The Killer Must Kill Again (1975)

Powerful

best movie i've ever seen.

As Good As It Gets

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Mr. Mainardi (Euro fave, George Hilton) accidentally witnesses a man (Michel Antoine) dumping a body. Rather than report the crime to the police, Mainardi blackmails him into murdering his wealthy wife, Norma. Things go smoothly, but before the killer can dispose of Norma's body, a delinquent couple steals the car which has the corpse stashed in the trunk. The maniac begins tracking them down as the two are completely oblivious to what they've gotten themselves into.Before I bought and watched "The Killer Must Kill Again", Luigi Cozzi wasn't a director I had been particularly fond of. Being the sucker for gialli that I am, I decided to take a chance on this one when the DVD hit. While this isn't in the upper tier of Italian horror, it did prove to me that Cozzi is quite capable of doing something above substandard sleaze and cheese.This is actually a quality film, though I fail to see how it has found itself classified as a giallo. We know who the killer if from the get-go, though he is never named. There is no mystery here unless you wonder what led to his initial murder which Mainardi stumbles upon. I have to say that it reminded me of Hitchcock's classic suspense pictures more than it did any giallo. "Dial M for Murder" definitely came to mind at first, but then it went off in it's own direction. On the other hand, as is usually the case in the giallo sub-genre, virtually none of the characters are totally innocent. The protagonists steal a car and $150, plus they lie constantly. I also thought it was amusing how Luca is romancing this girl, only to help another girl on the side of a road and then do her in the stolen car. Sometimes you just have to get any wherever you can! My main issue with the film is that after the car is stolen, it gets bogged down and doesn't really pick up again until the killer finds the couple. This portion could have been spiced up a bit.The killer himself is actually a pretty intimidating fellow, what with Michel Antoine's reptilian facial features and large build, but he definitely has a lot of hell in this movie. Things just never seem to go right for him. As the greedy blackmailer, George Hilton is convincingly suave, even with the weird sideburns. These two make for a fine pair of villains.Cozzi's direction is solid, and there are only a few small doses of the cheese that would dominate many of his later films. He employs some nifty camera tricks that he surely picked up from Argento. I also liked how he had the two very different sex scenes playing out seamlessly at the same time. In fact, that mean-spirited rape is the only real bit of nastiness on display here. Again, not the norm for a giallo, but the lack of it certainly doesn't hurt the film any.Overall, this is a fine piece of work from a man who I originally had pegged as another Bruno Mattei. Any fan of the gialli sub-genre should be pleased, even if it isn't a giallo in the truest sense of the word. While the pacing goes off the rails at one point and the climax feels a tad anti-climatic, it's not enough to ruin things.

A sadly disappointing giallo. The film began promisingly enough as it seemed to be playing out as a "comedy of errors" (or rather, a "thriller" of errors) as a creepy killer is paid by a man to murder his wife. The killing is easy enough, but getting...(read more) rid of the body proves difficult.Despite an interesting premise that's brimming with promise, the film is unable to fulfill it as it screeches to a halt around the thirty minute mark. From this point on, the plot focuses upon the pointless meanderings of a couple who essentially do nothing but make love and argue.The viewer hopes for the plot to get better once the killer confronts them, but it ends up only getting worse as we witness a brutally graphic rape and a pornographic sex scene, both of which add absolutely nothing to the proceedings. In addition, the characters perpetually make illogical and irrational choices that irritate the viewer, resulting in a film that starts off strong yet ends up being rather pointless exploitative trash.Skip it.

I am happy to report that Spanish-born actress Cristina Galbo is now a very solid 3 for 3 with me. She was excellent as the doomed student in the 1971 giallo "What Have You Done To Solange?" and ever so appealing in the 1974 zombie gut-muncher "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie." And now, here she is again in "The Killer Must Kill Again," giving another fine performance in this 1975 Italian suspense thriller. This film tells a simple story, really. A husband (played by hunky giallo regular George Hilton) hires a homicidal maniac to do away with his wife. The deed accomplished, the killer (played by the creepy-looking Michel Antoine) stuffs the body into the trunk of his car, only to have it stolen by a pair of teenaged joyriders (one of whom is our Cristina). This, of course, sends the dumbfounded madman off in hot pursuit.... Anyway, although this picture offers no real surprises (unlike most gialli, we already know the killer's identity, as well as his motivations), there is a great deal of suspense generated somehow, as we suspect that when Antoine eventually does catch up with Galbo and her beau, the spam really will hit the fan. And it does indeed, in spades! The film features competent but fairly undistinguished direction by Luigi Cozzi (flashy only in a couple of sex/rape scenes) and ominous music by Nando de Luca. It is a very straightforward little film, actually, that gives the viewer precisely what is expected. Even Hilton's fate is kind of foreseeable. Still, I did enjoy watching the film go through its paces, and Cristina Galbo's exquisite presence makes it go down all the easier. I think I'm ready now to sign up for her modern-day flamenco classes in California!

Giorgio (George Hilton) has no clue what he's going to do with his bitchy nagging, yet wealthy wife. One night while on a pay phone in a remote section of town, he spies someone trying to dispose of a dead body, not believing his good luck he walks over to tell the murderer (Antoine Saint-John, still awhile away from his best role in Lucio Fulci's "The Beyond") to kill again, namely his wife Norma, or he'll go to the police with what he had just witnessed, throwing in 20 thousand dollars cash to sweeten the deal. The killer is able to hold his end off the bargain but then the car that the now deceased body is in is promptly stolen leading to a frantic chase between the killer and carjackers, while Giorgio deals with the police who think they're dealing with a kidnapping.This being a Luigi Cozzi directed film, I was sincerely surprised how competent and generally good it was. I mean sure, I enjoyed his later "Contamination", but that wasn't for the competence in that film, as their was none. This film, however, isn't just competent, it's actually a fairly solid cat and mouse chase story. And deserves too be more well known, hell I'd settle for known at all. If you can overlook a few plot holes, it's a solid effort.My Grade: B Eye Candy: Teresa Velázquezas Norma shows her right tit; Femi Benussi as a Dizzy Blone goes full frontal; and Cristina Galbó gets topless DVD Extras: Commentary with Director Luigi Cozzi and Author Pete Tombs; 3 Featurettes (Road to the Killer, Working with Argento, & the Giallo Genre); Original title sequence; Stills gallery; Theatrical Trailer; and a compilation trailer for other Mondo Macabro released films (featuring nudity)