The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh

Genre: Giallo, Erotic Thriller

Original Title: Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh

AKA: The Next Victim! / Blade of the Ripper

Director: Sergio Martino 

Year: 1971

An ambassador's wife discovers that one of the men in her life - either her husband, an ex-lover or her current lover - may be a vicious serial killer.

This Sergio Martino picture goes by many different names, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh. Blade of the Ripper, Next! & The Next Victim. This is Martino's first Gialli & is fine first attempt that combines all the classic Gialli trademarks & pairs the King & queen of the genre, George Hilton & Edwige Fenech together. 

The director's camera flair is there, the exotic locations, the beautifully shot kills & Fenech's body is constantly on show. For some reason I prefer most of Martino's other Gialli to this, though this is definitely one I want to revisit as I feel a second viewing could benefit my enjoyment of the film.

Rating: ★★★½

The ever creepy Ivan Rassimov.

The Suspicious Death of a Minor

The Suspicious Death of a Minor

Genre: Giallo / Poliziottesco

Original Title: Morte sospetta di una minorenne

AKA: Suspected Death of a Minor

Director: Sergio Martino

Year: 1975

Police detective Paolo Germi and the mysterious Marisa meet each other at a dance hall. Germi is unsuspecting of the secret Marisa is carrying with her: adverse conditions forced her into prostitution. As Germi finds the young girl brutally murdered, he decides to go after her killers. During his investigation, he enters a world of intrigue and obfuscation that leave an endless trail of blood.

By 1975 the Gialli craze in Italy was dwindling down with less & less being made. This might explain why The Suspicious Death of a Minor blends into so many genres. It starts off in typical Gialli territory with a killer in sunglasses stalking and murdering a young girl but then soon quickly turns into a Poliziotteschi where the pieces of the puzzle are being slowly unwrapped. There's also some really over the top slapstick comedy thrown in which I'm not entirely sure tonally fit the picture, after all it is a film about child trafficking & underage prostitutes, yet somehow it just about gets away with it. 

Sergio Martino directed this picture & it feels completely different to any of his other Gialli but then Martino directed everything from Gialli to sci-fi to comedy to Spaghetti Western's & always managed to pull of whatever genre he dealt with convincingly. He remains under appreciated & often overlooked when people think of Italian genre directors. Martino pictures for better or for worse never fail to entertain me & for me he deserves to be up there with the very best. Also, look out for Martino's Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key playing in a scene shot in a cinema.

The score is by Luciano Michelini who I've never heard of but is really memorable. It's a kind of driving prog-rock which is reminiscent of something Goblin would do. Definitely one which will work as a great soundtrack even without the film.

The star of this film though is Claudio Cassinelli, we spend quite some time with his character wondering why he cares so much before it all becomes clear, I really dug how they drop that bombshell onto the viewer, I cottoned onto what he might be but still I felt it was really well done. There's some great scenes like a shootout on a rollercoaster & an over the top car chase which provide the thrills. There is a bit of downtime around the hour mark where the picture loses a tiny bit of pace but this is one hell of an enjoyable ride.

It's an odd film which you could easily argue isn't a gialli but I guess it was inevitable that the genre would eventually evolve & try to branch out into different territories. This is a fine example of one of the later entries before the American influence really took over these pictures.

Rating: ★★★★

Claudio Cassinelli: like Dirty Harry, with specs.

All The Colors Of The Dark

All The Colors Of The Dark
Original Title: Tutti i colori del buio
AKA: They're Coming to Get You / Day Of The Maniac / Demons of the Dead

Genre: Giallo

Director: Sergio Martino

Year: 1972

A woman recovering from a car accident in which she lost her unborn child finds herself pursued by a coven of devil worshipers.

Fenech X4, I'd give my left testical for just one of her.

They Are Coming To Get You, Day Of The Maniac, Demons of the Dead & All The Colors Of The Dark are just some of the titles of director Sergio Martino's third Giallo picture goes under. It has an impressive cast with leads from two of the genres most recognisable names in Edwige Fenech & George Hilton & a great supporting cast that includes Susan Scott & Ivan Rassimov. The plot borrows heavily from Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby & has a very confused & paranoid Edwige Fenech get mixed up with a devil worshipping cult. To make matters worse she has Ivan Rassimov (who here sports the bluest eyes you'll ever see) constantly stalking her. If anybody was born to play those type of creepy characters it was him.

Out of Martino's Gialli I'd say this was probably his most ambitious, it relies on the psychological drama instead of the gory kills & for the most part the film delivers. Visually it's a treat, making great use of its London setting. The camera angels used on the main apartment block really helped add a sense of paranoia to Fenech's character. Despite all this, the highlight without a doubt is the amazing Bruno Nicolai score. For my money it's one of the defining scores of the genre with its use of sitars, psychedelic rock, choirs & creepy moments, it really helps create a paranoid atmosphere to the picture & lets the films themes feel that more stronger.

A pretty much essential Giallo which for my money is Martino's second best Gialli just behind the wondeful The Case of the Scorpion's Tail .

 Rating: ★★★★ 

Torso

Original Title: I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale

AKA: Carnal Violence

Genre: Giallo

Director: Sergio Martino

Year: 1972

Someone is strangling coeds in Perugia. The only clue is that the killer owns a red and black scarf, and police are stumped. American exchange student Jane and her friends decide to take a break from classes by going up to Danielle's uncle's villa in the country. Unfortunately the killer decides to follow, and the women begin suffering a rapid attrition problem. 

This is the first Gialli that I saw and for anybody wanting to get into the genre it's probably a ideal starting point due to its Slasheresque tendencies, it's one of the bloodiest films that the genre has to offer so definitely has crossover appeal. Torso is a particularly sleazy picture, Sergio Martino really went all out with this story which features beautiful women being stalked. Scene after scene of naked women with the camera lingering over their every (often naked) move becomes kind of hilarious. The killers identity is a guessing game and is handled quite well, however the motive for the crimes is as ridiculous as ever.

It is a pretty solid gialli up to the hour mark but it's the final twenty minutes which really bring Torso to life. The scenes in the house of women being mutilated whilst Suzy Kendall looks on is wonderfully done. Then there's a scene with a locked door with Kendall trying to get a key from the other side which is masterful in its suspense.

As time has gone on I've gotten more into Gialli & whilst this is no longer one of my favourites of the genre it still holds up as a very entertaining film with fun characters and a great final third.

 Rating: ★★★½  

Torso: AKA "Saw" 27, the prequel. 

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

Original Title: Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave

AKA: Excite Me/Eye of the Black Cat/Gently Before She Dies
Genre: Giallo
Director: Sergio Martino
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069421/

Oliviero is a burned-out writer, living at his estate near Venice, his dead mother dominating his imagination. He is also a degenerate: sleeps with his maid and his ex-student, hosts Bacchanalia for local hippies, and humiliates his wife Irina in front of strangers. She lives in terror. When a young woman is murdered, police suspect Oliviero. 

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key has a lot of positives going for it.

- First of all the title even by Giallo standards has to be one of the most ridiculous that the genre has to offer.
- It's directed by Sergio Martino who seems to always strike gold.
- A solid Bruno Nicolai score. For my money he is the king of the Giallo scores, yes even better than Ennio Morricone
- A cast that includes Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli & Ivan Rassimov
- & lastly but most important.. a cat called Satan.

With all these wonderful things in its favour I can't help but feel slightly disappointed. That's not to say that this isn't an entertaining Giallo that doesn't deliver because that's far from the case, I just feel with so many positives it should be up there with the very best yet it never quite reaches those levels, perhaps I was just upset with the fact Fenech sports a short hair-do in this film!. However it remains another very good Martino picture with some great characters (Pistilli is such a bastard here!) & a really fantastic payoff with the cat Satan at the very end.

Rating:  ★★★½

Luigi Pistilli, knows how to treat his women