Who Saw Her Die?

Director- Aldo Lado

Cast- George Laxenby, Anita Strindberg


Country of Origin- Italy

Distributor - Arrow

Number of Discs - 1

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 09/17/2019

    Who Saw Her Die opens with a family in a French Ski Resort losing track of their daughter who is brutally murdered. The film then skips ahead a few years, a young girl Roberta comes to Venice to reunite with her parents Franco (George Lazenby, On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and Elizabeth (Anita Strindberg, Lizard in a Woman’s Skin).  Unfortunately, the reunion is short lived as Roberta is drowned by the same killer who attacked the girl at the ski resort years before. Now, Franco and Elizabeth are taking the investigation into their own hands, and find that is not going to be an easy endeavor, as they are now in danger of the killer's wrath as are the people around them.

    Aldo Lado began his career with a one-two punch of excellent gialli. 1971's Short Night of Glass Dolls, which though not exactly a typical example of the genre, has made it into my top 10 gialli for over a decade. We followed it up with the George Lazenby starring Who Saw Her Die?   He would go on to make the sleaze-horror classic Night Train Murders, but would essentially direct TV movies for the remainder of his career.

    Who Saw Her Die? is one of the great understated classics of the giallo. The film uses it's decaying Venice locations to great effect. The film has a morose tone that reflects the parent's combined sadness at losing their child, and this is reflected in how Lado and cinematographer Franco Di Giacomo shoot the city itself.   Venice in a way becomes an imposing character in the film.   Who Saw Her Die? features an excellent score by Ennio Morricone which captures the somber tone of the piece quite effectively.

    Who Saw Her Die is presented by Arrow Video in a splendid 2:35:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film. Arrow has utilized a new 2k scan and it shows. Colors though muted, are well-represented, detail is excellent, and the transfer here has excellent film-like textures. Audio is handled by an LPCM 1.0 track in English and Italian and both sound clear and represent the film well. Extras include  a commentary track by Troy Howarth, a new video interview with director Aldo Lado, an excellent early career overview with Nicoletta Elmi, a video essay with the co-writer of the film, another interview/video essay with film critic Michael MacKenzie, plus trailers, and an image gallery. Who Saw Her Die is a total giallo classic, and comes highly recommended.