Gli assassini sono nostri ospiti (1974) User Reviews (9)

Sloppy seconds

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 28 February 2018]

This one fools you into thinking you're watching a Eurocrime film as it begins with a jewel heist that goes wrong. The hoods get the goods, but in the process one cashier and one robber are shot. After a chase through the streets, three of the robbers manage to make it away, with the one being mercy shot where their car crashes.

Cop Luigi Pistilli is put on the case, and it must be noted here that by each passing film I see him in he grows more dishevelled and hairy, like he's caught in the slowest lycanthropic transformation ever. There's also an extra member of the gang, seemingly the man in charge, also trying to track down his fellow robber-types.

The trio of robbers make it to the house of Doctor Anthony Steffen, a man in such a bad place with his wife Mara (the pretty Livia Cerini) that she starts berating him in front of the robbers for not standing up to them! Steffen is forced to operate on the wounded robber while both the male and female robbers start giving Mara the glad eye. Things get worse for Steffen as Mara is led on by the lady robber in a lesbian scene that had me saying "Don't kiss her! She's just eaten a mouthful of walnuts!" It is funny however when Guiseppe Castellano starts eyeballing them, the waves Steffen over so he can have a look too.

You see this is more of a home invasion film than a Eurocrime one, the takes some distinctly giallo type twists near the end (that's the late sixties style giallo, not the slashy slashy type). Steffen maybe doesn't come across as the most emotive actor ever, but still does the trick as the put upon husband whose wife goes at it with two robbers, and one guy who just dropped by to ask her to go the pub. Luigi Pistilli isn't given too much to do, mind you, but the 'pigeons landing in reverse' bit was funny.

Not really a Giallo, but still a decent exploitation flick

[The_Void · 7/10 · 15 July 2007]

The Killers Are Our Guests is one of the harder to come by Giallo's, and that isn't surprising as the film doesn't really adhere to the common Giallo plot and themes. The basic plot is more along the lines of an exploitation film, as it features at the centre, people being held captive by criminals in their own home. In fact, I would really hesitate to call this film a Giallo at all; there is not really anything about the film (aside from the title and the fact that it's Italian and was made in the mid seventies) to identify it as a bona fide Giallo. As mentioned, the plot focuses on a couple being trapped inside their own house by a criminal gang. The gang have robbed a bank, but one of them got himself shot, so they decide to hole up at the house of Dr. Guido Malerva so the injured member can get medical attention. However, not everything goes to plan once the gang get to the doctor's house, as things start to fall apart when another gang member, named Eddie, turns up at the doctor's house.

As you've probably guessed, this film doesn't do much for me as a Giallo, but as an exploitation film it's not bad. The interaction between the various lead characters is the film's backbone, and it's fairly interesting - if a little slow. The centrepiece of the action is a lesbian scene, which was by far and away the best moment of the film for me. I think the reason why this scene is in the film is down to the fact that this sort of thing was popular in seventies Italian films (and that's a lot of the reason why seventies Italian films are popular with me!), but even so it works quite well in the context of the movie. The acting is decent enough, with Italian actor Antonio De Teffè leading an experienced line up that includes Margaret Lee (Slaughter Hotel), Luigi Pistilli (Bay of Blood) and Gianni Dei (Giallo a Venezia). Overall, I wont say this obscure film is one of the best films to come out of Italy in the seventies (actually nowhere near), but it's a decent ride and one that I'm sure will be appreciated by anyone inclined to track it down.

Doctor! Doctor! Give me the news. I got a bad case of Giallo-blues!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 25 April 2022]

The one thing that lured me into seeing this movie is the irresistibly Giallo-sounding title. However, despite my fellow reviewers - most of them I practically always agree with - still claiming there are some definite trademarks, I honestly can't find any Giallo elements here. Only the title, and the title is pretty inaccurate, because the "killers" are actually bank robbers (who incidentally killed someone) and they are not "guests" but home invaders. Hence, I would categorize the film as a home-invasion thriller with obvious Poliziotesschi influences.

That being said, "The Killers are our Guests" is certainly worth seeking out if you're a fan of Italian cult/exploitation cinema from the 70s! It has a good atmosphere, familiar faces in the cast, a terrific soundtrack, plenty of gratuitous sleaze, a bit of violence, and an end-twist that I should have seen coming (but didn't). The plot of bank robbers seeking refugee and medical help in the private home of a doctor sounds simple and clichéd, but the atypical characters and their erratic behavior keeps the film compelling. The cast is nice, with spaghetti-western regular Anthony Steffen, ravishing beauty Margaret Lee, and naturally menacing-looking Giuseppe Castellano. Veteran actor Luigi Pistilli also stars, as the police commissioner, but he didn't really seem motivated to star. Still, though, in this film he has some of the most impressive sideburns I have ever seen.

Fairly interesting giallo/"terror film" hybrid

[lazarillo · 7 January 2009]

After a bungled diamond heist a trio of killers take refuge at the home of a country doctor (Anthony Steffens) and force him at gunpoint to attend to their mortally wounded colleague. They abuse the doctor and take sexual advantage of his wife. But everything is not as it seems. The title, the visual style, and some delightfully absurd hairpin plot twists near the end mark this film as Italian giallo, but, as other reviewers have said, it is only partially so. This also would qualify as a early "terror film", typified by later movies like "The Night Train Murders", "Last House on the Beach" and "House by the Edge of the Park" where lower-class miscreants terrify and abuse a seemingly comfortable bourgeois family until the tables are turned. This is is not nearly as nasty as most later "terror films" but like in those films, the hypocrisies of the seemingly respectable bourgeois couple are quickly revealed. The wife (Livia Cerilli), for instance, quickly develops a bad case sexual Stockholm syndrome and has sex with the sole female gang-member (Margaret Lee), the most unattractive of the male gang-members, and even a neighbor who drops by for a visit. The husband meanwhile has his own agenda.

The relative restraint as far as the violence and humiliation go, and the superior visual style do tend to mark this as more of a giallo than a terror film. It most resembles two other giallo/terror hybrids "The Cold Eyes of Fear" and "Hitchike". It's as good as the former, but not nearly as good as the latter. Spaghetti Western vet Anthony Steffens once again lets his unusual facial features do most of his acting for him. Margaret Lee gives a very good performance, but it is largely wasted on her thinly-drawn character. Cerini mainly provides the requisite T and A since Lee keeps her clothes on for a change.

I'd recommend this for giallo completists (since I guess I am one). It's not a pure giallo and it's certainly no classic of the either the giallo or the terror film, but it is fairly interesting and pretty entertaining.

Better than average piece of entertainment

[bensonmum2 · 6/10 · 28 December 2017]

The Killers Are Our Guests opens with a daring daylight jewelry store robbery. One of the robbers is shot during the escape. The band of robbers is forced to seek medical attention for their partner and end up at the isolated villa of a doctor and his wife. Forced to comply, the doctor does his best to patch up the wounded robber. The baddies hold the pair hostage until they're able to hit the road. It's a nightmare of a night as the doctor and wife are threatened with their lives, the wife is raped, and, in the end, most everyone is killed.

Overall, I found The Killers Are Our Guests an above average piece of entertainment. I'm not sure how I'd classify the film, but I'm going to go with poliziotteschi or Euro-crime. The film features plenty of atmosphere as the robbers harass and threaten the couple. The movie never goes as far as something like Last House on the Left, but it has a similar cramped, ominous feel to it. I really started to feel for the doctor's wife. Either through choice or force, she has sex four times during the night. And when it's not by choice, it's not very pleasant. While the police seem ineffective throughout, the way the police ultimately catch their prey is nicely handled and provides an unexpected twist. The acting is solid. Genre regulars Anthony Steffan, Luigi Pistilli, and Margaret Lee are as good as I've come to expect. It's always nice to discover a "new" movie with Margaret Lee. The rest of the cast is more than adequate. If it weren't for some fairly long stretches in the second act where the film almost grinds to a halt, I could have easily rated The Killers Are Our Guests higher.

Another instance of the title being better than the movie

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 2 September 2019]

Middling heist movie - cum - home invasion thriller, with the expected amounts of sleaze (and a not-unwelcome make-out sequence between the beautiful Margaret Lee and the rather unique-looking Livia Cerini). Hurt by too-often too-arty direction, but almost worth sticking with for double-twist ending. ** out of 4.

The Killers

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 20 January 2024]

Franco (Gianni Dei), Eliana (Margaret Lee) and Mario (Giuseppe Castellano) rob a jewelry store, shooting numerous people and barely escaping with their lives. Their driver isn't so lucky and Franco has also been shot. Commissario Di Stefano (Luigi Pistilli) has shut the streets down and put roadblocks everywhere, so they decide to hide in the home of Dr. Guido Malerva (Anthony Steffen), holding him hostage and forcing him to heal Franco. Then the doctor's wife, Mara (Livia Cerini) comes home and the robbers realize that they're in the midst of a fight that has been going on for a long time, but they have to be patient and wait for their boss Eddy (Sandro Pizzocchero).

Director Vincenzo Rigo only made two other movies - Passi furtivi in una notte boia and Lettomania - but this is an interesting movie shot almost all within one room. He wrote the script along with Renato Romano (Dorian Gray) and Bruno Fontana (the director of The Dirty Seven AKA Emanuelle: Queen of the Desert and the writer of Joe D'Amato's Ossessione fatale and Escape from Women's Prison).

Not a typical giallo, this is close to a film noir. Also: Pistilli has some amazing sideburns.

An Interestingly Developability-Oriented Giallo

[hae13400 · 9/10 · 8 June 2003]

In the city of Milan, a criminal group rob a jewellery shop named JOYERIA'S JEWELLERY. And, in spite of an adequate success in the robbery itself, some unexpected accidents happen to the members, and three of them (including the injured member named Franco) are obliged to find and go to the house of Dr. Guido Malerva. But, mainly after the late arrival of another member named Eddie, some troublesome people begin to visit the house... I think this is rather a unique Giallo film, even though its visibly-indoor-but-at-the-same-time-invisibly-outdoor sequences seem to be the same kind of those of Enzo G. Castellari's COLD EYES OF FEAR. Indeed, unlike the rather static COLD EYES OF FEAR, this one has something much more twistedly dynamic; after the arrivals of the criminal group, not only its original members but also Dr. Malerva and his blonde wife, Mara, unwillingly become the members of an extended and inevitably tensional indoor group. And the interpersonal relationships in this indoor group seem to continuously develop based upon a psychological fact that there are both conscious and unconscious emotional forces underlying behaviour in a group. Here, interestingly enough, Mara somehow almost one-sidedly falls in love with Oriana, the only one female member of the criminal group, and the lesbian love-scene between these two, which effectively expresses the instantaneously reflecting power of their desire, is not only the most impressive one this film has (and it should be added it is expressed in some binary way which consists of the directly female-homosexual and the indirectedly bisexual), but also the apparently prime mover of the latter half of the story, where almost every main character seems to personalise the highly influential lesbianism. And almost symmetrical attractiveness of the cool-and-almost-icy beautifulness of Margaret Lee, who plays Oriana, and the rather-warm-and-friendly charmingness of Livia Cerini, who plays Mara, creates a highly aesthetic rather than simply carnal lesbianism. Furthermore, there is a calculatedly invisible rather than simply potential couple in the indoor group. In short, the whole story of this film is full of the suspenseful developability, and is enriched by Roberto Rizzo's not theatrical but appropriate music. Here, for the sake of fairness, I have to add this 1974 film is not a gory one. It has shootings, injures, deaths and consequently some blood, but the film as a whole has no noteworthy gore. In conclusion, it can be said this is a high-qualitative story-developability-oriented film, and is recommendable even for the serious Giallo-lovers, but not for the gore-lovers.

Intriguing mix of poliziotteschi and hostage thriller.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 8/10 · 8 March 2015]

A trio of jewel thieves including Eliana(Margaret Lee)takes refuge at the home of a surgeon Guido Malerva after one in their group is mortally wounded in a robbery.When the doctor's wife Mara(Livia Cerini)comes home she is subjected to rape and abuse.I would not consider Vincenzo Rigo's "The Killers Are Our Guests" a full-blown giallo,but the film certainly has some giallo elements.The film is actually quite similar to Enzo Castellari's "Cold Eyes of Fear",but it's more exciting and violent.Great performances by Livia Cerini,Margaret Lee,Luigi Pistilli and Anthony Streffen plus some highly welcomed sleaze and beautiful music score by Roberto Rizzo.A must-see for fans of gialli and Euro-crime movies.8 heists out of 10.