Death Carries A Cane — Death Carries A Cane ( Blu Ray/ UHD)
Death Carries A Cane is a zippy-paced and entertaining early 70s giallo/ proto slasher, regarding a female photographer who sees a murder from a distance. The film features well-set-up/tension-building murders, a fair bit of female flesh, corny dialogue, and camp aplenty. Here from Powerhouse is a recent release of the film, coming as either a UHD or Blu-ray release. It takes in a new bright ‘n’ buoyant 4k scan, two versions of the film, a commentary track from genre experts, and a good selection of new featurettes/ interviews.
Death Carries A Cane ( aka Passi Di Danza Su Una Lama Di Rasoio, The Tormenter, Maniac At Large, Trauma) is from the year 1973. It was filmed on location between Civitavecchia and Rome, with interiors shot in the Incir De Paolis Studios in Rome. It was a joint Italian & Spanish production.
It was directed by Rome-born Maurizio Pradeaux. Between the mid-60s and late 80s, he had seven feature credits to his name. These include Spaghetti Western Ramon the Mexican (1966), Churchill’s Leopards ( 1970), a WW2 action thriller featuring Richard Harrison & Klaus Kinski, and giallo spoof Steps In The Dark (1977).
After the brief credits, we get straight into the action on a sunny day in the city, as female photographer Kitty (Nieves Navarro aka Susan Scott) is on a vantage point looking through a coin-operated telescope. Just before the money runs out, she sees a fedora/shades-wearing, black gloved figure attacking/ killing a woman in the widow of a house- she quickly puts another coin in, but the killer has gone.
With her shifty-eyed, make-people-sized rag dolls, and moustached husband Alberto( Robert Hoffman) Kitty goes to report what she thinks she saw to the permanently furrowed-browed Inspector Merughi (Jorge Martín).
As the film unfolds, the murders come pretty fast and frequently, being largely razor blade-based affairs. Our killer, as well as being your standard black gloved & fedora-wearing giallo fiend, also has a limp and, as the film's title suggests, has a hooked cane, which they often use to help with their killings. Each killing is well set up, building a feeling of eerie tension before the bloody slashings. I’d say the most effective/ memorable of these is where the killer is walking on the roof of a house, while an elderly woman cowers with a candle & butter knife- the tension is amped up wonderfully, as the flame flickers on & off before a hand/throat slash.
The surrounding characters/suspects are fine- though not particularly well-drawn or memorable. We have smug/ bespeckled newspaper reporter Lidia, and her often-ringing-up stressed twin sister, both played by Anuska Borova. There’s Lidia’s stern/ impotent choreographer/composer Marco( Simón Andreu), and a few others.
The film is fairly standard in its giallo traits, with nothing too clever, cryptic or puzzling going on with the killer or the picture's plotting. The reveal of the killer in a nighttime greenhouse was effective, and I certainly didn’t guess who it was.
So, I’d guess you’d say Death Carries A Cane is a fairly run-of-the-mill example of the genre- though it all zips by well, with decent/atmospheric kills, unintentionally amusing dialogue, and a fair bit of softcore female nudity. Not a gialli to convert you to the genre- but if you already enjoy the form, you’ll find this most entertaining.
This new release is region-free. It features two versions of the film: Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio, the Italian-language version; and Death Carries a Cane, the English-language version. Each is given a 4k scan- these look lovely, with great colour depth and general crystal clear picture clarity throughout.
On the extras side, we have a few things. First on the new side, there’s a commentary track from genre experts/ film historians Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth, and Nathaniel Thompson. They begin by talking about how this was the first of two gialli by Maurizio Pradeaux, the second being 1977’s Steps In The Dark- before touching on other notable titles the director helmed- saying all of his films were competently made, though nothing ever left a lasting mark. They discuss how the film's English title is rather pedestrian- before going on to talk about the earlier release of the film, all of which presented a rather dire print/ scan. They touch on actors as they appear, mentioning other notable titles they were involved in. They give a deeper dive bio for our leading lady, as well as once again talk about other notable roles. They talk about the golden age of the giallo- when the film to hand was released. Later on, they discuss the use of the camera. They talk about how, like latter slasher films, giallo repeat the same ideas/ themes again & again. And they discuss the rather unsatisfying/ doesn’t make sense resolution. This was another most worthy track from these commentary track pros.
Next on the new side, we have- The Devil Wears Pradeaux(15.08), which finds Eugenio Ercolani talking about where the film to hand fits in the wider giallo genre, before moving on to discussing the rest of Pradeaux’s filmography. Symphonies of Sleaze(16.48), in which Pierpaolo De Sanctis, the founder of Italian soundtrack specialists Four Flies Record, discusses the soundtrack work of composer Roberto Pregadio.
On the archive side, we have A Life in the Suite (21.19) a 2024 interview with renowned editor Eugenio Alabiso. Tormentor: alternative US Wizard Video VHS titles. Original German theatrical trailer, and Image gallery: promotional and publicity material.
The finished release comes with an eighty-page booklet. Featuring a new essay by Roberto Curti, archival interviews with actors Nieves Navarro (aka Susan Scott), Robert Hoffmann, and George Martin, and full film credits
In finishing it’s always great to see gialli from the golden period of the genre reissued, and while Death Carries A Cane isn’t a top-drawer example of the giallo form, it’s briskly paced and entertaining. This new Powerhouse release takes in a lovely 4k scan and a selection of interesting extras.