Nine Guests for a Crime
Nine Guests for a Crime
| 12 January 1977 (USA)
Nine Guests for a Crime Trailers

Nine members of an extremely rich and hateful family have decided to have a reunion on a remote island in the Mediterranean. No sooner than their arrival, old grudges, resentments, and feuds make themselves known, along with allusions to some more macabre events in their past. But when their boats are sabotaged, thus stranding them without any connection to the mainland, it becomes clear that someone is not willing to let old wounds heal, a fact made all the more clear as bodies start to pile up...

Reviews
Actuakers

One of my all time favorites.

... View More
Contentar

Best movie of this year hands down!

... View More
Baseshment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

... View More
Fatma Suarez

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

... View More
Coventry

Admittedly this "Nine Guests for a Crime" isn't a great film per sé, but I personally loved it a lot and I'm incredibly biased because director Ferdinando Baldi put many of my favorite genres, themes and narrative styles together in a blender and then served a delicious cocktail of sleaze and violence! "While vacationing on a remote Mediterranean Island, nine guests from bourgeois family are stalked and killed one by one by a mysterious killer"… Well, from the one- sentence plot description, it's quite abundantly clear that the film is another umpteenth interpretation of Agatha Christie's legendary story "And then there were none/Ten Little Indians". But I swear that Miss Marple, as well as every other sophisticated and eloquent protagonist that Mrs. Christie ever invented, would instantly die from a heart attack if she saw what a typical Italian makeover of the story looks like! It's a whodunit thriller / giallo full of sleazy characters that shamelessly commit foul adultery, openly hate each other with a passion and desire to exterminate each other even though they are relatives! The pre-credits opening sequences show how a group of men hunt down a white-suited sailor because he was in the middle of making love to a cute girl on the beach. They shoot him at least seven times and his hand still emerges from the sandy grave they buried him in, so that gives you an idea of what good gunmen they are. All this takes place on a tropical Mediterranean island, and several years later the luxurious yacht of an obnoxious family moors here for their annual vacation. The couples are bickering about money and the loathsome personality of the patriarch, the selfish brothers have wild sex affairs with their lurid sisters-in-law and the old father's much younger hot wife does hanky-panky with one of the sons while his wife is allegedly sleeping in the very same room! In fact, these people are screwing around so much that I found it difficult to know how the couples are actually formed! The already unhealthy atmosphere gets ruined even more when they are offed one by one; butchered by a clearly frustrated killer in a black diving outfit. You guessed it; plentiful of gratuitous nudity, provided by a variety of Italian beauties, and a series of grisly murders that are occasionally inventive and occasionally mundane. The mystery aspect here is negligible, as the culprit's identity and the entire family feud sub plot are easy to predict from early on, but this film obviously has other trumps. Due to the similarities in plot, setting and Agatha Christie source material, "Nine guests for a Crime" is very reminiscent to Mario Bava's "5 Dolls for an August Moon". Bava's film is superior and has a far better denouement, but this is definitely one of the better efforts in Baldi's uneven career.

... View More
christopher-underwood

This has a very good and unusual beginning but unfortunately not only do we not understand the brutal killing we have just witnessed, it is not really explained until some way into the film. Consequently as we are introduced to the nine family members visiting a deserted island we lack an initial interest and as the lovely dresses slip on and off we are further distracted. This is aggravated by everybody sliding off with everyone else and we find it almost impossible to keep track of just who is who and who they are supposed to be with. Then when the main string of killings takes place we are left lacking any real involvement. Still, it is a very good looking film, the cast are very good, that is the men's acting is of a high standard and the ladies look super. I guess this just about slips into the giallo category but it is very marginal.

... View More
HumanoidOfFlesh

While vacationing on a remote Mediterranean Island a group of nine guests from bourgeois family are stalked and killed one by one by a mysterious killer."Nine Guests for a Crime" is an overlooked 70's Italian giallo with plenty of graphic nudity and some gory killings.The film is obviously inspired by Agatha Christie's stories including "Ten Little Indians".The appearances of zombie-like figures are pretty creepy as is wet-suited and black-gloved killer.The male cast is excellent and recognizable for fans of Eurohorror with Arthur Kennedy playing the patriarch and Massimo Foschi,Venantino Venantini and John Richardson.If you liked "Hatchet for the Honeymoon" or "Antropophagus the Beast" give this one a look.7 out of 10.

... View More
rundbauchdodo

"Nove Ospiti per un Delitto" is a mediocre giallo in the tradition of Agatha Christie's "And Then They Were None". Nine members of the same family go to an island, where nobody lives - but the head of the family (Arthur Kennedy) owns a nice house there. Problem is that he and his three sons keep a dark secret, and this dark secret begins to haunt them as soon as they are on the island. One by one falls victim to a mysterious killer.Arthur Kennedy leads a remarkable male cast in this rather low-budget-effort which fails to thrill the audience. John Richardson gives too a fine performance, just as do Massimo Foschi (protagonist in Ruggero Deodato's impressive "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale") and Venantino Venantini. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, the movie itself is nothing special. Director Baldi fails to deliver a thrilling atmosphere, even though he tries to do so. The most interesting thing is that none of the characters are sympathetic; they are all rather mean and selfish, so nobody really cares when somebody dies... Only interesting for fans of the giallo genre or fans of the surprisingly good male cast.

... View More
You May Also Like