one of my absolute favorites!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Dino Tavella's "Monster of Venice" is another would-be shocker.This one has a killer who wears scuba diving gear abducting beautiful women in Venice.The main source of fear in horror films - the moment of the actual murder - is deprived us in this one and we are just left to assume that the women die from drowning.The killer looks absolutely ridiculous and not in the least terrifying in the diving suit, padding around like a frogman. There is nothing scary about a man in scuba diving costume.The movie also lacks a single interesting character, or scene.

The Embalmer is a bit of a hybrid of the Italian giallo and the German krimi. It feels more like the latter but displays a lot of the characteristics of the former. It's basically about a killer who swims around the canals in Venice in a wet suit picking off women who he then takes back to his underground lair, which is an abandoned ancient monastery.The idea of a giallo in Venice having a killer who is a frogman is simultaneously ridiculous and perfectly reasonable. It's quite a funny idea really. It fits into the general feel of the film which is one of unashamed senselessness. It does have to be said that the tone of the movie varies a great deal from light-hearted moments to the quite sinister. The villain does kill rather a lot of women and then embalms them in his underground lair to preserve their beauty. They are displayed as a series of dead manikins. Freaky stuff. It's also quite jarring when the film freezes momentarily on a woman to indicate that she is soon to be for the chop.It would probably be fair to say that the movie does meander a bit in the early stages, while the dubbing is particularly atrocious. But these factors are outweighed by some well conceived suspenseful moments. The final twenty minutes in particular are very good, where we enter the killer's underground hide-out. He turns out to be a pretty interesting looking villain, while the scene with the dead monks was totally unexpected and pretty cool. The final third of the movie is particularly well paced and is very atmospheric. Although I do have to admit to being still somewhat puzzled as to the identity of the killer.I don't think this flick is as bad as it is mostly portrayed. It's a minor film for sure but it also has some great moments.

I really think the English dubb team had no script from the movie makers to work from. So much of the dialog is simply inane and reaction to what else is happening in that scene.There was no backstory at all for the serial killer, no motivation given for why he killed. All that's told is that he's the manager of a hotel and he's a peeping tom there as well.The whole movie may well be worth watching for the bizarre Dead-Elvis impersonator, however. I would buy the DVD just for that completely outré, hilarious scene.It's quite unique among the grind-house horror genre. A scuba diving serial killer in Venice, Italy who embalms the bodies of his victims and keeps them in a sunken church. Shame Tarentino didn't get a hold of it.

This film predates Amsterdammned as a film with a scuba suit wearing psycho killer. Problem with scuba suits is that you can't move around well on land in them. That is no problem for this killer since many of his victims seem to literally walk right into his arms.The series of killings, part of this film is the weak section, but the lair of the killer (which I won't spoil by telling what it is) final reel is worth the wait. Everything improves including the music during the final reel and when it's all over you'll feel better about the whole film than you will during parts in the middle. Most of the best images in the film are from that final 10 minutes but there are definitely some you'll remember.Comedy intentional and unintentional also helps keep the film going. At least the American print I saw has almost no on screen violence, other than the macabre chase at the end. Dubbing is pretty poor but that goes with the territory.A restoration of the original Italian version would be a great improvement I'm sure. Fans of films set in Venice will want to give this a look. Too bad the budget couldn't allow for any underwater photography that would have helped the early sections a great deal. All I'll say about the killer's identity is that in some Giallos the revelation is one of those, who was that guy again? In some Giallos that's the way it is.