Der Phantom-Killer schlägt zu (1969)

Der Phantom-Killer schlägt zu: Directed by Javier Setó. With Larry Ward, Teresa Gimpera, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Fernando Sánchez Polack. A scheming blonde plots to steal her husband’s money, not by killing him, but by driving him to the brink of insanity so that, once he’s institutionalized, she and his twin brother (whom she’s having an affair with!) can run his estate and have all his dough!

“This is an entertaining Italian giallo, but one that might not appeal to newcomers to the genre because even by giallo standards the plot here is especially absurd. The movie starts with what appears to be a simple case of blackmail, but the hapless blackmailer (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) finds that his intended target (Larry Ward)is actually the identical twin brother of the target, a crooked pharmacist who is having an affair with his brotheru0026#39;s wife (Spanish actress Teresa Gimpera). The adulterous pair enlist the blackmailer in a ridiculously complicated scheme to drive their brother/husband insane. This involves, among other things, the twin pretending to be his brother and picking up and abusing a streetwalker (the gorgeous Silvana Venturelli, who appeared in several Radley Metzger movies). Perhaps the most ridiculous conceit, however, has the villainous pair implanting false memories in the brother/husband through auto-suggestion after drugging him and triggering grand mal seizures! (They canu0026#39;t just kill him because of a provision in his will, so they have to mentally incapacitate him somehow). Anyway, the whole thing only gets more ridiculous from there, but the ending is excellent.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlthough it suffers the usual indifferent English dubbing job, the acting all seems pretty good. The otherwise unknown Larry Ward is surprisingly good as the two brothers. Giacomo Rossi-Stuart is good as always, if a bit wasted in a small role. The two women are also both good, but this is obviously Spanish-Italian production and I apparently saw the more conservative Spanish cut, so Venturrelli quite uncharacteristically keeps her kit on here (if you want to see a lot more of her though check out u0026quot;The Lickerish Quartetu0026quot;). I also saw a relatively decent bootleg but one that was still obviously substandard compared to a legitimate release, so it was a pretty hard to appreciate any visual stylings the film might have. Spanish director Seto doesnu0026#39;t seem to be in the category of Argento, Martino, Lenzi, Fulci, et. al. when it comes to visually exciting work , but who can really tell with one of these bootlegs? u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis rather ridiculous and ridiculously convoluted movie will probably only confuse newcomers to the generally crazy, madcap giallo genre, but hardcore giallo enthusiasts will probably like it.”