Excellent but underrated film

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Delirium (1987) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Gloria (Serena Grandi) is a former model who struck gold making a magazine called Pussycat but it seems a secret admirer is about to cross the line. Pretty soon obnoxious phone calls are turning into someone murdering off the models that are working for Gloria.Lamberto Bava was trying to not only make a film that looked and seemed like the work of his father but there's no question that there's a touch of Dario Argento as well. DELIRIUM isn't a completely successful movie but at the same time there are enough interesting and bloody murders mixed in with the sexploitation feel to where fans of the genre will find it to be worth a watch.The film seems to not know if it wanted to be a naughty nude film or a giallo so we basically just get the best of both worlds. The film's plot certainly isn't the greatest or the most original but it's basically just here to show beautiful women being murdered and of course getting naked before hand. As a giallo it works to a point as the violence is certainly there as well as the actors and actresses ability to spit out blood as they are being wounded.The film offers up a lot of nudity from the various women and that includes the lead Grandi. She's actually pretty good in the film has she's constantly showing off her body and in a rather hilarious way she does so at the end with the killer's request. You've also got George Eastman and Daria Nicolodi appearing in brief bits. Bava's direction is fine for this type of picture and he offers up some nice cinemaotgprahy and lighting.DELIRIUM certainly isn't a masterpiece or even a good film but it's sleazy enough to where fans of the genre should enjoy it.

It's all about director Lamberto Bavas' style in this decent Giallo with a merely okay story but lots of sex and violence. Beautiful Serena Grandi (known as the "Dolly Parton of Italy") stars as Gioia (Gloria in the English language version), a former model who now owns and operates an adults only magazine. Her models begin to be slaughtered by a psycho admirer of hers, who arranges their dead bodies in front of a photo of her. Naturally, this leads her to believe that she will eventually become the killers' ultimate victim.The lighting and camera work are exemplary. Certainly if Lambertos' father Mario had seen this one, he likely would have been proud. There is also some effective suspense at times. Simon Boswell supplies a score that alternates between pounding rock 'n' roll and more conventional arrangements. (One climactic chase scene would have done better to do away with the rock score.) The screenplay by Gianfranco Clerici & Daniele Stroppa does at least succeed in keeping fans of this genre interested in determining which of the possible suspects will eventually be unmasked as the real culprit. The most original touch is when things are shown from the killers' warped perspective, and it's too bad that we don't see a little more of this throughout.The performances are adequate enough for the material. Nothing award worthy, but entertaining. Grandi is well supported by Daria Nicolodi, Vanni Corbellini, David Brandon, Karl Zinny (who'd acted for Lamberto in "Demons", and who here plays a horny, sleazy, surly, wheelchair bound kid), and the most welcome of all, Italian cult & exploitation icon George Eastman, playing Gioias' ex fiancée, an actor. There are several very attractive female cast members and numerous breast shots for those who are interested. Veteran sex symbol Capucine appears as Gioias' bitter business rival.If you enjoy the genre or the films of Bava Jr., this should be an agreeable hour and a half exercise in style and sleaze.Seven out of 10.

Delirium was a film I didn't wanted to see, but I got it on the Psycho Killer triple feature from Shriek Show and well, it came there so, whatever, I watched it. And guess what?! It is as terrible as it could be.First of all, it is a giallo directed by Lamberto Bava, it shouldn't be bad, right?! Supposedly..... The film is about a model called Gioia (Played by extremely "talented" Serena Grandi) which works at Pussycat magazine (Guess what kind of magazine is :p) and well as any giallo, an unknown killer starts killing some of the models of the magazine, then taking photos of the corpses and sending them to Gioia and her friend Evelyn (Played by Daria Nicolodi).You may be thinking it sounds interesting, well, it's not. The ending is terrible, it has more nudity than many sexploitation films I have seen, which doesn't seems to fit in this kind of film.The Script is awful, and Serena Grandi doesn't acts very well, which is something important for a film like this.I can't believe Lamberto Bava directed this piece of s**t.I give Delirium: Photo of Gioia an 3 out of 10.Only for true fans of Lamberto.

(aka Delirium)Contains a little gore, some nudity. When the magazine Pussycat starts receiving photos of dead models that include pictures of its founder, she fears she may be a target for the killer. - - - Certainly, this is an offsetting giallo. While it follows the stereotype of including pounds of style for every ounce of plot, Lamberto Bava's choices for music, lighting, and locations are far beyond what would be expected from the genre. The storyline is meager, but that is to be expected, and sets up some beautifully realized death scenes. There are some unique concepts with the killer's POV and it's paced fast enough that it doesn't get boring. The movie is just so darn 80s that it can be oppressive... it out 80s Miami Vice! Still, Delirium is a decent time waster.* * out of 4