AUTOPSY [100mins, unrated]

AKA: "Macchie Solari", "Sun Spots", "The Victim", "Tarot", "Tension", "The Magician"
Director: Armando Crispino
Cast: Mimsy Farmer, Ray Lovelock, Barry Primus, Carlo Cattaneo, Angela Goodwin, Gaby Wagner, Massimo Serato, Ernesto Colli, Antonio Casale
Distributors:
* Clodio Cinematografica
* Prism Entertainment
* Titanus
* Anchor Bay
Year: 1975

Being as much an avid giallo enthusiast as the next guy, and seeing as how I havent really bothered viewing anything from my gialli sub-collection in a fairly long time, I decided to dust-off one such giallo movie from my shelf recently to get back into the spirit of things [if you will.]And it just so happens that the particular movie in question happens to be the movie Im here to give my Epinion on here today...

Plot Crunch?
It seems that the seering summer heat-wave [seemingly being caused by solar-flares eminating-radiating from the sun] sweeping about Rome is causing people to mentally breakdown and commit suicide on the spot, enter medical-intern 'Simona' [Mimsy Farmer - "Camping Del Terrore"]who is seemingly also being broken down by the suns-rays [interestingly enough she isnt driven to kill herself, rather just to simply hallucinate dead-cadavers waking up and romping around in the nude !?]Another interesting tibit is that she is simultaneously conducting a thesis, in between being groped by her lustful boy-toy 'Edgar' [Ray Lovelock - "Living Dead at Manchester Morgue"] on authentic suicides versus fabricated suicides [fabricated meaning murder set-up to appear like suicide], a ghastly motive-opperenda that an unseen individual is seemingly using to get away with the murders of loosely connected individuals, in particular a woman found dead on the beach named 'Betty Lenox', sister to epeleptic former race-car driver turned priest 'Paul Lenox' [Barry Primus] who believes Betty's death to have been legit murder, and who in turn teams up with a confused [not to mention ditzy] Simona to prove his claim & solve the puzzle that has been worked around them...something which may lead them to a close 'personal' discovery

Epinion?
Certainly not the greatest example of the once prolific subgenre we have all come to know and admire, however, Armando Crispino's "Autopsy" or "Macchie Solari" as its also known as [which translates to 'Sun Spots']has all the ear-markings of what a good giallo needs to thrive on, such as...
A] Confusing, stretched-out, far-fetched elaborate murder-mystery of a plot
B] Plenty of 'Red Herrings' [suspects]
C] Lush, labrynthine European setting - arty cinematography, and a lounge-style jazz-score
D] The good ol' "Scooby-Doo"esque ending where the revealed/unmasked villain spews forth his/her motives only to subsequently meet a grisly demise of their own...
Pretty much to only key-element absent from the roster is the giallo trademark of at least showing the killers [black-gloved] hands
On the downside:
Mimsy Farmer's acting and wooden-delivery [save for one sequence where she attacks wanton-pervert Ernesto Colli with a fork in the morgue]pretty much put-up a stinky smoke-screen whenever she is called to actually add something to the plot-proceedings [other than the copious amount of T&A she 'generously' provides the viewer...which isnt a bad thing at all really!]
Ray Lovelock on the other hand is wonderful as the full-of-himself ladies-man who tries to aid Simona into liberating herself sexually. In all honesty, Ray Lovelock comes across as really the only 'real' person out of the buch...
And as far a 'scenery-chewing' is concerned, the award must be handed to one Barry Primus, because for a priest he sure can deal out a psychotic a$$-kicking when needed-be!
Another downer is the absence of any real good gore-fx or for that matter a real 'slasher-movie' style approach to the narrative as is featured in the majority of the giallo's being churned out [an example would be Umberto Lenzi's "Eyeball".] Instead we get jerked-around be having the underlying suspicion that the director really wanted to do a semi-morbid sexploitationer but turned sheepish and didnt go for the full-monty, thus leaving somewhat of a hybrid mess for us the viewers to attempt to recycle and make sense out of...

Final Thought?
Hmmm...., for what its worth Im willing to give Crispino's "Autopsy" *** out of ***** stars, but a no when it comes to the official recommendation [simply because of the off-putting subject matter]
Unofficially I would recommend "Autopsy", but only to someone who is already into similar movies and is looking for some variety in their viewing

Rent or Buy at your own risk












Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age