Ah. . . Edgar Allan Poe. The original master of suspense (and macabre), with his maniacal revenge plots, twisted love stories and gothic settings, has arguably done more for horror films than any other writer (though some may argue that H.P. Lovecraft excels). This is evident in nearly every frame of the 1972 giallo Your Vice is a Locked Door and Only I Have the Key (the title alone is a classic, it was also released under other titles as well, including Gently Before She Dies, Eye of the Black Cat, and Excite Me!).
Loosely based upon Poe’s “The Black Cat”, director Sergio Martino infuses a style reminiscent of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s horror classic Les Diaboliques, making for a unique narrative. Set in an ancient villa, its decay and rot echoing the crumbling marriage inside (this setting will bring to mind several Poe tales, most notably, “The Fall of the House of Usher”), Oliviero (Luigi Pistilli) is a small town celebrity, an author who has had several novels published (though currently has writer’s block). Revelling in the dwindling free love sixties movement, he frequently invites a group of hippies from a local campsite to party with him. Much to the chagrin of his unhappy (and frequently beaten/threatened) wife Irina (Anita Strindberg), the pair are constantly targeting each other (in very different ways).
The moldering house, and nearly everything in it, is a constant reminder of Oliviero’s mother, a deceased quasi-famous actress whose portrait (in a medieval style dress – the piece of clothing plays a part in the sordid tale) still sits in prominence within the abode. Likewise, a shifty black cat aptly named Satan, the former matriarch’s pet, has a sharp dislike for Irina. It is quite clear that Oliviero, to throw out a Freudian term, has an Oedipus complex when it comes to his mother, more infatuated by her memory than with his own very much alive wife. It is like she still haunts the home, a noxious gas that perverts anyone bold enough to live there.
With a black live-in housekeeper named Brenda (Angela La Vorgna), she tends to get stuck in the middle – an uncomfortable, unfair and more than unpleasant situation to be sure. When a former student and mistress of Oliviero’s turns up dead (evidently murdered by a curved blade, possibly a sickle), the police look to him as one of the prime suspects. After another death that lands even closer to home, the couple, already on edge, are less than ecstatic to discover that his long unseen niece Floriana (Edwige Fenech) is coming for an extended visit. It is soon quite clear that she is a sexually adventurous nubile nymphette, a girl that we are never quite sure about. . . is she really even his niece?
Filled with mysterious intrigue, possible red herrings abound – a murderer shown only from behind, a white-haired snoop, a sex-driven delivery man, and that is not including all of the main players, all of which are vile in their own way. . . each perfectly possible of being the unknown culprit skulking in the shadows. Perhaps the only person that can be deemed of no threat is the elderly lady who bikes around town, collecting empty milk bottles. . . though even she seems to always be round the next corner.
Martino builds a tense paranoia (his camera having an instinctual, voyeuristic tendency. . . he utilizes fascinating pans and tracking shots to build the seedy atmosphere), the mania coursing though the veins of those living in the situation pushing them to do horrible things. Abuse grows more common, animals are harmed, sexual trysts pop up (sometimes incestuous ones), deals are made, people are stabbed in the back, and murder will rear its ugly head more than once. Everyone seems to have a depraved agenda, though what each one is will only be discovered as the story ticks to its coda.
An entertaining film to be sure, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is a superb gothic giallo, a tricksy motion picture that pays tribute to the tales of Edgar Allan Poe (on top of the aforementioned stories, think “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, as well as many others). The movie’s title actually pays tribute to Martino’s first giallo, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, as this phrase can be found on a note left by the killer to his victim. With a quality score from Bruno Nicolai, stylistic cinematography by Giancarlo Ferrando, quality acting and intriguing direction, there is plenty to draw its audience in. Lastly, the work of Martino has greatly influenced present day director Eli Roth, so much so that in Hostel: Part II Edwige Fenech has a cameo as the Art Class Professor. No cat calls for this foreign film, it’s an off the wall adventure that is sure to please. . . and disturb.
Can be watched in Italian with English subtitles or in a dubbed English version