Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

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

morrison-dylan-fan For my 10th anniversary on IMDb,I decided that I would celebrate the event by watching a "new" title from an auteur film maker who has been a major part of my film viewing over the last 10 years:Dario Aregento.Planning to watch The Card Player,my DVD player that it was far from happy with the hand that it had been dealt,by constantly jamming the DVD up! Frantically searching round,I spotted a TV movie by Argento,which I had been slightly uneasy over viewing,due to sadly not having seen that much of Alfred Hitchcock's work.With there being no other Argento titles in my sight,I decided to find out if you could still like the film,even without knowing Hitchcock.The plot:Taking a break from his film studying,student Julio opens the window of his flat and looks across the street.Appearing across the street like a dream,Julio spots a neighbour called Sasha undressing.Enjoying the rush of voyeurism,Julio starts to keep a close eye on Sasha,which leads to him seeing Sasha having an argument with her mum.Getting set to rent out a title from his friend Andrea's video store,Julio is caught by surprise,when he runs into Sasha at the store.Getting hold of the film Strangers on a Train just before a fellow sexy video customer, (what are the chances!) called Federica.As he leaves the shop,Julio notices Sasha & Federica deep in conversation.In the mood for a voyeurism hit later that night,Julio instead witnesses Sasha's mum getting brutally murdered by a black coat wearing stranger.As he calls the cops,Julio begins to fear that he is about to enter his own Hitchcock tale.View on the film:Originally designed to be the first episode of a 7 part Italian Thriller TV series, (which after the series budget was cut in half,led to this being the only filmed episode)co-writer/(along with Franco Ferrini) directing auteur Dario Argento & cinematographer Frederic Fasano open this stylish Giallo with a scene straight from a long forgotten Brothers Grimm story,which along with showing the beginning of Julio's voyeurism streak,also subtly recalls the witches from Argento's "three mothers" trilogy.Whilst he does include a handful of Hitchcock references,Argento gives this TV movie an eye-catching,feature film canvas.Argento scans the screen with ultra-stylised whip-pans showing Sasha's skin (played by an elegant Elisabetta Rocchetti,who also appears naked in the TV movie!)setting Julio's voyeurism weakness off.Along with the flesh & impressively blunt levels of blood,Argento also sinks the Giallo into a Film Noir atmosphere,with the use of water allowing Argento to rift on his past Deep Red,and to also scatter unrelenting rain across the screen,which builds up an excellent tense mood,as Julio tries to figure out which Hitchcock he is trapped in.Whilst the screenplay by Argento & Franco Ferrini is a little too focused on seeing how many homages it can include,the writers still make the Giallo mystery its own thing,thanks to flashbacks to Julio's childhood allowing the writers to make Julio's almost- stalker like obsessions block any attempt by Julio to get help in solving the murder.Entering the title looking like Harry Potter's geekier brother (is that even possible!) Elio Germano gives a wonderful performance as Julio,with Germano avoiding the easy sleaze-ball route that the character could have take,by giving Julio a real sincerity,and a real determination which heats up as Julio tries to find out how much the mysterious killer likes Hitchcock.

callanvass (Credit, IMDb) A college film student, obsessed with the works of Alfred Hitchcock, investigates a murder committed in the apartment building across from his and suspects that his seductive neighbor hired a girlfriend to commit the deed. I didn't hate this movie, far from it. I actually enjoyed this somewhat. It has some neat homages to Rear Window, Vertigo, among other works. I just felt that Dario Argento should have gone a bit further with the plot. That seems to be the theme for Argento these days "Missed potential" I'm not sure if he has succumbed to the pressures of trying to adapt to today's society, but he can't seem to fully put it together. Your enjoyment of this film may hinge on how you feel about the polarizing lead. Elio Germano is a completely asinine in almost every scene he's in. He's an unlikable pervert that is very hard to elicit sympathy from. You have a gorgeous woman, why are you treating her so badly? I couldn't stomach him, but managed to get into the movie anyway. The performances are nothing to write home about, but that's not really what Argento films are all about. The Man is about style. It has some decent twists, involving the killer, and Argento puts in his usual stylistic touches. I just felt he could have done so much more with this movie. I didn't mind it, but I didn't love it either. It's worth a look, just don't expect too much. You take what you can get from Argento these days. 5.6/10

lastliberal If you are an Argento or Hitchcok fan, you will certainly enjoy this. It is not meant to be a typical Argento film, but an homage to Hitcock, especially Rear Window and Strangers on a Train.Harry Potter lookalike Guilio (Elio Germano) spends the time, when he isn't studying German expressionist film (Nosferatu, for example), peering into Sasha's (Elisabetta Rocchetti) bedroom across the way (with binoculars). Of course, when he isn't admiring her naked body, he is watching her argue with her mother (Milvia Marigliano).One day he runs into Frederica (Chiara Conti) at the video store, and sees her moments later talking to Sasha. After Sasha's mother is murdered, Guilio immediately thinks of Strangers on a Train (he is a film student, after all), and decides to do some snooping, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Arianna (Cristina Brondo), who gets a short shrift.Things get a little dicey when the girls discover he's looking. The video store clerk (Iván Morales) tries to kill Guilio in a Dial M for Murder homage, and is only stopped by his mother's (Elena Maria Bellini) new boyfriend.Exciting suspense with little blood.

RainDogJr "This young Italian guy is starting to worry me".Dario Argento gained the attention of one of the biggest influences, maybe the biggest, in his career: Alfred Hitchcock. In his homage to the master of suspense, he practically returns to the basic murder-mystery story that itself have always the influence of Hitchcock. The main character of the story is Giulio (Elio Germano), a film student who lives alone in an apartment and spends his time with his girlfriend (Cristina Brondo), watching films, especially of the German Expressionist (Caligari, Nosferatu, Golem, etc), and making studies about them. As a film lover I always like a lot when in a film there are references to Cinema itself and in this case we all must find familiar those images in the DVD store looking out fore some new and interesting titles. The fact that the main character is making his thesis about the German Expressionist is perfect to put some images of "Nosferatu" and "The Golem" and also I like a lot how film posters looks on the screen, some of them in the film are the ones of "Vertigo", "Metropolis" and "Nosferatu", and are only details but I really like them. Returning to the story, we have that Giulio has been always an observer so now in his apartment he begins to spy his sexy neighbor Sasha (Elisabetta Rocchetti) and he see the bad relation between Sasha and her mother (Milvia Marigliano). The giallo begins when Sasha's mother is mysteriously murdered inside her own apartment. Giulio's fear and paranoia makes that he begins to build his own theory about the murdered having the Hitchcock film "Strangers on a Train" in mind (Sasha previously rented the DVD of that film and also talked about it with Federica) believing that Federica was the murderer of Sasha's mother so now he believes that Sasha is going to kill somebody related with Federica, of course like in the Hitchcock movie.The film runtime is only 90 minutes and definitely is a really good and fast-paced murder mystery film without a lot tension and gore scenes but is amazingly entertaining and really well acted. Being a Hitchcock homage of course there are many references to him part of having the common environment of a suspense film. The most notorious are the ones to "Rear Window", "Marnie", "Psycho" and of course to "Strangers on a Train".Cast: as I write the film is pretty well acted. Germano is really good for the main role, looking always insecure and sometimes unable to solve the mystery. The support cast is also good, with the sexy Elisabetta Rocchetti, and for me the character of Giulio's girlfriend is a little weak.Conclusion: A basic murder story but I really enjoyed this Argento film that was made for TV. For me is not one of the finest films of Dario but still is recommendable and really good. Just be careful with the things you see.Region 4 DVD: I realize about the existence of this film through this site and after reading what was about, I had lots of desires to watch it. It was just a complete surprise to find the Region 4 DVD of this film since I never imagine a release. The DVD is just good with the English language only and the TV spot as the unique extra.