Search - The Fifth Cord on DVD

A Beautiful Wedge of Giallo Eye Candy

The Magician | New York, NY | 04/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With Franco Nero as the lead and cinematography by the multiple Oscar-winning Vittorio Storaro you'd be a fool not to expect an extremely good looking film. And if you're a fan of murder mysteries--especially the Italian variety known as gialli--then you'll probably eat this one up. The story is pretty thin and it's not gore soaked like many others, but it's really thick with a somber, tense, shadow-filled atmosphere and it's well acted by the jaw droppingly handsome Nero, Rosella Falk and Sylvia Monti. The climax, which begins in a fantastic modern house and ends in an abandoned factory is, for once, well choreographed and exciting. Good score by Ennio Morricone and did I say it's gorgeous to look at? Well, it is."

Nero stands out.

Michael P. Dobey | colorado springs | 11/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Giallos are great type of thriller to enjoy , not all of them have
superbloody gory killings. Some like 'knife of ice" barely show any killing. Film noir and the films of Alfred Hitchcock also can be within this genre as well as splatter flicks that are decended from mario bava's "bay of blood." This is a story driven giallo in which the hero of the story only becomes less of a drunken loser through trying to find out who this killer is. At first he doesn't care and he's not a nice person , in fact he slaps around one of his girlfriends while drunk. But by the end of the movie he's ready to risk his life for others. Franco Nero, who is a fantastic actor who pulls this transformation off nicely. Blue Underground cleaned this movie up too. I always buy blue underground movies because you know that they care about making a movie look good.
Of late the major studios have also been cleaning up their movies on blu ray, a field that blue underground is also entering into.
Too many other companies just sling out bad prints and don't even bother to try to fix them. If you like mysteries and thrillers and don't expect a gore fest then you will enjoy figuring out who the killer is. I have seen many giallos and didn't guess who it was or why the killings were occurring until the last scene. This was just a great flick in a cool type of movie from the ultra cool 1970's. The heyday of all kinds of giallos also known as thrillers and mystery movies."

And You Though The First Four Were Scary!

Stanley Runk | Camp North Pines | 08/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Giallo fans need only apply. And giallo fans will know what to expect from this one. There's akilla on the loose and he's hinting that there will be five murders. What's the connection with the victims? Like I'm gonna tell you, you'd just better see it. The man hot on the killer's trail is alcoholic reporter Franco Nero! There were about eight billion giallos around at this time, and The Fifth Cord stands above many of them. It's got a great look and a very good performance from Nero. Nero is a very good actor, probably one of the best to come out of Italy, and because of this he gives his character more depth than the average giallo hero. Not much for gore, but this film really doesn't need it. Yet again, Blue Underground has done us all a favor by releasing this film and cleaning it up as good as possible. They also give us a 16 minute interview with both Nero and director, Luigi Bazzoni, who apparently was a really cool guy. Giallo fans should be pleased."