Watch Four Flies on Grey Velvet For Free

Best movie ever!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

"Flies on Grey Velvet" is the third film of Argento's 'Animal Trilogy.' It was intended to be his swan song to the 'Giallo,' however this would change once The Five Days (1973) failed at the box-office.It would be a couple of years before Argento would make the game-changing decision to use 'Goblin' as composers on Deep Red; but he was veering towards rock here with 'Deep Purple' considered, but once again Morricone composed the score. They had a falling out over some of the tracks though, and as a result would not work together again until The Stendhal Syndrome (1996). This may also explain the noticeably sparse use of music throughout. '…flies' is as egregious as the weird science that can photograph the last image from the retina; the conceit of the film. Argento's unusual opening credits cut between the image of a heart pumping atop a black title card, whilst a rock group's rehearsal is seen via various point-of-view shots (POV) from musical instruments. Rock musician Roberto Tobias leaves the rehearsal studio and follows a mysterious figure into an empty theater where he struggles with a knife wielding man. Roberto accidentally stabs the man, whilst a masked figure captures the moment on camera. If Argento's signature use of a black-gloved 'Giallo' killer is absent, the disguise of the photographer in the theatre prefigures the mechanical doll from Deep Red.Argento continues to toy with gay stereotypes, introducing Private Detective Arrosio, a flamboyant homosexual who brags of never having solved a case, he meets his demise in the stereotypical public toilet; which however serves to illustrate the film's concern for gender confusion, with our eye being led to the male/female indicators on the toilet door. On the same track the long- haired Tobias's locks are contrasted with his short-haired wife Nina's. Tobias is never accused of murder despite the incriminating photographs of the opening sequence. If Mark Lewis' obsession for film in Michael Powell's seminal Peeping Tom has a direct link to his past, the photographs in '…flies…' are more pedestrian, being no more than an attempt to unnerve Tobias (it works), and the pseudo-science of the camera that photographs images on a retina doesn't go anywhere. As is hinted at in the opening credits, Argento wanted to play with the camera and nowhere is this on display as obviously as the bullet tracking shot. It went on to influence so many, including Sam Raimi (The Quick & The Dead), who became a huge fan of tracking anything and everything to delirious effect.'…flies…' tour-de-force is a set piece where Roberto's maid smokes a cigarette whilst waiting in a park. Jacques Tourneur's (and Val Lewton's) The Leopard Man (1943), is evoked as she falls prey to both time and montage; sounds evaporate and people disappear, the gates are locked for the night and there is no-one to save her.

Dario Argento, master of slasher-surrealism, made the interesting Four Flies on Grey Velvet in 1971 … and it combines the low-key elements of his early Giallo period with the more colorful visual experimentation of his later films.Roberto, a drummer in a psychedelic rock band, is being stalked by a man in fedora and sunglasses. When Roberto eventually tracks down and confronts him in an empty confetti-strewn opera house, there is a struggle: his stalker immediately wields a switchblade, but Roberto defends himself and somehow ends up accidentally stabbing the man, causing him to fall into an orchestra pit. SEEMINGLY dead! Meanwhile, some person with a camera, wearing an impish mask, is taking pictures of all this from the opera house balcony.Obviously afraid that he'll be incriminated in the murder, Roberto avoids going to the police. It is not long before someone else begins toying with him, slipping into his home to plant a photo of the killing. This person even sneaks in while he's asleep and kills his cat. Roberto first assumes that he's being blackmailed, but it soon dawns on him that he is now the victim of some sick cat-and-mouse game designed to drive him bonkers. As he sorts through all the suspects (maid, wife's cousin, mailman, etc.) with the assistance of his earthy bohemian friend and a swishy gay private investigator, the culprit does (not surprisingly) turn out to be right under his nose.Like in all of Dario Argento's work, it's the filmmaking style that is the true star, not the actors. Argento rarely pays much attention to his performers, and this film is no exception, but there are a few treasures among the actors to be found here. Michael Brandon is apt (in that he's not very expressive) playing the vapid, macho, and boring Roberto. Mimsy Farmer, who plays his wife, Nina, does eventually come alive at the end of the film (although in an overreaching manner) when she has her big meltdown/confession scene - otherwise, she's pretty bland playing the "dedicated wife." In many ways, you can't blame Farmer since her character is so one-dimensional. A few of the supporting actors, however, stand out. Bud Spenser as Roberto's comical friend, Godfrey, and Jean-Pierre Marielle as Gianni, the overly broad, flaming private investigator, are both very engaging.While Four Flies is not as elegantly garish as Argento's subsequent Suspiria, it's still visually playful enough to give you a hint of the baroque direction Argento would soon take. Charming moments include an opening montage of Roberto jamming with his band (its highlight is a witty POV shot taken from inside a guitar, looking out into a recording studio, as its strings are being strummed) intercut with a pulsating heart over a silent black screen and Roberto being surveyed -- in his car and in the park -- by his stalker. As Roberto drums away, a fly vexes him, which he eventually squashes between his drum cymbals; the build-up to the park murder of Roberto's inquisitive and opportunistic maid stands out with its New Wave jump cuts (think Jean-Luc Godard making a thriller) where late day suddenly becomes night and a populated playground suddenly becomes empty, all within a split second; the climactic scene where the killer's car accidentally collides (in super slow motion) with a truck – we see the killer's stunned face through a crashing sheet of twinkling windshield glass, poetically juxtaposed with Ennio Morricone's haunting lilting music. Four Flies' naturalistic photography is also a charmer, focusing on earthy colors, unlike the much lauded theatrical look of Argento's best known works.Four Flies' script is moderately interesting with odd touches throughout: Roberto's recurring nightmare of a public execution/beheading washed in white sunlight, directly influenced by his friend's grisly party anecdote; a goofy mailman constantly misdelivers Swedish pornography to the wrong addressee; Roberto and Godfrey attend a coffin expo that showcases ornately designed (some - futuristic) caskets; Roberto's cute and cuddly bathtub romp with Nina's cousin, Dalia; an implausible sci-fi device that can record the last image retained on a dead person's retina, possibly revealing who the killer is if a murder is committed. Despite all this nice stuff, the script still has its weaknesses: basically, its flat lead characters and eye-rolling conclusion where Nina reveals herself to be Roberto's stalker. Nina explains her motives in an overly broad monologue that sounds as Freudian as the explanation given at the end of Psycho... and its theory of gender psychosis. She reveals that the reason she is torturing Roberto is because he reminds her of her macho dead father with whom she hates – her father always wanted a son, and would dress her up as a boy when she was little and put her through constant male endurance tests, etc. It's also interesting to add that Nina sports a boyish haircut, where her husband, the manly Roberto, has long locks.For a Dario Argento film, Four Flies' violence is pretty soft (it is PG-rated) except for a few nauseating close-ups of a jumbo needle penetrating a hairy chest's spongy layer and a thick wire being entwined around a man's coarse neck, its leathery skin in rolls. The murder that stands out the most, however, is when Dalia gets sliced on the forehead (an elegant slash like the mark of Harry Potter) right before falling down a flight of stairs (head-first, face-up) her skull plopping musically and cartoonishly against each step as she descends backwards. The coup de grace to this scene is when Argento's camera tracks the killer's perfectly vertical knife, dropping midair, disembodied, like a torpedo, silencing its victim's scream.As I stated before, the style is the most striking thing in a Dario Argento flick -- often, the skeletons of his films just aren't very impressive. Again, it's all in the way he dresses them up!

"Four Flies on Grey Velvet" focuses on Roberto, a drummer in a rock band who is grappling with feelings of guilt for his responsibility in a man's death after he believed him to be stalking him. Following the death of the stranger, he finds himself being blackmailed by an unknown, hellbent assailant.This was one of Argento's films that I had neglected to view for many years, and I was surprised when watching it how complex it was, especially given that it was such an early film of his. Somewhat like "Deep Red," "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" weaves an intricate, winding narrative that spreads out in varying directions before closing back in on itself for the final resolution. The narrative here is for the most part coherent, and there are enough through-lines to really engage the audience from beginning to end.There are some phenomenal and legitimately frightening scenes involving the threatening killer, and the murder scenes are jarring and well handled. Unusual, borderline experimental uses of parallel editing and jump cuts give the narrative a dynamic flair, and atmospherically, every frame bleeds with Argento's unique aesthetic choices. The opening confrontation in the opera house is stunning, and several of the murder scenes are particularly memorable and understated; the film does seem to have some stilted elements to it, including characters and moments that really serve no purpose, but the upshot is that they lend Argento more time to wallow in stylistics. Solid performances from Michael Brandon and Mimsy Farmer really help bolster the proceedings, and Jean-Pierre Marielle is memorable as the flamboyant gay detective.I've read some criticism of the film's conclusion, and while I do find it to be fairly easy in terms of expectancy, it is a clever twist, and the slow-motion finale is mildly remarkable.Overall, "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" is an intriguing giallo with some great, understated murder scenes and a puzzle of a plot that engages the audience in ways which Argento would come to refine even more with "Deep Red." In charting Argento's career, the film is highly important, but even outside the context of his directorial trajectory, it stands as a solid, weirdly memorable effort with some rock'n'roll spirit and an extremely sinister doll mask. For most genre fans, I think that's more than enough. 8/10.

(Credit IMDb) A musician is stalked by an unknown killer who's blackmailing him for an accidental killing of another stalker. But is everything what it appears to be?One thing I'll have to say about this Giallo from Argento that it's watchable for the most part, but it does have moments where it gets rather dull as well. It has some OK suspense, but nothing really stands out about it in my opinion. Argento is known for his stylish antics, and I wasn't really wowed with anything here. It doesn't help that our hero Roberto (Michael Brandon) is really bland, and uncharismatic. The gore is disappointingly tame, aside from a few things here and there, and a very memorable sequence at the end, which I won't spoil, but it's nasty. The twist ending is definitely the most memorable thing in the movie. I honestly didn't see it coming, and it shocked me. I give props to Dario on that. Aside from that, nothing is really special about this Giallo. Argento has done worse, but he's also done much better5.3/10