Some purists consider the giallo to be a purely Italian genre but there are a number of Spanish films which tick all the right boxes and it’s hard to see how they can be considered to be anything but giallos (or gialli if you prefer).
I’ve always enjoyed Paul Naschy’s performances but I probably have been guilty of thinking of him as a somewhat limited actor. In this film he plays a hardbitten police detective which is an interesting change of pace for him.
While this is a Spanish film it is set in Milan. Spanish film-makers found that the Spanish censors would let them get away with a bit more if they avoided Spanish settings, and thereby avoided the implication that crime and immorality were rife in Spain. And there’s plenty of crime and immorality in this movie.
A serial killer is at work and his targets appear to be chosen because they fit into the popular conception of the social deviant or social misfit categories. The first three victims are a rapist, a drug addict and a prostitute.
The killer leaves an ornamental plastic dragonfly at the scene of each killing.
Inspector Paolo Scaporella (Paul Naschy) is assigned to the case, despite having apparently messed up his previous case. He needs a result this time. The killer keeps sending him messages, assuming that Paolo will approve of his plans for cleaning up the city. Paolo is not a great fan of social deviants but he likes murderers even less.
Paolo is very hardboiled and he’s quite prepared to get rough when interrogating a suspect. On the other hand he’s not a bitter loner. He is happily married, to Silvana (Erika Blanc), and he’s a loving husband. He’s a bit of a rough diamond but really he’s a pretty good guy and as the story unfolds we grow to like him quite a bit.
The body count continues to mount and every time a witness is about to give Paolo some vital piece of evidence the witness gets killed first.
The killings are not the spectacular visual set-pieces you get in many giallos but they’re fairly bloody. The killer favours two weapons - an axe and an umbrella concealing a sword blade. And yes, the killer wears black gloves.
Being a cop Paolo is already familiar with the seedy side of Milan but in this case he encounters a few kinks he didn’t know about, such as the guy who likes to have sex with girls in coffins.
The dragonfly had been used by the ancient Chaldeans to identify social misfits. This is perhaps a clue, or perhaps a red herring.
Naschy clearly understood the mechanics of the genre and his script gives us everything we could want in a giallo, with lots of twists and red herrings and misleading clues.
There’s an atmosphere of sleaze and decadence which is nicely balanced by the affectionate relationship between Paolo and his wife. A giallo can make one cynical about our species so it’s nice to be reminded that some husbands love their wives and are faithful to them and some wives love their husbands and are faithful to them. The very good chemistry between Naschy and Erika Blanc helps.
There’s enough blood to satisfy those who like that sort of thing and enough sleaze to keep sleaze fans reasonably happy.
Director León Klimovsky doesn’t have a huge reputation among eurocult fans but he made some decent horror films with Vengeance of the Zombies (1973, with Naschy) being particularly good. I quite liked The Vampires’ Night Orgy (1973) and Werewolf vs Vampire Woman (1971) although I suspect I’ll enjoy them more if and when I get to see them decently restored and uncut.
As was customary at the time many scenes in A Dragonfly for Each Corpse were shot twice, in clothed versions for the Spanish market and nude versions for the international market. Shout! Factory’s Blu-Ray offers us the racier international version. This is a moderately sleazy movie and the sleaze factor is essential considering the nature of the murderer’s motivations. The Blu-Ray release looks great.
I’ve reviewed quite a few Paul Naschy movies, including the extremely interesting gothic horror/giallo hybrid Panic Beats (1983) and the wonderful set-in-Japan werewolf flick The Beast and the Magic Sword (1983).
A Dragonfly for Each Corpse is a good solid giallo and Naschy’s charisma is enough to earn it a highly recommended rating.
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