Slap the Monster on Page One

Slap the Monster on Page One (1972) is an Italian political thriller by Marco Bellocchio — watch online on iFILM. Made as Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina during Italy's turbulent early-1970s political climate, the film opens days before a general election: a young woman's body has been found in the woods near Milan.

The editor-in-chief of a right-wing tabloid — Gian Maria Volonté at his most controlled and cold — sees the case as a gift. A suspect from the far left, a front-page headline, and no questions about the facts. Bellocchio packed the film with actual political figures of the era and built a precise anatomy of how a newspaper turns a murder into a campaign tool. It holds up. Stream Slap the Monster on Page One online on iFILM.