Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Bezenby Another Giallo that takes the unusual approach of having two simultaneous storylines taking place: One in the present, involving an old professor who rents an abandoned villa from a shifty administrator to take some field recordings like the Hafler Trio and ends up finding some crumpled cassette tape hidden underneath a tree. It's on these tapes that the other story unfolds: that of Erika Blanc in psychotherapy sessions with her doctor regarding why she decided to attempt suicide (a scene we see at the start of the film). Erika once lived in the huge villa the professor now finds himself in and has a bit of a strange set up going on. She lives with her drunken husband but also seems to continually be playing mind games with her friend Manfredi, including teasing him on her wedding day, rejecting him, slapping him around, and throwing in the odd snog for good measure. It's only later she reveals that Manfredi is her brother! Incest, eh?Yes - it's one of those "In the Folds Of The Flesh" type films that seem sick to us outsiders but are very common to those rich folks who can afford giant villas in Italy. Be warned, although this film does eventually fit into the giallo mould, it also has leaning towards to the artful too, which means a lot of symbolism, characters looking moody, and staring. That said, it's still a giallo, as we don't get the full story from the cassettes and the old man suddenly finds himself listening to a cassette made by a past character while he was out in town! The last half an hour is where this film gets going, with a sudden outburst of bloody violence and a grim ending we've all come to expect at this point. You've got to be in the mood for a film of this pace, however, but luckily, I was. The beautiful (once again!) giallo cinematography certainly helps.Peter Lee Lawrence stands out here as Manfredi. Up until this I thought he was just some kind of Germanic bland spaghetti western actor, but there you go.

Darkling_Zeist Wonderfully atmospheric thriller from director Sauro Scavolini; a brooding, elegiac tale of emotional violence starring that delicious redhead Erika Blanc and the voluptuous Orchidea 'Devil in The Brain' De Santis. Masterful stuff that reminded me of the equally neo-Gothic piece 'Anima Persa'. An octogenarian professor hires an ostensibly deserted, dilapidated mansion for his study of rare bird call, and discovers, in true-blue gialli style, a stone-cold, hyper-sexual, dark tale of incest, infidelity and escalating madness. There is a decidedly decadent whiff of Hitchcock in this deadly tale of twisted desire and dreadful deceit; and it is rendered with considerably more restraint than arch schlock-meister Dario Argento. I just discovered that Suaro Scavolini wrote 'The Case of The Scorpions Tale', 'you vice is a locked room and only I have the key' and 'All the colours of the dark' - so his giallo credits are unimpeachable! 'Love & Death in The Garden of the Gods is certainly worthy of re-discovery.

HumanoidOfFlesh An ornithologist imprisoned in a villa with a large park finds a tape which features traces that could be traced back to a massacre some time ago.Sauro Scavolini's "Amore e morte nel giardino degli dei" was photographed by Romano Scavolini of "Spirits of Death" and "Nightmare" fame.The film is well-acted and offers a nice amount of nudity.There are traces of giallo and Gothic melodrama in the plot.The finale is especially memorable,because it's violent and bloody.Various characters are killed with a sword or shot to death.Lovely Erica Blanc provides a bit of delicious sleaze and Sauro Scavolini directs with a sure hand.6 out of 10.

michaelwotruba Token possession of an old "villa", a German ornithologist casually discovers some old tapes on which a psychologist has recorded the mysterious doings happened into those isolated walls. So he learns about a gloomy story of incestuous loves and trivial betrayals that will lead to a bloodbath orchestrated by an unexpected crazy character. A love drama disguised in a "giallo" movie that moves too much slowly; but has the regard to show a beautiful and skilled Erica Blank and an intense Peter Lee Lawrence. Romano Scavolini pays much attention in directing the cast and orchestrating the shot, but seems to forget completely the pacing, transforming an otherwise interesting story in a soporific black fable, which hardly someone can go thoroughly.