A series of apparent suicides occur during a period of solar flares. Pathologist Simona Sanna (Mimsy Farmer) believes that the latest victim, a woman with a gunshot to the face, didn't kill herself, and with the help of a priest, Father Paul Lenox (Barry Primus), investigates the deaths.
This weird giallo starts off with several shocking suicides: a topless woman slashes her wrist; a man puts a carrier bag on his head and throws himself into a river; a bloke sets fire to the car he is sitting in, the vehicle exploding; and a father shoots his kids and then turns the (machine) gun on himself. It's a grim, attention-grabbing way to open a film, but director Armando Crispino doesn't stop there. He introduces lead character Simona while she is at work, surrounded by naked corpses, other pathologists busy at work cutting up the bodies. It's grisly stuff, and gets seriously creepy when Simona hallucinates, imagining the corpses rising from their slabs to fornicate.
Sadly, the rest of the film is nowhere near as powerful or as memorable: it's a typically convoluted, frequently baffling murder mystery revolving around a missing will, and is only enlivened by frequent nudity from Farmer. There's no explanation for Simona's funny spells, no reason is given for the frequent shots of solar flares, I have no idea what SIMONASEI means (as spelt out by Simona's paralysed father), and I'm still unsure as to why Simona is sexually repressed (although this does lead to a strange scene where her lover Edgar, played by Ray Lovelock, shows her vintage porn to get her in the mood). The only gore comes in the form of the real 'death' photos on display at a criminal museum.
The ending of the film is particularly dumb: having survived an arranged suicide by the killer, the protagonists don't go to the police, like most people would, instead opting to confront the maniac themselves. This allows for a perilous fight scene on some high scaffolding, the villain ultimately falling to their death, but next time, call the cops!
This weird giallo starts off with several shocking suicides: a topless woman slashes her wrist; a man puts a carrier bag on his head and throws himself into a river; a bloke sets fire to the car he is sitting in, the vehicle exploding; and a father shoots his kids and then turns the (machine) gun on himself. It's a grim, attention-grabbing way to open a film, but director Armando Crispino doesn't stop there. He introduces lead character Simona while she is at work, surrounded by naked corpses, other pathologists busy at work cutting up the bodies. It's grisly stuff, and gets seriously creepy when Simona hallucinates, imagining the corpses rising from their slabs to fornicate.
Sadly, the rest of the film is nowhere near as powerful or as memorable: it's a typically convoluted, frequently baffling murder mystery revolving around a missing will, and is only enlivened by frequent nudity from Farmer. There's no explanation for Simona's funny spells, no reason is given for the frequent shots of solar flares, I have no idea what SIMONASEI means (as spelt out by Simona's paralysed father), and I'm still unsure as to why Simona is sexually repressed (although this does lead to a strange scene where her lover Edgar, played by Ray Lovelock, shows her vintage porn to get her in the mood). The only gore comes in the form of the real 'death' photos on display at a criminal museum.
The ending of the film is particularly dumb: having survived an arranged suicide by the killer, the protagonists don't go to the police, like most people would, instead opting to confront the maniac themselves. This allows for a perilous fight scene on some high scaffolding, the villain ultimately falling to their death, but next time, call the cops!