The Killer Is on the Phone (1972) User Reviews

Ordinary and routine Italian Giallo with the usual ingredients and shot in Belgium

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 10 April 2021]

Run-of-the mill Giallo with slashing , suspense , plot twists , intrigue , well staged crimes and unexpected finale. A woman : Anne Heywood is shocked when sees a man : Telly Savalas who results to be the killer who murdered her boyfriend some years before . But it happens she has amnesia and doesn't remenber the past happenings . Little by little she has got strange flashbacks about the fateful events previously committed by the sinister murderer.

A regular but tense and mysterious Gialli with usual gloved killer carrying out a criminal spree . Customary Giallo in which thrilling events , intrigue , twists , turns and stabbing scenes show up lurking and threatening throughout buildings , streets , parks and other locations from Belgium . Stars the beautiful but mature Anne Heywood as a woman who is stalked by a contract killer, being shocked by a former murder , having amnesia, and doesn't remember anything about the earlier deeds . Anne Heywood had a long career and in her maturity she played exploitation movies with various lascivious and sordid characters , including nude scenes , such as : Good look Miss Wyckoff , The Lady of Monza , The Nun and the Devil, The first time on the Grass and Ring of Darkness . Along with Telly Savalas , the popular Kojak , here on the other side of the law as a hit man who attempts to eliminate a potential witness . They are well accompanied by a good but not very known support cast , such as : Ruggieri, Piazza, Willeke Van Ammelrooy and Rosella Falk .

It displays an anticlimatic musical score by Stelvio Cipriani in his usual style with plenty of synthesizer music typical of the Seventies . Enjoyable and colorful cinematography by the famous Joe D'Amato or Aristide Massaccesi . Being shot on location in Gaasbek castle , Lennik , Theatre Royal Monnaie Brussels , Brugge West Vlaanderen, Ostend , Flanders , Bruges , Belgium . The motion picture was regularly directed by Alberto de Martino , as it has some shortcomings , flaws and gaps . Martino was an acceptable artisan who directed several films of all kinds of genres around the Italian B-series , as he made the following ones , Peplum : Medusa against the son of Hercules , Triumph of Hercules , The Invincibles , Seven Spartans , Rivolt of the Seven, Invincible Gladiator . Eurospy : Operation Lady Chaplin . Warfare : From Ardenne to Inferno . Terror : Hyden Park, Holocaust 2000 , Miami Golem, Horror , AntiChrist. Thrillers : Puma Man, Rome like Chicago , The man with Ice Eyes , The Consiliere . And Spaghetti Westerns : Django shoots first , One Hundred thousand Dollars for Ringo, The Seventh Cavalry , among others .

The Italian/Belgian Connection

[Coventry · 5/10 · 18 October 2016]

There were five main reasons why "The Killer is on the Phone" stood on top of my watch list, and they all add up to each other! Number one: it's an Italian giallo! This perverted and violent type of whodunit-thriller is my favorite sub genre of horror and it's my personal mission to track down every single and most obscure installment ever made! Number two: it's an Italian giallo from the magical year 1972! They heyday of my favorite sub genre was relatively short, give or take from the mid-sixties to the mid- seventies, but the early seventies were the best years and 1972 in particular with too many brilliant gialli to list ("What have you done to Solange?", "Don't Torture a Duckling", "Who Saw Her Die?", "The Red Queen Kills Seven Times" and about fifteen more). Number three: it's an Italian giallo from the magical year 1972 and directed by Alberto De Martino! Mr. De Martino perhaps wasn't the greatest cult director from Italy, but he did courageously attempt to cash in on every trend and his movies are always massively entertaining ("The Antichrist", "Blazing Magnum", "Holocaust 2000", "The Puma Man"…). Number four: it's an Italian giallo from the magical year 1972, directed by Alberto De Martino and starring Telly Savalas! That's right, the one and only Kojak and former Ernst Stavro Blofeld makes a rare giallo appearance here! Savalas was and forever remains a monument of 70s cult cinema and here in this movie he gets to do what he does best: stand around silently and look ultimately menacing! Number five: it's an Italian giallo from the magical year 1972, directed by Alberto De Martino and starring Telly Savalas, AND entirely shot on location in my native country Belgium! Admittedly that last little detail meant the cherry on the cake for me. For some unknown reason, they shot the film in Belgium instead of Italy and it's fantastic to see familiar places pop up in a giallo, like the Ostend ferry port or this beautiful park in Bruges. Hence there also was the opportunity for Willeke Van Ammelrooy, an actress only famous in Belgium and The Netherlands thus far, to receive a bit more international recognition.

Of course, considering all the above points, you'd think that I'm extremely biased and couldn't possibly write a properly objective review about "The Killer is on the Phone". Not true, in fact, because even though I'm incredibly happy that I was finally able to watch this movie, I do reckon that it's merely just a mediocre effort that probably won't even make my giallo top 50. The main shortcomings here are definitely the slow pacing, the unnecessarily complex and illogical plot and – most of all – the lack of violence and perversity. Theater actress Eleanor Lorraine spots a bald and uncanny man at a drinking fountain and faints. This was the same man who murdered her beloved husband five years ago, but because of the shock she suffers from amnesia and doesn't remember anything that happened in the past five years, including the killer's identity. The killer – Ranko Drasovic – doesn't know Eleanor's memory is gone, so he starts stalking her and plans to get rid of the witness. Meanwhile, Eleanor's surrounding also face many issues. She doesn't recognize both her new husband and her lover, and she has forgotten all her lines of the stage play that premieres the next Saturday. The script surely has a lot of potential and features a handful of great ideas, but the elaboration is poor and implausible. Eleanor suffers from a severe case of amnesia, yet everybody allows her to wander around town on her own and hold private investigations without offering her help or support. The killer has numerous of opportunities to eliminate her quickly but prefers to observe her endlessly, instead… probably just to stretch the running time. Oh, and by the way, so much for the film's title, as the killer only calls her house once and that sequence is rather irrelevant because there isn't an actual telephone conversation going on… The last 10- 15 minutes feature a few suspenseful moments and typically absurd giallo-twists, including the chase behind the theater scenes and the truth regarding her husband's death, but it's not enough to save the film. Stelvio Cipriani provides a marvelous musical score, as usual, and furthermore this film only proves that Bruges is a beautiful city; 36 years before the blockbuster hit "In Bruges" did the same.

Good idea, mediocre film

[rundbauchdodo · 5/10 · 11 June 2001]

This Giallo by Alberto De Martino, who made a very watchable and entertaining "The Exorcist" rip-off in 1974 ("L'Anticristo" aka "The Tempter"), boosts Anne Heywood in the female lead role as a woman that suffers amnesia after she sees the killer of her husband again five years after the murder, and Telly Savalas as the cold-blooded assassin who tries to kill her before she regains her memory.

The idea is nice, but De Martino's direction is a little bit too slow and, especially in the first half of the film, the flow of the scenes sometimes looks hacked up in a way, so it's difficult not to use the fast forward button on one's VCR. The second half is better and the film becomes a passable thriller, while the climax itself with the uncovering of the person who contracted the killer five years ago remains the best moment of the whole picture.

All in all a mediocre, rather anemic Giallo. Savalas also acted in De Martino's mafia actioner "I Familiari delle Vittime non Saranno Avvertiti" aka "Crime Boss" aka "New Mafia Boss" of the same year, which also doesn't belong to the best films of its genre.

Middle-of-the-pack giallo, definitely worth seeing

[lazarillo · 28 February 2009]

A theater actress (Anne Heywood) recognizes a thuggish hired killer (Telly Savalas) on the street and faints. When she comes to, she is suffering amnesia, having forgotten that has happened for the last five years since right before she witnessed her wealthy former boyfriend being murdered. This is a problem both for her husband of the past three years and for her theater company since she has the lead in their latest play ("Lady Godiva", quite convenient, of course, for a cheesecake-happy giallo film). The amnesia plot has obviously been done to death both within the giallo genre (i.e. "Eye in the Labyrinth", "Puzzle")and certainly outside it. Still this manages to add some new twists. At one point, the heroine has vague memories of being in bed with one of her male co-stars. Thinking they were lovers, she agrees to go to bed with him again in order to jog her memory, only to realize at the last moment (and to the poor guy's chagrin) that the memory is actually that of a scene in play they did together earlier! Meanwhile, the killer has also recognized her. He accidentally kills her sister, and he then comes after her.

Anne Heywood was kind of like a British version of Carroll Baker in that she started out in fairly respectable roles when she was younger (like "Black Narcissus"), but by middle age found herself appearing (usually sans clothing)in a lot of sleazy Italian exploitation flicks. This movie is not nearly as sleazy as some of her other Italian films like "Ring of Darkness" (where she has a naked catfight with the actress playing her teenage daughter). And her sleaziest film was actually a American production "The Shaming" (where she plays an interracial rape victim who falls in love with her rapist). Telly Savalas is great here as always, even if he doesn't have much more to do than look menacing. The director Alberto DeMartino is definitely not one of the great Italian directors, but his movies are always entertaining.

I really like the giallo genre so I may be a little kind to films like this. But even among the nearly two hundred gialli I've seen now, I'd rank this one solidly in the middle of the pack.

The Uber-Cool Telly Savalas

[bensonmum2 · 5/10 · 23 April 2006]

Scenes from a Murder is a fairly rare giallo that I felt fortunate to have found in a used video store. The movie stars the uber-cool Telly Savalas as a stalker. The woman he's after has amnesia and has trouble remembering simple things like where she lives or that her lover died five years previous. For whatever reason, her family and friends allow her to wander aimlessly around the city. For the first 2/3 of the movie, that's pretty much all we get – a woman with amnesia stumbling around the city with the every present Savalas close behind. It's not very exciting and not very entertaining. It's not until the final third that anything really happens. The scenes of Savalas close on the woman's heels through an abandoned sound stage are effective but account for far too little of the movie. These scenes and the final revelation keep this from being a completely wasted experience.

"Who kills ya, baby?"

[Bezenby · 5/10 · 21 October 2017]

It comes with great relief that I can just say right here and now that Telly Savalas is the murderer in this film. It's a different kind of Giallo, and made by Alberto De Martino, which usually means there's no cause to get too excited.

This one starts with actress Anne Heywood arriving in Bruges to attend dress rehearsals for her new play. At the station, she pauses to make a phone call and suddenly makes eye contact with Telly Savalas, who seems to be stalking a diplomat. Anne faints and Telly high tails it, but something's going on for sure as when Anne wakes up she can't remember anything that's happened in the previous five years! Her sister, fellow actor Thomas, and husband George are a bit put out by this, even though it happened before when her boyfriend Peter died in a car accident five years previous. Anne can't remember nothing, not even being married as she thinks Peter is still alive and is taking part in MacBeth, not Lady Godiva as the theatre group are planning. It doesn't help that Peter's sister is in charge of everything and a total bitch. Of course, Telly realises that she may have witnessed him up to no good and resolves to take her out...

Alberto De Martino is a competent director whose only fault is that his films are very slowly paced. For example, the first murder in this film occurs at one hour and seven minutes into the film! On the other hand, his films always contain scenes that kind of catch you off guard, like the goat rimming bit in The Antichrist or for a better example, the parts of this film where Anne has flashbacks that present her as a mad killer, or may just be parts of a play she starred in. This is quite effective to be honest as I hadn't a clue what was going on.

Kojack is pretty good in this as he seems pretty bemused by the absurdity of the situation, and even shocks when he kicks a guy to death who had merely come to ask how he was getting on with killing that diplomat. Anne and Telly get involved in a pretty good cat and mouse situation at the end which results in a nasty end for Telly, plus further ridiculous revelations that can only occur in Italian films.

Poor example of the Giallo

[The_Void · 5/10 · 5 July 2008]

I'm a big fan of the Giallo sub-genre; so much so that I can often find things to like in even the worst of the genre. However, I'm really struggling for good things to say about this one! I often find that Giallo's which try to focus on a single character are the most disappointing, and the genre is best known for stylish and gory death scenes for a reason! The main problem with this film is undoubtedly that it's just too slow and boring, and the reason for that is simply that not enough interest is created in the lead character and her situation. The film focuses on a woman named Eleanor. Eleanor is suffering from amnesia. Her husband was murdered five years previously and she passed out at the sight of an imposing bald man named Ranko. She wakes from a coma and has blanked out the last five years of her life and doesn't recognise her new husband George. It also just happens that Eleanor is about to appear in a stage play, but ends up having to ask her sister to replace her. Eleanor continues to have nightmares about the mysterious Ranko...

Alberto De Martino is not one of the better known Italian directors, and judging by the films I've seen from him; I have to say I'm not really surprised about that (despite the excellent Formula for a Murder). The acting is not really up to much either, with British actress Anne Heywood failing to impress or inspire sympathy in the lead role, while Telly Savalas does not deliver the kind of performance that previous roles have shown he can deliver. The cinematography and locations used are both surprisingly bland, which is a shame. The film reminded me somewhat of Mario Bava's disappointing Lisa and the Devil (not just because both films feature Telly Savalas), although Bava's film has a lot more going for it than this one does. Music is often an important part of this type of film also and there have been many memorable scores written - again, however, you will not find one here. It all boils down to a dull finale and overall, unless like me you are a big fan of the genre and ultimately aiming to see every Giallo ever made; I would highly recommend giving this film a miss!

Crazy title, great ending

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 11 January 2021]

Man, two Alberto De Martino giallo movies in one week? You know it.

I'll be honest right off the bat. I'd watch a movie where Telly Savalas just sat there and read a menu for two hours, so I'm not going to be objective about this movie at all.

Telly plays Ranko Drasovic, a silent knife-wielding assassin dispatched to kill a UN ambassador trying to stop the oil crisis, which is pretty forward thinking way back in 1972. He also is trying to fulfill another assignment, because one of the few people who has ever seen his face is actress Eleonor Loraine (Anne Heywood, The Fox), as Ranko had killed her lover five years before.

Now, she's a mess, her head filled with flashbacks which might not be true and lovers she may have never slept with. All she sees is the face of Ranko, a man constantly in the shadows, always one step away from taking her life.

I actually liked this movie more than most critics, as unlike many giallo, it ends with the female lead taking agency over her fragmented life, destroying her many enemies and reclaiming her sanity. It's a rare positive ending for a giallo heroine, you know?

That said, the direction is just good where it could be great, but any time women appear on screen, the camera seems to perk up and the shots end up getting more inventive. That's because Aristide Massaccesi is the cinematographer, the man who would one day be Joe D'Amato. And David Hills. And Michael Wotruba. And Raf Donato. And Robert Yip. And...

The alternate title, Scenes from a Murder, isn't as evocative, but makes plenty more sense. Ranko never calls anyone. He does spend plenty of time buying tin soldiers, which also makes no sense.

Hey - giallo aren't supposed to make sense. Remember that, love every scene Telly is in and you'll be fine. Who loves you baby?