Bezenby
You don't often get to see a scuba diving lesbian love scene in a film, but that situation is less likely in the crazy world of the gialli, it seems...Gianno Garko plays a jerk doctor who has just dumped his lover Daniela, perhaps for his assistant who's been making kissy faces at him. Daniela's sister is angry Carol Baker, who seems to also be Daniela's lover and is enraged at Daniela's continuous relationship with Gianni. Things come to a head one night when Gianni comes home to find a strangely silent Daniela there, and accidentally kills her by impaling her head with one of his strange object d'art required by all characters in gialli.Panicking, Gianni uses his super surgeon skills to dismember the body and get rid of it, not knowing he's being watched all the time. Also, he's not as smart as he thinks as he didn't notice Daniela's car is outside of the building. When Carol Baker turns up looking for her sister, Gianni tells her, rather unconvincingly, that she hasn't been around in some time, and then a cop, who is falling for Carol, turns up looking for the dead girl too...and he's becoming increasingly biased.Although this is very much a typical 'Carol Baker' giallo with seventies nudity, it is still watchable for Gianni Garko's increasingly unhinged performance and the twists all thrown in at the end (try not to think about them too hard though or you'll get a nose bleed). There are no good characters to root for in the film so it's a case of seeing who'se going to win the mind games that are being played out. Not the most manically paced, however, and I was kind of yearning for that - until the underwater love scene (bizarre
Red-Barracuda
A surgeon kills a lover by accident when she is impaled by a steel petal from an elaborate sculpture during the course of a physical argument in his apartment. He dismembers and disposes of the body but soon a secret blackmailer starts sending him communications indicating a knowledge of his crime.Everyone seems to have been sleeping with one and other at some time or other in this obscure Italian giallo. The plot-line, therefore, is quite convoluted like many of the films in this sub-genre. Another characteristic familiar to the genre is that none of the characters are particularly sympathetic with the lead character played by Gianni Garko being an especially unlikable misogynist. So, welcome to the wonderful world of giallo where everybody is amoral and there is no obligation from the film-makers to spoon feed the audience with any nice characters to empathise with!This one is overall not one of the entries in the genre that follows the classic-style serial killer format and instead focuses on the psychology of the central character and the escalation of events off the back of a murder. We still nevertheless have pleasingly familiar elements such as absurd plot twists, abundant nudity and dark secrets of the past informing the present. It would probably also be fair to say that this one isn't as visually stylish as most, although it does have a couple of beautifully shot underwater sequences which bookend the film, the latter of which culminates with a pretty audacious lesbian love scene! In truth, the gorgeous and evocative underwater opening is so captivating it does mean that the subsequent story pales a little by direct comparison to it but its relevance is confirmed by the end scene; I would probably say that those two distinctive sequences constitute the highlight of the movie overall. The Flower with the Petals of Steel is ultimately another involving giallo. It isn't really an upper bracket entry in the genre or anything but it is a solid movie which will definitely appeal to seasoned fans of the genre.
christopher-underwood
Surely the supply of wondrous gialli cannot go on forever. I already have 139 in my personal list and now, one more and a real sparkling gem. Carroll Baker ostensibly is the star but there are a whole bevy of beauties and surely Gianni Garko outshines them all with his massive performance. As the title credits role we have a strange, underwater sequence, completely unexplained (until the glorious and outrageous end) and the film proper begins with a murder, or does it? Fairly gruesome though not very bloody and plenty of nudity, particularly towards the end. Indeed the ending is so audacious and seemingly crazy and out of some other film that I failed to fully appreciate just how well it was done, the underwater lesbian sequence, that is! I found the soundtrack a bit jarring and sometimes seemed to simply consist of bit of pop records but its hard to criticise such a delightful and surprising discovery.
HumanoidOfFlesh
Andreas Valenti(Gianni Garko)is a respected surgeon with misogynistic tendencies.When his girlfriend Daniella(Paola Senatore)is accidentally killed by titular metal sculpture of flower he becomes the main suspect.In fact he surgically dismembers her body and disposes remains.Daniella's half-sister Evelyn(Carrol Baker)becomes suspicious and informs Inspector Garrano about possible Andreas guilt.The intrigue of blackmail and backstabbing begins...Sadly overlooked Italian giallo with fantastic underwater lesbian scene.The pace is deliberate and there are several very interesting twists and turns.The performances are splendid and there are some similarities to Luigi Cozzi's memorable "The Killer Must Kill Again".Overall,"The Flower with the Petals of Steel" is a must-see for Euro horror enthusiasts.
AD
