Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1966
The Murder Clinic
Buy The Murder Clinic now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = The Murder Clinic
| image = La lama nel corpo.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Italian theatrical release poster
| native_name =
| director =
| screenplay =
| story =
| producers =
| starring =
| narrator =
| cinematography = Marcello Masciocchi
| editing = Alberto Gallitti
| music = Francesco De Masi
| studio =
| distributor = Regional (Italy)
| released =
| runtime = 90 minutes
| country =
| language = Italian
| budget =
| gross = 96 million
}}
'The Murder Clinic' is a 1966 horror giallo film directed by Lionello De Felice and Elio Scardamaglia. It was produced by Elio Scardamaglia, Francesco Scardamaglia and Luciano Martino;. The screenplay was written by Martino and Ernesto Gastaldi from their own story. It stars William Berger, Franoise Prvost, Harriet White Medin, Mary Young and Barbara Wilson.
Plot
In 1870s England, the director of a mental hospital (Berger) is secretly carrying out skin grafts on the patients in an attempt to restore his sister-in-law's mutilated face (it seems she accidentally fell into a lime pit). Meanwhile, a hooded killer is murdering people with a straight razor in the hospital.
Cast
* William Berger as Dr. Vance
* Franoise Prvost as Gisele
* Mary Young as Lisbeth
* Barbara Wilson as Mary
* Germano Longo as Ivan
* Philippe Hersent as Fred
* Harriet White (aka Harriet Medin) as Sheena
* Massimo Righi as Fred
* Anna Maria Polani as Jane
* Delfi Mauro as Laura
Production
The film was shot in Villa Parisi in Rome. Although most sources indicate producer Elio Scardamaglia was also the director of the film, screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi stated that De Felice was actually the film's director. Gastaldi stated that De Felice left the production near the end of shooting with only a few scenes remaining left for Scardamaglia to direct himself. It was shot by Marcello Masciocchi and edited by Alberto Gallitti. The music was composed by Francesco De Masi
Style
Roberto Curti, author of 'Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969', described 'The Murder Clinic' as an example of the way Italian gothic horror films evolved into the giallo genre in the 1970s.
Release
'Murder Clinic' was released in Italy on March 17, 1966, distributed by Regional, at a length of 90 minutes. The film grossed a total of 96 million Italian lira on its theatrical release. In 1971, a re-release poster played off of Berger's own trouble with the law with the tag line "William Berger, guilty or innocent?" It was released in France as 'Les nuits de l'epouvante' .
The film was released in the United States first as 'The Murder Clinic', and then years later, in an attempt to promote the film as a zombie movie, as 'Revenge of the Living Dead'.
The film was released on DVD by Code Red DVD as part of the 'Six-Pack Volume Two' box set.
Reception
From a contemporary review, "Byro." of 'Variety' reviewed an 86 minute English dubbed version of the film, described the film as being typical of Italy's "continual supply of Gothic horror mysteries." "Byro." found the film "not up to some of the pix of Riccardo Freda or Mario Bava" but " noting its strength in its photography and visual look but that "the direction and scripting itself in on an inevitably elementary level, and the few attempts at "horror" via closups of Delphi Maurin's acid-disfigured face come off crudely."
In a retrospective review, Curti described the films direction as being "nondescript" and that the many red herrings in the film were unconvincing. Curti also noted, "The film only comes alive when Franoise Prvost is on screen". In his book 'Italian Horror Film Directors', Louis Paul described the film as a "handsomely crafted gothic thriller".
See also
*French films of 1966
*Italian films of 1966
*List of horror films of 1966
References
Footnotes
Sources
*
*
*
Buy The Murder Clinic now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1966