Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Coventry There exist two types of gialli, and I'm not referring to the Italian ones versus all the other countries. No, I'm actually talking about two types of plots. Either a giallo handles about a masked psycho-killer with black gloves who savagely butchers people – preferably pretty young models – with sharp objects, or it handles about a convoluted murder conspiracy complete with sexual intrigues, betrayal and triangular relationships. "Death Haunts Monica", a Spanish giallo released when the glory years of the genre were already fading out, belongs in the second category and it also takes an incredibly long time before the murders start occurring. But don't be alarmed too much because the film still provides plenty of entertainment during the first gore-free hour, thanks to interesting character developments, tension building and – of course – copious amounts of 100% gratuitous nudity. The beautiful and rich Monica is married to Federico (played by Jean Sorel who plays an adulterous scumbag in pretty much every movie I've ever seen starring him) and lives a rather dull and monotonous life inside their big luxurious mansion. Federico and his sex- addicted partner Arturo run a successful company, but Federico also has an affair with the sexy model Eva. However, Eva is actually in a lesbian relationship with Federico's secretary Elena, and the both of them want to blackmail him by threatening to inform Monica about her husband unfaithfulness. And as if life isn't difficult enough already for Federico, a sinister ex-convict shows up at his doorstep and threatens to expose a horrible secret from the past. And then, suddenly, poor Monica is attacked in her own house by a violent perpetrator dressed in black… The main problem with "Death Haunts Monica" is a typical one for over-ambitious gialli from unknown and largely inexperienced directors. The plot and suspense keeps on building up towards a climax that can't possibly meet the expectations that were raised during the film. In spite of all the intrigues and the red herrings and the secrecy, the conclusion is rather dumb and multiple essential key-characters are eliminated abruptly. Like several of my fellow reviewers already pointed out, director Ramón Fernandez clearly tried to imitate the French suspense masterpiece "Les Diaboliques", especially during the wannabe sensual sequences where Nadiuska and Karin Schubert are sitting on a bed naked and conspiring against Federico, but the homage doesn't really work. The character of Arturo is amusing (but totally implausible) and the sub plot with the mysterious Diego definitely holds potential but remains too vague. "Death Haunts Monica" is perhaps worth a look in case you're a fellow giallo-lover and have already seen all the more popular Italian classics, but not a movie worth tracing down.

Ben Larson This outrageous Spanish thriller was distributed in the US as Death Haunts Mónica--an apt enough title until one realizes how much else is haunting the poor girl. Murder, mayhem, kinky Sapphic encounters, and risqué bathing behavior are just a few of the elements in Ramon Fernandez's off-the-wall Giallo.It features no fewer than three European beauties: Nadiuska, Bárbara Rey, and Karin Schubert. All three are on full display for a significant part of the film. They are accompanied by several others who present brief glimpses.The principal male, Monica's (Nadiuska) husband, is French actor Jean Sorel. I remember him in front of a firing squad in the original Day of the Jackal. Of course, Monica may be putting him in front of a firing squad if he doesn't leave his mistress (Bárbara Rey).Elena (Karin Schubert) is plotting to steal the company, and stirring things up with Monica and her husband. But, things get twisted and you don't know who is fooling whom.

melvelvit-1 A wealthy woman shoots her husband's blackmailer but he won't stay dead in this twisty DIABOLIQUE-like thriller starring handsome devil Jean Sorel, a little league Alain Delon and a much-beloved "mascot" of 60s and 70s Italian gialli. Director Ramón Fernández may have crafted a run-of-the-mill "erotic thriller" in classic Eurotrash fashion but for a "bloodless" (e.g. psychological) giallo, it's never dull and the Eurobabes all get naked, even the titular death magnet, Naduiska, who looks something like Sophia Loren. Teutonic tart Karin Shubert would later go on to make hardcore porn at the age of forty to support her drug habit.

lazarillo I love gialli, even the bad ones, and this actually a kind of middle-of-the-road one. It is a very obscure entry into the genre and one that didn't even make Adrian Luther-Smith's seminal (and highly recommended) book on the genre "Blood and Black Lace". This is what I would call a "Diabolique-style" gialli because, like the famous French thriller, it involves a group of wealthy, ridiculously attractive people crossing and double-crossing each other in an elaborate sex and murder plot, and it is somewhat different than the ultra-stylized, ultra-violent mass-murder mysteries inspired by Dario Argento's "Bird with Crystal Plumage". But while most of these kind of "Diabolique-style" gialli (i.e. "The Sweer Body of Deborah", "Paranoia", "One on Top of the Other") were made BEFORE Argento's famous debut in 1969, this one was apparently made many years later. I suspect that was because it was mostly a Spanish film that, judging from almost ridiculous amounts of sex, nudity, and generally immoral behavior, was celebrating the recent death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco (and the end of Spanish censorship) in what was called the "destape" period.A man (Jean Sorel) is married to a rich woman (Maroushka) and has used her money to start a successful company. The man's female partner (Karin Schubert) is using her own lesbian lover (Barbara Rey) to seduce the man into affair and break-up the marriage all in an elaborate plot to take over the company. The man, meanwhile, is being blackmailed by a recently-paroled felon from his past (he was once a criminal and con artist). The rich wife is attacked by who she thinks is the blackmailer. She apparently kills him in self-defense, but, of course, the real plot is much more elaborate and includes several more murders(including a very visually impressive double hanging scene).French actor Jean Sorel had been in a lot of the early Italian gialli's in the late 60's, but he took his career to Spain in the mid 70's where he appeared in films like this and Eloy Inglesias' "Murder in a Blue World". I'm not familiar with either Marnoushka or Barbara Rey. Neither are especially impressive acting-wise, but that may not have been the main reason they were cast as they both have more nude scenes in this than even Karin Schubert. Schubert was a German actress who did a lot of sexy nudie roles in Italian films in the 70's ("Ubalda-All Naked and Warm", "Black Emanuelle") and then strangely became a hardcore porn star in the late 80's when she was forty-something, addicted to hard drugs, and no longer particularly attractive. This is one of better roles as she gets to play a scheming villainess rather than just a typical blonde piece of tail. I know nothing about the Spanish director, but like fellow Spaniard Eloy Inglesias in "The Glass Ceiling", he is obviously a big Alfred Hitchcock fan, except that he pays homage here to "Dial M for Murder" rather than "Rear Window". Decent giallo. Recommended.