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An artist named Stefano has relocated to a small Italian village to restore a rather gruesome painting in a church. The artist was know as "the painter of agony" - he liked to capture people in their death throes and has left some bizarre voice recordings on a reel to reel. Soon, Stefano begins to receive creepy phone calls telling him not to touch the painting, and some of the villagers begin to act suspiciously. Long story short, Stefano finds himself in the middle of a series of murders, which he intends to get to the bottom of. I'll stop right there cause I don't want to give out any spoilers, but this film was incredible. Absolutely beautifully shot and directed - for a movie made in 1976, the dvd version looks like it was shot yesterday. I highly reccomend this film to anyone who has a taste for Italian horror cinema.  :thumbup:

Thanks for posting this.  I'm a big fan of Italian shockers like this one (giallo and even "pseudo-giallo").  I have almost purchased this several times and now you've encouraged me to go ahead and buy it.

here's my review:

         the debut feature for my new DVD / vcr combo player. What a big deal huh?  The thing is pretty good. okay..

          This movie is kind of like a vacation to Italy in that it takes place in a quaint Italian village and it's pace is like that of soccer, a popular sport there. That is, it's SLOW. I liked this better than soccer though. A guy goes to a town to study or restore I can't remember some fresco by a deceased local painter. Besides this particular man's s**tty paintings the scenery is beautiful. You've got your nice little quiet town with a river and an old church and long grass all authentic and shot well and featured prominently. The lead actor is handsome with a cool beard and his girlfriend is pretty, something italians NEVER miss leading me to guess there are alot of pretty girls there. Immediately the guy notices the town is really weird. At the funeral of one of his friends the church helper guy goes "I put a live animal in his coffin, to keep him company!" hey thanks man. 

    The movie is 110 minutes long and the pace is glacial but it always does keep you hanging in there somehow. It's a must see for Giallo fans obviously.  I have to admit that in the end I probably would prefer something more "devil's nightmare" ish with a lot of nudity and gore and quicker to the point.  I mean, the plot and tension is okay but not exactly Hitchcock worthy, so you have to ask yourself if this giallo is really playing to the strengths of the genre. 3.75/ 5

Sounds really familiar, like I might have seen it about 20 years ago.  I should check it out again, especially if the DVD looks good.  Sometimes if the atmosphere is good enough, I can tolerate and even enjoy a glacial pace.

That's funny. A lot of Europeans say that American football seems boring to them. It's all a matter of perspective, I suppose.

Well, I don't think movies should seek to emulate a soccer games pace regardless. 

As long as the movie isn't "nil - nil" after 90 minutes . . .