What Have They Done to Your Daughters?

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is a super sleazy mixture of giallo and poliziotteschi, which bends the accepted rules of both genres. The killer wears a motorcycle helmet and full-body leathers, but instead of a bumbling foreigner attempting to solve a series of murders, it’s a detective and a new assistant DA. In modern-day pop culture terms, it feels like an extended Law & Order episode with nudity, blood & guts - ripped from 1974’s headlines. Lennie Briscoe, where art thou?Police discover the body of a naked fourteen-year-old girl hanging from the rafters in an abandoned loft. She had been sexually assaulted, murdered elsewhere, then strung up in a different location to make it look like hanging was the actual cause of death. The case falls into the lap of handsome Commissioner Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) and Deputy Attorney Vittoria Stori (Giavanna Ralli). The case leads them into a gruesome labyrinthine underbelly of sex, lies, and audiotape. Terrible things are happening to the young girls of Rome, and some people will do anything to prevent the truth from being exposed!.What other clichés can we throw in here? Silvestri is a hard-nosed cop on the edge! Stori is beautiful but ruthless! Time is running out! There’s not much new in What Have They Done to Your Daughters? The bad guys, whether they wear business suits or black leather, are vile and smarmy. Our protagonists are stubbornly good, even in the face of police corruption. There’s not much grey area for the characters to play around in. Luckily, there’s plenty here visually to keep things intriguing.Two things set the film apart from the others: the direction of Massimo Dallamano and the musical score by Stelvio Cipriani. Daughters could be considered a quasi-sequel to Dallamano’s 1972 film, What Have You Done to Solange? because of its focus on the hazards that can befall sexually active teenage girls. While Solange was a straightforward giallo film, and Daughters leans more towards being a police procedural, Dallamano brings an unerring eye for quirky composition to every shot. Even when the story bogs down, just for a minure, Dallamano keeps the visuals jacked up.Cipriani’s music has a cool pop sensibility, as lush as a 70s AM radio single at times, dark and threatening at others. It is hummable, almost dancey in sections. Those who are interested can find an interview with Cipriani in the special features of the Blu-Ray.As is often the case, Arrow Video has overdelivered with on What Have They Done to Your Daughters? The special features are interesting and scholarly, particularly the video essay, Slaves and Masters, by critic Kat Ellinger. An in-depth study of the power structure represented within Dallamano’s films, it offers great insight into the sexually charged atmosphere of the director’s work. There is also a commentary by gialli expert Troy Howarth, an interview with film editor Antonia Sicilano, and some hardcore X pornographic footage Dallamano shot for Daughters, but decided not to use (thank God, it's more Benny Hill than sexy). The feature itself looks amazing, thanks to the 2K restoration from the original negative. That feels like a wise decision; 4K would be too clean for a movie like Daughters, which needs some grit and grain to the image to keep the mood sufficiently grimy.Even with all the blood and sexual content, What Have They Done to Your Daughters? might feel somewhat tame by today’s standards. We see similar subjects dealt with on network television on a nightly basis. But there’s no denying Dallamano’s style, his heightened sense of luridness. The film itself may be of most interest to collectors and giallo connoisseurs, but anyone with an interest in Italian genre films should find much enjoyment in the whole presentation.

The story is better than average about a murdered girl and the gruesome back story. A teenager is found dead and the facts that unravel tell a seedy story, with some nudity and murders. There is also a political corruption story angle you don't see in these types of movies

Suspenseful movie without being exploitive. Brings out the best qualities of an Italian police thriller and a giallo

Best looking copy of the 2nd part of the School Girls in Peril trilogy. However, it is not as well written as Solange and by definition repetitive.

This is boss level crime horror. I don't even need to explain a plot or anything, just know the story, the acting, the cinematography, the effects, and above all the music is superb.

It's a great movie overall very underrated

Good buy

Two of the most well-known genres in Italian films from the seventies were the giallo films, murder mysteries where you only saw the hands of the killer, and the police dramas, crime dramas that pitted the police against fearless criminals. Both of these genres are combined to form this movie, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS?The film opens with the discovery of a young girl hanging from the rafters of an apartment building. Called in by an anonymous tip the police find the body but no identification. After investigating they do discover her identity as well as the fact that she was younger than expected, just 15. Following more clues they track down two potential suspects.The first is a man across the way from the top floor apartment she was found in, a man who had a bird’s eye views as well as a telephoto lens to shoot pictures of her there. This was their anonymous caller and he has pictures of the girl and her boyfriend. A search for the young man finds him spelunking. Bringing him up his alibi is solid as he was down below. He tells them about their meetings.More investigating leads the police to a private investigator who is found dead. Audio recordings he made are missing and the only lead they have is his girlfriend who is in a hospital recuperating from an auto accident a month prior. Through her they recover the one remaining tape that was not stolen and learn that the private detective was part of a ring of older men who were using pre-teen schoolgirls as prostitutes.A black gloved killer in a motorcycle helmet is seen murdering people and attacking others. Car chases involving this character take up plenty of the 96 minute running time of this film. The culprits responsible are found out and the ending is quite unsatisfying for a movie like this. Even more so when you consider the fact that it was made by Massimo Dallamano who made WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE which surpassed this film by miles.One thing I noticed that made this film different than most, and in a positive way, was that the lead investigator on the case (at least paperwork wise) is a woman. That’s rare in most movies from this time period and was refreshing. Of course at some point the killer stalks her as well and she becomes a damsel in distress saved by a man. But she carries on with the investigation in spite of the attack and the victims she is exposed to.On the whole not much stands out about this film. The cinematography isn’t anything exceptional, the acting a bit over the top at times and the story a bit too convoluted for its own good. The end result is unsatisfying at best and predictable at worst. While I commend Arrow Video for insuring that this film is presented in the best format possible and included a number of extras, it is perhaps the weakest entry I’ve seen from them so far.Those extras are fairly extensive though. They include a new audio commentary track with author Troy Howarth, MASTERS AND SLAVES: POWER, CORRUPTION & DECADNES IN THE CINEMA OF MASSIMO DALLAMANO a new video essay by author Kat Ellinger, ETERNAL MELODY an interview with composer Stelvio Cipriani, DALLAMANO’S TOUCH an interview with editor Antonio Siciliano, unused hardcore footage shot by Dallamano, the Italian theatrical trailer, an image gallery, a reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by Adam Rabalais and for the first pressing only an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Michael Mackenzie.I would suggest this for purist trying to collect all giallo style films they can find or fans of Dallamano only. All others will most likely enjoy the film for an afternoon’s viewing but repeat viewings are unlikely. Kudos still to Arrow Video for at least keeping these films alive.

Stylish giallo movie with a great soundtrack. The emphasis here is very much on the police investigation, with much less time devoted to the killer & has a relatively low body count, so may disappoint genre fans who like plenty of gore. Good widescreen presentation.

very great , excellent dvd

Good film

Nice item nice price

good quality