Storyline: Testa in giu, gambe in aria 1972 This is surely one of the most obscure giallo titles out there apparently solely available via a singularly battered, non English friendly print that belies its relatively young 40 years in retrospect, given its mediocre quality, not to mention the tenuous link it has with the genre to begin with, this is not at all surprising Comedy has always been uneasily incorporated into what amounts to a violent, garishly coloured form not that the film under review has much of either, and this certainly does not prove the exception to the rule here involving the moody heros hotcold rapport with his burly pal at work voiced by Enrico Maria Salerno There are also a number of gratuitous nude scenes including protagonist Corrado Panis butt, appalling costumes that scream 1970s especially an outrageously revealing one worn at a party by leading lady Marina Malfatti and an incongruously cheerful score we even get the obligatory nightclub dance floor sequence, where the male lead unwisely attempts to explain his current predicament to his dancing partner amid the blaring noise Incidentally, the title which translates to Head Down, Feet Up refers to the heros half hearted attempts to practice yoga I wonder whether it could have been inspired by Sergio Leones Spaghetti Western GIU LA TESTA aka DUCK, YOU SUCKER 1972The plot basically deals with a graphic artist who gets entangled in a wave of killings of university professors he becomes quite obsessed copiously collecting newspaper cut outs related to it after dreaming about himself as an adult turning up for an exam in an open air venue filmed for maximum disorienting effect with a fish eye lens and actually resembling more a job interview, in which not only the assessors are the murder victims but he personally starts bleeding at the wrist One of them, however, he runs into at a barwho turns out to be gay and invites him to walk home together, but he obviously draws the line at the doorstep the handsome Pani has a girl, Malfatti, but also dallies with an attractive work colleague and even carries on an affair with a middle aged female patron With respect to this general freewheeling attitude to love, when Malfatti becomes pregnant by him and decides to abort because a child would obviously be inconvenient to her modeling career without even bothering to inform her lover, Pani gives her a good thrashing and dumps her hypocritically, though, he had earlier been rendered jealous by the undue attentions given to his girl by an ex buddy being feted for having made it as a full fledged artistAnyway, when the professor is found dead the morning after the meeting with the hero, the latter decides to follow the tracks of a man the victim had himself indicated as a possible suspect indeed, he begins to see him everywhere he goes outside the school and, most distressingly, in front of his own house So paranoid does he become that, when this person finally approaches him in a dark alley, Pani turns on him and strangles the manwho is revealed the next day to be yet another tutor Given the protagonists constantly brooding countenance, it is fair to assume that the film makers with whose work I am unfamiliar intended misleading the viewer into thinking he would emerge as the unwitting serial killer but, ultimately, they do not even display the courage of their lack of convictions, as the film just peters out without offering so much as a hint of a solution the nods to BLOW UP 1966 are palpable throughout but, in this case, it feels like the scriptwriters simply ran into a brick wallapart from having Pani succeed at the titular yoga position at long last In the end, if it were not for the ultra modern trimmings, one would be excused in thinking this emanated from the early days of the giallo, so timid is its approach to the genres mechanics
Torn from Innocence (2015)
The real story behind sex trafficking
The Brinks Job (1978)
A fictional retelling of the infamous Brinks Company robbery in Boston, which took place on January 17th, 1950, with a score of 2 700 000, and cost the American taxpayers 29 000 000 to apprehend the culprits with only 58 000 reco
Joy for Christmas (2021)
A publicist introduces a famous athlete to the joys of Christmas in the hopes that he will assist her in saving her familys annual charity
Bring It on Again 2004
When new students cant get onto their college cheerleading team, they form their own squad and prepare for a cheer off
House of Darkness: New Blood (2018)
Inspired by actual events, this thriller unravels the mystery of a single mother who believes a shocking family tragedy was caused by dangerously dark forces
Purple Hearts (2022)
In spite of their many differences, Cassie, a struggling singer songwriter, and Luke, a troubled Marine, agree to marry solely for military benefits But when tragedy strikes, the line between real and pretend begins to blur
The Three Faces of Terror (2004)
Two men and a woman are approached by this hypnotist and they have a vision from looking into the crystal attribute hes carrying with him
Primitive (2011)
Martin is forced to confront his own inner demon made flesh before it rips him to pieces
The Outer Boroughs (2017)
Two friends, Dan and Pete, move to New York City to discover that the Outer Boroughs, while more affordable than Manhattan, are vastly haunted by all sorts of ghouls, ghosts and goblins
Shes Back (1989)
A henpecked electrician is nagged by his recently deceased wife into taking revenge on the gang responsible for her death
Ladies and Gentlemen The Rolling Stones (1973)
A concert film taken from two Rolling Stones concerts during their 1972 North American tour
But Always (2014)
1970s Beijing two school friends, both with different backgrounds and families, lose touch, only to rekindle the romance in New York City, where they must decide between a present love or a future love
The Inland Road (2017)
After surviving a fatal car crash, teenage runaway Tia moves in with the strangers involved in the accident, threatening the familys delicate balance
American Pets (2018)
When twisted young charmer Tods decadent Hollywood lifestyle is put into jeopardy, he hatches a diabolical plan to save it
Touch (2024)
A romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents Touch follows one mans emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago, before his time runs out