The Killer Is Not Alone Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Killer Is Not Alone Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 5, 2025

Jesús García de Duenas' "The Killer Is Not Alone" (1975) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro. The supplemental features on the release include recent program with critic Angel Sala; exclusive audio commentary by critics Troy Howarth and Rod Barnett; and vintage trailer. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The Killer Is Not Alone is the biggest and most important film that the stunning Austrian actress Maria Rohm made without the involvement of her husband, British producer and screenwriter Harry Alan Towers. Rohm married Towers in 1964, and during the next ten years, she appeared in various genre films he scripted and produced, several of which were directed by cult helmer Jess Franco and are among his best. However, these films did not advance Rohm’s acting career as planned, so by the mid-1970s, she was already contemplating ending it. Directed by Jesus de Duenas in 1975, The Killer Is Not Alone is the final film in Rohm’s body of work in which she had a major part and was supposed to steer her career in the right direction. It was produced by Andres Vicente Gomez, whose influence on the evolution of Spanish cinema cannot be overstated. Between the 1980s and 1990s, Gomez produced some of the biggest films of the Spanish New Wave, like Jamón Jamón and Golden Balls, as well as the Oscar-winner Belle Epoque.

Although not the star of The Killer Is Not Alone, Rohm plays several different characters, one of whom is the most consequential. This character is loosely modeled after another character from a very famous and somewhat controversial film, What the Peeper Saw, also produced by Gomez. Most of the drama in The Killer Is Not Alone is similar to the one in What the Peeper Saw as well.

In Malaga, in an area where streetwalkers make ends meet, Julio (David Carpenter), who is in his early twenties, buys a date with a gorgeous older woman (Rohm). In a nearby apartment, while the two make love, something in Julio’s mind triggers an avalanche of horrific images that temporarily transform him into a madman. After he slashes the throat of his date, Julio regains his sanity and leaves. Soon after, following a short and annoying meeting with his very busy father, Julio travels to Madrid and rents a room in a boarding house. In the days ahead, while struggling to manage his condition, Julio befriends several lodgers, one of whom, a very elegant and secretive beauty (Rohm), is a hardworking high-end call girl. When Julio accidentally recognizes her in a busy nightclub, she offers him a free date in exchange for his silence, and later, while in her arms, the madman hiding inside him reemerges. Eventually, Julio meets and falls in love with Monica (Teresa Rabal), a beautiful girl his age, but while their relationship blossoms, an associate of his father tracks him down, and then the authorities, having gathered enough information to link him to the murdered women, force him to go on the run.

A crucial flashback from Julio’s childhood reveals how the madman was created. The flashback features yet another woman (Rohm again) who attempts to seduce Julio while he plays with his toys. It is unclear if she succeeds, but this is an irrelevant detail. If Julio encounters a woman that looks like the woman from the flashback, the event he recalls unleashes the madman.

The suspense and drama are managed well. However, there are not enough thrills and atmosphere of the kind that would excite a giallo connoisseur, who would have been most appreciative of the type of material The Killer Is Not Alone works with. This is unfortunate because The Killer Is Not Alone is not particularly effective as a serious psychological thriller.

The unmissable irony is that Rohm is great playing each of her characters, and the only one who senses that The Killer Is Not Alone will be a better film if it is looser and more explicit. However, the camera chooses to spend more time on Carpenter and his bland, often meaningless facial expressions.

The Killer Is Not Alone Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Killer Is Not Alone arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro.

The release is sourced from a recent 4K master that is quite good. The 4K master produces stable and often very attractive visuals with decent to good organic qualities. For example, clarity and depth are consistently very pleasing, though there are many areas that reveal plenty of softness. In these areas, filters and light are used to create that very particular look many films from the 1970s have. However, it has to be noted that some darker areas could have had more convincing shadow nuances. I would not say that there is distracting crushing, but the inherited softness and less than optimal shadow nuances definitely produce thicker visuals that could and should look better. Color reproduction and balance are convincing. However, it is quite easy to tell that ideally color saturation should be better. If it is, the dynamic range of many visuals will be better, too. I did not encounter any age-related anomalies to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Killer Is Not Alone Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided. If you wish to turn them off, you will have to use your remote control. They cannot be turned off via the disc's menu.

The Spanish track features plenty of overdubbing, so balance and dynamic activity on it tend to fluctuate a bit, which is perfectly fine. However, it is easy to tell that it has not been fully remastered because in some areas there is light yet noticeable background hiss and even some tiny pops. The good news is that there are no distracting distortions or other similar anomalies. The English translation is good. However, I found the size of the English subtitles disappointing. They are extremely small and often very difficult to read.

The Killer Is Not Alone Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Angel Sala - in this program, Angel Sala, director Sitges Film Festival, discusses the Spanish psycho-killer film and the identity and style of The Killer Is Not Alone. In Spanish, with English subtitled. (24 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth and Rod Barnett.

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for The Killer Is Not Alone. In Spanish, with English subtitles. (4 min).

The Killer Is Not Alone Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Everything The Killer Is Not Alone does would have been best appreciated by the giallo connoisseur. However, instead of recognizing that it is so, The Killer Is Not Alone veers off in a different direction and attempts to impress as a serious psychological thriller. I think that this was a mistake. Maria Rohm is very good playing several different characters that would have been perfect in a proper giallo, but most unfortunately she was the only one sensing that The Killer Is Not Alone should have had a different identity and style. For Rohm completists, like me, The Killer Is Not Alone is a great film to have on Blu-ray. For everyone else, it will most likely be only a decent older thriller to see as part of a double bill. (This double bill can feature the vastly superior and somewhat controversial film What the Peeper Saw, which is quite similar in several ways and was also produced by Andres Vicente Gomez). RECOMMENDED.