Watch Death Haunts Monica For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

Simply Perfect

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Taking part in a ICM poll for the best movies of 1976,I started checking the shelf for the DVD of Ruggero Deodato's Italian Crime epic Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. Looking down the shelves,I was pleased to find the 1976 duo of Nico Mastorakis's debut Death Has Blue Eyes,and an enticing-sounding Giallo,which led to me meeting Mónica.The plot:Getting married to heiress Mónica, Federico uses her money to set-up a successful company called Eurozona. Dominating boardroom meetings, Federico starts an affair with Eva, (who is a lesbian,and deeply in love with Elena)Unknown to Federico,Elena and Eva have made plans to blackmail Eurozona out of Federico's hands. Aware of their marriage being in trouble and feeling uncomfortable around Eurozona's co- CEO/her husbands pal Arturo, Mónica is shaken when a burglar enters her house and she shoots him. Waking up after fainting from fear, Mónica finds the dead body of Federico's former business partner Diego. Dropping Diego's body in the river, Mónica soon finds her sanity to drop with it.View on the film:Investigating this psychological "bloodless" Giallo with a Film Noir flavour, director Ramón Fernández & cinematographer Hans Burmann make their three leading ladies appear incredible beautiful,with the extended scenes where they are naked being presented in elegant side-shots that give a playfully casual mood to the double-dealing conversations taking place. Smashing into Mónica's mansion, Fernández burns down her life of luxury with ultra-stylised creeping camera moves slithering round the house,and lingering glimpses in the corner of rooms building on the anxiety of Mónica's crumbling mind.Laying out all of their possessions, the screenplay by Juan José Alonso Millán superbly agitates the gaps in Federico and Mónica "perfect marriage", where Federico's dangerous liaison with Eva brings out a cold Film Noir fear in Mónica of being surrounded by vipers. Racing to a wonderfully odd mad-dash double-crossing revelation to the mystery, Millán chips into Mónica's doubts over her sight with gripping Giallo sleigh of hand that in this case actually does run like clockwork, and uses the double trouble of Elena and Eva as Femme Fatale sirens who attract Mónica anxiety to their underhanded dealing.Wrapping tightly round each other,sexy Karin Schubert and Bárbara Rey give terrific performances as Elena and Eva,who are both given an icy vibe that gives their exchanges with Federico and Mónica a venomous snap. Bouncing off Jean Sorel delicately playing the ambiguity of Federico, "Nadiuska" sizzles as Mónica,whose ruptures in paranoia Nadiuska pushes Mónica deep into the Giallo black gloves.

There exist two types of gialli, and I'm not referring to the Italian ones versus all the other countries. No, I'm actually talking about two types of plots. Either a giallo handles about a masked psycho-killer with black gloves who savagely butchers people – preferably pretty young models – with sharp objects, or it handles about a convoluted murder conspiracy complete with sexual intrigues, betrayal and triangular relationships. "Death Haunts Monica", a Spanish giallo released when the glory years of the genre were already fading out, belongs in the second category and it also takes an incredibly long time before the murders start occurring. But don't be alarmed too much because the film still provides plenty of entertainment during the first gore-free hour, thanks to interesting character developments, tension building and – of course – copious amounts of 100% gratuitous nudity. The beautiful and rich Monica is married to Federico (played by Jean Sorel who plays an adulterous scumbag in pretty much every movie I've ever seen starring him) and lives a rather dull and monotonous life inside their big luxurious mansion. Federico and his sex- addicted partner Arturo run a successful company, but Federico also has an affair with the sexy model Eva. However, Eva is actually in a lesbian relationship with Federico's secretary Elena, and the both of them want to blackmail him by threatening to inform Monica about her husband unfaithfulness. And as if life isn't difficult enough already for Federico, a sinister ex-convict shows up at his doorstep and threatens to expose a horrible secret from the past. And then, suddenly, poor Monica is attacked in her own house by a violent perpetrator dressed in black… The main problem with "Death Haunts Monica" is a typical one for over-ambitious gialli from unknown and largely inexperienced directors. The plot and suspense keeps on building up towards a climax that can't possibly meet the expectations that were raised during the film. In spite of all the intrigues and the red herrings and the secrecy, the conclusion is rather dumb and multiple essential key-characters are eliminated abruptly. Like several of my fellow reviewers already pointed out, director Ramón Fernandez clearly tried to imitate the French suspense masterpiece "Les Diaboliques", especially during the wannabe sensual sequences where Nadiuska and Karin Schubert are sitting on a bed naked and conspiring against Federico, but the homage doesn't really work. The character of Arturo is amusing (but totally implausible) and the sub plot with the mysterious Diego definitely holds potential but remains too vague. "Death Haunts Monica" is perhaps worth a look in case you're a fellow giallo-lover and have already seen all the more popular Italian classics, but not a movie worth tracing down.

This outrageous Spanish thriller was distributed in the US as Death Haunts Mónica--an apt enough title until one realizes how much else is haunting the poor girl. Murder, mayhem, kinky Sapphic encounters, and risqué bathing behavior are just a few of the elements in Ramon Fernandez's off-the-wall Giallo.It features no fewer than three European beauties: Nadiuska, Bárbara Rey, and Karin Schubert. All three are on full display for a significant part of the film. They are accompanied by several others who present brief glimpses.The principal male, Monica's (Nadiuska) husband, is French actor Jean Sorel. I remember him in front of a firing squad in the original Day of the Jackal. Of course, Monica may be putting him in front of a firing squad if he doesn't leave his mistress (Bárbara Rey).Elena (Karin Schubert) is plotting to steal the company, and stirring things up with Monica and her husband. But, things get twisted and you don't know who is fooling whom.

Most enjoyable, Spanish giallo type mystery thriller starring the very fine Jean Sorel, just a shame the Spanish dub removes his voice and that someone decided he should have dark hair. Maybe light hair was too effeminate on men at this time as the Spanish rushed out from under the fallen censorship of dead Franco. Certainly the ladies take every opportunity to pepper the proceedings with regular showers and changes of clothes. And despite all this I enjoyed it! Seriously, this is well worth seeking out, it runs less than 90 minutes and races along from start to finish barely allowing time for the subtitles to appear or the next character to speak. No dosing during this fascinating tale with at least two plot lines. Absolutely never a dull moment and although this is more psychological than gory, there are still plenty of killings to keep one guessing. Nadiuska is also worth a mention as the lovely and wealthy wife of Sorel who tends to glide about beautifully in the early stages and then go berserk towards the end. Really good fun.