Murder-Rock (1984).
“She’s dead, but we can’t stop dancing, can we?”
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Written by Gianfranco Clerici, Vincenzo Mannino, Roberto Gianviti, and Lucio Fulci
Starring Olga Karlatos, Ray Lovelock, Claudio Cassinelli, Cosimo Cinieri, and spandex
The Stage.
This…is the show…and we’re not gonna change it.
Murder-Rock takes place in the ironically named Arts for the Living Center in New York City. Inside, a high profile choreograph dance troupe develops the best that leotards have to offer, until the dancers start being murdered one by one by a killer who knocks their victims out by using chloroform and then slowly drives a thin needle into their heart. A gruff detective tries to figure out who’s killing the women as macguffin after macguffin is put in his way.
The Review.
Turn, scream, and do nothing else…the easiest way to be killed in a giallo film.
If you can get past the ridiculous premise, Murder-Rock is kind of fun. It’s a very tame giallo film (especially by Lucio Fulci’s standards), basically bloodless and with pretty harmless nudity, but the suspense is built pretty well and it’s got all of the Italian hallmarks you’ve come to expect: quick zooms into people’s faces, shots of eyes just staring back at you, wonderful use of shadows, an unnamed black hand doing all of the dirty deeds, poor dubbing, and elongated shots of people just gasping in different directions. The direction is done well. Shadows are used masterfully, especially in scenes when the school is about to shut down for the night, as a voice comes over the loud speaker to let us know that the electronic locks will engage in fifteen minutes. That triggers a lighting mechanism in which the lights flash on and off. If I were someone who went to the school, I’d find this to be very annoying as you’re trying to get your shit together to leave and the lights keep turning on and off. As a giallo fan, it added a neat lighting element to the scenes.
The film will keep you guessing, as several people could be the killer based on their proximity to the victims. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any good motives for those people, so you’re hoping that it isn’t them as it would feel like a cop-out. Unfortunately when we find out who’s hand the black gloves are on, it’s not the greatest reason to be out killing young women. If you’ve seen a handful of these films, you’ll probably have worked out who the killer is by the time they’re revealed. But you’re not here for the plot, right? You’re here…for the dancing.
Possibly the tamest murder weapon ever put on screen, the hat-pin.
There are plenty of long dancing scenes in Murder-Rock and if I’m being honest, they’re worth the price of admission. It opens and ends with big group dance scenes and there’s a solo dance about thirty minutes in that sees a woman practicing a very intense dance number while water is raining down upon her in a skimpy black leotard that will put you in a trance, even if the whole time you’re watching it, you’re wondering who’s going to clean up all that fucking water once she’s done practicing her routine.
As is the case in most 80’s Italian films, the English dubbing adds a lot of unintentional comedy. After the first girl is murdered, one of the male dancers comes into the dance class and expresses how sickening it is that one of the dancers just died and they’re just dancing away the next day as if nothing happened. The teacher exclaims, “You gotta grit your teeth and dance, even when a friend dies!” There are plenty of moments like this which always give me a laugh.
The End.
In a film full of possible murderers, this person was by far the scariest thing about Murder-Rock.
Murder-Rock is a fun, stupid giallo film set in a dance studio. If the mixture of Flashdance and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage intrigues you, then call this Slashdance, or Blood and Black Leotards. Come for the mystery, stay for the dance sequences.
