My Dear Killer

MIO CARO ASSASSINO

MY DEAR ASSASIN

Italy 1971

D: Tonino Valerii.

P: Roberto Goggo for BRG Produzione, Kramot Cinematografica, & Tecisa//St & Sc: Franco Bucceri, Roberto Leoni,José Maesso, Tonino Valerii//DP: Manuel Rojas//E: Franco Fraticelli//M: Ennio Morricone//Art Direction: Claudio Ginini & Francisco Canet//Costumes: Fiorenzo Senese//Makeup: Vittorio Biseo

Cast: George Hilton, William Berger, Patty Shepard, Marilù Tolo, Piero Lulli, Helga Liné, Manolo Zarzo, Tullio Valli, Dante Maggio, Dana Ghia, Alfredo Mayo, Monica Randall, Corrado Gaipa, Andrea Scotti.

A series of murders take place to hide the identity of a child killer. As cast members discover who it is they are quickly dispatched. George Hilton plays a police detective (and for once he's NOT the killer!) who throughout the film displays his genius at solving crimes based on the evidence found at the scene. The killer is revealed by Hilton as he forces each of the surviving cast members to look into a mirror that belonged to the long ago murdered child. On the back she had drawn in chalk a picture of the guilty party.

Ennio Morricone uses a child's humming to set the mood for this elegiac somber film. However, those looking for a score rich in thematic material, will be disappointed. This time Morricone is using a very atonal approach to indicate the mind set of the maniac. Director Tonino Valerii pays tribute to his roots in the Spaghetti Western genre (he directed TODAY IT'S ME, TOMORROW YOU and would be picked by Sergio Leone to direct MY NAME IS NOBODY) by having a character watch DJANGO on TV. Valerii also doesn't flinch from showing the red stuff during the murders. Right off the bat we have a graphic decapitation and later in the film the killer uses a portable circular saw to really chew up the  front and back of a victim (of course it takes place in the bathroom). Helga Liné has a cameo as the wife of the first victim and her demise, compared to her husband's is quite subdued (she's strangled). And how about that Marilu Tolo (she plays Hilton's lover), has she got Brooke Shield's eyebrows from Hell or what?! One of the better efforts in the Gialli genre, it features all the right ingredients for a special experience.