Shortly after being released in theaters, the horror-comedy Studio 666made its way onto Premium VOD, and now we’ve learned it’s headed to Digital and Blu-ray/DVD this month. The Wife Killer available now on DVD from Mondo Macabro. Definitely recommend checking this one out. The film isn’t a giallo, but giallo fans will probably find a lot to enjoy here. It’s not the trashiest exploitation film out there, but it definitely has a fair amount of sleaze. The Wife Killer is a very solid thriller form the 70’s. I always appreciate little touches like that, so extra points for that. Not really a special feature but the movie does come in a red case. This is quite fascinating, especially because I couldn’t find anything about this murder online. There’s also an essay included called ‘A Crime in Cavouri’, which is about a real life murder that inspired The Wife Killer. I learned a ton about Greek cinema that I certainly never knew. It’s a quick history but super informative. The film has a few special features including a great little piece on the history of Greek cinema. The first comes pretty early so you notice it more but by the time the second rolls around you’re so engaged in the film that you just kind of pass through it without skipping a beat. I think only two scenes had this audio change. Going into my viewing I expected that to be a bit weird but it’s actually not. The audio is dubbed in English except for a few scenes in which the English audio wasn’t available. The film looks good enough that I wouldn’t have questioned anything. I always appreciate these disclaimers, but I’m not even sure it was necessary here. This isn’t a super crisp HD presentation or anything of that nature, but you get a disclaimer up front letting you know the best available materials were used for this release. The Wife Killer is available on DVD from Mondo Macabro and it’s a very nice DVD. As I dig deeper into Greek exploitation I’ll be interested to see if that’s a theme that develops frequently. That’s a pretty key element to a lot of exploitation thrillers of the 70’s. Vasileiadis was totally zoom happy and I’m completely ok with that. Zooms on zooms on zooms! And I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that. Almost every scene has some sort of pull-in or pull-out. The cinematography of Vasilis Vasileiadis is something you won’t soon forget. The cops don’t have a ton of personality and the doctor still has something sleazy to him. The closest thing to a hero is either the cops or a doctor that plays a pretty large supporting role, but they’re iffy at best. So in that regard it’s a little tough because you usually want to be able to connect with someone and cheer them on. The majority of the time is spent with Jim and Mike and they’re both mostly terrible. One issue I did have with the film is it lacks likable characters. The Wife Killer is basically an extreme, unrated version of that, which is awesome. As I type that it seems like a strange thing to say, but how many Lifetime movies are about a husband trying to off his wife? A lot I bet. The difference being here we get some blood and a fair amount of nudity. Honestly, the story could be ripped from any number of Lifetime movies.
The story isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but the ending offers up a few twists. It’s a very solid thriller with a bit of a cat-and-mouse game going on. If this is any indication, Greek exploitation has plenty of gems out there to offer. I had never seen a Greek exploitation film until my recent viewing of The Wife Killer (AKA Death Kiss) from director Kostas Karagiannis.
Mike has plans of his own and they may end up spoiling things for Jim. Jim and Mike come to an agreement and the plan goes into motion. Jim’s friend Mike (Vagelis Seilinos) happens to get off on raping women and then murdering him. So with a dead wife he’ll be rich and be able to move onto his mistress. If his wife dies he gets to claim her life insurance. The obvious predicament is that if he does leave his wife, he’ll no longer have any money. His wife on the other hand, is extremely rich. The problem is that despite his lifestyle, Jim is very much broke. He’s married but he plans to ditch his wife Ellen (Dorothy Moore) for his much younger mistress. He loves fancy things, big parties and women. Captain Jim (Lakis Komninos) lives the lavish life of a wealthy playboy.
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