censors around the world and going on a three-year hiatus following his infamous one-two 
punch of Cannibal Holocaust and House on the Edge of the Park, director Ruggero Deodato lightened up for the remainder of the '80s with a string of genre-hopping confections like The Barbarians, Body Count, Dial Help, and Raiders of Atlantis. Fitting snugly in that company of films is his 1987 offering, Un delitto poco comune (or An Uncommon Crime), which was sold worldwide in English as Off Balance and ended up going straight to VHS in America as Phantom of Death (in R-rated and unrated versions, though the latter was technically still missing some chunks of footage). It isn't much of a surprise to see Donald Pleasence here since he'd been paying the bills with Italian films on and off going back to 1974's Watch Out, We're Mad! and really amped up his output there after Phenomena. Much more unexpected is the fact that it stars Michael York, whose career in the U.S and U.K. had gone almost entirely dormant by this point with him going off to star in a handful of West German films right before this. The result is a fascinating giallo (more or less) with a medical / monster spin, highlighted by extremely splashy gore and some effective makeup effects as well as a terrific score by Pino Donaggio (understandable given it's partially set in Venice).
though he's also in close proximity to the 
temptations of fashion designer Helene (Fenech). When a scientist is brutally slashed to death, Inspector Datti (Pleasence) is stymied by an insufficient description of the culprit -- which is compounded when the killer strikes again at a train station and doesn't seem to look the same. As it soon turns out (not much of a spoiler), Robert is suffering from a rare form of adult progeria causing his body and mind to age at a rapidly accelerating rate. Suffering from what seems to be an emerging murderous personality, he taunts the inspector with phone calls as his body count continues.
for Deodato's 
original intended choice, Kelly LeBrock!), and a small role for the reliable Giovanni Lombardo Radice in one of his multiple priest roles is just the icing on the cake.
it's more of a curio. English SDH and 
translated subtitles are also included. A new audio commentary by Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth covers all the bases about the film including its lengthy gestation period as a script by Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Mannino (linked to what morphed into New York Ripper) and the process that led to the final product we have now during a difficult transition period in Italian cinema. "An Uncommon Director" (32m50s) is one of the interviews conducted with Deodato before his passing, and he's a good subject as always explaining his path to getting back to commercial viability during the decade, his working relationship with names like Luciano Martino, and his positive and negative assessments about this film in particular. The English and Italian trailers are also included.