And God Said to Cain

Gary Hamilton served ten years of hard labour for a crime he did not commit. Pardoned, he wants one thing: to find the man who sent him there. That man now owns the town, with a mansion, his men, and a son. When Hamilton reaches the town a tornado starts and lasts all night. In the dark, in the wind and the dust, he moves through the town alone. Antonio Margheriti pushes the spaghetti western toward gothic horror. The secret passages of the mansion, the bell tower that will not stop ringing, and the sound of the wind completely change the genre's usual open-country aesthetic. Hamilton is used as an almost invisible threat; the film presents him not as a hero but as a weather event. Klaus Kinski plays Hamilton, in one of the few leading roles of his career. Who it's for: Viewers who like spaghetti westerns, gothic atmosphere, and Klaus Kinski. Who it's not for: The plot is very simple and there is no depth of character. The dark photography makes it hard to follow in some prints.