Knife of Ice(1972) Movie Review

Trailer here.

Knife of Ice is a 1972 giallo movie directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Carroll Baker, Evelyn Stewart and George Rigaud.

A woman called Martha(Baker) is waiting at the train station for Jenny(Stewart), her cousin. Martha is mute. They drive off but the car breaks down. The driver goes off to get help. The two women are alone. They eventually get home and Mrs. Britton, the housekeeper meets them. Uncle Ralph(Rigaud) meets them also. Martha's parents died in a rail accident fifteen years ago. She hasn't spoken since. Dr. Laurent shows up. He is working with Martha. Jenny hears some glass breaking and she goes to investigate it. A vase is broken and the door is open. A killer is there. A girl called Christina comes to visit. Jenny is missing. Martha finds her dead body under the car. The police are called and they question everyone.

The doctor is under suspicion. The police think that it is a maniac. Another woman was killed in the area. Martha sees a strange man watching her. He drops some jewellery. The police find a necklace which looks like a devil symbol. It belongs to the man.They think that Martha could be next to die. Uncle Ralph is an occult expert and he tells Martha that the necklace is linked to a devil cult. The doctor thinks that something doesn't make sense. He says that the gate was closed so how did the killer get in. The housekeeper spots a devil symbol on a tree then she goes missing. The doctor shows up with blood on his pants. He dismisses it and says it is from a patient. Mrs. Britton shows up dead. Uncle Ralph tells Martha that she needs to leave for her own safety.

 

Martha is with Uncle Ralph when the lights go out. The driver is lurking in the house. The police arrive and check on Martha. Someone tried to attack her. The police search for this strange man. They manage to catch him. He is a Satanist. He is a hippy and he has broken into the doctor's office looking for drugs. They think he might be the killer but he is proved not to be. Martha can't say that it was him who attacked her. She is playing with Christina when she disappears. She ends up being killed. The police show up to investigate the final movements of Christina. Uncle Ralph has a heart attack and dies. We see that he is not really dead, though. Martha is alone in the house. She runs off while someone chases her. She runs into the graveyard. It turns out that Martha is the killer. Uncle Ralph confronts her. Martha killed Jenny, the housekeeper and Christina because of her jealousy and her fear of being caught. She is led away as she regains her voice.

This is a good mystery film. There are a lot of twists and turns which is always the way in these giallo movies. This one was interesting and the ending was good. I don't think that I figured out who the killer was until the end. I recommend this one as a good thriller. I will give it a 5/10.

Bloody New Year(1987) Movie Review

Trailer here.

Bloody New Year is  a 1987 horror movie directed by Norman J. Warren and starring Suzy Aitchison,Colin Heywood, Mark Powley, Nikki Brooks, Catherine Roman and Julian Ronnie.

The movie begins in 1959 on New Year's Eve. A woman gets pulled into a mirror. Cut to present day and young people on the beach. They go to the funfair. Some guys are tormenting a girl. Some young guys intervene and there is an argument. The bullies are called Dad, Ace and The Bear. The youngsters manage to escape. They are Spud(Heywood), Carol(Roman), Rick(Powley), Janet(Brooks), Leslie(Aitchison) and Tom(Ronnie). They are in a boat and it hits a rock. It begins to sink. They jump into the water and find an island. Someone is watching them. They discover a hotel on the island. It is July but the hotel is decorated for Christmas. It is called Grand Island Hotel. A maid(Val Graham) shows up. Spud looks around. He hears music playing. Someone is playing the guitar and singing but they disappear. 

The group discover clothes from the 1950's. They search for a power source and get the power going in the hotel. They decide to dress in the old clothes and hear a movie playing. It is called Fiend without a Face. It is set at the hotel but years earlier. A guy emerges from the screen and kills Spud. Everyone is upset. Leslie and Tom find a cottage. Leslie gets caught up in a fishing net. A creature tries to kill her. Tom stabs it. Rick and Janet hear voices and run down to the beach where they discover ghostly footprints. They witness an explosion.  Rick sees a ghostly pilot. Carol finds a house and looks around. There is a room filled with snow and then there is a blizzard. Carol gets covered in snow. Suddenly it is gone and she is outside. Everyone meets up and Leslie tells them that something happened to Tom.

The three bullies show up on the island. One of them fights Rick and tries to attack Leslie but she is a ghost now. The others try to destroy her. Rick, Janet and Carol are left. They run to the hotel. They can hear Leslie at the door. The bullies come for them again but Leslie kills one and Carol attacks the other. Leslie explains that they are stuck in some sort of time warp which was caused by a plane crashing on the island. Lesley wants Janet but Rick shoots her. Tom stumbles in. He is delirious. Rick and Carol go to get a boat as they are chased by the others who have turned into ghosts. They find the bullies boat but Rick gets killed by one of the ghosts. Carol is alone and she gets pulled underwater. She ends up in a mirror in the ballroom of the hotel where her friends are celebrating New Year's Eve.

This is a really weird film, I thought. It was interesting in parts but nothing amazing. I did like the poster though. I think that was better than the movie itself. I will give this one a 4/10.