Lavish murder mystery with some of the best reds committed to film. Classic giallo dichotomies of beauty and danger, passion and violence, set in a baroque fashion house full of spectacular lighting effects (weeping for our contemporary replacement of flat Netflix bisexual LEDs). The mystery itself is straightforward but misdirection and a goofy brick house detective go a long way in keeping the action engaging.
It is quite rough watching a sequence of non-character women be brutally murdered. The movie is fully pulling from genre tropes and doesn't express any actual ideas about gender or gendered violence (save a few misdirection lines about lustful men being driven to murder), but framing the kills as themselves erotic leaves a bitter taste. That said the fight choreography and setups are fantastic, one in an antique shop being particularly fun. Just know what you're getting into beforehand (guess the title should have tipped me off).
Very excited to dig more into giallo. I've only seen a few but they seem to encompass all my favorite hedonistic movie impulses. More ominous red phones, please.
Content warnings: violence against women, torture, blood