Written and Directed by Dario Argento from a story by Argento, Luigi Cozzi, and Mario Foglietti Starring Michael Brandon (Roberto) and Mimsy Farmer (Nina)
I originally watched most of Argento’s movies in the 90s. I picked them up on LaserDisc as they became available or as my budget allowed. Since then, I’ve upgraded most of those to DVD or BD.
But one title always eluded me until recently. Between rights issues, a tendency for (literally) dark scenes, and damaged prints, “Four Flies on Grey Velvet” didn’t see a disc release until a few years ago.
I’d always wondered what could come between the maybe-too-conventional “Cat o’ Nine Tails” and the revelatory “Deep Red”. Whatever it was may have put Argento off doing giallo features for four years. I feared the worst.
Turns out, I was in for a treat.
This time out, our lead is Roberto (again, maybe an Italian played by an American), a drummer in a rock band. Lately, someone has been stalking him, and after a session one night, he gets a chance to confront this stalker.
He follows the man to a run-down opera house. They climb the stairs to the stage, struggle over the stranger’s knife, and the stalker, stabbed, falls into the orchestra pit. But someone else has literally staged this scene to take pictures of Roberto killing this man.Whoever this is wears a weird boyish mask and is determined to torment poor Roberto. But who can he turn to for help with the blood of a stranger on his hands?
This one has it all: odd-ball supporting characters, weapon fetishism, masks, threatening phone calls, ill-advised confrontations, and even more ill-advised sexual dalliances. Throw in some amazing camera work, weird science and the usual pop psychology at the end, and you’ve got yourself the recipe for a big, messy giallo.
Flies is a different animal than its predecessors in that it feelsmuch more dangerous. Maybe that’s because it’s less familiar to me (who know how many times I’ve watched Bird), but probably not. The repeated confrontations in dark rooms (which admittedly are not video-friendly) are compelling in a visceral way. The maid’s attempt to blackmail the killer, which starts in broad daylight and becomes something else entirely, is a master class in editing and suspense.
For Tenebrae, Argento will use a Louma crane to great effect. Here he uses a more speciailized piece of camera equipment to get some great shots. You’ll know them when you see them. (Though until I saw another shot, I thought the first one was faked.)
While not the game changer Deep Red will be (both for Argento and genre films as a whole), Flies is well worth a look if you like your gialli weird, gritty, suspenseful, and with a healthy amount of kink.
