The flashdancers of a prestigious dance school are winding up dead thanks to a killer in a leather coat and gloves who uses a lion-headed hat pin and chloroform as his/her weapon. The hard-nosed, tough Candice Norman(Olga Karlatos), embittered by being robbed of her own opportunity of achieving a dance career thanks to a motorcyclist running her over, pushes her students to the very brink. Three dancers have a chance to move on to even greater heights, and this might provide extra motivation towards murder. Candace sees a vision of a model/actor named George Webb(Ray Lovelock)coming at her with the murderous hat pin closed in hand ready to stab her. Candace is driven by the dream to pursue George once she spots a billboard add with his face modeling a product. What she doesn't count on is falling for him. The film shows the setting up of certain girls being murdered(such as two who are attempting to take a shower after practice in the dance school)and Candace's pursuit of the truth. As she digs deeper, George might be the major suspect in the murders.
Set amongst the backdrop of New York City flash-dance music scene at the time, the soundtrack and look of the film shows this time of life in the early 80's as women connived and killed themselves in order to make it to the top of the dance scene by any means necessary. I'm sure in Fulci's macabre mind, he saw an opportunity to question..Just how far is one willing to go towards achieving that dream? But, when the killer is indeed exposed even deeper truths come out such as losing that dream before having a true opportunity of achieving it thanks to circumstances out of left field. George is presented as a male model struggling to make it in the treacherous business of modeling and acting. He has ambitions and dreams like the flashdancers, but is hitting the brick wall that often comes when wishing to achieve stardom.
Certainly gialli fans(..and, most especially those of Fulci fandom)will probably find this slow and talky. It's also anemic, barely showing any real violence at all due to what the killer uses as his/her weapon. The dialogue and dubbing are nothing to write home about, either. But, technically, Fulci's film is polished. I loved the DVD transfer and felt the cinematography(..and how Fulci uses light such as the bathroom/locker rooms in the dance hall at night as the lights blink on and off in increments stating that the electronic doors will be bolted in a specific time frame telling anyone still in the building they need to get out)and lighting were top-notch. Fulci is quite restrained not filling the screen with bloodshed and gore as he does in his zombie flicks. And, yes, the flash-dance music scene backdrop is indeed cheesy but merely a product of what was happening at the time.
Set amongst the backdrop of New York City flash-dance music scene at the time, the soundtrack and look of the film shows this time of life in the early 80's as women connived and killed themselves in order to make it to the top of the dance scene by any means necessary. I'm sure in Fulci's macabre mind, he saw an opportunity to question..Just how far is one willing to go towards achieving that dream? But, when the killer is indeed exposed even deeper truths come out such as losing that dream before having a true opportunity of achieving it thanks to circumstances out of left field. George is presented as a male model struggling to make it in the treacherous business of modeling and acting. He has ambitions and dreams like the flashdancers, but is hitting the brick wall that often comes when wishing to achieve stardom.
Certainly gialli fans(..and, most especially those of Fulci fandom)will probably find this slow and talky. It's also anemic, barely showing any real violence at all due to what the killer uses as his/her weapon. The dialogue and dubbing are nothing to write home about, either. But, technically, Fulci's film is polished. I loved the DVD transfer and felt the cinematography(..and how Fulci uses light such as the bathroom/locker rooms in the dance hall at night as the lights blink on and off in increments stating that the electronic doors will be bolted in a specific time frame telling anyone still in the building they need to get out)and lighting were top-notch. Fulci is quite restrained not filling the screen with bloodshed and gore as he does in his zombie flicks. And, yes, the flash-dance music scene backdrop is indeed cheesy but merely a product of what was happening at the time.