- Title: Nove ospiti per un delitto
- IMDb: link
The 1977 giallo film, an Italian subgenre featuring both murder mystery as well as slasher and thriller elements, offers up 9 rather unlikable members of a dysfunctional rich family who start being killed off one by one when they gather at their family villa on a private island far removed from the prying eyes of the rest of the world. The family of the authoritative Ubaldo (Arthur Kennedy) include his disturbed sister Elisabetta (Dana Ghia), his second wife Giulia (Caroline Laurence), and his children Lorenzo (John Richardson), Michele (Massimo Foschi), and Patrizia (Loretta Persichetti) and their their mix of oversexed or frigid spouses Greta (Rita Silva), Carla (Flavia Fabiani), and Walter (Venantino Venantini).
There are certainly motives for conflict given the harsh nature of Ubaldo’s patriarchy, his gold-digging wife (who one of his sons is sleeping with while another son is sleeping with his brother’s wife), and years of animosity and distrust fostered under the same roof. Nine Guests for a Crime is more than your typical slasher fare, although its charms don’t ever elevate it from its B-movie design. Still, as a curiosity, it’s worth a look for the right audience.
The film begins with a flashback to a murder of a young sailor on the same beach 20 years earlier and, as events unfold, it is revealed this is the catalyst for the current crimes even suggesting the sailor may have risen and is committing them on his own (either having survived being shot and buried alive or having returned as a vengeful spirit). With its Agatha Christie-esque setup. the film delves deeper into erotic thriller and slasher territory with all its bedhopping and murder while also offering a far bleaker ending than your average Christie tale.
