After co-directing a string of '60s mondo movies (including the infamous Mondo Cane) and an excellent fictionalized look at the genre with The Wild Eye, director Paolo Cavara took an odd career detour in the '70s with two giallo offerings. First up was the cheesecake-laden Black Belly of the Tarantula in 1971, and five years later he followed it up with the far lesser-seen Plot of Fear. Despite its robust international cast, this thriller (mixed with some police investigation elements a la What Have They Done to Your Daughters?) got lost in the shuffle, barely playing outside its native country but looking far more interesting now as a quirky, stylish oddity worthy of rediscovery.

When a sadsack engaged in slapping sex games is strangled by his dominatrix hooker and a woman is bludgeoned to death on public transit, the Milan police force is intrigued by the presence of an illustration from a children's book by pro-ecological writer Hoffmann (Tenebrae's Steiner). Investigating Inspector Gaspare Lomenzo (La Orca's Placido) soon realizes that a serial killer is at work, and his hunt leads him to a sexy model neighbor, Jeanne (Story of O's Cléry), who's involved in a society with Hoffmann. More murders, kinky flashbacks involving a tiger, crazy fashion shoots, and other surprises make the case a lot more complicated than our hero could have imagined.

Wildly unpredictable, Plot of Fear boasts a couple of surprise American guest star turns from Tom Skerritt (as Lorenzo's police colleague) and Eli Wallach in a creepy big brother role amounting to a handful of brief but memorable scenes. For some reason neither of them supplied their own voices for the English dub, which just makes the experience even more surreal. It's a dark, paranoid, herky-jerky tale with plenty of sordid elements but little actual gore, and the grumbling funk score by Daniele Patucchi (Wild Beasts) is unlike anything else from the era.

The first DVD of Plot of Fear appeared in Italy in 2005 from Raro in a lackluster non-anamorphic widescreen transfer with milky black levels and very pale colors. However, the merits of the film still shone through enough to earn it some attention at last from giallo fans, and its American video debut on DVD in 2012 under the Raro banner was a very welcome upgrade. That HD-sourced transfer easily surpassed its predecessor in every respect; colors are much richer, black levels are deeper, and the gritty filmic texture of the film is more finely rendered. As with the Italian disc, it features both the English and Italian versions with optional English subtitles (which translate the Italian dialogue and differ in minor but sometimes interesting ways). The Italian version is more satisfying overall as it reflects Placido's performance, and the American actors are dubbed either way you watch it. Unlike the Italian disc (which only featured a couple of minor text extras), the U.S. DVD heaps on three video supplements. Later a very good director, the silver-haired Placido appears for a 17m10s interview in which he talks about "Italian film noir," the genesis of his career, imitating his director, and how Cavara inspired his choice to switch cinematic careers. Screenwriter Enrico Oldoini gets 12m59s to discuss first meeting and working with co-writer Bernardino Zapponi (Deep Red), his thoughts on directing versus writing, combining comedy and suspense, and getting the chance to direct the film's bus bludgeoning when Cavara was unavailable. Cavara's son, Pietro, chimes in with a 13m22s discussion about his father's work including his proclivity for dark characters and subject matter, which films best expressed his father's filmic philosophy, the role of power in violence, and the ways the characters in this film continue themes found in earlier ones like The Wild Eye. All three videos are presented with very little editing, which results in a few unexpectedly funny moments like Placido suddenly being attacked by a stray hair in the air. A pdf booklet on the disc also features some liner notes by Fangoria editor Chris Alexander, who offers his own appraisal of the film as an unorthodox example of golden age giallo thrills.

In 2019, German label Cineploit released the first Blu-ray of the film featuring an HD presentation of the same master with German, Italian, and English audio options with optional English or German subtitles. Extras include a 3m54s presentation of the main theme (the only track from Daniele Patucchi's score released to date), advertising and home video galleries, Italian and English trailers, and a 19m27s Italian-language interview with Cléry (with German or English subs) about venturing into Italian cinema with this film and Sergio Corbucci's Bluff just after launching to international fame, her thoughts on the timing of her career, and memories of the various actors she worked with during this period like Anthony Quinn and Adriano Celentano.

Finally in 2025, Indicator added the film to its sterling roster of Raro title upgrades with separate UHD and Blu-ray editions in the U.K. featuring a tremendously upgraded new scan from the original negative. Here you get much more detail, healthier colors (especially with the HDR10-compatible Dolby Vision on the UHD), and a substantial extra amount of image info on all four sides. The English and Italian tracks are here in LPCM 1.0 mono, both sounding solid, with optional and improved English-translated or SDH subtitle options. The interviews with Cléry ("The Golden Years," 22m2s), Oldoni ("The Third Man," 13m47s), Placido ("On the Beat," 15m47s), and Cavara ("Family Plot," 15m34s) are all here with improved editing along with both trailers, and you get a new audio commentary with Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth delivering a wealth of production info about the film, the details of Cavara's career, the unique aspects of this film among its gialli brethren, the merits of the unusual score, and plenty more. In the new "The Fearless AD" (16m32s), assistant director Roberto Palmerini looks back at his career starting in the early '70s, the impact of working on Don't Look Now, and his working relationship with Cavara including his prep process and the ways they worked with the cast and crew. In Andrea Moroni's "Plotting the Cast" (35m46s), Ercolani takes a dive into the film's unique characteristics, the backgrounds of the major actors including Placido's Southern Italian heritage, political convictions, and experience in law enforcement, and Cléry's sometimes stormy time in Italian cinema (particularly Kleinhoff Hotel). Also included are a rare alternate English opener (4m7s) previously seen only on Japanese VHS and a 20-image gallery including promotional material under the film's weirdest alternate title, Bloody Peanuts. The limited edition also comes with an 80-page book featuring a new essay by Adrian J. Smith, archival essays on Cavara, a career-spanning piece on Zapponi, and a profile of animator Gibba whose work figures in the film's startling party sequence.

Updated review on November 17, 2025