A DRAGONFLY FOR EACH CORPSE (1973/released 1975)

Director: León Klimovsky

Writer: Jacinto Molina (Paul Naschy), Ricardo Muñoz Suay

Producers: Jose A. Perez Giner, Ricardo Sanz

Cast: Paul Naschy, Erika Blanc, Maria Kosti, Ãngel Aranda, Susana Mayo, Ricardo Merino, Eduardo Calvo, Ramón Centenero, Mariano Vidal Molina, Anne Marie, José Canalejas, Beni Deus, Cesar De Barona, Maria Vidal, Ingrid Rabel, Frances O’Flynn, Javier de Rivera, Juan Madrigal, Rafael Albaicin, Luis Alonso, Antonio Mayans, Ernesto Vañes, Juan Cazalilla

In Milan, Italy, a serial killer is murdering people that the killer considers unclean and sinful. A plastic dragonfly is left on each of the killer’s victims. Police Inspector Paolo Scaporella (Paul Naschy) is on the case, which becomes personal as the killer taunts Scaporella with notes and as some of the detective’s friends also become victims.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

Spain’s genre film Renaissance man and horror film champion, Paul Naschy, wrote and starred in this film with the perfect giallo-styled title of A Dragonfly for Each Corpse. He teamed with his frequent horror film director León Klimovsky to make a movie almost as offbeat as Naschy’s earlier giallo-inspired effort, The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (1974). I suppose the fact that this movie is a Spanish-Italian co-production and that it is set in Italy ought to qualify it as a giallo. However, the purists would argue that to be a true giallo the movie must be a purely Italian production. I think the real reason that A Dragonfly for Each Corpse is hard to classify as a true giallo is that it doesn’t show even a single bottle of J&B Scotch.

Besides a great animal-themed title (à la Italian director Dario Argento’s first three gialli), this film has many giallo trademarks. These include the mystery being set in Italy, a black-gloved killer, flashy fashions, successful and decadent professionals with secrets, infidelity, sexual perversity, and a high body count.

Although this movie has a very high body count, the kills are often pretty perfunctory. They are occasionally bloody, but usually not teased out to more suspenseful lengths like a lot of giallo movie murders. The plot is not too convoluted and plays fair with the audience, but there are a couple of illogical instances of characters not communicating what they know in the most direct fashion. Of course, that only serves to prolong the mystery.

One great asset this movie has is the main couple of Naschy, as Inspector Paolo Scaporella, and the radiant redhead Erika Blanc, as his wife Silvana. They are seemingly mismatched but compliment each other perfectly. Paolo is blunt and intense, while Silvana is a bright beauty that can soften some of his hard edges. It is refreshing to see a happily married couple as the protagonists in a giallo or near-giallo.

The other greatest asset that this or any other film could hope for is the magnificent presence of Anne Marie. She gives new meaning to the term showstopper as a stripper that gets pimped out to perform private perversions after hours. No other coffin ever had it so good (except Erika Blanc’s in 1971’s The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave, but that is another kink from another film for another review by this obsessive reprobate).

A major difference here from most giallo films is that the police are neither incompetent nor inconsequential to the story and its outcome. The hero here is a police inspector. This story may also be influenced by poliziotteschi, the Italian police thriller film genre that was also very popular at this time. Yet, like many gialli, it is a creative or artistic person who intuits the killer’s identity.

As in many giallo films, there are sexual norms crossed by several characters, which attracts the puritanical wrath of the killer. Here we also have the mucho macho Inspector Scaporella accompanied on some inquiries by his gay, fashion designer friend, Vittorio (Ramón Centenaro). There is never a single remark, snide or otherwise, concerning Vittorio’s homosexuality. This seems like a very progressive bit of nonchalance for a film of this time.

A Dragonfly for Each Corpse is a pleasant surprise for longtime Paul Naschy film fans. There are many differences for Naschy’s character in this film from what he usually wrote for himself. He often treats himself to couplings with more than one woman in his films, yet here he is faithful to his devoted wife. Considering that the enchanting Erika Blanc portrays this wife, it is a wise choice, though the blonde prostitute Ornella (played by a dazzling and unknown actress) who offers her services to him would probably be indulged in by Naschy’s character in any other film. It is just one more reason we still respect this violence-prone, cigar-chewing cop who wears very loud ties. Naschy’s Inspector Scaporella is so honest and genuine that he does not even wear a toupee.

A Dragonfly for Each Corpse is a Paul Naschy film with a change-of-pace characterization for him, great theme music, a mystery killer that tallies up a high body count, and three of the most magnificent Euro-film beauties ever. That’s all that this sleazy sleuth craves in his Euro-horror film investigations. I just wish I could solve the mystery of who played Ornella.