It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This is one of those cases of an intriguing plot being undeserved by slow pacing. They could have at least padded the plodding story with more nudity and violence. Instead your left waiting for something to happen, ultimately leading to an underwhelming ending. Funny how the same director, Umberto Lenzi, could also go in the opposite direction with something like 'Eaten Alive'.

***SPOILERS**** "Spamso" starts rather innocently with Chris Bauman, Robert Hoffmann,helping out this woman that's fully clad Barbara, Suzy Kendell, who passed out on the beach from sunstroke who suddenly runs or drives out on him. Leaving a clue to where she is going to "Tucania" a large yacht down by the bay he meets her and fall heads over heels for Barbara who-Can you blame him- has a striking resemblance to the future and later fatal British Princes Diana. Staying at a local motel and ready to jump into action or under the covers Chris is told by Barbara to shave off his saggy beard before she has anything to do with him. Which leads to him being attacked in the bathroom-while shaving off his beard-by this hit-man Tatum, Adolfo Lastretti, who's always seen playing with his steel balls, like the crazed captain in the film the "Cain Mutiny", who after a life & death straggle Chris kills Tatum with his own gun.The rest of the film has Chris as well as Barbara on the run from who knows who since it's discovered that Tatum survived being shot or even more strange that he never existed since only Chris, not the local police or even Barbara, can prove that he killed him-in self defense- and has absolutely no proof of doing it! With all the running that Chris as well as Barbara are doing in the movie from what seems like invisible forces they encounter in Barbara's artist friends villa where their chilling out this couple Malclom & the zombie like Clorinda, Guido Alberti & Monica Monet, who claim that they rented the place and threaten to call the police to get the two evicted and arrested for trespassing!***SPOILERS*** This entire mess of a movie boils down to Chris' past when he was a young boy who together with his older brother Fritz,Ivan Rassimov, attended their father's, Tom Felleghy, funeral that Malcolm covered as a newspaper reporter. It's Malcolm who always felt that it was Chris who murdered his father and has been secretly following him ever since to prove his point so this encounter with him at the villa wasn't an accident! What later come out is that Tatum as well as Barbara are actually working for Chris's brother Fritz who wants to have him hospitalized in a mental institution before he does any damage to himself or anyone else. And that plan by Fritz soon backfires with Chris, in a long flashback sequence,ends up murdering some dozen women including Barbara before he's stopped and gunned down by the police! As for Fritz the "Good" son he soon realizes that he's just as crazy as his late brother Chris since they share, from their equally insane and homicidal dad, the same genes or personalities!

Spasmo is certainly a great name for a film. It is most certainly a title that could never in a million years be used nowadays due to political correctness. Although, judging by this movie, I think the term 'spasmo' has changed in meaning somewhat over the years. This Umberto Lenzi thriller has the feel of a late 60's giallo, rather than a mid 70's effort. It's resolutely psychological in approach and is not a horror-thriller in any way. As a result it's quite a bit more of a restrained affair than most other Italian thrillers from this time. Its plot-line is very convoluted though. I'm not even too sure it actually entirely made sense to be perfectly honest. But I'm not going to worry about that too much as I know from experience how insane films in this particular sub-genre can be. Style over substance is the way of the giallo and Spasmo is certainly an adherent to this principle that's for sure.I'm not going to go into the plot details in any great detail as it's usually best not to with these mysteries. But in very basic terms it goes thus – man finds a girl he mistakenly thinks is dead on a beach, they start an affair, a stranger intervenes and attacks the man, the stranger is killed but the body vanishes, so they flee to a sea-front villa where the mystery deepens further. It's a messy plot with lots of characters spouting crazy lines of dialogue. It's hard work keeping track of what's going on at times and the film is a bit low on thrills for the most part. But it does improve as it goes on and the final third wraps things up quite well, all things considered.I wouldn't say that story is its strong point overall but it's quite stylish and the sunny locations do give proceedings a breezy and colourful feel. There are also some very neat details in here as well, such as the mannequin dolls that turn up all over the coastal area, hidden in wooded groves. All having been 'killed'. This is the sort of deranged and senseless stuff we expect to see in gialli and it is a great feature of Spasmo. The movie also features a couple of stalwarts from these movies - Suzy Kendall and Ivan Rassimov. The latter especially is a good presence here in a role where he once again is somewhat shady. In summary, Spasmo is a film that may frustrate many but it does have a fair bit of cult value that will reward a few.

Slippery giallo from Umberto Lenzi has young swinging bachelor Christian Bauman(Robert Hoffman), a wealthy heir to his dead industrialist father's massive factory, abandons his painter girlfriend for the beautiful woman, Barbara(Suzy Kendall), he meets under awkward circumstances lying face-down on the muddy sand of a beach, with the appearance of a corpse having washed ashore. Their strange introduction gets even weirder when, not having been in each other's company that long, prepare for a sexual encounter(he even calls her his "sweet little whore"!)when Christian shoots a scary stranger with the mysterious man's own gun. Barbara, in the other room getting undressed, doesn't see what took place, but persists that Christian leave the body where it's at and prepare to hide it, not calling the police to implicate her or him. But, Barbara has a man in her life, Alex(Mario Erpichini)who doesn't like Christian's moving in on his catch. Meeting at Alex's yacht, Christian startlingly remembers leaving his necklace at the hotel he and Barbara planned to have sex in. The man he shot is missing with only spots of blood leaving any indication that any person was there. From this point on, Christian's life spirals out of control as Barbara takes the poor, confused soul to a luxurious villa overlooking the sea as a couple who rents the joint show up..older gent, Malcolm(Guido Alberti), and his much younger squeeze, Clorinda(Monica Monet). Christian becomes quite bewildered because it seems he has met Clorinda somewhere before, meets a strange man(with shades hiding his eyes)who was spying on him and Barbara earlier, seeing him having a conversation with Malcolm into the night. Clorinda and Barbara both act oddly around Christian as if they know certain things, but keep this vital knowledge(that might help him sort out his plight)to themselves. Soon, the man he thought he murdered shows up at the villa, and Barbara just might prove not to be the woman he thought was the chosen love for his life. Giallo mainstay Ivan Rassimov has a small but crucial role as Christian's brother Fritz known for bailing his brother out of trouble, and the actual responsible one running the factory business..yet, he plays a heavy part in the story revolving around Christian. The film also opens the idea that Christian is schizophrenic since his family is known to have that unfortunate mental illness, an example being his grandfather. The death of Christian's father also reveals a specific aspect regarding his deteriorating mental state. Everything that seems weird and odd, those pesky loose ends that seem unresolved as Christian's life gets spun around in circles regarding the killer he supposedly murdered, come together in an incredible montage of death scenes unleashing a killer and his victims.It takes the typical giallo framework and spins in on it's head. Is the protagonist, who we begin to gain sympathy towards since his life is becoming a roller-coaster ride of bizarre psychological trappings, really who we think he is? And, his brother Fritz..what's with this guy and his motives towards his brother regarding the unfolding of events to come to a head at the end of the film? I have read comments from many who have problems with the film's structure and logical story-telling, but I think this creates a most unusual and unique experience compared to the other gialli which flooded the Italian marketplace. Umberto Lenzi's premise goes into all sorts of directions with the protagonist captured in a state of paranoia and confusion, not knowing who he can trust or if what he's experiencing is even real. Motives of characters are often unclear. The overplotted chaos Christian is swirling in, I felt, creates a schizophrenic experience for the viewer..in a sense, we feel as baffled as Christian does. I like this myself..a lot. The mannequins Lenzi layers the film(Lenzi himself titles this idea.."the doll motif")are obviously designed to catch the viewer off-guard and provide an even weirder experience coupled with the mystery unfolding before our eyes. I think this film is great fun, mainly because I like these psychological thrillers where nothing is what it seems and anyone is suspect. The climax which explains what Christian and Fritz are suffering with(..and finally stamping what the hell those mannequins are indeed about)I think works tremendously.