The film stars Max von Sydow and Stefano Dionisi and marks Argento's return to the giallo subgenre.

The first three killings in the spree became known as The Dwarf Murders because the main suspect, Vincenzo de Fabritiis, was a writer of crime fiction with dwarfism, but he died of natural causes and the case was considered closed.

Dragging her to an indoor fountain during a lengthy struggle, he drowns Mel, then aggressively cuts her fingernails very short because she scratched him during the fight.

The killer murders another woman, Dora, by pushing her into her apartment building and slamming her face into a wall repeatedly, hard enough to knock her teeth out.

While conversing with his pet parrot, Moretti goes over the murders and realizes the modus operandi matches the violence in a disturbed nursery rhyme, "The Crazy Farmer".

He reconvenes with Giacomo and reads the rhyme, mentioning a farmer was driven insane and killed all his animals the same way each of the victims were murdered.

After changing his mind about killing him, Betti's father apologizes to Lorenzo, who appeared on the scene with Gloria, and shoots himself in the head.

They never felt in danger in 1983 because of his young age, and when he went to Geneva and New York City, he slaughtered more people since the nursery rhyme was known internationally.

Giacomo complies just enough for Lorenzo to get to a window, where the active detective on the case shoots Betti's shoulder, then blows a shot through his head, killing him instantly.

"[2] AllMovie gave the film a generally negative review, writing, "this feels like an Argento retread – the murder mystery recalls his 1971 Cat o' Nine Tails a little too much, and the overly familiar horrific elements (pace, editing, music, screaming) have little impact.