Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This is a film that wastes no time being strange. Or salacious. A photographer is shooting a soft focus lovemaking session between three women amongst creepy, eyeless baby dolls. By the time we register what is happening, we're now in a classroom, where swooping pans and zooms refer us to the main cast of the film as we overhear a lecture and later a discussion about Pietro Perugino's painting of Saint Sebastian. Did he believe in God? Or was he just trying to sell sentimentality? Could an atheist find himself able to translate religion to those with faith?We cut to a couple making out in a car as a figure stalks them through the eye of the camera, making us complicit in the act of the killer. Quick cuts reveal the white masked face of this maniac. The man runs after him while the girl doesn't even care that they had a voyeur watching. As she waits for him to return to the car, but grows impatient. The headlights of the car cast her shadow large across the columns of a bridge. And their light is quickly extinguished by black gloved hands. The camera-work here is really striking, keeping us watching for the killer, as we're no longer behind his eyes. His attack is swift and ruthless, juxtaposed against the images of fingers penetrating the eyes of a doll.The art professor (John Richardson, Black Sunday, The Church) and Jane (Kendall) meet by chance at a church where she challenges him to change his views on Perugino. As she returns from their somewhat romantic afternoon, she spies her friend Carol arguing in the car with a married man.Meanwhile, ladies of the evening walk the street, ending up with Stefano, a student who has been stalking Julie. He has trouble performing and the prostitute he's with tells him that all the hang ups come her way. That said — even if he's queer, he better pay the money. He flips out and attacks her, but she makes her escape.We're then taken to a hippy party that looks like it's taking place inside Edward Lionheart's Theater of Blood. There's weed, there are acoustic guitars, there are bongos, there are dudes with neckerchiefs, there are motorcycles. Truly, there's something for everyone. But after leading on two men, Carol just walks out into the mud. They try and chase her, but she makes her escape into the foggy night. We hear her footsteps through the swamp as she walks, exhausted and covered in mud. What better time for our white masked killer to return? We see glimpses of him through the fog and then he is gone. Whereas in past films Martino ignored the murder scenes instead of story, here the violence is extended, placing the killer and his actions in full view. After killing the girl, he rubs mud all over her body before stabbing her eyes — again intercut with the baby doll imagery. Her blood leaks into the mud as the score dies down.Read more at bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/09/08/torso-1973

Following a spate of brutal murders, a group of college students fear they're being targeted by the killer and retreat to a nearby mountain-top villa to relax only to learn the killer has followed them there and must stop his deadly blood-soaked rampage.This here is quite the enjoyable giallo and remains one of the best of the style. One of the film's best features is the fact that this one manages to play so well into the confines of the giallo despite forgoing the prototypical route of the other films, as instead of the film rallying around the girls' trying to remember a clue about the killer's identity it remains far more in touch about them being in danger at the start and using the trip as a way to relax. Despite the insistence about the necktie and how important that is to the truth, it doesn't invoke the cardinal rule about sending them off investigating around that clue and doesn't really feature much detective work as a whole and turning it into a more nominal slasher effort just afforded the sleaze trappings of the remaining entries in the genre. As instead this features the group hanging out together and generally de- stressing with nude sunbathing, skinny dipping, softcore lesbian romps and other leisure pursuits of that sort instead rather than dealing with the investigations, and while that allows for plenty of seedy times here generating it's red herrings there's still plenty of fun to be had here as this one goes about its paces here. That alone makes the central murder mystery quite fun with they're being quite a few suspects which plays nicely into this one being so determined to keep it a surprise within the genre's conventions. As well, the film manages to get quite a lot right here where the traditional stalk-and-slash aspects of a giallo are employed, letting this one really get quite a few really tense and suspenseful scenes into play. The first attack on the necking couple in the car is a great mini-attack where the killer enters the car against their knowledge then runs out forcing one to give chase before doubling back and offing the other, a memorable stalking of a stoned victim tripping over herself in a misty swamp where the killer appears and disappears at random as he's concealed behind the fog and treeline of the area and a fine chase as the killer uses his car to run down a victim in the middle of the road. Still, the film's at its best with the utterly furious and chilling finale, which is truly one of the greatest bits in the genre as the terrified and alone victim is forced into hiding after discovering the dead bodies strewn around the house and has to remain hidden in order to avoid becoming like the other dead bodies forced to watch him dismember their bodies before later having to hide throughout the house in order to avoid detection. These are all nicely augmented by the various tropes of the genre throughout here and makes for a wholly engaging and watchable effort. The only issue about this one is the fact that the film cheats over the massacre of the friends in the villa leaving it only to feature the last one to stumble across the mutilated bodies which makes for quite a disappointing effort looking at the carnage featured and not getting a chance to see it. Otherwise this one was one of the genre's top efforts.Rated Unrated/R: Full Nudity, Graphic Violence, Language, Sexual Scenes and drug use.

Despite having read a huge amount of praise for his work in the Giallo film sub-genre,I've found myself constantly putting director Sergio Martino's work to the bottom of my 'must watch' pile,due to having found his 1978 title The Mountain of the Cannonball God to be a rather disappointing film.With a poll for the best titles of 1973 being held on IMDb's Classic Film board,I felt that it was the best time to start afresh with Martino,and to take a look at his Giallo world for the first time.The plot:As a John and Florence Heinken start to get hot'n' heavy in a car,they spot a masked stranger staring at them.Chasing after the stranger in the woodland area,the stranger corners the couple,and kills both of them.Thanks to Florence and John both of them being popular students at an arts university,reverberations from the attack are sent across the campus.Attempting to block the dangers from her mind,a visiting US arts student accepts an offer from leading tutor Franz to take her to an opening art exhibition.Sadly for Franz and Jane,their plans are left in tatters,when another student is discovered murdered,with a red scarf around her neck.With a serial killer stalking the students,the police arrange a meeting,where they tell the students to be on the lookout for anyone who is wearing the same scarf that the killer left behind.Talking to her group of friends,Jane is left shaken,when one of them tells her that they can remember seeing someone wearing the scarf.Asking for advice from her tutor,Franz gives Jane and the gang keys to his villa,so that they can get away from all of the chaos taking place around them.Sadly,once they have reached the villa,Jane discovers that she is closer to getting a grip on the scarf than she ever could have desired.View on the film:For the screenplay of the film,co-writer/director Sergio Martino and Ernesto Gastaldi attempt to create a multi-threaded Giallo by giving an equal amount of focus to each of Jane's friends.Whilst this approach does allow for the fear that each of the characters have to be fully expressed,it also sadly causes the movie to never spend enough time on a particular character,which along with making each of the characters disappointingly interchangeable,it also leads to the mystery element feeling rather dry,due to none of the characters appearing to heavily invest in the unmasking of the stranger.Whilst the screenplay sadly fails to build a strong sense of suspense,director Sergio Martino closely works with cinematography Giancarlo Ferrando to give this Giallo a fantastic supernatural atmosphere,thanks to Martino and Ferrando superbly using corner shots to build a feeling that the stranger could appear from thin air in the corner of a room. Emphasizing the supernatural vibes Guido and Maurizo De Angelis give the film a wonderfully creepy score,which shrieks as the killer gets close to a victim in Martino's terrific Gothic Horror villa.Placed at the centre of the film,Suzy Kendall gives a fantastic performance as Jane,with Kendall brilliantly making the 30 minute near- silent final a truly nerve-wrecking experience,thanks to Kendall showing Jane having to plan each move she makes,as the mysterious scarf-wearing killer prepares to attack the next victim's torso.

If you ask around for the sleaziest and most violent giallos, sooner or later you'll end up hearing about, Torso. And for good reason, it's got a high amount of nudity, and some fun gore scenes. And would you believe it, the story is pretty sweet as well.The film revolves around a gaggle of girls whom are all falling at the hands of a masked/gloved killer. After a nice lil strangulation via scarf, they're usually molested in some violent way. Woohoo! Anyhoo, the film is basically revolves around figuring out who the masked/gloved killer is and trying to conjure up some decent thrills along the way.Like I previously said, the film has the goods. It has amazing looking women, super model level, getting nekkid. And these hot babes get the beat down as well. Now what's better than a hot chick getting the comuppins? Nothing, that's what! But the saving grace of this movie that really pushes it over the hump is the use of tension. There's a sequence during the last third of the film that takes place in a country-house, and I gotta admit, it was done very well.Torso, is without a doubt, a must-see film for any fan of giallo. And if you're just a fan of cinema that enjoys a well-made film with boobs and blood, then this is also gold material. If you can, get the uncut version.