While it is not anemic, the first murder of El asesino está entre los trece does not
occur until the end of the second act. Several
signature features of the giallo are
present: black gloves, razor blades, and
the first-person point-of-view of the killer.
The murders are not graphic, and the love scenes are tame. The camera cuts away when a bra is unstrapped
or when a blade enters into someone’s flesh, usually. With the sensational elements considerably
toned down, El asesino está entre los
trece feels like Renoir-lite: the values of the middle class are exposed,
and because of their values, the middle class do themselves in, rather than the
maniacal killer the title suggests.
Shepard plays Lisa Mandel, a recently-widowed wealthy woman
who invites the group to her secluded home in the countryside. Her husband died a couple of years ago in a
plane crash, its jet he was piloting. Barbiturates
were found in his system with a non-lethal dose enough to make him fall
asleep. Lisa believes the killer visited
him slightly before he took off and drugged him. That person is among her group of invitees,
and she reveals this information to them during the first evening’s formal
dinner. Every single one of them had an
opportunity to kill her husband. Lisa
has invited the group to discover each’s motive and reveal the killer during
their stay. Even Lisa’s cousin, Francis
(Poncela), and her aunt with whom she lives cannot be ruled out as suspects. A mild case of paranoia sets in among the
guests and slightly hampers their fun.
Tension and dread is sorely lacking in El asesino está entre los trece and this is its chief flaw. A murder mystery, intuitively, should focus
on murder or mystery, but they are almost wholly absent from the first two acts
of the film. Andreu plays Harry Stephen,
a very flirtatious playboy. His aim,
apparently, is to seduce every single woman that the film presents. The lovely, little maid, Elena (Rosa de Alba)
is his only successful seduction. First,
he encounters her in his room and showers her with flatteries. During their second meeting, he dares a
kiss. Finally, he attempts to fuck her
in his bedroom, but Elena, by this time totally infatuated with him, suggests a
clandestine rendezvous in the pool house.
They meet at the midnight hour and fuck in the pool house. At the conclusion, Elena asks, “Will you take
me with you when you leave?” Andreu, as
Harry Stephen, suggests that they slow down.
Naschy, incidentally, plays the jealous handyman who is having a
relationship with Elena. (He has a love
scene with Rosa de Alba, and I am sure he thanked his director, Javier
Aguirre.) Not only do these scenes feel
as if they are out of The Rules of the
Game (1939), but they occupy a substantial portion of the film’s ninety-minute
runtime. Also, no one’s personality, or boo-gee status, really reveals anything
that he or she may be the killer. This
is a fantastic cast, and I do enjoy watching them work. However, I kind of wanted a murder mystery,
and El asesino está entre los trece,
on the whole, does not deliver. I do not
think that I am asking for too much.
The music by Alfonso Santisteban is wonderful. The acting by all of the participants is
excellent. The direction is competent. Unfortunately, the screenplay, by Aguirre and
Alberto S. Insúa, is dull and antiquated.
El asesino está entre los trece
does have its charms as a curiosity of 70s, Spanish genre cinema, but these charms are only for us, the diehard fans,
who could still find better to behold.
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