Obviously,
editors are important to horror movies. They get to do all the cutting. Of
course, these days, it is mostly done digitally, but for 1970s Italian giallo
movies, it was all about sharp cutting implements. Unfortunately, journeyman
editor Rey Ciso has somewhat lost his touch since a mysterious accident left
him with four wooden fingers. In accordance with giallo genre conventions, Ciso
will find himself tipped as the logical suspect when a psycho stalker starts knocking
off cast-members of his latest film in Astron-6’s spoof, The Editor (trailer
here),
directed by Adam Brooks & Matthew Kennedy, which screens during this year’s
Atlanta Film Festival.
After
his freak accident, Ciso either spent time in a private clinic or a looney bin.
He and his doctor apparently have very different memories of that time, but
that does not necessarily mean Ciso is wrong. Regardless, his new student-intern
Bella worships the editor. His past her prime actress wife, not so much. She
seems somewhat obsessed the up-and-coming star, Claudio Calvetti.
Inconveniently, he is also very dead, along with his frequently naked co-star,
Veronica.
Since
the killer hacks off the same four fingers from his victim that Ciso has lost,
the violent but incompetent Det. Peter Porfiry naturally settles on him as the
prime suspect. To make matter worse, the killer has taken an unhealthy interest
in Ciso, sending him tapes of his work. At least good Father Clarke believes in
his innocence, not that a sexually confused materialist like Porfiry takes much stock
in what priests have to say.
The Editor might be a comedic
send-up, but it outdoes Cattet & Forzani’s Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears with its loving attention to
giallo production details. It looks and sounds terrific, incorporating the
sinister Goblin-esque soundtrack, over-the-top bloodletting, and plenty of
gratuitous nudity. The way Ciso and Porfiry never change their hideously 1970s
outfits is also a nice touch. Clearly, co-writers Brooks, Kennedy, and Conor
Sweeney understand what makes giallos tick, right down to the bafflingly
incomprehensible finale.
Brooks
also serves himself well as Ciso, the cracked up everyman. He is sort of like a
straight-man for the gags, except he constantly gets to freak out. Kennedy’s
Porfiry also gorges on plenty of scenery, looking like an appropriately low
rent Donald Sutherland. Tristan Risk (a.k.a. burlesque performer Little Miss
Risk) and Sheila E. Campbell duly vamp it up like good sports as the ill-fated
Veronica and Porfiry’s ex-wife Margarit, respectively. Laurence R. Harvey
scores some of the biggest laughs as Father Clarke, while the appearances of
Udo Kier and Crime Wave’s John Paizs
need no explanation.
