It highlights everything good about Argento's work; great cinematography, a killer soundtrack by Goblin, and a good dose of suspense, while eschewing some of his more off-putting trademarks; the story, for one thing, is fairly straight forward (which isn't to say dull or simplistic), and the weird coloured lighting isn't present.
Add to the check-list some decent gore, a good whodunnit with a great twist, and a creepy doll for good measure, and you've got an all 'round enjoyable flick!
The acting seems fine, though not great (although it's often hard to tell in dubbed movies) and Argento makes great use of the camera, which is almost constantly on the move. My only real complaints would be that it's a little slow in its second act, and a brief scene of real animal cruelty I could have happily done without (a lizard impaled on a hat pin).
You can get this for free on-line, or on some of those cheap-ass 10, 20, or 50 movie DVD sets, because it's one of those 70s movies that has fallen into the Public Domain thanks to a combination of strange copyright laws and clerical oversight, but it's worth trying to get hold of a better version, as the public domain cut is missing a few minutes, and is a horrible 4:3 crop that ruins some of the great cinematography.
If you don't enjoy this one, it's time to give up on Argento, possibly on giallo full stop.
I did enjoy it, but I would imagine that's the exception to the rule when it comes to me and Argento. I had forgotten all about the lizard scene. I almost missed it as I'd looked away to do something until Darren brought it to my attention. I told myself that somehow it had to be fake.. I didn't know how it had been done, but I didn't want to think it was real. Majorly bummed it wasn't :( Why on earth do they need to do these things????
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