Violent Blood Bath

It's not very violent, there's just a bit of blood, and there's a swimming pool but no baths in this interesting giallo from the director of The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue.

Fernando Rey is a nervous, OCD-afflicted Judge on holiday with his young wife Marissa Mell, who is trying her hardest to put up with all his quirks. Both have problems. Fernando discovers that a money order has been sent to a man he condemned to death three years after his execution, and this money seems to have been sent by the dead man himself. This not only prompts some flashbacks, but also leads him to discover that a family has been brutally murdered in the exact same way the executed man carried out his initial attacks.

Marissa Mell's problems is that her ex-boyfriend has reappeared on the scene and Fernando's behaviour isn't exactly helping her stay faithful, so while he's off trying to track down some copy-cat killer this ex of hers is giving her the eyeball, putting the moves on her, but is he legit or is he up to something? When other crimes start to be recreated, things get a bit desperate for Fernando.

If you've watched several hundred of these films already you may find that this one is easy to solve, but when you've got Fernando Rey in the main role that's okay, because he's a fascinating actor to watch. Other than that, this is a bit of a lightweight giallo without the cheese or over the top madness we've come to expect. Not a bad film though.