BA_Harrison Archaeologist Jason Porter (Alex Cord) becomes the prime suspect after a series of brutal murders at the site of an ancient Etruscan tomb.The first double murder in director Armando Crispino's giallo The Etruscan Kills Again is sufficiently bloody, a couple beaten to death with a big metal probe (a piece of Porter's archaeological equipment); however, the scene is shot with little of the pizazz one expects from the genre.Subsequent deaths only disappoint further, the actual acts mostly occurring off-screen, the victims' bodies discovered once the killer has left the scene. The Etruscan Kills Again also suffers from an overly complex and dialogue heavy script that is difficult to unravel and features a rather unlikeable protagonist (a sexually aggressive alcoholic).A well executed car chase adds a much needed jolt of life to proceedings, the lovely Christina von Blanc delivers the requisite gratuitous nudity, and the final fight scene between hero and killer is well handled, but there's way too much drudgery involved to qualify this as an essential giallo.

Uriah43 This film begins with a professor of archaeology by the name of "Jason Porter" (Alex Cord) discovering an underground chamber which turns out to be an ancient Etruscan tomb of sorts. Naturally, this delights him and his team but one local person named "Nikos Samarakis" (John Marley) is not at all pleased with the fact that Jason plans to stay in the area for an extended time to continue his research as his current wife "Myra Shelton" (Samantha Egger) used to be married to Jason and still seems to harbor feelings for him. Things become even more complicated when two lovers are killed in the tomb and their bodies are aligned to make it appear to be sacrifices to the evil Etruscan demon upon which the tomb was initially built. In any case, in my opinion this picture turned out to be more of a mystery film than a horror movie and in that regard it definitely kept my attention for the most part. I must say, however, that the plot was sometimes difficult to follow with several unappealing characters not really helping matters. Even so this wasn't a bad movie overall and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Red-Barracuda A group of archaeologists work on excavating Etruscan tombs. A series of murders start and they seem to be connected to these ancient ruins in some way. Is this the work of the vengeful god Tuchulka? The Dead Are Alive is a giallo/horror hybrid. It follows the conventions of the former but it also incorporates a supernatural horror angle. Like many similar Italian films from the time it's a pretty convoluted affair. Its central story isn't always very well presented and the film meanders a lot of the time. Things aren't helped all that much by an uncharismatic male lead actor who doesn't exactly elicit much sympathy. His character seems to be a bit of a sex pest in fairness. There are better actors in the support roles such as Samantha Eggar - who later starred in David Cronenberg's The Brood - and Horst Frank who plays a slightly sinister homosexual eccentric similar to the role he had in Dario Argento's Cat o' Nine Tails. There is a smattering of bloody violence throughout. And the supernatural angle does offer something different for this type of picture. But overall it's doesn't make very much of a connection.Its director Armando Crispino also contributed the later Autopsy, which was another unconventional giallo. Both films deserve some credit for at least trying to bring in different things to the sub-genre but truthfully neither of them are very good. Riz Ortolani contributes another lush score that tries its best to enliven events.

dbborroughs This is a good but poorly paced Italian thriller from the 1970's. The plot concerns a series or murders occurring to people connected to a recently discovered Etruscan burial sight. One of the repeated shots is the face of the Etruscan demon god that was found on the wall of the tomb. As the police investigate the lives of everyone involved are revealed and wee see that not everyone is as innocent they would like us to believe.A good, but not great mystery with supernatural overtones this movie is graced with good performances across the board. Better is the fact that the characters are very complex with no real clichés in the bunch. The film also keeps you off balance with some interesting camera work and music. The only thing that I'm not a fan of is the fact that the pacing is a bit to slack. There are several times when I would have liked them to move things on and not take a quiet contemplative moment. I'm probably over reacting but the desire to speed things up knocked down the rating a couple of points on this good thriller.