Four Flies on Grey Velvet - Review

Dario Argento's Italian Horror Film Starring Michael Brandon

Sep 8, 2009 Kevin Sturton

One of Dario Argento's lesser known works, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is a flawed, but visually stunning Giallo with a haunting score from Ennio Morricone.

Rock drummer Roberto (Michael Brandon) confronts a man he believes has been following him in empty theatre. The stranger pulls a knife and attacks Roberto who defends himself. During the struggle Roberto stabs the man sending him plunging into the orchestra pit. The fight is witnesses by a person wearing a creepy mask, who photographs Roberto holding the knife.

Roberto Harassed in Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Roberto expects a visit from the police, but instead finds himself being harassed by the photographer. The dead man’s identification card is sent to his house. There are phone calls, incriminating photographs, and an unfortunate ending for a pussy cat. Then the murders begin. The stalker clearly has access to Roberto’s home, though neither Roberto nor his wife (Mimsy Farmer) ever sees anything.

Roberto hires a private detective who cheerfully admits to never having solved a case. Arrio (Jean-Pierre Marielle) does find out who the killer is, but only by being murdered. In a masterfully orchestrated sequence Arrio follows the culprit onto the underground. At the last moment his prey leaves the train and Arrio follows only to find himself alone on the platform with a murderer. Arrivederci Arrio.

Dario Argento’s Imaginative Direction

Four Flies on Grey Velvet is generally regarded as being one of Argento’s weakest 70’s films. There are few scares and the plot is hardly gripping. However Argento’s direction is wonderful, full of flourishes and incidental moments that make Four Flies on Grey Velvet a must see for anybody who values cinema and understands it is a medium made from sound and images. Argento is a master of the form.

Apart from Arrio’s demise there are other glimpses of Argento’s showmanship. The premise for Four Flies on Grey Velvet involves the idea, already disproved by 1971, that a dying person retains the image of the last thing they saw on their retina. As science it is nonsensical, but it may be a fitting analogy for the experience of watching an Argento film and his ability to create the kind of images that stay with you forever.

This is especially true of a remarkable sequence involving a car crash. One of the main characters drives into the back of a truck. Seen in slow motion as Argento cuts between the collision and a close-up of the driver’s face as the windshield falls into deadly shards heading towards her as she puts her arm up in a hopeless attempt to to defend herself, Ennio Morricone’s haunting music accompanies her to her death.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet Finally Available on DVD

Long unavailable on VHS and latterly DVD Four Flies on Grey Velvet now has excellent Region 1 and Region 2 releases. Newcomers to Argento may wish to start with his masterpiece Suspiria (1977) or wait for the forthcoming Giallo (2009) with Oscar Winner Adrien Brody starring as a cop investigating the disappearance of a beautiful woman.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Starring Michael Brandon
Screenplay by Dario Argento
Directed by Dario Argento
Year of Release 1971
Running time 104 mins

The copyright of the article Four Flies on Grey Velvet - Review in Horror Films is owned by Kevin Sturton. Permission to republish Four Flies on Grey Velvet - Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet