Sculptor Franco (George Lazenby, one-shot James Bond of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE) is living and working in Venice when his daughter Roberta (Nicoletta Elmi, BARON BLOOD and THE CURSED MEDALLION) visits from London where she has been living with her mother. Upon her arrival, Roberta becomes the object of interest to a mysterious veiled old woman clad in black who stalks her through the city. When Franco leaves her to play with the other town children in order to have a dalliance with Gabriella (Rosemarie Lindt, EMANUELLE'S REVENGE), the girl disappears only to turn up murdered. Although ex-wife Elizabeth (Anita Strindberg, A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN) is sympathetic, guilt-ridden, Franco pursues his own investigation of the killing which may be related to the murder of another red-haired girl the previous year; the aftermath of which peripherally involved several members of Franco's artsy circle including benefactor Serafian (Adolfo Celi, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE), his mistress Ginevra (Dominique Boschero, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK), her bisexual boyfriend Phillip (Peter Chatel, CAMILLE 2000), and lawyer Bonaiuti (José Quaglio, THE CONFORMIST) who themselves are soon stalked by the woman in black. Parallels with DON'T LOOK NOW have previously been noted but the script is much more straightforward, the threat less ambiguous, and the couple's grief over their lost child at the forefront rather than underlining their everyday actions. The flash-cut editing of Angelo Curi is also more direct in its clues at certain points (while at others, it functions as a fancy way of transitioning between scenes). The red herrings are a bit obvious (even if Roberta might have been murdered for something she overheard, that would not have explained the veiled old lady stalker). Director Lado had previously helmed the giallo SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS after serving as assistant director on Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST (which also featured Quaglio and Alessandro Haber who plays a priest here). Franco De Giacomo (FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET) - with NOSTALGHIA's cinematographer Giuseppe Lanci as camera operator - Techniscope photography aides Lado in creating a lived-in Venice (as opposed the city-wide museum seen in other films) although it is always conveniently empty for the stalking scenes. The lead performances suffer somewhat with Lazenby not particularly compelling and the beautiful Strindberg dubbed rather thickly but Elmi is used effectively here as in her other genre films. Associate producer Ovidio Assonitis went on to make a career in international exploitation films (usually utilizing Italian crew) including BEYOND THE DOOR, PIRANHA II, AMOK TRAIN, and CHOKE CANYON among many others and co-scenarist Francesco Barilli helmed two little scene but strong Italian thriller entries HOTEL OF FEAR and PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK.