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Calisto Calisti, Mimsy Farmer, Tom Felleghy, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Fulvio Mingozzi ... see more see more... , Francine Racette , Bud Spencer , Michael Brandon , Fabrizio Moroni , Stefano Oppedisano , Aldo Bufi Landi

After wrapping up a recording session with his garage band, drummer Roberto (Michael Brandon) follows and confronts a mysterious stranger who has been stalking him to an abandoned theater where Robert... read more read more...o impulsively stabs him. A grinning puppet-like figure takes photos of the attack from a mezzanine box, which arrive in an envelope at Roberto's home the following day. It appears that he is being blackmailed, but it's not clear from whom or why. Suspects include a club-footed neighbor and various friends. After Roberto confesses to the stabbing, his housekeeper discovers the killer's identity, is murdered, and an increasingly paranoid Roberto sends his wife, Nina (Mimsy Farmer), out of town. He eventually tracks down the man he stabbed with the help of a flamboyant detective (Jean-Pierre Marielle) and colorful transient friend Godrey (Bud Spencer), but both the man and the detective are killed. Roberto's cousin Dalia (Francine Racette) visits and, against their better judgment, they begin a passionate love affair. Elsewhere, the police use a special camera that can capture the final image a murder victim sees off their eyeball; this technique is used to track down the real killer. ~ Michael Buening, Rovi

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PG, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Dario Argento

Release Date: December 17, 1971

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DVD Release Date: February 24, 2009

Stats: 139 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (139)

  • SirPant
    February 7, 2012
    SirPant
    The conclusion to the Animal trilogy is good but does come close to the greatness of The Bird With the Crystal Plumage or Cat o' Nine Tails. I liked it but the lack of structure is obvious and is a problem. I watched the recently released uncut version and in the extras assistant... read more director and co-writer Luigi Cozzi explains that it is basically a bunch of scenes with some cool deaths strung together. A lot of it is tribute to films and literature both men admired at the time, the dialogue between the main character and the private detective was stolen, albeit in admiration, from another film, word for word. You couldn't get away with that kind of thing these days but then there is a lot you couldn't do that this film did. For the lack of structure and the uninteresting lead, the film does make up for it thanks to how great it looks, the slow motion bullet scene and the slow motion car crash were both firsts and look as good today as they did then. A great example of Giallo, thankfully it wasn't the last as was initially intended and as uninteresting as Michael Brandon's performance was, at least they didn't cast Ringo Starr as was first planned. This is about as cult as it gets, one for the Giallo/Argento hardcore.
  • matertenebraum
    April 14, 2011
    matertenebraum
    Four Flies on Grey Velvet is Dario Argento's rarest genre film. It completes the Animal Trilogy and is the movie that preceded the magnificent Deep Red. Having never been officially available on video or DVD, Four Flies remains a bit of an enigma. It's fair to say that it is not ... read morean entirely successful movie - it has serious flaws in story and acting - however, it showcases early stylistic experimentation by Argento. And, as such, is an important entry of giallo cinema.

    The story involves a rock drummer who accidentally kills a man and is drawn into a web of murder by a masked assassin who appears to have a vendetta against him.

    The opening credit sequence is a memorable affair, incorporating pounding drums and close ups of a beating heart. This title sequence, however, is a good indicator of the inconsistencies of the film we are about to see, as included within this impressive opening is a silly section involving a fly that irritates rock drummer Brandon. The inclusion of this nonsense is an early example of one of the films major weaknesses - the comedy. It is never funny. We have a completely unfunny postman, a guru fisherman God who says absolutely nothing of interest at any point and a man with a moustache who tells a succession of abysmally unfunny stories to an audience of giggling women. Argento has never had flair for comedy, it's just not his arena and this film shows why. Imagine how bad a giallo directed by Woody Allen would be, well that's how bad comedy directed by Argento is.

    But onwards and upwards. Thankfully he handles the suspense scenes very well indeed. We have the bizarre opening murder in the theatre witnessed by a highly creepy masked figure. A scary scene involving a girl hiding in a cupboard while the killer stalks outside. A sleazy episode in the underground. And, best of all, an excellent set-piece where a woman suddenly realises that she is alone in a menacing empty park that was previously filled with children and haunting carousel music playing over the tannoy. Four Flies is predominantly an exercise in suspense as all of these well handled sequences testify. The violence is restrained even for giallos of the period. Argento more than makes up for this with stylistic flourishes like the nice camera pan of the phone wires leading to the location of the killer, the shots of Michael Brandon driving his car quickly edited together with his subsequent POV approach to the private investigator's office and the deranged asylum flashback scenes. The movie is well shot with a number of inventive jump edits and unusual angles, giving a taste of Argento's films to come.

    However, all of these excellent elements are strung together by a somewhat ridiculous plot. There are certainly holes here, for example, how could the newspapers report finding the body of the dead man if he's not actually dead?! And as for the 'four flies' revelation near the end, well I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie but it really is quite ridiculous. And the killer's motivations are, to say the least, uneven. The acting, too, is not helpful. Sadly, Michael Brandon resembles a plank of wood for the majority of his screen-time. His acting range stretches from 'a bit bored' to 'quite annoyed'. He certainly doesn't help draw the viewer in. And where Brandon under-acts, Mimsy Farmer over-acts. It makes for quite unusual viewing when they are on screen together. There is a lack of chemistry here for sure. In general, the exposition scenes are a bit clunky throughout the movie. And we even have a bit of unintentional humour in the exchanges between Brandon and the homosexual private investigator. If you turned the movie on at this point you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching Carry On Giallo.

    The music is variable. This was the first movie where Argento incorporated rock music. From here on he would use it extensively. Similar to the rock music provided by future collaborators Goblin, the rock music here is strange, except here it is not strange in a good way. The vocalist sounds like a deaf man trying to copy Robert Plant. It's grim. And it's by Ennio Morricone so it's a bit of a shock but fortunately he also provides some good avant-garde jazzy compositions too. Much better.

    Overall, despite its short-falls, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is too interesting a giallo movie to be disregarded. It is a key experimental work in Argento's cannon. It may be flimsy of plot and misguided of humour but, as is the way with giallo cinema, these elements have to be weighed against the more sensory aspects - the visuals, the music, the atmosphere. And happily, there is more than enough good to outweigh the bad.
  • cancercapricorn2002
    March 31, 2011
    cancercapricorn2002
    Working on his rock group, Roberto Tobias, (Michael Brandon) finds that a strange man is stalking him, and after he shows up at their rehearsal, goes into an old theater and is dealt with in a violent and bloody manner. When he spots a masked man in the area photographing the inc... read moreident, his wife Nina, (Mimsy Farmer) trusts him only to have evidence of the matter turn up against him, forcing him into the clutches of Nina's cousin Dalia, (Francine Racette) who believes his story. When the masked figure suddenly starts rampaging around the city murdering his friends, he enlists the help of private eye Gianni Arrosio, (Jean-Pierre Marielle) to help him out, as he feels that it has to be someone who knows him in order to commit the crimes. Not knowing who to trust as the murders start getting more personal, he tries to figure out the culprit before it's too late.

    To begin here this is a really interesting and enjoyable giallo that has some good moments. One of the big things this one does right is that there's a rather inventive and creative storyline that this one has. The fact that this one starts out with the killer appearing to merely blackmail the man, only for the switch to come over and soon begin to target him actively, to the point of taking out those who are around him like most of the usual giallos. That allows the beginning to be pretty creepy as it mainly centers around what the next phase of the torture will be. From the first encounter in the house, where the threat is given to the later scenes with the killer actually on the loose. As the body count starts to rise, autopsy surgeons a progressive possibility for pinning the killer is mentioned. Apparently old wives' tale about eyes retaining the last image they see like a camera registers in the brain for a few hours following death is used and this is where the use of a camera will be involved in rescuing the images from a corpse's severed head that leads to the fully developed image of four flies in succession is revealed. It's a spectacular image and an ingenious use which comes from it's creativity and ingenuity. Another great factor is the film's incredibly fun and creepy stalking scenes. One of the best examples is where a victim smokes a cigarette inside a park, waiting to meet the film's killer. Against a backdrop of birds gathering behind her oblivious to it all, the slowly approaching shadows, which as well goes unnoticed due to the unreliability of the character's sight-line at the time. Once the park's gate closes, there's nothing to save her, allowing the killer to sneak up and engage in an all-out classic of a chase as the twisting and turning within the corridors reveals. As the end draws near with a dead-end and the call for help against those on the other side of the wall, it becomes all the creepier and better for the brilliant set-up. There's another one later inside a bedroom that leads to hiding inside a giant cabinet. As the light beams in from outside, reflected across the victim's face, leaving a memorable image, it really foreshadows the spectacular death to follow. The film's most accomplished scene (my opinion) is the love scene between Diane and Roberto. That scene is kind cute and sweet. It s rare that you see Argento go that way. Along with the great imagery, it makes for a really good giallo however its not perfect and of course has a few flaws, one of the biggest is that there's a little struggle early on to get the film going. The slow pace is mainly accomplished through the different amount of characters that have nothing to do with the story who are put there only to give red herrings, as the more people we met with the more they seem like potential suspects. Only this ploy doesn't work and it instead just wastes time rather than doing anything that could be interpreted as making good use of the film's running time. That is also taken up with the police detective angle, which has a lot more time in here using it to investigate the matter rather than the actual work being described, as for a giallo this one has a really low body count that does have an impact on how it works. The ending is also a little confusing, mainly because the motives don't make any sense and the revelation doesn't make any logical rationale for what's going on, but instead, that's a giallo staple and almost all have them. Otherwise, the main one is the slow pacing to it.

    In the end this is recommended to giallo fans and of course fans of Dario Argento.
  • ajv2688
    January 5, 2011
    ajv2688
    I really liked this Argento film, it's a horror mystery, and it keeps you guessing until the end. The beginning is good, then the middle of the film does get a little slow, but the ending is brilliant and worth waiting for, especially the final scene. If you like Argento's wor... read morek or just giallo in general, I recommend seeing this movie.
  • ythelastman89
    November 21, 2009
    ythelastman89
    An amazing film and one of Dario Argento's best. It's a great suspense thriller full of surprises. The film making is like no other and has some of the most obscure shots. The acting is decent, yet distant, giveing a bizarre twist to the experience. It is by far one of the most b... read moreelievable pieces by Dario Argento, but it still manages to have his trademarks, such as cat killing.
  • adammahler1
    December 22, 2008
    adammahler1
    protagonist couldn't be more blank, but the new director tries a lot of new things, w/ a few extraordinary successes; comic sequences are so long and casual you forget someone's life is on the line--charming
  • harrycaul
    March 17, 2008
    harrycaul
    Certainly the weakest part of Dario Argento's so-called 'Animal Trilogy' of gialli, this has been unavailable--at least legally--for many years now and ought to be let out of the vaults. Michael Brandon is efficient but charmless as the hero and the plot is outrageous, but there'... read mores a decent Morricone score and Mimsy Farmer and Francine Racette are very easy on the eye. The main fault of "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" is an inherent flaw of the whole giallo genre: the tangential attempts at comedy completely undermine the tension. That said, it's probably Argento's most abstract giallo and has a genuinely strange, dreamy atmosphere.
  • YosemiteSamFan
    August 18, 2007
    YosemiteSamFan
    Argento's hard-to-find third movie, a drummer of a rock band (Michael Brandon) is being taunted by a killer, who has taken photos which suggest he stabbed another man. He keeps having a weird decapitation dream. He is assisted by his grimey friend Diomede (Bud Spencer) and a flir... read morety flamboyant gay detective (Jean-Pierre Marielle).
    The deaths are not very spectacular in this one, but there are plenty of suspects; too bad more of them weren't killed. I loved the slow-motion car crash with the breaking glass. There's the weird concept of a dead person's retina retaining the last image they saw before they died. Through the process of elimination we discover who the murderer is and what the four flies on grey velvet actually means. I was shocked. Rewatch the film once you know the solution, and it's more amazing. It's a shame Paramount didn't keep the negatives of this film in better shape, as an official DVD release is nowhere in sight.
  • ryguy4738
    August 24, 2011
    ryguy4738
    4.8/10

    There are moments where I love Dario Argento ("Deep Red", "Suspiria", and "Phenomena") and then there are also these little moments where I just don't ("Inferno"). He's a divisive fellow, and to my surprise, there are some people who seriously hate this guy. I could ne... read morever do such a thing, for "Deep Red" is one of my all-time favorite films, and "Suspiria" is a great film when I need some simple surrealistic pleasures. But not all of Argento's films are reminiscent of his best, and this is why he was only, for an instant, a great filmmaker; although he may come back to us one day.

    However, maybe it's just a matter of finding the right script, the right twists, and the right team of movie-makers to match his style. I like Argento when he's allowed to stretch his creative limbs. One of his earlier efforts, "Four Flies on Grey Velvet", has all the imagination and inspiration the world; but little of the ambition and the goodness that we've come to expect out of Argento. Of course, this was before "Deep Red" and "Suspiria", but it was also after "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage". Therefore, something this bland, and this mediocre, just isn't acceptable.

    The film starts out on an entertaining note; with an opening credits sequence involving radical rock-and-roll and plenty of interesting camera angles to set the mood. We meet Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon), the drummer in the rock band that produced the said radical rock-and-roll, who sees a creepy man peeking in on him and his band-mates during rehearsal. I guess this isn't the first time he's seen the man, because Roberto eventually gets pissed off enough to follow the guy into an abandoned theater and accidentally stab him with his own switchblade.

    Now here's the problem; there was a witness to the accidental killing of this strange man, who we never hear of or care about again, and for (possibly) good reason. The witness of the incident donned a silly and creepy puppet mask, and took pictures of the crime. Instead of going to the police with the evidence, it becomes clear that the villainous puppet-man would rather torture the hell out of our hero and drive him to the edge of insanity, although the question remains: why? Why is the villain doing this? What is his/her motive? We learn about that more through the film's twist ending, which is maddeningly derivative and lame.

    The movie has some suspenseful scenes; the kind that I like to see out of Argento. He plays with our "fear of the dark" a little, but never to the extent that the film is actually scary, but what's that word mean to anyone these days anyways? This might as well be more of a thriller than a horror film, thus, it does not need to be particularly frightening; just thrilling. But even then, it doesn't meet the standards. It doesn't completely fail, and I wouldn't call the film bad, but for a movie that thinks this much and tries so hard, there wasn't enough to like. Argento didn't embed enough scenes with his stylistic flare into it, and when he did, it was fun; entertaining, even. However, these scenes are so scarce, so brief, and so forgettable. This leaves "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" to be a full-on bore with a few impressively staged scenes, an engaging and stylish soundtrack (courtesy of Ennio Morricone, a collaborator of Argento in his earliest - and I mean earliest - days), and many other qualities that may appeal to some hard-core fans of the filmmaker, but not to me. By all means, I don't recommend it, but some seem to find it engaging and rather great, so maybe you shouldn't take my advice. By no means would I tell you to distance yourself from the film; I just found it aggressively disappointing.
  • Lemure
    February 1, 2012
    Lemure
    The camerawork and photography - and the sheer style is classic giallo, and gorgeous. Watch it with the sound off and it's twice the film. Sadly, I watched it with the sound on so I couldn't escape the boring lead character or the predictable plot. Absolute style over substance.

View All Four Flies on Grey Velvet (4 mosche di velluto grigio) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Anton Bitel
January 26, 2012
Anton Bitel, Little White Lies

self-conscious and silly, but directed with such manipulative panache that you too will feel as if you are being strung along by a deranged, sadistic puppetmaster... there are images here that will bu... Full Review

Fernando F. Croce
February 6, 2010
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

Exposes a reality made increasingly opaque by mania, technology, sexual tumult Full Review

Bill Gibron
June 14, 2009
Bill Gibron, PopMatters

As whodunits go, this is more of a "who cares". But as a work of celluloid skill, Four Flies on Grey Velvet has no equal. It's a great, great film. Full Review

Staci Layne Wilson
July 19, 2008
Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

While the slight story and gore factor rate low, the Argento style is in full flourish. ... Four Flies on Grey Velvet is worthy of all the nostalgic buzz. Full Review

Ed Gonzalez
December 4, 2001
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

As far as Argento films go, none come weirder than the little-seen Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Full Review

Howard Thompson
May 10, 2005
Howard Thompson, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Dave Kehr
November 27, 2001
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Click to read the article Full Review

Rob Hunter
February 25, 2012
Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

Click to read the article Full Review

January 26, 2006
Time Out

Click to read the article Full Review

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