Amer (Bitter)

Amer is a glorious celebration of giallo, those feverish Italian thrillers of the 60s and 70s. Stripping away the whodunit plots and violent murders, directors Cattel and Forzani have boiled the sub-genre down to its purest essences, sex and fear. A portmanteau, its trio of terror sees Ana at three stages of her life: in the first she’s a curious prepubescent exploring a creepy villa where her grandfather’s wake is in progress; in the second, an adolescent Ana discovers the power of her nubile physicality as she sashays through the windy alleyways of a sleepy village wearing a dangerously short summer frock, sending the male population into a sexual frenzy; and the final portion plays like a Dario Argento wet dream, as adult Ana is stalked by a killer with a kink for leather gloves and straight razors. Near wordless, the film is a banquet of baroque imagery and kaleidoscopic colour. It also has a classic giallo twist that will leave you reeling. [Jamie Dunn]