Product Description

Get primed for two wild, stylish giallo shockers of the 1970s from director Luciano Ercoli (FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION), starring Susan Scott (DEATH CARRIES A CANE), Simon Andreu (THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE) and Frank Wolff (GOD FORGIVES…I DON’T).

In DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS, Parisian nightclub singer, Nicole Rochard (Susan Scott) is stalked by a demented masked man who may be the killer of her diamond thief father. With the help of a friend, Dr. Robert Matthews (Frank Wolff) she hopes to elude her pursuer by traveling to the English countryside. But Nicole’s merciless pursuer does not give up so easily, and soon more murders occur.

Susan Scott returns in DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT as Valentina, a hot-tempered fashion model. When she’s duped into trying an experimental psychedelic by her fast-talking boyfriend (Simon Andreu) during a photo-shoot, she inadvertently witnesses a gory murder by a man with a spiked glove in the empty, next door building. It won’t be the last!

Hallucinogenic drugs, smart-aleck heroines, jewel thieves, macho tabloid reporters, strippers, intrepid police inspectors, plus crazy chases, brutal fist fights, spiked-metal gloves and myriad use of the zoom lens – not to mention delirious nightclub scenes, escalating body counts and countless red herrings! –NoShame is proud to present for the first time on DVD uncut two deranged examples of the sexy, Italian thriller genre - the giallo.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63948 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-02-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Box set, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 210 minutes

horrow-movie.co.uk
"gorgeously stylised thriller in the classic giallo mode and features a superb 70's lounge soundtrack."

10Kbullets.com
"Gianni Ferrio’s jazzy score beautifully captures the essence of the films hallucinogenic feel and Valentina’s paranoia"

monsteratplay.com
"a groovy trip into the world of what really makes the giallo film so much fun."

Customer Reviews

Two rare films for fans of the obscure
"Death Walks on High Heels" and its companion piece "Death Walks at Midnight" by director Luciano Ercoli make a perfect pair, featuring almost the same entire cast, in particular Susan Scott as the heroine both times. In "Death Walks at Midnight", she plays a model called Valentina who agrees to take a new drug as part of a medical experiment. Her initial trippy giggling soon gives way to horror as she witnesses an apparent vision of the brutal murder of a woman carried out by a man in sunglasses, using a spiked metal glove. When her head clears, no-one believes her, and to her dismay the story of her experience is reported and published in a newspaper. The result of this is of course that the murderer reads it and comes after Valentina.

What's most refreshing about the film is that Valentina is such a great character. She's feisty and confident, often in peril but always resouceful. Susan Scott gives a delightful performance and steals every scene she is in. The film also looks gorgeous and the No Shame DVD showcases it in stunning widescreen. It's also stuck well and truly in the seventies, and the collection of outfits and wigs that Valentina sports are a constant supply of amusement. The complex story takes a lot of concentration to figure out, and it can get a bit slow in the middle of the film, but luckily the viewer is most likely to remember the opening (the murder) and the climax (a rooftop brawl where the whole cast seems to muck in and slug it out with each other), and forget the draggy middle section. The spiked glove killing is the most extreme sequence in the whole film. Seemingly inspired by a similar weapon in "Blood and Black Lace", the scene gives the viewer a powerful jolt with it's unflinching depiction of the assault (although the victim here takes a battering to the side of the head whereas the poor girl in "Blood And Black Lace" takes a full whack in the face!), and the rooftop fight sequence also features detailed depictions of pummelling that look pretty painful, so the bloodthirsty viewers out there should be satisfied.

The second film, "Death Walks on High Heels" features Scott as the heroine once again, but this time, her role is that of a stripper named Nicole which means we get to see more of her naked than we did in "Midnight". Scott is able to carry the film effortlessly once more, even though her character here is rather more hard-edged, and she still steals the show, especially in a couple of pretty loopy striptease numbers, as well as the many changes of costume and wigs she sports throughout. And although once again in peril, Nicole is a character tough enough to take what's thrown at her with panache.

The complicated plot this time involves a missing hoard of stolen diamonds that is being sought after by various greedy people. Nicole is the daughter of one of the original criminals responsible for the theft, so she soon finds herself threatened over the phone and then again in person by a masked attacker, who is sure that she can lead him to the jewels, even though she says she knows nothing. She flees Paris and makes her way to England with a rich admirer who promises to protect her - even her French boyfriend is one of the suspects in this mystery where no-one can be trusted. From here on, the plot becomes even more tangled and you'll need your wits about you to make it to the end knowing exactly what's going on. It's a credit to the writers that thay are able to carry on pulling new surprises out of thin air right up to the very last moments of the story, and Ercoli is able to keep you hooked due to the marvellous cinematography, and of course the beautiful women who populate the film, namely Scott and Claudie Lange. While the film is fairly low on action and long on conversations, it does dish up one particularly vicious murder in which the female victim is repeatedly sliced with a switchblade knife (This idea was taken to a far more nauseating extreme much later by Lucio Fulci in "The New York Ripper"). Ercoli also stages another spectacular punch up towards the end, in a similar vein to the roof top climax in "Death Walks at Midnight" ...when Ercoli films a fist-fight, his men hit HARD!

Speaking of those conversations, I watched both films in English, and the dubbing probably does the atmosphere a real dis-service, as none of the English script seems to adequately match the emotions the actors are trying to portray. Luckily the No Shame discs allow you to choose the Italian soundtrack with subtititles and I have a feeling that the translation might be quite a lot better in the subtitles than in the English dub, which probably robs the films of some of the subtler script nuances, and also makes the twists and turns harder to keep up with.

Getting these two together makes for an excellent purchase as they really are a pair. Giallo fans will be happy with the sleek violence on display, and retro fans will revel in the lurid fashions of the era and the sumptuous lounge/kitsch musical soundtracks of both films. Susan Scott is a statuesque beauty who throws herself into the proceedings with vigour, and I enjoyed both films on acoount of her performance, without which they would probably be only half as entertaining! Its very impressive to see two formerly very obscure European movies like these from the 1970's getting such a good DVD release by No Shame. Recommended.

Death Walks All Over Susan Scott As If She Is A Floor Mat
No Shame has issued a great double feature of Luciano Ercoli's Italian gialli entitled "The Luciano Ercoli Death Box Set." In both films, the beautiful blonde Susan Scott is victimized by a serial killer; unfortunately no one believes her.

In "Death Walks at Midnight," Scott is Valentina, a model who is tricked into taking an experimental hallucinogenic drug. While under the drug's influence, she witnesses a murder in the building opposite her own. Naturally, no one believes her, except for the killer. Soon it is learned that a girl was murdered in the other building, but the murder took place six months ago. What murder did Valentina witness? This is a very enjoyable giallo with gruesome murders involving a Medieval spiked glove, several plot twists, and a great surprise ending that threw me for a loop.

"Death Walks on High Heels" is the best of the two gialli in this collection. It is a classic Italian giallo. It is loaded with numerous twists and turns and red herrings. Everyone is suspected of being the killer. The ending wasn't quite as shocking as in "Death Walks at Midnight," however, it was a better thrill ride. It definitely kept me guessing. Scott plays Nicole, a stripper, whose jewel thief father is murdered. When the diamonds he was suppose to have been carrying aren't found, the killer threatens and attacks Nicole. Again, no one believes her. She leaves the county in the arms of a playboy doctor and travels to a secluded island, but the killer manages to find her.

Great 70's pop music and beautiful scenery accentuate both movies, which are prime examples of the Italian giallo. Susan Scott (Sergio Martino's "All the Colors of the Dark") is perfect as the heroine who is walked all over by death. Simon Andreu ("The Blood Splattered Bride") is good as the leading man in both features. My only problem is that so many of the same actors appeared in both movies that I thought the second feature was a continuation of the first. Nevertheless, "The Luciano Ercoli Death Box Set" is a great buy and a must have for all fans of Italian gialli!!!