A killer has a thing for redheads in Aldo Lado's Venetian giallo WHO SAW HER DIE? on Blu-ray from Arrow Video USA.

Sculptor Franco Serpieri (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, NIGHT CHILD) 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 and concerned for him, 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 Phillipe (Peter Chatel, CAMILLE 2000), child-molesting lawyer Bonaiuti (José Quaglio, THE CONFORMIST), Franco's journalist friend (Piero Vida, STAGEFRIGHT), and even kindly priest Father James (Alessandro Haber, THE UNKNOWN WOMAN) who themselves are soon stalked by the woman in black.

With any film shot in Venice, particularly during the chilly, foggy off-season, parallels with DON'T LOOK NOW are inevitable, 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 (DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT) 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 with the veiled old lady stalker's motivation seeming more likely psychosis than Roberta overhearing something she should not have, while the killer's figure seems too svelte for two of the male characters whose fondness for Roberta could mask something else. 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 Haber. The Techniscope photography of Franco De Giacomo (FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET) - with NOSTALGHIA's cinematographer Giuseppe Lanci as camera operator and Gianfranco Transunto (THE OGRE) - aides Lado in creating a lived-in Venice as opposed the city-wide museum seen in other films (with the priest coaching the parish children in basketball in a large palazzo ballroom), 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 after, and co-scenarist Francesco Barilli helmed two little scene but strong Italian thriller entries HOTEL OF FEAR and PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK (scripted with WHO SAW HER DIE? partner Massimo D'Avak). While many of Ennio Morricone's other scores contrasted lyrical pieces with dissonant jazz or acid rock, his work here consists entirely of choral cues including the title song "Chi l'ha vista morire?" the lyrics of which were not always translated from version to version of the film. Lado returned to the giallo in the 1980s and nineties with DARK FRIDAY and CIRCLE OF FEAR.

Also known as THE CHILD – not to be confused with the 1976 Box Office International regional horror film – WHO SAW HER DIE? was hard to see in English-speaking territories until the U.K.'s 1997 Redemption Films videotape followed by Anchor Bay's 2002 U.S. DVD released individually and as part of THE GIALLO COLLECTION (with Lado's THE SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS, Antonio Bido's THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW, and Giuliano Carnimeo's THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS which was exclusive to the set) and a 2008 direct port of that edition from Blue Underground. A few second was missing from that version with a murder showing only five out of seven stab wounds compared to the U.K. DVD from Shameless Screen Entertainment. A 2K scan of the original camera negative, Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray is slightly darker but the whites are whiter without clipping and the colors bolder when stripped of the yellow-green tinge evident on the older master. Selecting the Italian or English version from the main menu results in a different title presentations through seamless branching – the Italian version is preceded by a presentational card for Overseas Film Company (THE EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW, THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION) that is a separate video stream from the film – while the English and LPCM 1.0 audio tracks and subtitles can be toggled via remote regardless of what version you are watching. The English version also includes some optical subtitles printed on image to translate some onscreen text. Interestingly, watching the film in English with the set of subtitles meant for the Italian version reveals some interesting variations in the dialogue like the case files revealing the girls had been raped in Italian while the same character says there was no trace of sexual molestation on the English track, while Roberta is visiting from London on the English version and Amsterdam on the Italian.

Press releases for the Arrow edition stated that it would feature an audio commentary by film historian Travis Crawford, but he disc features a commentary by Troy Howarth instead. While he does discuss the film itself, it is in the larger context of the genre as mainstream Italian entertainment, noting the various trending genres and the level of technical artistry on view in them as executed by participants more famous for the Italian art films because exploitation was where the more frequent and plentiful jobs were, while also noting how some of the filmmakers jobbing in the genres became artists (or auteurs) themselves. "I Saw Her Die" (56:55) is an interview with director Lado who reveals that he was to assistant direct LAST TANGO IN PARIS for Bertolucci only for the shoot to be pushed back a few months when Marlon Brando landed a role as THE GODFATHER; whereupon he was asked to direct WHO SAW HER DIE? He is aware that co-writer Barilli was supposed to direct the film but assumes that former SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS producers Enzo Doria (A WHISPER IN THE DARK) and Dieter Geissler (THE NEVERENDING STORYO) or their investors wanted him instead. He goes on to discuss the casting, working with Lazenby and child actors, as well as the controversial aspects of the film including infanticide and pedophilia.

In "Nicoletta, Child of Darkness" (27:26), actress Elmi recalls her early film appearances as being like holidays as a child, not really being required to memorize lines until she started doing films where she had to act in English. She only remembers her own scenes in WHO SAW HER DIE? and DEEP RED, having been removed from the violence, but recalls more of Massimo Dallamano's THE NIGHT CHILD since it was a larger role, as well as her other iconic Italian horror appearance in DEMONS.