, yet by the film's conclusion you're rooting for him all the way. The fact that he dubbed his own voice really helps, a luxury not always afforded to those toiling in the low budget foreign horror field. The score by Francesco De Masi is a great improvement over the usual composers of Gothic Cinema, Aldo Piga and Roman Vlad. Their works harkens back to the old fashioned music found in the Universal films of the thirties and severely dates such films as I VAMPIRI and SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES. De Masi's melodies are beautiful to listen to and his suspense motifs, quite effective. Today this film is all but forgotten, no doubt partially due to the fact that its director never made another film and there being no legitimate DVD release. With no one to champion a body of work, it usually results in being ignored or forgotten.