Getting Ahead Means Looking Away

Read Time:7 Minute, 30 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Monster (Il mostro)
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Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Satire
Year Released: 1977, 2026 Blu-ray
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director(s): Luigi Zampa
Writer(s): Sergio Donati
Cast: Johnny Dorelli, Sydne Rome, Renzo Palmer, Yves Beneyton, Enzo Santaniello, Henning Schlüter, Renato Scarpa, Gianrico Tedeschi, Orazio Orlando, Angelica Ippolito
Where to Watch: available now; order your copy here: www.radiancefilms.co.uk, www.mvdshop.com, or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: Valerio Barigozzi has the kind of desk placement that tells him exactly how much his employer values him. Working beside the newspaper’s toilets, he’s close enough to professional success to resent everyone who has it and far enough away to consider himself unfairly overlooked. Johnny Dorelli makes that resentment an excellent starting point for THE MONSTER. Before a killer offers Valerio the story that changes his fortunes, Luigi Zampa has already established a man painfully eager to have his importance confirmed.

That eagerness gives the film its unpleasant humor. Valerio doesn’t approach a developing murder story with the distance his occupation supposedly requires. He recognizes an opportunity, and each new development brings the possibility of another professional reward. Dorelli makes the character’s excitement uncomfortable without making him impossible to follow. His vanity, irritation, and wounded pride are recognizable enough that the uglier behavior grows from an identifiable personality. We understand the appetite well before we approve of anything he does to satisfy it.

A letter sent to the newspaper establishes contact with a serial killer whose announcements become increasingly useful to Valerio’s career. Information grants him access, access makes him valuable, and being valuable changes how he’s treated. Sergio Donati’s screenplay understands how quickly favorable attention becomes its own justification. Valerio has spent so much time believing he deserves a better position that he has little interest in examining the circumstances that finally provide one.

The newspaper gives that ambition an accommodating home. A murder offers immediate human tragedy and a story that attracts readers, and the latter is much easier for the institution to measure. Zampa finds his satire in the behavior this encourages. Professional recognition arrives alongside a growing willingness to treat violence as a continuing resource. The arrangement is ugly, but it works through familiar rewards, making the people involved more disturbing than openly malicious caricatures.

Valerio’s self-pity is particularly useful here. He already feels wronged by his circumstances, so success feels like overdue compensation. That attitude allows him to accept benefits without dwelling on their source. The film doesn’t need to give him a grand speech announcing his corruption. Dorelli communicates plenty through the character’s growing confidence and the satisfaction of finally becoming someone others need. A little recognition goes a long way toward making his judgment worse.

Zampa also keeps Valerio’s home life in view. His failed marriage and withdrawn son, Luca, establish responsibilities that don’t become less important just because work suddenly feels more exciting. Enzo Santaniello’s presence gives the film an uncomfortable domestic counterpoint to the newspaper activity. Valerio is desperate to be noticed professionally while failing to pay sufficient attention to someone much closer to him. The connection is clear without requiring the family material to explain every flaw in his personality.

Those scenes help prevent the satire from becoming too abstract. It’s easy to condemn an institution for exploiting fear; watching one man neglect ordinary obligations while enjoying the results makes the criticism more specific. His career gives him an increasingly flattering picture of himself, while his personal life offers little evidence to consider. Dorelli handles that discrepancy well, preserving the character’s pathetic qualities even as his conduct becomes harder to excuse.

As a murder mystery, THE MONSTER is less consistently compelling. Some clues draw attention early, and the film doesn’t always conceal its direction as effectively as it develops its criticism of the press. At times, the audience has more opportunity to anticipate the machinery than to feel caught inside it. That limits the suspense, particularly for viewers approaching this primarily as a giallo. The investigation is interesting, but the reporter’s behavior gives viewers a stronger reason to keep watching.

The handling of violence reinforces that emphasis. Zampa frequently directs attention toward the consequences and exploitation of the crimes rather than making the attacks elaborate attractions in themselves. The distance gives the film a particular discomfort. People are being killed, yet much of the surrounding activity concerns what their deaths make possible for others. That approach suits the satire, though it occasionally leaves the thriller material feeling underpowered. The ideas are sharper than some of the sequences carrying them.

The film also moves unevenly between comedy and distress. Some comic touches expose the foolishness surrounding Valerio effectively; others briefly make the emotional stakes harder to hold onto. The film sometimes presses a point after the situation has already made it clear. Its nastiness is usually purposeful, but the tone shifts don’t always feel fully controlled. A more consistent balance gives the family scenes and the professional satire greater force together.

Ennio Morricone’s score helps keep the film restless. Its jazz character gives the proceedings an agitated energy that fits Valerio’s growing excitement and the disorder around him. The music has personality without turning the film into a showcase for it. Alongside the darker visual passages, it gives the newspaper story a nervous quality that supports the moral unease, even when the mechanics of the mystery become easier to anticipate.

The film’s relationship to public appetite also gives it lasting interest. Valerio benefits because people want the material he can provide, and the newspaper recognizes that demand. The story leaves room to consider the reader’s participation without pretending that every person involved holds equal power or responsibility. Private suffering becomes a product through a series of decisions, each made easier by the success of the previous one. THE MONSTER follows that process with enough cynicism to make professional achievement look increasingly shabby.

Radiance Films’ Blu-ray release gives this less-accessible corner of Italian genre cinema a welcome chance to find an audience. The edition features a 2K restoration from the original negative, uncompressed Italian mono PCM audio, and new English subtitles. Those are the release’s stated technical foundations, rather than a reason to make unsupported claims about its presentation. The appeal starts with an edition that recognizes the film's mix of thriller, comedy, and social criticism.

The supplemental lineup offers several ways into that mixture. Rachael Nisbet and Peter Jilmstad provide an audio commentary, while interviews with Sydne Rome, Renato Scarpa, Enzo Santaniello, and makeup artist Pierantonio Mecacci bring together performers and a craft perspective. An interview with Italian cinema expert Richard Dyer adds further context. The limited-edition booklet includes new writing by Roberto Curti and archival interviews with Zampa and Dorelli, giving the release a useful range of contemporary and historical material.

The packaging includes reversible artwork, a removable OBI strip, and a limited run of 3,000 copies. Those details matter to collectors, but the bigger draw is the chance to encounter Zampa through a film that doesn’t fit neatly into one genre expectation. THE MONSTER earns that attention through Dorelli, whose performance keeps the satire personal when the plotting becomes less persuasive.

Valerio wants the newspaper to stop treating him as disposable. Once that happens, he becomes increasingly comfortable benefiting from other people being treated that way. Dorelli makes the satisfaction visible, and Zampa lets it become embarrassing before it becomes fully appalling. The mystery supplies the story Valerio thinks he needs; watching him decide what that story is worth provides the film’s most effective discomfort.

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[photo courtesy of RADIANCE FILMS, MVD ENTERTAINMENT]

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