“There's one death too many
in this story.” The top two names associated with giallo cinema are
that of its creator Mario Bava (Blood and Black Lace) and that of
its master Dario Argento (Deep Red), but another director whose
name should be closely associated with those two is Sergio Martino (The
Mountain of the Cannibal God). In the first half of the 1970s, Martino,
along with frequent collaborating screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (Almost Human), produced a slew of all-time greats in the feverish onslaught of
Italian murder mysteries: The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (1971), The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971), All The Colours of the Dark
(1972), Your Vice Is A Locked Room and Only I Have The Key (1972),
and Torso (1973).
That's quite an impressive resume
in itself, in careers that spanned 66 directorial efforts from Martino and 123
writing credits for Gastaldi. However, there is another gialli that was produced
during their time working together, but one which has flown somewhat under the
radar while the aforementioned titles have taken the lion's share of viewers'
attention: 1975's The Suspicious Death of a Minor. Crafted with
Martino's eye for style and Gastaldi's acerbic storytelling, it arrived at a
time when the giallo (lurid tales of sex and death) was beginning to
cool off and the poliziotteschi (gritty urban crime thrillers) were
attracting audiences with rough 'n' tumble rogue cops tackling the sort of
criminal conspiracies that were happening everyday beyond the cinema's
doorstep...
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