FourFliesonGreyVelvet

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

This is another Giallo from Dario Argento. For those unfamiliar with what a Giallo is the easiest way for me to describe it is as an Italian murder mystery. That is kind of an oversimplification, but it works for these purposes. The story here revolves around a musician named Roberto who is being followed by a mysterious stranger. Eventually Roberto corners the man and quite by accident kills him with the man’s own knife. Afraid to go to the police he runs away, but someone saw him. Soon pictures of the crime start to show up in Roberto’s house. But rather than blackmail him it seems that whoever is responsible is just torturing him. Roberto recruits some odd characters to help him figure out what is going on. Who is doing this terrible thing to him and why? I’m not going to ruin the surprise.

Argento takes a lot of heat for his supposed lake of narratives in his movies. Personally I don’t think that is true, especially with his Giallo films. Four Flies has a great plot that is only confusing because as an audience we are right there with the character of Roberto in trying to figure out who it is. There aren’t any red herrings (false suspects) in the movie, just a lot of twists and turns. When the killer’s identity is finally revealed everything clicks together and makes sense. There aren’t any obvious plot holes that prevent the killer from having done the crimes. The only thing that might be hard to swallow is the technique by which the Four Flies on Grey Velvet are identified and come into the storyline. While a bit silly it also seems a perfect fit for a Giallo, especially one as stylized as Argento’s. The performances are fine. I mean to really be honest none of the cast is all that memorable. In fact the best characters are the odd balls recruited by Roberto. The detective, the professor, and Godfrey (aka God) are neat characters and well written. But even then the actors playing them do a good job, but these aren’t great performances.

There aren’t too many kills in the movie, but all of them are done well. One of the characters gets dispatched in a men’s room in a particularly unpleasant way, which is cool. But the best kill in the movie has a head bouncing down a stairwell and is really nasty. Of course being an Argento movie we are treated to a few stylized shots, including a camera angle from inside a guitar! There are a few more interesting shots that give the movie that “Argento” feel, but it doesn’t get in the way of the story and isn’t over the top. We do get a lot of POV from the killer, but it works and is very effective in showing the killer without ever really showing them. I thought it was kind of cool.

It took a long time for this one to get a legit DVD release and I’m glad that it did. If you like Giallo movies or you are a fan of Argento then you will dig this movie. If you are new to Giallos or Argento this is a good place to start. I recommend Four Flies on Grey Velvet.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer