Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
1h 44m | PG-13
Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, keeps receiving weird phone calls and being followed by a mysterious man. One night he manages to catch up with his persecutor and tries to get him to talk but in the ensuing struggle he accidentally stabs him. He runs away, but he understands his troubles have just begun when the following day he receives an envelope with photos of him killing the man. Someone is killing all his friends and trying to frame him for the murders.
Director: Dario Argento
Studio: Universal Productions France
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Horror
Video: 720p
Cast
Michael Brandon
as Roberto Tobias
Mimsy Farmer
as Nina Tobias
Jean-Pierre Marielle
as Gianni Arrosio
Aldo Bufi Landi
as Pathologist
Calisto Calisti
as Carlo Marosi
Marisa Fabbri
as Amelia, the Maid
Reviews
This could have worked better for me had Dario Argento not cast the pretty hapless Michael Brandon in the lead. He is "Roberto", a drummer in a mediocre rock band who gets it into his head that he is being followed! One night, he lies in wait for and apprehends this man in a derelict opera house - but in the ensuing struggle he manages to stab his phantom and kill him. If that wasn't bad enough, the next day he receives some photographs of him doing that very deed and his is now, of course, ripe for blackmail. But by whom? Why? In any case he'd better find out pronto as gradually we discover that many associated with him are falling foul of his new nemesis too! At times this is actually quite (deliberately) funny. Perhaps a little contrived at times, but there are moments that raise a smile as the characters all trip over themselves to get in (and out) of the action. The ending - well that's a turn up for the books that really does make the film worth sticking with. Not Argento's best work, though quite possibly Brandon's, and though it's a bit too long and a bit thinly spread, it's still just about worth a gander.