Knife of Ice

This film (drama)Also known asIl coltello di ghiaccio，is aItaly, SpainProducerwomen sex，At1972Released in year 。The dialogue language isItalian，Current Douban rating6.1(For reference only)。

This early 70's giallo by Umberto Lenzi is certainly among the best in his filmography and also in the whole genre. Personally, I think Lenzi's best films are the funny cartoon-turned-film Kriminal, the stylish giallo Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, the explosive Napoli violenta, and this. In the eighties, he did plenty of film trash in the form of Eaten Alive, Hitcher in the Dark, or Black Demons, all of which are ripping something off and/or very dull and slow-moving. Knife of Ice came when the giallo boom was at its hottest, and the result is convincing. Technically, the film is superb, containing great cinematography in the beginning when we learn about the main character's trauma towards trains. From this point on, Lenzi shows us his ability to benefit from the widescreen, and, for example, the bicycle ride near the forest is genuinely beautiful! This scene also shows Lenzi's ability to build suspense, very slowly but meaningfully. After all, there aren't so many murders in the whole film, only the suspense circulating around the murderer's identity. One suspect is a devil worshipper, which brings new aspects to the mystery. Since the final scene takes place in a church, one can wonder if Lenzi wanted to comment on something, maybe the hypocritical morale of church and superstition. The main character (Carrol Baker) is mute, which demands a lot from her face and eyes. The actress works very well, giving us a believable performance circulating around the emotions of fear and mental pain. The other actors are good, too. However, the finale may not give too positive a sight about female sex since they all are expressed rather negatively in the film, one way or another. Still, this is easily among the most noteworthy in the genre, not as bloody as the Argento films, for example, but equally suspenseful and visually also interesting.