A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975)

Thanks for the memories!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

A Dragonfly For Each Corpse seems at first glance to be a by-the-numbers copy of the Italian type of giallo, incorporating most of its tropes, but there are enough deviations from the formula that make it one of the better films in its genre. At the center of this film lies the cliché of the puritan-killer, a negative altruist who believes he or she is making the world a better place by ridding it of the morally impure. Akin to the antagonist in Lucio Fulci's 1972 masterpiece Don't Torture a Duckling, the murderer in Dragonfly is even more vicious, although the psychological motivation ultimately isn't as rich, layered or political as in Duckling. Naschy portrays the police investigator assigned to the case, and his character is about as far from Waldemar Daninsky as you're ever likely to see. It's wonderful to see Naschy portraying the cop in one giallo immediately after playing the red herring in the previous one (Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll). Donning a big bushy mustache (hubba-hubba!) and perpetually puffing a fat cigar, Naschy plays Inspector Scaporella to the hilt; and as screenwriter, Naschy serves up a slice of Milanese life that runs the gamut from the posh high-end aristocrats to the low-life street scum, and the red light districts that they frequent. Even though it's a trope of the genre as a whole, Naschy and Klimovsky display a particularly strong contempt for humanity in this giallo – no strata of people are left unscathed, unlike in the films of uber-Marxist Fulci, whose compassion always lies with the salt of the earth. But what Naschy does that I've never seen in an Italian giallo is give so much life to the protagonist's love interest. Mrs. Scaporella, played by genre-icon Erika Blanc, decides to try and solve the murders on her own, but what's Mrs. Scaporella's motivation to solve the crimes before her husband does? Could she be involved in the murders in some way? Though certainly no Nick and Nora Charles, Inspector and Mrs. Scaporella make a great pair, and it's ultimately the performances of Naschy and Blanc that qualify Dragonfly as a good movie. They and their banter help elevate this bloody body count of a film to one of the best Naschy (and Klimovsky) ever made. Very hard to find a copy of this, but it's out there and worth searching for.

"A Dragonfly for Each Corpse" along with "Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll" is unquestionably the best Spanish giallo of early 70's.Paul Naschy plays Inspector Scaporella,who investigates a series of brutal murders committed by mysterious Dragonfly Killer.He or she kills various degenerates,drug users and prostitutes in Milan.The killer is particularly merciless as he axes to death one man and two women during one episode of mass murder.His or her trademark is to leave dragonfly or a high-fashion button on the bodies of freshly slaughtered victims.It seems that he killer's modus operandi is reminiscent of the ancient sect of the Caldeans...Trashy and campy giallo with several sadistic killings and a healthy dose of sleaze.Naschy performance is pretty over-the-top and it's nice to see Eurohorror regular Erica Blanc in her another outrageous role.8 out of 10.

Una Libelula Para Cada Muerto, or A Dragonfly for Each Corpse as it's more commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, is set in Milan where some drug addict low life named Franco Perotti buys his latest fix & heads home to inject but once there he is brutally murdered by a hatchet wielding psycho... Italy's finest Inspector Paolo Scaporella (Jacinto Molina under his usual Paul Naschy pseudonym) is on the case with the only clue being a small Dragonfly left on the body, Franco was the second to fall victim to the 'Dragonfly Killer' & as the bodies continue to pile up the pressure on Scaporella increases. It seems someone is waging a one person war on the drug users, dealers, prostitutes & the general scum of Milan. Scaporella has little to go on apart from the Dragonfly's & a drawing by one of the victims, a drawing of something that Scaporella can't quite make out but his wife Silvana (Erika Blnac) thinks she can which makes her the Dragonfly killer's next target...This Spanish production was directed by Leon Klimovsky & I personally thought it was nothing more than a below average murder mystery that tries to spice it's undercooked story up with some nudity & fairly gory (for the time) murders. The script by star Jacinto Molina (under that name) is your basic who dun-nit & not one that particularly impressed me, it starts off well enough with a couple of decent kills but then all sorts of unlikely things happen to stretch the story out & I found the climactic unmasking of the killer very underwhelming. The film states early on that the killer is trying to 'clean up' Milan & in the final reckoning that's all it amounts too, so in that respect we know the killers motives from pretty much the first five minutes & after that it's just a case of them being found out which in the end Scaporella's wife does! Why didn't they just put her on the case in the first place? Also there's the usual stupid unrealistic character actions, for instance if you knew the identity of a sadistic killer who had brutally murdered at least five people would you try to black mail them & even worse meet up with them in the middle of the night in a completely deserted & isolated location? I mean that's just asking for trouble, isn't it? I don't get the roller-coaster escape bit either, if your trying to escape from the police why get on a roller-coaster? I mean a roller-coaster just travels around the same track & will always end up back where it started, right? There really is very little chance of escaping anywhere on a fairground roller-coaster. The film moves along at a reasonable pace, it has a fair few murder scenes although they're not that graphic & it's watchable but it's just not very clever, the killer's motives & identity are both disappointing & could have used more thought.Director Klimovsky does OK, the film has that 70's sleazy horror atmosphere to it, there's a fair bit of nudity but it lacks gore or violence. Oh, isn't that title A Dragonfly for Each Corpse just great? The title is one of the main reasons I bothered with it & as many of you already know you can't judge a film by it's title. The fashions & facial hair are all very 70's & the film has a certain dated feel to it which I liked.Technically the film is alright, it's well made enough with decent production values. The film was shot in Spanish & I can honestly say the dubbing & voice acting is absolutely terrible which gives the film an unintentional & unwanted comedic element. Naschy sports a fine moustache in this one, he's all man...Una Libelula Para Cada Muerto is a by-the-numbers murder mystery that can't quite decide whether it wants to be a full on gory slasher or a thoughtful who dun-nit, it's somewhere between the two without totally satisfying in either department. Watch something like Tenebre (1982), The New York Ripper (1982) or Opera (1987) instead.

This Spanish-Italian co-produced Giallo belongs to the more obscure outings of the cult genre. Most people involved in the making were Spaniards, and it has never got a release in Italy, which is unique for a film of that kind.In Milan, a killer slays drug addicts, prostitutes and other "immoral" people in nasty ways. Small dragonflies (made of wax or something like that) are left on the bodies of the victims. And the more people die, the more clues lead the investigating inspector to believe that the killer is a mutual friend of his wife and himself.The film's premise is quite interesting, although not too original. The body count is surprisingly high, although they are not as graphic as in some other Gialli. Nevertheless, the murder scenes are quite nasty. Paul Naschy (who also starred in the probably best Spanish Giallo "Los Ojos Azules de la Muneca Rota" and in the Jack-the-Ripper-inspired "Sette Cadaveri per Scotland Yard") is casted against type as the investigating officer (in the afore mentioned two Gialli he was an innocent and rather tragic suspect), and Erika Blanc does a good job as the inspector's wife who knows the killer quite well - unknowingly, of course.The problem of the film is that it becomes arbitrary after a good start. Especially the identity of the killer doesn't convince very much, his or her motive as arbitrary as the maniac's identity. Also, some scenes with the inspector investigating are merely brought in to include fight scenes or nude scenes instead of pushing the plot forward. And for good measure, there is also a gang of thugs wearing Nazi-style clothes! All in all, "Una Libelula Para cada Muerto" surely is funny and interesting for Giallo collectors, but don't expect to watch a genre movie above average.