Fantastic!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

****SPOILERS**** In this blood splattering Gaillo flick it's greed and money more then anything else that motivates the killer to do in his victims then the usual failed love triangle or him being mistreated as a youth, by not getting a birthday or Christmas present, that you would expect in movies like this. It starts with death of businessman Kurt Baumer in a suspected bombing of the passenger plane-by a suspected like ISIS terrorist group no less-he was in, with the plane looking like a toy model, over the Pacific. It's Kurt's old lady Lisa who ends up getting one million dollars in insurance who's suspected by insurance agent Peter Lynch of somehow, he just can't put the finger on it, of having Kurt done him in.Meanwhile Lisa is stalked by this down and out on his luck junkie Phillip, her former lover, for cash to pay for his drugs who's later found dead when Lisa went to pay him off. As for Lisa herself she also ends up murdered by the same person who killed junkie Phillip when she flew to Athens Greece, from Rome Italy, to cash the million dollar check and take a flight to Tokyo. In order for her to split it with what seamed like the person who made all this good fortune possible, by knocking off Kurt and Phillip, for her. Things pick up when insurance investigator Lynch gets hooked up with reporter Cleo Dupont whom he not only falls in love with but later saves her life from the killer.***SPOILERS*** It's much later that both Lynch and Cleo go on a boat trip to an out of the way Greek island, oh how romantic, for both fun and games that the truth behind all these murders finally comes to light. And it's Cleo by doing a little scuba diving who not only uncovers the missing million dollars in cash but the person who stole it from Lisa Baumer after he murdered her! It was in fact a scorpion trinket found at Lisa's hotel room in Athens as well as a matching one in her late husband Kurt mansion back in Rome that lead, thus the movie's title "Case of the Scorpion's Tale", to the killer. That's after he also murdered the two other persons Lara Florakis and her burly bodyguard Sharif who could prove that Kurt's death wasn't an accident.

¨The Case of the Scorpion's Tail¨ begins with the mysterious death of a billionaire when a plane explodes and spirals into the killing ; as the newspapers publicize : ¨Air disaster , nor survivors¨ . As his suddenly rich wife (Evelyn Stewart or Ida Galli) because he's insured for one million of dollars . Being the unfaithful spouse the beneficiary as the insurance agency arranges to pay . It draws the attention of various sleuths to sniff out suspects . A dogged and top investigator named Peter Lynch (George Hilton) , a Greek police (Luigi Pistilli), a Interpol agent ( Alberto De Mendoza ) and a journalist ( Anita Strindberg) , follow a wake of blood to the bitter final . Meanwhile Peter Lynch becomes companion and protector the widow .Sergio Martino's great success is compellingly directed with well staged murders plenty of startling visual content , though was submitted to limited censorship in Spain . This is a customary slasher where the intrigue, tension, suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . The picture packs atmospheric blending of eerie thrills and creepy chills combined with a twisted finale . It displays lots of guts and blood but it seems pretty mild compared to today's gore feasts . It's a solid movie , a thrilling story plenty of suspense and intrigue in which the victims seem to be continuous . The staged killings are the high points of the movie , they deliver the goods plenty of screams, shocks and tension . The intriguing moments are compactly made and fast moving ; as the film itself takes place from various points of sights . It packs tension, shocks , thrills, chills and lots of blood . There's plenty of moments of gore and a number of scenes that are quite thrilling , resulting to be definitely the spotlight of the film the surprising ending situation . Lousy special effects when the plane explodes , it's in made in ridiculous scale model that lookalike a little toy . Written by the usuals , Ernesto Gastaldi and Eduardo Manzanos Brochero ( also producer with his Production Company called Copercines , as he produced several Gialli and Western as ¨Apocalypse Joe , Danger Pass , Winchester one among thousand , Arrival Sartana , Djanjo the condemned ¨) . Good ambiance design and acceptable production design by Cubero and Galicia , both of whom created lots of sets in several Western filmed in the 60s and 70s . Sergio Martino's so-so direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and more inclined toward violence and lots of killings . It's a co-production Italian- Spanish , for that reason appears Spanish actors as Luis Barboo , Alberto De Mendoza , Janine Reynaud and Italian players as Luigi Pistilli and Ida Galli , among others . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Emilio Foriscot who photographed splendidly Londres , Madrid , Rome and Greece where is developed the action . However , the photography is washed-out and for that reason is necessary an urgent remastering . Very good and suspenseful score by Bruno Nicolai , known disciple of Ennio Morricone and his director of orchestra . The picture is professionally directed by the prolific filmmaker Sergio Martino . Talented and versatile writer/director Sergio Martino has made a vast array of often solid and entertaining films in all kind of genres as horror, Giallo , comedy, Western, and science fiction in a career that spans over 40 years . He especially was expert on Western as proved in ¨Mannaja¨ and ¨Arizona returns¨ and Giallo as this ¨The case of scorpion's tail ¨ , ¨Torso¨ ,¨the scorpion with two tails¨ and of course ¨The strange vice of Mrs Ward¨. Rating: Acceptable and passable , this is one more imaginative slasher pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style throughout a story with magnificent visual skills. This is a bewildering story , funny in some moment but falls flat and it will appeal to hardcore Gialli fans

This isn't as popular as Martino's other gialli, perhaps because his regular leading lady Edwige Fenech – who was indisposed – got replaced here by Anita Strindberg (and with her entrance delayed until almost the half-hour mark); in fact, the film adopts a PSYCHO (1960)-ish gimmick by having Evelyn Stewart's character take center-stage for the first third of the narrative and then get bumped off! To make up perhaps for a fairly conventional plot – with a handful of characters after a missing $1 million in insurance money – the violence is laid on pretty thick throughout (though not so much the sex this time around); similarly, the director includes any number of preposterous camera angles to liven up proceedings and disorientate viewers. Frankly, such flamboyant measures (extending to the trailer, which absurdly likens THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL to milestones of German Expressionism, Soviet propaganda cinema and Surrealist films maudits!) weren't really needed as interest is generally maintained regardless with the sorting out of the various clues, twists and red herrings. In fact, the film keeps one guessing as to the killer's eventual identity and this certainly adds to the fun. The cast helps a lot, too: George Hilton gets one of his meatier parts, while Strindberg does well enough considering (in fact, I couldn't quite visualize Fenech in the role!); apart from the requisite figures of authority – Alberto De Mendoza as an Interpol agent lending a helping hand (who also ends up getting the girl!) and Luigi Pistilli as the local cop on the case – two Jess Franco alumni, Janine Reynaud and Luis Barboo, surprisingly feature prominently among the suspects/murder victims. Other typical assets are the exotic Mediterranean setting (mainly Greece) and yet another solid score by Bruno Nicolai (coincidentally, himself a Franco regular).

I'm really tempted to reward "The Case of the Scorpion's Tail" with a solid 10 out of 10 rating, but that would largely be because I think Italian horror cinema of the 1970's is SO much better than the cheesy crap I usually watch. But even without an extra point for nostalgia, this is STILL a genuine masterwork and earning a high rating for its excellently convoluted story, uncanny atmosphere, blood-soaked killing sequences and superb casting choices. In my humble opinion this is actually Sergio Martino's finest giallo, and that has got to mean something, as "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh", "All the Colors of the Dark", "Torso" and "Your Vice is a Locked Room and only I have the Key" are all top-notch genre achievements as well. But this film is just a tad bit superior with its ultra-compelling plot revolving on an insurance fraud gone madly out of control. Following her husband's peculiar death in a plane explosion (!), Lisa Baumer promptly becomes the suspicious owner of one million dollars and she's eager to leave the country as soon as possible. Due to the bizarre circumstances, the insurance company puts their best investigator Peter Lynch on the case and he follows her to Greece. There, Lisa becomes the target of many assaults and the case's mysteriousness increases when it turns out several people are hunting for the money. I'm always overly anxious when briefly summarizing gialli because I don't want to risk giving away essential plot elements. In "The Case of the Scorpion's Tail", the events take an abrupt and totally unexpected turn before the story is even halfway, and I certainly don't want to ruin this for you. Many red herrings follow after that, but Sergio Martino always succeeds to stay one step ahead of you and, even though not a 100% satisfying, the denouement is at least surprising. It's also a very stylish film, with imaginative camera-work and excellent music by Bruno Nicolai. Everyone' s favorite giallo muse Edwige Fenech oddly didn't make it to this cast (she stars in no less than 3 other supreme Martino gialli), but Anita Strindberg ("Lizard in a Woman's Skin", "Who Saw Her Die?") is a more than worthy replacement for her. The charismatic and hunky George Hilton is reliable as always in his role of insurance investigator and – duh – ladies' man deluxe. If you're a fan of giallo, don't wait as long as I did to WATCH THIS FILM!!!!