Mozart Is a Murderer (1999)

Mozart Is a Murderer sig a fairly unknown Giallo from maestro Sergio Martino, but this production is better than expected, even if it never raises above average. Probably made for TV, or direct for video, it has a cheap look, but with the steady hand of Martino it works pretty well and delivers a very typical giallo.

It begins with a classical concerto which goes slightly wrong. The pupils get lost for a moment, and their teacher gets furious and threatens them with suspension because of their laziness. Later the same evening one of them is killed, and soon they are getting killed one by one by a killer wearing black gloves!

As you can see, it’s a very generic storyline. Too generic to be honest. The look of the movie feels TV, and that can be a clue. The violence is not especially graphic, but the bodycount is quite high and it reminds me of one of those cozy British TV-thrillers. But it’s still a good example of a Giallo: black gloves, a childhood trauma, distorted voice on the telephone, lots of red herrings, sinister sexuality and a cop with a dark past.

Enzo De Caro is excellent as the cop, Antonio Maccari, and funny looking Augusto Fornari is good as his sidekick. Sergio Martino is a great director and I’m sure this was a big hit on television. It’s hard to guess the killer and even if the motive is a bit far-fetched, it’s a nice twist which childhood trauma concept could have fitted in one of Dario Argento’s movies.

To much to write actually, it’s an OK movie with a decent plot and good tension. But if you want to see something really good, just turn back twenty years and get one of Martino’s older Giallos. They have more gore, style and originality.