One of the worst movies I've ever seen

An absolute waste of money

A Brilliant Conflict

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Returning to view this film again after a gap of a few years I find I like it much more the second time around. It begins quietly as Barbara Bouchet is introduced to the Venetian villa of Rosalba Neri and Farley Granger. The rather washed out pan and scan print derived from video sources is not good but seems to be all there is and can soon be forgiven as the tense and vivid action develops. Granger is excellent, far better than I've seen him in other films of this period and of course he is ably supported by the lovely and sexy Bouchet and the beautiful Neri. The twisted story always makes sense, remarkably enough, and there is no shying away from the fact that this is steeped in an aura of sex and drugs and.....well maybe not rock 'n' roll, but an occasionally most effective score. Nudity is rampant throughout and whilst some of the sex scenes are gentle and consensual, some are most certainly not. There are also some marvellous sequences relating to past events, that take us out onto a very atmospheric lagoon and to a druggy party gone wrong. There is violence but not much in the way of gore, just more nudity instead. I don't recall a film when so many gorgeous costumes were worn and that came off so easily. Very effective and sleazy giallo.

This thing ... Much better titled "Hot Bed of Sex" than anything is championed along with Amadio's other effort "Smile before Death" and the truly awful "Top Sensation" as prime giallos ... Well they aren't ... They really are just very lame sex films that the director hangs a thriller plot on to try and grab both audiences ... Unfortunately neither Amadio nor Allessi could pull off a second of tension if their lives depended on it ... There is no style ... No ingenious deaths ... The sort of plot twists that you see coming from a mile off ... And basically these films are just bad OK Rosalba gets her kit off as usual ... But so what ... A bad film is a bad film and these are just limp badly directed fodder that was thrown out by the bucketload A great giallo is a great film full stop ... So just because this aims for the same genre and has a bit of skin in it, don't hype it up guys ... Its Dross

This is one of the better-known giallo titles, if mainly for the presence of two of the more luscious "Euro-Cult" starlets – blonde Barbara Bouchet (whom I saw, still looking good, quite a few times at the Italian B-movie retrospective held during the 2004 Venice Film Festival!) and brunette Rosalba Neri – in perhaps their role of greatest significance; it goes without saying, then, that the film's piece de resistance is their celebrated slow-motion love scene (which actually occurs very early into the proceedings)! With a generic if definitely attention-grabbing moniker that has no direct bearing on the plot, the movie has been given many an alternate title – such as MURDER MANSION and HOT BED OF SEX, depending on which aspect the respective distributors chose to spotlight (for the record, the Italian original translates to IN THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE); incidentally, the English-dubbed and regrettably panned-and-scanned VHS-sourced copy (as a result proving soft and occasionally battered) I watched boasted no credits apart from the names of the picture itself, Bouchet and leading man Farley Granger! By the way, the film marked the second of three giallos the American star appeared in back-to-back (I watched the others, which I quite liked, only a few days ago) but, though I felt he delivered surprisingly committed performances in all of them, once again this one afforded him the meatiest characterization. Having said that, it makes for a good transition between SOMETHING CREEPING IN THE DARK (1971) and SO SWEET, SO DEAD (1972) – featuring elements from each, specifically the old dark house setting and a high sleaze factor respectively! The premise is simple enough, with heroine Bouchet insinuating herself into the Venetian household of renowned novelist Granger and his much younger wife Neri, in order (unbeknownst to them) to probe into the disappearance of their secretary – her colleague/flatmate/lover!; it transpires that the outwardly respectable wealthy couple leads a libertine existence, given to stag parties fuelled by drug-taking and the exhibition of snuff movies: starting to involve a dim-witted brute in their exploits, one day things turn sour and it is the secretary who gets the short end of the stick (no pun intended)! The local Police are aware of Bouchet's undercover 'mission' but, soon enough, she realizes that her employer is too – since the plot of his new novel begins to parallel the events that had taken place in the house and, more importantly, indicate what her own fate will be (a blackmailing servant is similarly gotten out of the way)! To further muddle the waters, Granger pretends to fall for Bouchet (thus getting a piece of the action himself for once!) – in fact, two of the film's highlights involve the depictions (via flashback confessions) of the former secretary's death and the disposing of the body; another – this time around a recollection by Bouchet – is a skinny-dipping episode (which goes a bit beyond that) involving her and the murdered girl, and yet one memorable sequence is the climax (planned to be a reprise of the secretary's unlucky demise, the tables are smoothly turned on the perpetrators: Bouchet had met the couple's unwitting associate during a chance but cringe-inducing encounter where he, a fisherman, had nonchalantly flayed a live eel in front of her and she even treated his injured finger!). As was often the case with the "Euro-Cult" style, one of the lasting ingredients here is Teo Usuelli's score which is versatile enough to suit the film's many changes of mood.

"Amuck" (Alla Ricerca del Piacere) tells the story of a young girl Greta (Barbara Bouchet) who goes to work as a secretary for an American writer, Richard Stewart (Farley Granger). Richard Stewart lives with his wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri) in a palazzo in Venice. Greta wants to investigate what happened to her friend Sally, that disappeared leaving no traces, while working for Stewart. The police in Venice have no clues about what happened. The couple involve Greta in psychological and sexual games, but if Greta's suspicions are right she may be playing a very dangerous game."Alla Ricerca del Piacere" is thrilling and sensuous at the same time. The lesbian scenes played by Rosalba Neri and Barbara Bouchet are fantastic. Throughout the whole film an atmosphere of ambiguity prevails. Relations grow and seem to fade, threats hover around and nothing is sure. There are other characters in the film: A silent butler, always present when one least expects and who seems to have a thousand eyes; and a gigantic and menacing fisherman who is their neighbor and is always walking around.Sally, Greta's missing friend, (Patrizia Viotti) appears is some flashbacks. In one scene she is bathing under a waterfall with Greta. Both are naked (of course!), embracing themselves, kissing and laughing a lot. They seem very happy! In another flashback, Sally is dancing and seducing - a scene that reminded me of an old song that said; "don't play with me cause you're playing with fire". The scene is fabulous. Patrizia Viotti should have had her place among the giallo female stars, but some years later she disappeared from the screen.This film is a small gem, but it's hard to find it in DVD. My DVD is from "Eurovista - Digital Entertainment". The DVD seems to have been copied from a VHS tape - it is not what one would call a good quality DVD, but still it is watchable (if you care about the film and not about technicalities).A good, weird and suspenseful story plus very sexy actresses. And there's Venice too. Everything is allowed under the venetian skies. What more do you want? So don't look back and go for it.