GIALLO FUMETTI: CAUTION -- CURVES AHEAD! (PART 1)

A thin adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat", YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY has an even more expansive title in its original Italian, IL TUO VIZIO È UNA STANZA CHIUSA E SOLO IO NE HO LA CHIAVE (identified henceforth in this post as YOUR VICE, for obvious reasons). Directed by Sergio Martino (TORSO, SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD) and released by Lamberto Forni Film in the summer of 1972, the movie review website, ROTTEN TOMATOES sums up the plot thusly:

A novelist suffering from a bad case of writer's block finds his troubles compounded when the violent murder of his mistress sparks a bloody crime spree in this giallo from The Case of the Scorpion's Tail director Sergio Martino. Oliver (Luigi Pistilli) is an embittered, booze-swilling writer trapped in a loveless, sadomasochistic marriage with his equally venomous wife Irina (Anita Strindberg). Desperate for some physical affection and repulsed by his unaccommodating wife, Oliver schedules an illicit rendezvous with a beautiful young woman who works at a local book store. When Oliver fails to show for their extramarital encounter and later learns that his lover has been slashed to death, a subsequent series of brutal slayings leads him to believe that someone very close to him is harboring a deadly secret.

A mysterious murder.

Anita Strindberg.

Edwige Feneche.

Anita Strindberg.

Variously described as Art House, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Suspense, etc., YOUR VICE is one of the most revered of the film genre known as giallo (Italian for "yellow" -- films and literature that derived their inspiration from cheap mystery paperbacks with yellow covers that were popular in post-Fascist Italy. Author Edgar Wallace was a favorite).

Giallo is aligned as cousin of the U.S. slasher film, and is generally more refined and sophisticated in both visuals and narrative, and often has less of an emphasis on horror. Common tropes of giallo are: beautiful women, black-gloved killers, passionate lesbian sex, the artful depiction of bloodletting, and beautiful women. Starring Swedish stunner Anita Strindberg (A WOMAN IN A LIZARD'S SKIN, ALMOST HUMAN), YOUR VICE is also known for launching actress Algerian-born French/Italian Edwige Feneche into the forefront of giallo leading ladies, particularly as a "bad girl".

Edwige Feneche and Satan the Cat.

Anita Strindberg and Edwige Feneche comforting each other.

Edwige Feneche and Luigi Pistilli in the throes of passion.

Arrow Video released a 2K restoration of YOUR VICE in 2016. Here is the 411 from their website:

Loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale “The Black Cat”, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, from director Sergio Martino (Torso), weaves the key motifs from Poe’s gothic yarn into one of the most sensual films from the Golden era of giallo.

Luigi Pistil (Milano Calibre 9, A Bay of Blood) plays writer Oliviero, an abrasive drunk who amuses himself by holding drunken orgies at his grand country manor – much to the displeasure of his long-suffering wife (Anita Strindberg). But this decadence is soon rocked by a series of grisly murders, in which Oliviero finds himself implicated.

Notable for giving screen starlet Edwige Fenech her first “bad girl” role, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, with its many unexpected twists and turns, is just as bewitching as its title would suggest.

REVIEWS
"Incorporates everything I love about the black gloved killers and J&B scotch bottles subgenre, from its smarmy protagonist, requisite brutality, gorgeous women, and a twisty narrative that's difficult to nail down."
- Dread Central

"One of the best gialli ever made and a must-see for Euro-cult admirers."
- Rare Cult Cinema

"If giallo flicks are your thing, then this is an absolutely essential purchase!"
- Horrorview

CONTENTS

• Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original Italian and English soundtracks in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio
• English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• Unveiling the Vice – making-of retrospective featuring interviews with Martino, star Fenech and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
• Through the Keyhole – a brand new interview with director Sergio Martino
• Dolls of Flesh and Blood: The Gialli of Sergio Martino – a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the director’s unique contributions to the giallo genre
• The Strange Vices of Ms. Fenech – film historian Justin Harries on the Your Vice actress’ prolific career
• Eli Roth on Your Vice and the genius of Martino
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

Angela La Vorgna meets her end.

Edwige Feneche in the tub.

Anita Strindberg and Satan the Cat.

Posted here today is the first part of the first issue of CINESCANDALE, a French fumetti magazine published by Jean-Paul Annequin and Starpress/Paris in December 1976, four years after the film's premiere. CINESCANDALE was a periodical that specialized in printing fumetti of giallo films. If you can read French, great -- otherwise enjoy the photos!

[NOTE: The inside front cover and back cover are missing from this scan.]

[Continued tomorrow.]