The Suspicious Death of a Minor
Starring: Claudio Cassinelli, Mel Ferrer
Directed: Sergio Martino
Studio: Arrow Video
Format: Blu-Ray
Disc Release Date: October 3, 2017
About:
In the wake of the success of Dario Argento s ground-breaking giallo The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, numerous other directors stepped forward to try their hand at these lurid murder-mysteries. At the forefront was Sergio Martino (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Torso), whose sensual 70s thrillers starring Edwige Fenech and George Hilton are widely celebrated as some of the best the genre has to offer.
The final of Martino s six gialli, The Suspicious Death of a Minor combines conventional giallo trappings with elements of the then flourishing poliziotteschi crime thrillers. Claudio Cassinelli (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?) stars as undercover cop Paolo Germi, on the trail of a Milanese criminal outfit following the brutal murder of an underage prostitute. But a killer-for-hire is also on the prowl, bumping off witnesses before they have a chance to talk…
Also starring Mel Ferrer (Nightmare City), Barbara Magnolfi (Suspiria) and Jenny Tamburi (The Psychic), and featuring a script by veteran giallo writer Ernesto Gastaldi (All the Colors of the Dark, Death Walks at Midnight), this unique and lesser-known entry in Martino s filmography serves as an essential link between two different movements in Italian popular cinema.
My Review:
The Suspicious Death of a Minor is an Italian film that rides the on the line of giallo mixed Splotation 70’s action. A Killer is on the move killing Young ladies and are lead is on his trail to take down this killer and the origination that Hired him. Under aged Prostitution is heavy, players are killed and a re lead unofficial detective gets paid off. Does he take the Money and turn a blind eye?
The Story was a good follow, not deeply good but the plot does hang on. In this film we are dealing with an under aged prostitution, a killer taking some out, a cop hot on his tail using a paid for thief as a helper and exploiting other prostitutes to get where he needs to go. Action wise its good along some gore in the form of some blood and a tad bit of nudity. The ending had me not see what coming like an explosion that killed a few people that kind of had my jaw dropped not due to gore just as I didn’t see it coming and it was all of a sudden. Acting wise the film was decent. The Blu-Ray look great, super sharp and great colors and sound was good for mono in both Italian and English versions.
Overall the film was a good watch. If your into giallo mixed with a 70’s exploitation vibe then you would like this. I also want to note that score was enjoyable too as with most Italian giallo’s I’ve seen. For some reason that all ways hits me when viewing these types of films.
With that said I give this film a 4 out of 5 as the story was a subject you don’t see much dealing with under aged prostitution. Not much of any twists and turns as it’s all straight forward but still good film to view. Give it a shot.
Extras:
- Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Video exclusively for this release
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original mono Italian and English soundtracks (lossless on the Blu-ray Disc)
- English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
- New interviews with director Sergio Martino and cinematographer Giancarlo Ferrando
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing by Barry Forshaw
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