'FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET'.....GIALLO AND GOODBYE TO ARGENTO'S 'ANIMALS'......

Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1972)   Unlike Dario Argento's two previous 'Giallo' entries, "The Bird With The Crystal Plumage" and "Cat 'O Nine Tails", this film, the most strangely memorable of his 'animals' trilogy, barely passed through any projector bulbs in USA theaters,  despite its distribution by Paramount.  It took decades for the BQ to finally catch up with this little oddball item when at last it surfaced on DVD......

            We'll skip re-reviewing all the typical 'Giallo' tropes, which we've thoroughly covered in the previous two posts......and just say that while 'Four Flies' rings all the traditional Giallo bells, you can also catch glimpses of Argento flirting with delirious, logic-free supernatural fantasy that would become a hallmark of his later work.....and in the nonsensical, over-the-top insanity of this film's serial killer, you get a sneak preview of the horrors yet to come in Argento screamers like "Suspiria.".....

             The casting is simultaneously weak and strong here. Once again, Argento employs bland, obscure and modestly competent American actors for his leads, (Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer)
Brandon stares blankly off into space through most of the film, except when he's enraged.....and then over-acts wildly. Farmer, starting a long career in European films, doesn't register a pulse either until called upon to perform a climactic scene that's ridiculously above her limited abilities.

             On the plus side, Argento deftly populates his supporting cast of typical Giallo eccentrics with a few nice surprises.......none other than that burly Teddy Bear of Italian westerns, Bud Spencer shows up. And for his requisite comedy relief flouncy-bouncy swishing gay caricature, Argento cast Jean-Pierre Marielle, an actor skilled enough to rise above the paper thin cheap gags......and rare for any Giallo, Marielle provides the film with a fleeting but remarkable bit of pathos.....startling for a director who mostly used gay men in his films for easy snickering......

             As the film progresses, Argento includes all the expected set pieces.....but as opposed to the previous two films, starts to cut the story loose from any logic or common sense.  There's an early-on plot twist, but it's utterly stupid if you stop to think about it for more than two seconds.  A brilliantly sun bleached dream sequence of a Middle East beheading figures into a the plot as a premonition...as it's repeated throughout the film. And who doesn't love the bonkers signature gimmick....the image of four flies imprinted as the last image seen on a murder victim's retina.....let's see that one hold up in court.....

               For his reveal of the movie's resident lunatic, Argento leaves any connection to the real world far behind........not only is the killer's motive grandly idiotic, sounding improvised at the last minute, the director fittingly gives this berserk character a grisly, slow motion Grand Opera fate, lovingly scored by Ennio Morricone like a sweet farewell......

             Argento failed miserably when after the 'aminals' trilogy, he directed an ambitious war comedy, "Fives Days in Milan".....and came roaring back with "Deep Red", a film considered as the 'Giallo'-iest of all Giallos.   Yes, the BQ's seen it and we promise to get to it eventually......but more than three of these movies in a row can be hazardous to your health....so we'll wash the Giallo blood off our hands for now, assign 3 stars (***) to 'Four Flies'.....and move on to entertainment that doesn't involve psychotic rage and close ups of screaming tonsils......(we guess that means laying off cable news for a while.....)