A Quiet Place to Kill (1973)

Redundant and unnecessary.

People are voting emotionally.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The third teaming of actress Carroll Baker with director Umberto Lenzi, yet another sex-and-murder soap opera made in Italy after Baker's Hollywood fortunes had dried up (temporarily, anyway). Here, Carroll is a racecar driver who cracks up on the track; she takes refuge with her handsome ex-husband, who has remarried a wealthy older woman with a daughter from a previous marriage. Double and triple crosses--as well as scenes featuring a nude, unblushing Baker--are in abundance, yet the 'shocking' plot taxes one's patience, particularly since the characters are so vapid. Excellent point-of-view cinematography from the driver's seat lends the narrative far more excitement than the guessing game of who is sleeping with who. ** from ****

Another splendid gialli from the master of sexual intrigue Umberto Lenzi. Many say that this is inferior to his 'Orgasmo' (1969) but it many ways I find it to be of equal merit. Righteous lounge-core soundtrack and another winning performance from one of the true divas of gialli, Carrol Baker. Yet again, Baker suffers at the hands of a scheming; cock sure male; this time a particularly suave and dashing Marc Porel; a man seemingly born to wear pastel v-neck sweaters. His preference for Val Donican's wardrobe does little to mute his excellent performance as a Machiavellian, libidinous, uber-playboy, which is exemplary; making the twist-laden 'a quiet place to kill' a must see for Lenzi-Gialli-Baker fans.

A Quiet Place to Kill is not be confused with the earlier Orgasmo, though unfortunately confusing the pair is very easy as they're from the same director, both feature American actress Carroll Baker and they were both released under the title 'Paranoia'! Quite what the reason for both films featuring the same title is anyone's guess: I know that Italian filmmakers were more interested in making money than anything else, but surely releasing two films under the same title would do more harm than good when it came to the box office...but oh well. It's usually Orgasmo that gets most of the fans; but if you ask me, this second version of Paranoia is the better of the two. Like Lenzi's earlier 'So Sweet, So Perverse', it would appear that the plot has been lifted from the French classic 'Les Diaboliques', and focuses on a love triangle. Playboy Maurice is married to Constance, a woman who decides to invite Maurice's ex-wife Helen to stay with them. Helen doesn't question it too much and accepts the invitation, and soon learns that the reason she's there is to help Constance kill Maurice.The first half of the film is much better than the second, as A Quiet Place to Kill unfortunately looses a bit of steam once it gets the first part of the plot out of the way. In spite of that, however, the film is certainly a very interesting Giallo and definitely delivered many of the things I love about this type of film. Umberto Lenzi manages to ensure that all of the major players are interesting, and Lenzi also ensures that all are guilty in one way or another, which ensures that everyone deserves what they get by the time it finishes. Carroll Baker is not my favourite Giallo heroine, but I liked her in this one. She seems to enjoy acting alongside Jean Sorel, who is as charming as ever. Unknown actresses Anna Proclemer and Marina Coffa round off the cast, along with the experienced Alberto Dalbés - all of which fit into their roles well. The upper class setting does the film a lot of favours, and the locations and fashions are all nice to look at. The plot mostly flows well and while it's usually fairly clear where it's going, A Quiet Place to Kill still manages to be interesting. This is not the best Giallo that Lenzi made (that would be Seven Blood-Stained Orchids), but it's certainly a good one and I recommend it.

One of the other posters (Babycarrot67) has summed up quite nicely the film and the confusion between this film and another Lenzi title.I recently saw this on a Japanese DVD (Italian language only) and it's a good if unremarkable entry to the genre. I personally think that the other gialli Lenzi made around the same time ('Knife Of Ice', 'So Sweet...So Perverse') were better films. If you are looking for some of the trimmings that occur in some of the more outrageous films in the giallo genre (like 'Torso' or even Lenzi's own 'Eyeball') you might be disappointed. This is very much a talky and plot driven film and relies less on murder set-pieces and gratuitous nudity than many films in the genre. It's always good to see Carroll Baker in the lead role- she gives a solid performance as do the other cast. The plot is not bad throwing in some interesting twists along the way.So a solid but unremarkable entry to the genre. I would only suggest this one to people who have seen the better entries to the genre (like from Argento or Martino) only but I do hope it gets an English DVD edition some time in the future. If you are interested in Lenzi gialli the Region 1 versions of 'Spasmo' and 'Seven Blood-Stained Orchids' would be a better place to start.