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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Embalmer (1965)

Starring Maureen Brown, Gin Mart, Luciano Gasper, Anita Todesco, Francesco Bagarin
Directed by Dino Tavella
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An insane killer murders young women and preserves their bodies in caverns below the city of Venice, while a determined newspaper reporter follows his trail.

Although rather simplistic in its approach, with the identity of the killer made clear early on, I enjoyed this Italian horror film and how it takes advantage of its Venice setting and the city's reputation as a romantic destination.  With the killer stalking his prey from underwater, scenes of the victims walking late at night along the canals gain natural suspense despite the romantic setting.  I would have liked to have seen the filmmakers play up the romance more between the reporter and a beautiful tourist, delve a bit deeper into the villains's motives, and throw some more red herrings in to distract us from guessing his identity, but this is still a good horror film and fun to watch.

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