Footprints (1975)

Dir: Luigi Bazzoni

Unusual sort-of giallo in which a woman who may or may not be named Alice (Florinda Bolkan) wakes up after three days, unable to remember where she's been or what she's done. The only clue is a torn up postcard on her kitchen floor from a place called Garma. Naturally, she heads to Garma to try and unravel the mystery and everything gets weird and dreamlike from there... It's a curious premise and one that works well. Sadly, it leads to a fairly obvious twist (which eagle-eyed gialli viewers will recognise as being similar to one in another of Bolkan's films from the era), the way in which it's presented is eerie and original. The film was "lost" for years until recently which is surprising given the incredible pedigree (Bazzoni and Vittorio Storaro behind the cameras... Bolkan, Klaus Kinski and a young Nicoletta Elmi in front of them...) and the fact that, despite being a little ponderous, "Footprints" has something about it that really sticks in your mind. The dream sequences are subtly disturbing, the island of Garma is spooky as Hell and those final images are hard to shake. It's a shame Bazzoni did so little genre work because he clearly understood what he was doing and had a unique vision for it. ***