FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1971)

[The Burgomaster]

I've been waiting to see this one for a long time and I finally purchased the DVD.  It's a good (but not great) Dario Argento thriller.  The widescreen DVD (with about a minute or two of restored footage that never appeared in U.S. prints - - all dialogue and not very important) has sharp audio and video and is well worth purchasing if you're an Argento fan.

Michael Brandon plays a drummer in a rock band living in Italy.  He accidentally kills a man who was stalking him and a mysterious masked figure takes photographs of the incident.

It has a few good killings, but isn't as bloody as some of Argento's other movies, like SUSPIRIA, TENEBRAE, and DEEP RED.

One interesting sequence involves the police passing a laser beam through a murdered woman's eyeball in order to produce a picture of the last image on her retina before she died.

As I said, not Argento's best, but still worth having in your collection.

[Joe the Destroyer]

Argento is my favorite director, and I just ordered this and Stendhal Syndrome.  It's going to be an Argentorrific night in soon. 

[RCMerchant]

I like Argento a lot too...though I haven't seen this one yet.
I just seen CAT 'O' NINE TAILS...and it wasn't up to par with some of his later ones either.To much mystery...not enuff blood.
My favorites of his would have to be TENEBRAE,PHENOMENA,DEEP RED,and The BIRD WITH the CRYSTAL PLUMMAGE.

[zombie no.one]

DEEP RED is serious  brilliant film.

looking to see FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET  and all Argento's other films up until TENEBRAE, after which he apparently fell off...

[The Burgomaster]

I also ordered INFERNO last week and it should be arriving soon.  I saw it on VHS many years ago.  I don't remember much about it, but I do seem to remember it wasn't oneof his best.  But I already own most of Argento's movies, so I might as well get INFERNO too.

[akiratubo]

I've never been impressed with Dario, at all.  Four Flies On Grey Velvet didn't change that opinion.  I think it was better than Suspiria or Deep Red (I've never understood why those have such great reputations) but not as good as Inferno or Phenomena.

[StatCat]

Deep Red or Tenebre are probably the best giallos he did. Deep Red is a really amazing film in particular, probably my favorite goblin soundtrack as well. Four Flies on Grey Velvet is ok but like Cat o Nine Tails you're not going to be amazed by it. There's far better lesser known giallos that are better than this (stuff by Sergio Martino, Massimo Dallamano etc from about the same time) and I guess the only reason it gets some hype is because Argento's name is attached to it.

I can easily see why Deep Red and Suspiria have their reputations just for what was done shooting wise alone, they're both brilliant movies to me chocked full of ideas if you really read up on them.

[Neville]

I thought it was a decent film, although a far cry from his best movies. The plot is intriging, but the script is mediocre and doesn't do much with the premise. As for the visuals, there are some nice touches, such as the main character's recurrent nightmare, but it's still a very restrained film compared to Argento's later stuff.

I did like a lot the supporting characters, though. That private eye who has never solved a single case was genious, and it was very funny to see Bud Spencer in a supporting role that doesn't have him throwing punches.