A Hyena in the Safe (1968) Una iena in cassaforte

Director: Cesare Canevari
Writers: Cesare Canevari, Alberto Penna
Stars: Dimitri Nabokov, Maria Luisa Geisberger, Ben Salvador

Four notorious bank robbers - Klaus from Germany, Albert from France, Juan from Spain and Carina from Tangiers meet up in an isolated Castle to divide a large number of diamonds hidden there by their former, deceased boss Boris whose Italian wife Anna is hosting the party. Unfortunately, the stones are kept in a massive safe and only all of the five keys distributed by Boris among his fellow collaborators, can open it. Albert, the French guy, upsets the bunch not only by not producing his key but also by bringing his attractive Girlfriend Jeanine along. Soon, greed, betrayal and mistrust are setting the criminal weekend party on fire…

"A Hyaena in the Safe" by Cesare Canevari is an obscure Italian giallo/fumetti that predates Mario Bava's "Five Dolls for an August Moon". Six keys. One of them is lost and the criminals begin to stalk and murder themselves in the web of deceit. I enjoyed this very psychedelic slice of Italian dementia. The acting is fine, the murder scenes are imaginative and some scenes are downright surreal. The women are very beautiful and lethal and there is even a little bit of nudity (a glimpse of breast). The film was obviously made on low budget and the result is impressive to watch. 7 out of 10. For fans of "Ten Little Indians" inspired gialli.

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