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The Killer Wore Gloves
At Heathrow Airport, a man is razored to death in a toilet cubicle. A young woman, Peggy Foster, is concerned about the disappearance of Michael, her photographer boyfriend, who has been in Vietnam for months. In order to pay the rent, she reluctantly sub-lets her garret flat to a man called John Kirk Lawford. The new tenant wears sunglasses indoors and acts suspiciously. Peggy is lured to an abandoned airfield by a call from Michael but is shot at by a sniper. Back at her apartment block she is shocked to find that a man has apparently committed suicide by jumping from her balcony. While the police question Peggy, a stranger turns up and announces himself as John Kirk Lawford! Shirley, secretary to Peggy's lascivious publisher, is killed by a black-gloved intruder and the mystery deepens...
Release : | 1974 |
Rating : | 5.2 |
Studio : | PEA, Producciones Cinematográficas Cine XX, |
Crew : | Property Master, Property Master, |
Cast : | Gillian Hills Ángel del Pozo Silvia Solar Carlos Otero Bruno Corazzari |
Genre : | Horror Thriller Crime Mystery |
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Reviews
Perfectly adorable
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
This is one of those films where it's hard to know what to make of the story until right at the end. The back-story is well hidden, with only occasional dialogue references to a Vietnam photojournalist named "Michael", and the visual of a mysterious black briefcase that comes into the possession of Michael's girlfriend in London. The plot takes place almost entirely in London and is focused on the girlfriend. Along the way, at least one person is murdered. A couple of characters function as red herrings. And that's about it, until the end.There are a couple of spooky segments; one takes place in a deserted old airplane hanger, accompanied by semi-noir lighting and the shadow of someone holding a gun. The killer tools around on a motorcycle, dressed entirely in black leather. I correctly figured out the killer's identity, but I missed the motive.The story is fairly simple and is explained quickly. But viewers expect that a high-quality giallo will have striking visuals, spine-tingling suspense, and a surprise ending. "The Killer Wore Gloves" spends so much plot time on the girlfriend, the killer and this person's movements are not accentuated, which detracts from suspense. The ending I had figured out about two-thirds of the way through.Visuals at best are mediocre for the giallo genre. They're not bad. But the lighting could have been spookier in combination with more scenes devoted to the killer. Sound quality is muffled, especially near the beginning. Even at the end, poor sound quality covers up part of the killer's explanation. Intermittent background music is frantic and annoying. Casting is acceptable, but Gillian Hills is not a very good actress in the role of the girlfriend.This Euro-cinema whodunit is worth a one time watch for viewers who appreciate the giallo genre. But a general audience will probably not be impressed, as production values trend somewhat low and acting quality is not especially good.
The Killer Wore Gloves is one of the specific subset of giallo films that are of Spanish origin. Despite this one being a Spanish-Italian co-production, it's certainly fair to say that it's primarily an Iberian film. Like other examples of this type, it's of a bit lower quality than its average Italian counterpart, while still essentially being decent overall. As is so often the way in this particular sub-genre, it sports a plot-line that is somewhat convoluted. Set in London, events kick off with the murder of a man in an airport restroom for possession of an enigmatic briefcase. At the same time, a young woman thinks she has spotted her boyfriend driving around in the city, a man who has hitherto gone missing. The girl also has taken in a new tenant to share her home with, a very odd man who wears shades indoors at all times. He soon turns up dead after an apparent suicide. Making matters even worse, an attempt is made on the girl's life by an unknown assassin and this is followed by a bunch of other inter-related murders.It's a fairly complicated story full of the usual gaggle of red herrings and oddball side characters that typify films from this genre. The murder set-pieces themselves involve a variety of weaponry and there is a modicum of suspense generated. The on location London settings were fine, while Gillian Hills made for a good enough heroine. It is, however, not an especially stylish effort by this genre's usual standards and it's really a fairly middling example of this type of movie on the whole. But, that said, if you are a fan of the genre I know that one thing is for sure and that is that more of the same is never exactly a bad thing. And this entry, while basically unremarkable, still has the good sense to deliver the bread and butter elements of the genre. At the end of the day though, for giallo connoisseurs, I think that overall the most interesting feature in this one is its Spanish origins.
Not a very imaginative title for this largely Spanish take on the giallo and director, Juan Bosch does not turn out a very inspired movie. His main asset seems to be a pretty, Gillian Hills, born in Cairo but presumably of British parents. She did a fair bit including small parts in Blow Up and Clockwork Orange, presumably exploiting her looks and also the sublime, Demons of the Mind, though I don't recall how well she did in that what with the antics of Robert Hardy and Patrick Magee. Anyway, in this she is good, effortlessly batting aside stupid dialogue, idiotic assumptions and general lack of coherent plot development. Apart from the pleasure of Gillian there are the many shots, mainly night time ones, of 70s London although there is one delicious scene where we are driving out of London and find ourselves in the back streets of some Spanish village before the continuity team restore order. Its pleasant and diverting enough but not worth going out of ones way for.
Entertaining Gialli with a likable performance from the delicious Gillian Hills; who unwittingly lets out the flat above to a somewhat nefarious character and this acts as the lurid catalyst for many bloody deaths, and equally gaudy red herrings. Outside of the London exteriors what interested me most about 'The Killer wore Gloves' is the fiery beat/prog sounds of Marcello Giombini, his thunderous, Goblin-esque soundtrack must surely be ripe for a release at some juncture?This rich, jazzy and eclectic soundtrack really lifts the admittedly prosaic plot into something quite special, well, for me anyway. This remains quite an obscure Giallo, no doubt due to the lack of cinematic flair or invention from Herr Bosch; but the luminous presence of Ms. Hills and the magnificent funk jazz riffs of the maestro cine-groove Giombini should really make this one funky Gialli to track down; should your interests lie within the giddy realms of the mid-seventies Italian slasher. Right, time to peruse my MP3 collection to see what Giombini can be unearthed later today!