 After
carving a name for himself with The
Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Sergio Martino wasted
no time in revisiting the giallo genre. This time he follows
closely a set-up “borrowed” from Psycho.
Like all good thrillers, we start this out by meeting a lovely
woman. Her husband died in a tragic model airplane crash,
and unbeknownst to her she inherited a nice, cool million
dollars as a result. Even though she is automatically a suspect,
she is handed over the money – in cash – and decides
that it would be best if she left the city. This is probably
a very wise decision, but unfortunately for her, she meets
her end to the entirely expected shadowy man clouded in black
leather… or more accurately, to his sharp blade.
After being deprived of both our main suspect and protagonist,
the unbelievably awesome George Hilton (also from Strange
Vice) returns in this picture as our ex-heroine’s
insurance investigator, Peter. He takes it upon himself to
find the murderer, come hell or high water. For an insurance
agent, he seems to be taking an awful lot of interest in her
demise. Just what was their relationship all about? Wait,
doesn’t he know exactly how much money she was given
and what it was placed in? It doesn’t take long before
Peter becomes the prime suspect in the eyes of the police.
As
the media gets ahold of this incredible set of circumstances,
the eyes of the gorgeous reporter Cléo Dupont (Anita
Strindberg)  meet Peter and there is an almost instantaneous
attraction between the two of them. This leads to a torrid
affair that they at first try to keep to themselves; but after
surviving an attack by our murderer while together, they essentially
drop the charade and spend as much time together as possible.
Is it ever really a wise idea for a reporter to be fraternizing
with a suspect she should be reporting on? No, it isn’t.
Apparently Cléo isn’t as bright as Lois Lane
or Brenda Starr. Soon the body count rises as supporting characters
are killed off in amazingly creative ways.
The story of The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail is much more practical than The
Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, and this makes for
an easier to follow mystery. The spins that are added are
a great deal more plausible… maybe even obvious. It
really doesn’t take too long for the viewer to figure
out the mystery. Even at the finale, the police commissioner
explains that they pretty much had the suspect pinned down
the whole time.
 Still,
the film gets a 10 out of 10 for style and look. It is widely
scenic due to a nice bit of globetrotting by the characters.
There is a little bit of Athens, a little bit of Italy, and
various other locales. Whereas most thrillers are primarily
stuck in confined areas, there is no end to the openness of
the outdoor scenes, which effectively convey location. Why
set your film in New York, for example, if it is indistinguishable
to any other city? When we are indoors, the sets are decorated
quite nicely with very bold colors on every wall. This gives
a good feel for both what was fashionable at the time, and
a nice contrast with our shadowy killer.
The style of the cinematography almost feels as if it were
a step up from Martino’s previous film. There are the
requisite giallo shots, such as the close-up on the glistening
blade or the gloved hand, but the camera seems to have much
more activity and, since the plot is considerably more believable,
seems to move at a much quicker pace with less need to explain
things. The murder sequences are also very well choreographed,
particularly some hand slicing and a Fulci-esque “broken
bottle vs. eye” sequence that isn’t for the squeamish.
With so much going on, you won’t even question what
the hell a “scorpion’s tail” has to do with
anything at all – until you are shown in the last act.
Fun twists. An awesome cast featuring many genre regulars.
Spectacular and unflinching grand guignol style murder sequences,
and an almost believable plot. What more could you ask for
in a giallo?
 Extras
Creepy Crawl: The
Scorpion’s Shadow – (24:09) This featurette
is similar in scope to the same on Mrs.
Wardh. We have separate interviews with Martino
and Hilton. We also hear from Sergio’s son Luciano and
writer Ernesto Gastaldi. It seems to have been a while since
the principal players have last had a chance to see the movie.
This seems to have affected Gastaldi the most, as he can’t
remember key things such as how it ends. Additionally, there
is some dry space throughout the otherwise short feature.
There is something to be said about the power of nostalgia
and reminiscing and there is quite a bit of that going on
here. It wasn’t a well-prepared move by the interviewees,
but it does show truth in the faces of the subject as they
suddenly remember something and are delighted to be able to
tell it. This is a much better way to relate to someone rather
than simply letting them speak pre-written responses. It could
have been shortened, but you won’t be checking your
watch while watching this either.
Theatrical Trailer – (2:27)
Impressively, they have the trailer in both Italian and English.
It’s the same trailer with different audio tracks but
it is fun to hear both versions. This trailer is incredibly
bold by making comparisons of importance to The Golem, M,
Battleship Potempkin and L’Age D’or. They just
don’t make trailers like this anymore.
Poster & Still Gallery –
(0:54) Eleven posters and other press materials used to promote
the film, accompanied by the film soundtrack.
Also included is the always awesome 6-page
booklet. However, this time it suffers for reusing much of
the same material from the one in Strange Vice. The articles
on Martino and George Hilton are the same, but what is added
is a nice two-page bio/article on Anita Strindberg. Admittedly,
I can’t see anyone complaining about this reproduction,
but I would have liked to see more text devoted to the film.
Fine
Not even a year passed since
the release of The
Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh when Sergio Martino
dropped his next giallo in our lap. While that film was  a
superior thriller in its own right, he was actually able to
trump that with The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail.
Having now seen his first two giallo films, it becomes clear
how important Martino was to the genre and how he started
progressing early on as a filmmaker. With as fantastic a presentation
as you could want, giallo fans have much to rejoice about
with being able to add these gems to their collections. If
you have to choose one or the other, purchase Scorpion. But
by all means please rent them both.
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