SteinMo
What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.
Peereddi
I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Nigel P
The music of the magnificent Bruno Nicolai ushers us into a busy street scene in which young blond is travelling across town to meet a friend. An elevator. A gloved figure dressed in black. A knife. A spattering of bright blood. And we're off … Lots of scantily clad girls. A camp photographer. Edwige Fenech. An audience of men politely denying a challenge from a dominating model Mizar (Carla Brait): "Let's you and I do it." She's issuing a challenge for a 3-minute wrestling match, of course, and naturally, she wipes the floor with any who accept her challenge. She is not quite so successful when pitted against the mysterious murderer, however … Fenech plays Jennifer Lansbury, estranged wife of aggressive swinger Adam, who demands she returns to him and his polygamous lifestyle. Too obvious to be the killer, attention then turns to Lansbury, who is used as bait to trap the killer by Commissioner Enci (Giampiero Albertini).There are some effective set-pieces, my favourite of which is the demise of playful scamp Marilyn (Paola Quattrini) in the middle of a bustling street. As she clutches at the blood gushing out of her stomach, no-one appears to take any notice, or are too busy to care, before she collapses in the arms of handsome Andrea (George Hilton) – who becomes yet another suspect.There's an elderly eccentric (and horror comic addict!) who is discovered to be hiding her deformed son David. Naturally, being scarred, he is also a sex fiend (!) with designs on Lansbury. Could he be a further possible felon? Whoever the murderer is, and I'm not telling, Fenech is the star and quite rightly her character is central throughout (Producer Luciano Martino and Fenech were an item at the time). She is not only a sublime actress that oozes a genuine charisma, but alongside Rosalba Neri, I would say she is one of the faces of giallo. When the tension is ratcheted up toward the end, there's genuine concern for her. My favourite giallo featuring Fenech continues to be 'The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (1971)', but 'The Case of the Bloody Iris' occasionally approaches a similar standard.
radiobirdma
The more so-called "giallos" you watch, the harder you feel the mighty power of Uncle Yawn – it's Groundhog Day again, with scalpel-wielding headcases, slapped faces, catholic chicks in heat, boobs alert, and another cheeeeesy screenplay fusing the spirit of an imbecile Hercule Poirot with the advanced aesthetics of the busty clip. This time two super-bimbos rent a flat in an apartment complex where a psycho killer hunts ... yo, man, super-bimbos! And the mounting tension indeed leads to some equally puzzling and disturbing questions: Why does Uruguayan coat-tree George Hilton always look like he flew in from Stepford? Was Bruno Nicolai's flatulent jingling originally composed for a Walmart Italia commercial? Did scriptwriter Ernesto Gastaldi really laugh so maniacally all the way to the bank? And why the heck is that pale brunette from the bunny dept. in every second fiasco, pardon me, giallo? Now, folks, that's a damn lot of red herrings.
jadavix
"The Case of the Bloody Iris" is a superior giallo which benefits from the mesmerising presence of one Edwige Fenech, who fared much better in gialli than she did in all those dreadful Italian sex comedies. The producers had enough sense to let her be the heroine, rather than the standard debonair older gent, who thankfully doesn't come between her and the camera.The movie also has the bonus of never being boring. There are choice moments such as Fenech's first appearance, topless with body paint as a policewoman or some such (had she started making those commedia sexy all'italiana movies yet?) There is also a strikingly beautiful woman of colour who has a great scene, stripping on stage and then challenging men in the audience to come and fight her.The killings, if that's what you're here for, aren't as memorable, except for one hilarious moment where a ditzy blond girl has just been knifed and staggers up to the debonair gent (who, remember, isn't the hero) and rather than helping her in any way, he gazes off into the distance as though posing for an advertisement for cologne while she bleeds all over him. People, unsurprisingly, assume him to be the killer: he is at least partially culpable for not doing anything to help her!This one loses points in the end for not really being suspenseful. When the killer is revealed, it's not that much of a revelation. At least the journey there is fun.
Lechuguilla
More than one young woman gets murdered in a high-rise apartment, in a film that I would describe as an average Italian Giallo. Like many Giallos of that era, the film's plot is not real believable. But the film contains all the elements that Giallo lovers would like: beautiful young women, a masked killer, some blood, bright colors, POV camera shots, inept cops, false leads.Lighting and sound effects, and absence of dialogue, ramp up the suspense in several scenes. Arguably, the best sequence occurs near the end when the lead character, sexy Jennifer (Edwige Fenech) makes her way alone through a subterranean boiler room. It's very dark, and noises create subtle echoes. She's scared. The woman with whom she has been with has just been murdered. And the killer is still somewhere nearby. Suddenly, in the darkness, a flashlight shines in Jennifer's face. And all we see is the outline of some person moving toward her.The film's color cinematography is competent. Visuals have a widescreen projection. Some good overhead camera shots and lots of close-in zooms keep the visuals interesting. Acting is marginally acceptable. But Giallos are not known for great acting. The score, too, is competent, if unremarkable."The Case Of The Bloody Iris" features the usual nudity/violence combo, en route to the resolution of the whodunit puzzle. The visuals, while no match for Dario Argento's films, are good enough to make the film worth watching, at least for viewers who enjoy the Giallo style of film-making.
