I'm pretty sure I have never sen this before. I had a ropey video copy that I never got round to watching and later a DVD but still wasn't particularly drawn despite a certain fascination with the death's last image on the retina theory. With a new Blu-ray the time seemed right so in it went. It starts well enough and if we have seen many similar theatrical set ups from Argento, this may have been the first. But almost immediately a problem arises, Michael Brandon lacks presence and Mimsy Farmer plays it very flat indeed (in retrospect one realises this is because of what will be revealed about her) but it does not help. A scene with the maid in the park is very lacklustre until it leaps into life with a narrow passage way and cobwebs, although our interest in the maid is nil. There are flashes of style and glimmers that this might rise up but the writing is so uninteresting and then there are those Italian stereotypes and Argento's total inability to inject humour. I know that many Italian movies of this time would suddenly go all wobbly if there was a hairdresser or photographer or interior designer - you get my drift and the most awful camping about would ensue for a couple of minutes - here it seems interminable and completely spoils any build up in the very slender story. Having said all that, the final quarter of an hour is great. Mimsy comes alive and Argento shows just why he is so loved and how he would produce several masterpieces - just not this time around.

The story is garbage. The acting is horrible. The main actor cannot act, it's like they just took some dude from the street and put him in front of the camera. And his character is a dirtbag. Who sleeps in his jeans? Who takes a nap with a fully loaded gun in his hand? The wife, cannot act, not pretty, just a plain face, nothing to look at, just plain nothing. When she got the call that the maid was dead and told the husband, nothing, no shock, no oh my god, just plain nothing. Nothing. What's the story with the bum friends? The best line is when one of the bums asks for a light and switched the cigarettes! The comedy sucked. Some of the killings were OK, nothing great. The maid in the park idea was good, but seriously poorly executed. The rock music was horrible, Truly horrible. Some mentioned that Deep Purple was thinking about doing the music. I am glad they didn't get stuck in this garbage movie. The rest of the music sucked too, especially the drum/bongo crap towards the end. Truly annoying. Then we get to the part of the dead eyeballs capturing the last thing the victim saw. Was this supposed to be sc-fi? What the hell was that? Then the wife comes in with the medallion of the flies. Oh, now it all makes sense. She's crazy, so she concocts this elaborate scheme to torture and kill her husband. Then she tries to take off, and for dramatic effect, crashes her car into a truck and gets decapitated, with poor effect. After the car crash a head is shown rolling in the street, no blood anywhere. Very poor. Give me a break! Characters are show telling boring stories. Some of these characters are shown before the big reveal, a red herring. Editing is crap, real choppy. The scene where the main character is shown confessing to his wife about killing someone, and the wife's cousin casually walks in and he does not stop talking. Does this seem realistic? No! So, what we have here is someone who got a budget with no talent, and hired a bunch of people with no talent to produce a film, for all the no talent film viewers to see and say, "It's art". It's not art, it's crap.Inferior story, acting, cinematography, lighting, sets, editing, music, you name it, it sucks.I've watched enough giallo films and understand that not all the story is supposed to make sense. But at least the good ones present decent cinematography, acting and music. I recommend Don't Torture A Duckling by Fulci, or All the Colors of the Dark, by Sergio Martino This movie should be the basis of a semester in film studies. Scene by scene should be torn apart for what should not be done. To be fair there are some parts, like the park scene that had good ideas, but bad execution.I've read some of the IMDb reviews and most like or love this movie. I hate it. And I hate Argento. This is only the 2nd movie I've seen from him. First was Suspira, a complete garbage of a movie. Color gels for lighting and that's his set design. I can only guess that fans of Argento might be looking at his movies and disregarding the story and the acting. And they praise the cinematography and scenes. Sorry, he fails on all fronts. He does not produce art, or abstract art, it's just garbage. If you watch a film with black screen and no audio, you would have a better time, use your imagination and produce your own abstract art film.I've read most of the critic reviews. So far only Entertainment Maven and Bloodcapsules have given it a low or negative rating. So, I can only conclude that most reviewers here are deaf and blind and ignorant of true art. Most state that the story is lacking and the acting is amateurish, but disregard these important elements of movie making by giving it a positive review. So, I guess you need to make up your own mind. Please, do not be fooled by garbage disguised as art.

(Credit IMDb) A musician is stalked by an unknown killer who's blackmailing him for an accidental killing of another stalker. But is everything what it appears to be?One thing I'll have to say about this Giallo from Argento that it's watchable for the most part, but it does have moments where it gets rather dull as well. It has some OK suspense, but nothing really stands out about it in my opinion. Argento is known for his stylish antics, and I wasn't really wowed with anything here. It doesn't help that our hero Roberto (Michael Brandon) is really bland, and uncharismatic. The gore is disappointingly tame, aside from a few things here and there, and a very memorable sequence at the end, which I won't spoil, but it's nasty. The twist ending is definitely the most memorable thing in the movie. I honestly didn't see it coming, and it shocked me. I give props to Dario on that. Aside from that, nothing is really special about this Giallo. Argento has done worse, but he's also done much better5.3/10

Four Flies on Grey Velvet is the third of Argento's films, and the third I have seen. It stars Michael Brandon as Roberto Tobias and Mimsy Farmer as his wife, Nina Tobias, and is the third and final film in the unofficial 'Animal Trilogy', the others being The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and The Cat O'Nine Tails. Of the three, I would consider this one to be the weakest in storyline, and consequently the most confusing, although the final scene is the best ending of any of the films. The film is fragmented and sometimes maniacally shot, with scenes being edited together in such as way so that as a viewer you are never quite sure which part of the film you are seeing. This works quite well at building up the confusion, as in typical Giallo style there are a lot of characters and a lot of red herrings, pseudo reveals and possible villains. The storyline itself concerns the protagonist being blackmailed over an accident that occurs at the very start of the film, and from there on, we are taken on a chaotic and pretty befuddling journey of kills, private investigators, flashbacks and an array of characters. Sadly the kills were very tame, even for Giallos of the time, and I can't help but feel that, although the film built tension very well, and the suspense did ratchet up throughout, there would have been a lot more suspense if the kills had been more shocking. The acting is not top class, Brandon being particularly stale in some scenes, but I'd be lying if I said Mimsy Farmer wasn't captivating in the final few minutes. As in all of Argento's films, the beauty is there in the visuals, and although this is not as visually striking as his other films, there is one scene where a woman is in a park in the daytime, surrounded by creepy carnival music and lots of playing children. All of a sudden the park turns to darkness and we see the woman running through an increasingly mazy, fog-filled scene, trying desperately to escape her pursuer. This is one of the most beautifully shot pieces of the film, and, barring the ending, the most stunning visually. It showcases Argento's immense skill at building suspense in eerily beautiful surroundings. Another captivating visual is the frequent dreamscapes/flashbacks to a person being beheaded in a very washed out desert setting, which is also probably the most graphic scene in Four Flies. This becomes all the more mesmerising after the credits begin to roll.Overall, while it is not the best of Argento's first three films, it is still definitely worth a watch, and although it can be confusing at times, it is not overwhelmingly so. It is a good suspenseful film, and the ending is memorable and very well done. I recommend it to anyone who likes Giallos, wants to see older Euro-Horror or is interested in watching something s little different. 6/10