Knife Of Ice

Knife Of Ice

Genre: Giallo

Original title: Il coltello di ghiaccio

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Year: 1972

Martha Caldwell is a mute traumatized by her parents death in a railway accident. Whilst staying at her uncles home somebody begins killing people she knows off one by one.

This really is an unmemorable Giallo in almost every way. Director Umberto Lenzi who usually delivers nasty, gruesome & sleazy flicks plays this one surprisingly tame from start to finish. Any kills are pretty much shown off camera which wouldn't be a problem if the story was captivating & engaging, but it's far from that. It's the sort of film which may of got a pass from me had it made up for its shortcomings in its predictable plot by piling on the violence & nudity but it remains frustratingly uneventful throughout. 

It stars Carroll Baker who has appeared in hugely successful pictures such as How The West Was Won & Kindergarten Cop though she also appeared in a handful of Gialli such as Orgasmo & A Quiet Place To Kill so is not stranger to the genre. She spends most the film struggling to communicate with people as the murders are happening. It is a serviceable performance, though she benefits from having her character be a mute so she doesn't have to work with the horrible dialogue that the rest of the cast were doomed to deliver. 

I did enjoy the use of weather throughout. There are some nice scenes of fog & thunderstorms that create the little atmosphere that the picture generates but with its sluggish pace nothing in this picture ever feels like it really gets going. 

One of Lenzi's poorer attempts & one that is so forgettable that an hour into the film I began to realise that I'd seen the film only two years previously.

Rating: ★★

It can't be much fun talking to Carroll Baker on the phone