Cinema Retro welcomes its latest contributor, David P. King, who will be reviewing avant garde DVDS.
By David P. King
When American audiences first saw “Plot of Fear†(“E
Tanta Pauraâ€), they were likely surprised and a bit confused: surprised because
the film is a suspenseful thriller of a higher quality than may be expected,
and confused because the film was first released in English under the title
“Bloody Peanuts†and contains a decent amount of blood, but a conspicuous
absence of peanuts.
Italian Director Paolo Cavara’s 1976 thriller unfolds with
a mystery killer targeting guests of a wild party where a prostitute had
accidentally died years earlier.
Through a series of clues and cinematic flashbacks,
Inspector Lomenzo (Michele Placido) begins to unravel who the killer is and why
the targets have been chosen.
Along the way, he falls for the stunning model Jeanne
(Corinne Clery), one of the guests of the fateful party.
Cinephiles will revel in seeing a pair of American
character actors, Tom Skerritt and Eli Wallach in supporting roles.
Cavara spawned an entire genre of documentaries that
titillated and shocked viewers with tales of exotic subcultures more than they
informed with his 1962 film “A Dog’s World†(“Mondo Caneâ€). These “mondoâ€
documentaries were often staged, exaggerated and fictional.
Cavara’s mondo influences can certainly be seen here:
The inspector and his girlfriend talk openly of swinging, lesbian models make
out during a photo shoot and guests of a secret society of animal lovers watch
a surreal pornographic short cartoon (by Italian erotic cartoonist Gibba) with
their pet chimp during a weekend orgy.
But at its heart, “Plot of Fear†is a thriller complete
with more twists and surprises than pure shock value. Its cinematography is
skilled, and it looks more like a major motion picture release than low-budget
sleaze.
The remastered print for the Raro Video DVD is
flawless. Bonus features include insightful commentary by Cavara’s son and
interviews with the screenwriter Enrico Oldoini and Placido on the film’s
lasting legacy.
While the ultimate reveal may be less than satisfactory
and the film is prone to the quirks of the time period (women’s tops come off
frequently with little in the way of exposition or reason), “Plot of Fearâ€
manages to toe the line between shock, shlock and suspense masterfully, and is
a pleasant addition to any collection of Italian films.
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