Mannequin in Red (Church of Film)

The Hillman Detective Agency is hot on the trail of a blackmailing model, but the case takes a twist when she ends up with a knife in her back. In fact, there are a lot of weird happenings and strange murders going on at La Femme fashion house, which may have something to do with its imperious matron and her fortune.

Arne Mattsson’s THE MANNEQUIN IN RED seems on paper like a conventional thriller, but its garish, over the top art production, ostentatious camerawork, homoerotic subtexts and creepy thrills went way beyond its trappings. So far, in fact, that it won the admiration of Alfred Hitchcock, and may have been the model for Mario Bava in creating the giallo film.