What Have You Done to Solange? (1975)

I Won't Tell You What They Did To Solange, But It Was Horrible!

"What Have You Done To Solange?" is one of the greatest entries in the Italian Giallo genre. It has everything that a giallo should have including a suspenseful, intricately woven plot: A black-gloved killer is stabbing to death beautiful girls at a Catholic high school in London. How are the deaths connected? Most importantly, who is the mysterious Solange and what happened to her? If you like movies centered around vigilante justice or revenge, you will enjoy this feature from director Massimo Dallamano (who also directed the sequel, "What Have They Done to Your Daughters?")

"What Have You Done to Solange" has a great cast of actors that includes Italian hunk Fabio Testi who is the star of numerous crime dramas and Italian Spaghetti Westerns (Lucio Fulci`s "Four of the Apocalypse"); Testi is a teacher at the high school and is the number one suspect. He is having an affair with one of his pupils, Christina Galbo. (Galbo is one of my favorite euro babes. She is the star of such Spanish horror fare as "The House That Screamed" and "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie;" she also starred in the Italian giallo, "The Killer Must Kill Again.") A young, child-like Camille Keaton (niece of Buster Crabbe) is Solange; she later became the star of the notorious "I Spit On Your Grave."

A haunting score is provided by Ennio Morricone who has provided the scores for over 400 movies in his long, illustrious career. (Read the collectable booklet that is inside the DVD case.). Despite the beautiful scenery, the film is dark and depressing. The ending is tragic and will stay with you long after the movie is over. It reminded me of the ending for "Watch Me When I Kill," another giallo favorite of mine involving revenge.

If you enjoy gialli that take place at a private girls' school, you will also want to see Narcisco Ibanez Serrador's uncut masterpiece of "The House That Screamed" (not the Elvira version) and Antonio Margheriti's "Naked You Die."

Shriek Show, as always, has done a wonderful job of restoring "What Have You Done To Solange?" My only regret is that it doesn't contain the original Italian audio with English subtitles. The Amazon listing is wrong. At the price of $24.95, you think it would have. Shriek Show's release of "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin" had the Italian audio with English subtitles.

"What Have You Done To Solange" is highly recommended for anyone who loves Italian gialli. In my opinion, it ranks up there with Dario Argento's "Deep Red," Emilio Miraglia's "The Red Queen Kills 7 Times," and Sergio Martino's "Torso."
May 5, 2008

Yeah! What The Hell Have You Done To Her?

There are about eight billion giallos out there, and thanks to companies like Media Blasters, we get to see great versions of ones we've seen before and ones that never were available in the U.S. before. Solange I had never seen until recently, but I'd say this is one of the better giallo films to come out among the many we've seen in the last few years. While I haven't seen a giallo I though was crappy and not worth the time, some were a little more uninteresting than others. Solange is a pretty cool murder mystery involving a killer who's modus operandi involves stabbing schoolgirls in their.....elbows. That's it, their elbows. A small band of schoolgirls all hide a secret that puts them in the killer's crosshairs, and the secret involves a girl names Solange(obviously). Italian hunkster Fabio Testi is a teacher who digs chicks in uniform....schoolgirl uniforms that is. He's the one trying to solve the case, and we all know Fabio is just the guy for this kind of thing. Why don't you check it out? I can't think of a reason for you not to, especially if you dig giallo films, heartbreaking romances or Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. August 28, 2006

Great thriller - see it.

I have seen several "giallos", and apart from those by Dario Argento, they can be on the most part, quite dull and routine police dramas. But "What Have You Done To Solange" really surprised me, in fact I would say it's the best non-Argento giallo I have ever seen. A couple taking a romantic boat ride along a river are interrupted when the young woman sees something that frightens her on the riverbank. As she is too disturbed to enjoy the boat trip any more, the afternoon ends on a sour note for the couple, only for them to find out the next day that a brutal murder was indeed commited on the riverbank. Things only get worse from then on.

What I like so much about the film is that the plot unfolds fairly and squarely before your eyes, and you get to see the clues as they appear, the same time as the investigating police do. Unlike some "giallos" where red herrings and ambiguity surround too much of the on-screen action, the clues here are uncovered logically, and you'll find that you take in each new turn of events with growing interest and try to unravel the mystery for yourself. The script and the plot twists are very clever. Very soon after the opening, you learn that the couple on the boat were in fact a married teacher and his female pupil in the midst of an illicit affair, which puts them in trouble straight away as they try and work out how to unravel the mystery without exposing their infidelity. Actually, that's just the very start of their troubles, and I won't reveal any more because I think that everybody should watch this film with as little prior knowledge as possible, and hopefully enjoy it as much as I did.

Beautifully filmed in stunning widescreen, actor Fabio Testi makes for a rather wooden hero, but most performances are good, including a full supporting cast of buxom school girls who put in a lot of full frontal nudity, which should please those viewers watching for some exposure of female flesh. That, and the jaw-droppingly brutal method of murder employed by the killer could have made this film totally depraved, but the stylish plot twists and interesting characters salvage it from being just another piece of Euro sleaze. Set in London, it's particularly nice to see this film with it's soundtrack in English, and the scenes involving the police are often full of very amusing British dialogue. Conversely, Testi's character is an Italian teacher living in England, so he has an authentic sounding Italian accent...it's little things like that that make the difference. Plus watch out for a surprising and effective appearance by Camille Keaton (of "I Spit On Your Grave") towards the end of the film...sorry, but again I can't tell you anymore!
I would recommend this to any Euro horror or Giallo fan. It looks great, has an intrigueing plot and a satisfying explanation to round it off. You'll enjoy it all the way through. But do yourself a huge favour and avoid spoilers!! January 29, 2006

Excellent Giallo

A well done 'Giallo' picture. Great casting and a disturbing plot. Great atmosphere and a shocking ending in the tradition of the great Italian horror/suspense films. Highly recommended. October 20, 2005

Superb giallo film.

"Giallo" films (from the Italian for "yellow", referring to the yellow covers of paperback suspense novels sold in Italy) almost always center on the mysterious deaths of attractive young women.

"Solange" is no different, but adds a startling degree of social relevance. Made in 1971, "Solange" tackles the abortion legalization issue 2 years before Roe v. Wade (a similar horror film examination of abortion is 1974's "Black Christmas").

This is one of the finest of the giallo genre.

The blood and gore are very minimal, though the killer's methods are positively disgusting. June 1, 2004

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