Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972)

There's an instantly arresting opening credit sequence to this. Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) playing some dreaded progressive rock with his band, interspersed with a back background punctuated with a graphic beating heart. Ah, this will be directed (and co-written) by Dario Argento then! The first few scenes are suitably macabre and bizarre also. Gruesome events are witnessed and apparently recorded by a strange figure wearing an outsized doll mask. Like Pete Walker's later 'The Comeback (1978)', a male musician, rather than a female, is the victim of sinister events. In this case, this results in a lack of one of the many merits of giallo – no strong women characters. As Tobias' wife Nina, Mimsy Farmer seems too weak-willed to stand up to him much of the time, and Nina's cousin Daria (stunning Francine Racette) is very happy to fall into his arms (in the bath-tub no less). And yet the nervous Tobias is somewhat brash and arrogant, despite Brandon's convincing portrayal, and this adds to a paucity of characters to identify with, much less side with.Dario Argento's occasionally overtly gaudy, wilfully weird set-ups and execution can sometimes actually work against the atmosphere of the films I have seen under his stewardship. This is very much the case here. There are some psychedelic moments, some truly surreal set-pieces and some impressive killings. He has a style which is very much his own, and rightly he has been lauded for his sense of unique imagery. And yet to my tastes, this is at the expense of a narrative I can really get involved in.This was the final part of the 'animal trilogy' that had also included 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)' and 'The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)', all of which contain traits similar to this. Enjoyable giallo entertainment, but I'm not entirely enamoured of the lurid execution.

This early Argento has the director's usual trademarks: a young man witnesses (or in this case, accidentally takes part in) a killing and finds himself next on a hit list, all the while being plagued by the same bizarre flash back. There are lots of P.O.V. shots through the killer's eyes, and of course, there's a flamboyant gay man, the giallo genre's version of the "black guy who dies first" in American horror movies.Gialli always end with revelation after revelation as we find out whodunit, and why. Oftentimes this feels rushed after all the build up of red herrings and far fetched murders and suspects disposed of. In that final moment of exposition, if you haven't been paying close attention, you won't be sufficiently surprised when the killer joins the dots."Four Flies on Grey Velvet" is the first giallo I've seen with the opposite problem. The ending feels staggered, and starts to drag on. The final killer's reasoning for doing what they did seems a bit too far fetched, even for a thriller, and the flashback sequence - shown without creepy lullaby music this time - is never explained.It is a top notch thriller up until this point, though. I liked Italian comedian Bud Spencer as a beatnik friend of the hero, and the final piece of evidence that links the killer to the crime, and explains the name of the movie, is well done.

I have been waiting a long time to view this film, after the first 2 parts in Argento's brilliant animal trilogy "Bird with the Crystal Plumage" and "Cat O' Nine Tails" which were both excellent in their own ways, and "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" has always been hard to find and perhaps least remembered. Then when I finally got round to seeing it, well I was pleasantly fulfilled, okay it's not as strong as the other 2 and may be a bit flawed, but still manages to shine with yet another intriguing storyline and fascinating characters and plot twists.The storyline here is we have a drummer in a rock band named Roberto Tobias whose straight away being stalked by a man and when he confronts him, he pulls out a knife and tries to attack him, but after the struggle the stalker gets stabbed. A mysterious masked stranger took photographs of the entire incident and later begins to taunt him and starts to murder people in his life.Okay "Four Flies" may lack the elegance and style of the first part of the animal trilogy, but it still packs a punch, especially the masked stranger, with that freaky mask which is truly terrifying and you definitely feel a sense of dread whenever this person is around and the opening of this movie was a very interesting concept and then the growing paranoia of the lead character begins to grow and grow as he wonders what's gonna happen next is truly tense. Along with several stylish murder scenes such as the maid in the park as she's running towards the gate, was beautifully shot and terrifying, and the girl hiding in the cupboard kept me on the edge of my seat and the nerve racking outcome made me jump out of my skin. Even the final reveal was well executed and was a total shock, and the medical experiment which utilizes the four files was truly exciting, especially when it's played out in the end, and the shocking aftermath was a truly brilliant and thrilling experience and one that will be remembered forever.The performances were solid in this one and even the supporting cast were memorable and great as well. Michael Brandon gave a good performance as the lead character and Mimsy Farmer also gave an interesting performance and gives a great screen presence, especially towards the end. Jean Pierre Marielle also gives a standout supporting performance as the private investigator and was truly hilarious and really makes you feel for his character.All in all a good ending to the animal trilogy and okay may not be as strong as the other two, but still worth a watch with its good storyline, intriguing mystery and fantastic ending that neatly wraps everything up.

Is this film the lost classic that people have been harping on about? Well, that's all subjective I guess. I do like my gialli cheesy and groovy, and this film certainly has that – although it does feel slightly lacking in the 'investigative' side of things. Never mind though, as Argento goes for crazy imagery and comes up trumps in that respect. A drummer for a prog-rock band finds himself being followed by a mysterious figure for an entire day. Losing his rag, he turns pursuer and ends up chasing the guy into a disused theatre, where he ends up stabbing the guy in a brief struggle. That's bad enough, but the person wearing the creepy mask and taking photos during the struggle is going to cause our guy all sorts of problems, as pictures start turning up in our hero's home, and someone is stalking around his house at night. Who did our man kill? How does the cleaner know who the blackmailer is? And who keeps having flashbacks to an abusive father? A private investigator steps in to help, but I'm saying nothing more, except to say the bodies start piling up before our drummer can discover who's really behind the killings, and nothing is as it seems. Like Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Cat O' Nine Tails, this early Argento giallo has a healthy dose of humour thrown to the proceedings, what with legend Bud Spencer playing God(frey), a tramp who helps out our drummer guy, a postman who keeps being berated and beaten, and the ultra-camp performance of the PI (a recurring theme in Argento's early films). The crazy visuals are brilliant throughout, and although I wouldn't say it's an outright classic (like Cat O Nine Tails, there's a lot of messing around), it's still a really good giallo. Also like Cat O Nine Tails, there's a fairly dodgy scientific explanation for things that some people may find a bit hard to swallow, and instead of the killer being discovered through an earlier clue, they're kind of stumbled upon instead (and quite easy to guess). However, you've got to check it out.