Audience Member
"The murderer has dark hair, no beard, and does not wear glasses." Lucio Fulci ("Zombi", "The House by the Cemetery", "The Beyond") returns to his comedic roots while retaining his horror sensibilities in this serial killer slasher about a playboy who uses the then equivalent of Tinder to meet rich widows and other older society-types. He bores of the the ladies quickly, killing them, preserving their body parts (for consumption), and stealing their valuables in order to help cover his massive gambling debts. The ladykiller is known as the "Maniac" in the media and must start disguising himself as he starts to go mad. When he meets a wealthy younger, somewhat attractive woman he is thrown off by her orofacial cleft while she romantically purses him. The music soundtrack is very hit-and-miss and the film quality is rather low, even for a late '80s Italian horror.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
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Audience Member
Quite honestly, this was my least favourite Lucio Fulci's films so far. The idea is initially good and the plot promises a lot: a refined canibalistic murderer with a gambling addiction who talks with himself through pre-recordings and who is unable to identify himself in the news as the author of the killings. Henceforward Lucio repeats the same formula, unable to offer any kind of plot twist or innovation to grab the spectator's attention; its seems that he was just trying to fill in space to keep the movie going. When he finally needs to end the movie, he invokes a »Deus ex machina« in the form of a wealthy lonely woman who dials his number by mistake, likes his voice, invites him over, they talk about marriage and finances (in their first encounter, within hours of speaking for the first time) and finally shoots him when he is about to kill her. He ends up dying talking to his shadow.
In my view, the film is simply a collection of clichés, filled with gore scenes in order to try to compose a giallo movie. It failed spectacularly and is light years away from Lucio's previous works such as "Don't torture a duckling", "The Beyond", "Zombie 2", "City of the Living Dead", "The house by the cemetery", "Aenigma" and others. It's unworthy of Lucio Fulci and if you want to know about the author, I'd advise you to see his other previous films.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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delysid d
its a nasty little film, its not that great. at least it was better than sodomas ghost
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/18/18
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Audience Member
'Touch of Death' is a nasty little slice of gruesome goodness that packs plenty of ghoulish humor and bloody mayhem. It's one of Lucio Fulci's best, in my humble opinion, because of its purely, and often comically, savage nature.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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Audience Member
Fulci Makes A Splatter-Comedy--Lifestyles Of The Rich And Disfigured!!
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
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Audience Member
An interesting serial killer movie that despite some over-the-top and unbelievable gore, has a pretty decent story. Very character based, as we see the main character battling with his own conscience, and eventually losing.
The problem I had with it, is that it couldn't stay focused. The story went from crazy serial killer, to almost slapstick comedy and back again. And the transition just didn't work.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
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