Murder Rock

Murder Rock
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lucio Fulci
Produced by	Augusto Caminito Gabriele Silvestri
Screenplay by	Gianfranco Clerici Lucio Fulci Roberto Gianviti Vincenzo Mannino
Story by	Gianfranco Clerici Lucio Fulci Vincenzo Mannino
Starring	Olga Karlatos Ray Lovelock Claudio Cassinelli Cosimo Cinieri Giuseppe Mannajuolo
Music by	Keith Emerson
Cinematography	Giuseppe Pinori
Edited by	Vincenzo Tomassi
Production company	Scena Film
Release date	20 April 1984
Running time	93 min.
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

Murder Rock (Italian: Murderock - uccide a passo di danza; also known as Murder-Rock: Dancing Death, Slashdance and The Demon Is Loose) is a 1984 Italian giallo film starring Olga Karlatos and Ray Lovelock, and written and directed by Lucio Fulci. Fulci recalled the producer forced him to turn the film into a musical with the music of Keith Emerson due to the success of Flashdance.

At the Arts for the Living Center in New York, Candice Norman (Olga Karlatos) oversees the latest dance routine choreographed by Margie (Geretta Marie Fields). Candice tells Margie that the act needs even "more perfection" in preparation for a visit from three talent agents. The academy director Dick Gibson (Claudio Cassinelli) meets with TV producers Bob Steiner and John Morris, who watch a video of the dance, and Candice learns that the men will only select three dancers for an upcoming TV show. That evening after the dance class is over, one of the dancers, Susan, is murdered in the locker room by an unseen person who chloroforms then stabs her in the heart with a long hairpin needle. NYPD Lieutenant Borges (Cosimo Cinieri) arrives on the scene to investigate. Also with Lt. Borges is the police profiler and psychotherapy professor Dr. Davis (Giuseppe Mannajuolo). With Candice nowhere to be found, suspicion begins to focus not only on her but on the victim's boyfriend Willy Stark (Christian Borromeo), as well as Dick Gibson.

Candice arrives back at her apartment, where she finds Dick waiting. He wants to talk about the potential relationships between the students, and tries to convince Candice that there is nothing going on between him and any of the other students. While he is there, the DJ from the studio, Bob, phones Candice and updates her on the murder at the academy.

The next day, the routine at the campus continues as normal, causing Dick a great deal of upset, since nobody seems to care about Susan's death. At a nearby coffee shop, Lt. Borges talks to Dick about a possible rivalry between the dancers. That evening at a local nightclub, another student from the academy, Janice, dances alone for an audience and then walks home to her apartment. As with Candice the previous night, she finds Dick waiting and wanting to talk. In her bedroom, Janice finds a photograph of Dick and Susan, but when she calls out to him, he is gone. Janice finds her pet canary dead with a hairpin needle through its body. Panicked, she runs to the front door, where she is attacked and killed by the unseen assailant who thrusts a hairpin needle into her heart.