The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail

When a recently (and suspiciously) turned heiress is murdered in a hotel room and her one million dollar inheritance disappears, all suspicion falls on Peter Lynch (George Hilton), the private investigator for the insurance company. But Peter seems confident, knowing he didn’t do it, even falling in love with one of the photographers (Anita Strindberg) of a newspaper that’s been hounding him. Soon the murders continue for those involved in the life of the heiress, including the obligatory blackmailer (Janine Reynauld). Is Peter scott-free, or is there some other, darker secret?
Basically a by-the-numbers giallo, it benefits a lot of it’s cinematography and just how scenic it is. It’s beach and hotel locations are photographed beautifully, in contrast to the murders, which are filmed dark on purpose to give them that more menacing tone. Sergio Martino is one of the great giallo craftsmen, but this is definitely one of his most normal ones, lacking the sleaze of the stuff he made with Edwige Fenech. George Hilton is good as always, and the beautiful Anita Strindberg is naked often and looking great. She would work again for Martino in Your Vice Is A Locked Room…, Fulci’s Lizard In A Woman’s Skin and would appear in the satanic rip-off of The Antichrist. Then there’s Janine Reynauld, who was in her forties at the time and looked beautiful even then. You may remember her from Jess Franco’s Necronomicon, and sadly she’s not as naked in here as she was in that particular picture, except in an autopsy photo so if you get your rocks off like that, you’ll definitely get a chubby here. This is a good giallo, but Martino has done way better.