History Sandbox / ThePoliceAreBlunderingInTheDark

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: When [[spoiler: Edmondo]] confronts the killer, the killer actually turns the accusation around, purporting to believe that [[spoiler: Edmondo]] is the one whose psychosis drove him to murder. However, the true killer is clear: they know what happened to the bodies, which no one else does.

When his female friend Enrichetta becomes the latest in a series of beautiful women to disappear from the countryside near Rome, journalist Giorgio D’Amato investigates. He finds a connection to the villa of Edmondo Parrisi, a wheelchair-using photographer for whom Enrichetta modeled on the night she disappeared. Further investigation reveals that the villa’s inhabitants and guests conceal a host of secrets - the most surprising of which is the photographer’s invention of a device that photographs human thoughts.

''The Police Are Blundering in the Dark'' is a 1975 {{giallo}} film written and directed by Helia Colombo - his only known credit in those roles.

1:00:45 - Edmundo comes out of wheelchair with knife in hand after Eleonora tells him about abusing Sarah, but cannot get to her

* AfterActionVillainAnalysis: After the killer is stopped, his history is explained: [[spoiler: He was a brilliant surgeon whose life turned upside-down when he suffered an attack of mental illness during an operation on his wife, which killed her. As a result, he changed his name and moved elsewhere to start a new life.]] How this might relate to his pattern of killings is not explained at all.

The photography device is explained by Sarah at 58:42 - 2/3rds through the 1:26:53 runtime! (Foreshadowing averted?)

* Murderer attempts to displace blame

*** At least two characters, not even including the killer, possess intellectual impairment or a mental disorder. How might that have manifested in their thought-photos?
** The thought-photos themselves could have presented ''any'' lurid and striking, sexy or bloody image the filmmaker could come up with, without having to justify it through plot - as long as they could explain why a character would be thinking of it.

** Since this technology doesn’t exist in the real world, there would be fascinating questions even once the photos were seen: does a thought-photo of an act mean the person committed that act - or merely considered it?
** The thought-photos themselves could have been as lurid and striking as any giallo filmmaker could crave, not hindered by any need to justify through plot.
** Characters investigating the models’ disappearances would certainly chase the photos, hoping to gain clues from them.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: By far, the most unique thing about this movie is the “thought-camera” Edmondo somehow invented. Yet its existence isn’t revealed until half an hour from the end of the movie, and then it’s revealed to one character, who does nothing with the information. Very likely it was only revealed then to keep its use in the climax from being a complete [[AssPull]]. Just imagine, though, how much more interesting the movie would be if the existence of the thought-camera, and the fact that he’d already used it to photograph the thoughts of his dinner guests was revealed to the audience and to some of those guests:

The thought-photos themselves could have been as lurid and striking as any giallo filmmaker could crave, not hindered by any need to justify through plot.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Imagine if Edmondo’s thought-camera had actually been used as a major plot element - if the audience and more than a couple of the characters had learned about it, early in the film.
** The thought-photos themselves could have been as lurid and striking as any giallo filmmaker could crave, not hindered by any need to justify through plot.

* {{Epigraph}}: “Mankind differs from beasts for an incurable evil: intelligence.”

** The thought-photos themselves could have been as lurid and striking as any giallo filmmaker could crave, not hindered by any need to justify through plot.

**

* Alberto explains Freudian excuse

* TitleDrop: Early in the movie, Alberto reads a newspaper headline about the missing photo-models; the sub-head announces “La polizia brancola nel buio” (the police are blundering in the dark). [[spoiler: Alberto repeats this at the end of the movie, explaining why he started his own investigation.]]

* TheMeddlingKidsAreUseless: The murderer is uncovered, not by the police, not by amateur investigation, but [[spoiler: because Edmondo used his thought-photographing device on his dinner guests without their knowledge]].

When his female friend Enrichetta becomes the latest in a series of beautiful women to disappear from the countryside near Rome, journalist Giorgio D’Amato investigates. He finds a connection to the villa of a wheelchair-using photographer, for whom Enrichetta modeled on the night she disappeared. Further investigation reveals that the villa’s inhabitants and guests conceal a host of secrets - the most surprising of which is the photographer’s invention of a device that photographs human thoughts.

* M dues under agricultural device

* Closing quote: “Mankind differs from beasts for an incurable evil: intelligence.”

* TitleDrop: Early in the movie, Alberto reads a newspaper headline about the missing photo-models; the sub-head announces “La polizia brancola nel buio”. [[spoiler: Alberto repeats this at the end of the movie, explaining why he started his own investigation.]]

** Just before the killer claims his first on-screen victim, she screams out for help to the driver of an agricultural machine

* BookEnds: Agricultural machine and title quote

* TitleDrop: Early in the movie, Alberto reads a newspaper headline about the missing photo-models; the sub-head announces “La polizia brancola nel buio”. [[spoiler: Alberto repeats this at the end of the movie, explaining why he started his own investigation.

The photography device is explained by Sarah at 58:42 - 2/3rds through the 1:26:53 runtime!

Murderer attempts to displace blame
M dues under agricultural device
Alberto explains Freudian excuse

* ExtremeLibido: Lucia the maid craves carnal satisfaction - at times resembling a drug addict craving a fix. [[spoiler: It turns out to be “erotomania”, as diagnosed by the doctors who hospitalized her for such issues in the past.]]

When his female friend Enrichetta becomes the latest in a series of beautiful women to disappear from the countryside near Rome, journalist Giorgio D’Amato investigates. He finds a connection to the villa of a wheelchair-using photographer, for whom Enrichetta modeled on the night she disappeared. Further investigation reveals that the villa’s inhabitants and guests conceal a host of secrets - the most surprising of which is that the photographer has invented a device that photographs human thoughts.

* [[Extreme Libido]]: Lucia the maid craves carnal satisfaction - at times resembling a drug addict craving a fix. [[spoiler: It turns out to be “erotomania”, as diagnosed by the doctors who hospitalized her for such issues in the past.]]

''The Police are Blundering In the Dark'' is a 1975 {{giallo}} film written and directed by Helia Colombo - his only known credit in those roles.

* {{Nymphomaniac}}: Lucia, the maid, certainly seems to be one, at times resembling a drug addict craving a fix.

When his female friend Enrichetta becomes the latest in a series of beautiful women to disappear from the countryside near Rome, journalist Giorgio D’Amato investigates. He finds a connection to the villa of a wheelchair-using photographer, for whom Enrichetta modeled for photographs on the night she disappeared. Further investigation reveals that the villa’s inhabitants conceal a host of secrets -

1:00:45 - Edmundo comes out of wheelchair with knife in hand after Eleonora tells him about abusing Sarah, but cannot get to her

1:00:45 - Edmundo comes out of wheelchair after Eleonora tells him about abusing Sarah.