What Have You Done to Solange?
Director: Massimo Dallamano
Cast: Fabio Testi, Cristina Galbó, Karin Baal, Camille Keaton
December 15, 2015
Arrow Video
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
I am a huge fan of the Italian horror/mystery/bloody/sexy movies known as giallos. If you’ve never seen any…well you probably have. Ever see Dario Argento’s Deep Red? If so, that’s a giallo. If not, what are you waiting for? That movie is pure awesome. Go see it now. And while you’re at it, watch some of Argento’s other giallo masterpieces like Tenebrae and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Ahem, anyway if you want to ease into giallos and you are a fan of more western slasher flicks, you can try Stagefright (a.k.a. Aquarius) which is basically a slasher mixed with a giallo, or Bay of Blood (a.k.a. too many titles to list here) that has had scenes lifted wholesale from it and dropped into Friday the 13th Part 2. And hell, it could be argued that Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill and Body Double are as much giallos as they are riffs on Hitchcock films. So yeah, giallos and slasher flicks go hand in hand and are only different by degrees. If you like one you should like the other. I sure do. But back to this movie and why you should (or shouldn’t) be excited that Arrow Video has released it as a glorious Blu-ray.
What Have You Done to Solange? was made in 1972 by director Massimo Dallamano, best known as a cinematographer for such films like For a Few Dollars More and A Fistful of Dollars, and featuring the film debut of Camille Keaton who would late go on to cinema infamy with 1978’s I Spit on the Grave. It is thoroughly scandalous as it’s about a teacher that takes one of his young, female students out on a rowboat for a hot make out session, only to get rudely interrupted when they witness a brutal murder. Now the couple is in a bind. They want to help the police find out who killed a schoolgirl they both know, but they don’t want their illicit affair to come out. Oh and then more female students start getting butchered and Enrico, the teacher, is starting to look like a prime suspect to the cops. Add in a healthy dose of sex, secrets, religion, and guilt and you have one fine murder mystery filled with bloody deaths that would make Jason Voorhees cringe. But to say more than that would be giving too much away, so I will end it here.
Now let’s get to the extras Arrow has put on this Blu-ray. First, there is both the Italian and English language versions with subtitles. There is a brand new audio commentary track with film critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman. There is an interview with actors Karin Baal, Fabio Testi, producer Fulvio Lucisano and a video essay exploring the themes of this movie and its two semi-sequels in the “Schoolgirls in Peril” trilogy. The theatrical trailer is also here. Then there are the physical extras Arrow always includes, like a color collector’s booklet and reversible cover art.
So is What Have You Done to Solange? a murder mystery or a horror movie? It’s both. It’s a giallo, and a good one at that. It’s not one of the most well-known, and that’s a shame, as it is more than able to stand shoulder to shoulder and bloody black glove to bloody black glove with any other giallo flick. Three cheers to Arrow Video for bringing out this often overlooked gem. It’s one that any fan of these brutal murder movies will love. As I am one of those, consider this one highly recommended.
