Director: Silvio Amadio
Year: 1972
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Alla ricerca del piacere; In Search of Pleasure; Leather and Whips; Hot Bed of Sex; Maniac Mansion
Genre: Giallo; Exploitation
Plot:
Arriving at a secluded island house, a woman's guise of becoming a secretary to a charmingly reclusive writer in order to find her missing lover brings her into contact with his series of sadistic sex games and tries to put a stop to it before she falls victim to them.
Review:
This here is easily one of the greatest trashy Gialli's ever made. Among the great parts here is the fact that this one absolutely revels in the aura of perversion and decadence without making it feel like a degrading effort to be so free-wheeling with it's sleazy trappings. From the beginning where it showcases the sex party with all the friends hanging around groping each other that brings her into the proceedings only to then have the nude party-goers watch a pornographic version of a popular fairy-tale that features all sorts of drug-use amongst the viewers while the sexual shenanigans play out on-screen, to the flashback scenes of the lesbians frolicking in the waterfall or the numerous changing scenes where they are watched with another person in the room with them all give this a somewhat sleazy and perverse feel.
Still, none more than anything else here that spells this out than the utterly erotic and sensual lesbian encounter that works on numerous levels, with the slow-motion photography of the sequence showing off their slinky, writhing bodies in great detail but also getting a chance to have the two performers themselves for one such sequence makes for a truly compelling situation just on that factor alone and makes the scene even more worthwhile than it would otherwise be. There's even more eye-candy featured here with the rather copious scenes at the end where they feature the revelation of the victim's fate through the use of a sex-game-gone-wrong which is then replayed again as the true finale which is quite nice overall and manages to fully complete the trashy atmosphere and aesthetic featured here.
Another strong feature here is the film's few admittedly fun and engaging action scenes, which are quite nicely put here to remind this one of the rather fun giallo trappings that are present here with the rather thrilling chase out in the swamp-lands where they believe the two are shooting at them and manage to stumble into quicksand without realizing due to trying to avoid the shooters. It's a great scene, as well as the fun stalking accomplished at the house when she believes the killers are trailing her in the basement and is forced to hide which is a rather enjoyable scene. Overall these here are enough to hold this one up over it's few minor flaws.
The main issue here is the fact that there's nothing said about why the police would authorize the kind of investigation attempted here, being that there's far more realistic efforts that could've been attempted, so there's little offered as for why try this one. As well, the plot does stumble here somewhat without the typical body-count on display, as there's only a few minor action scenes here and a low kill-score so there's some stumbling blocks here in that regard. Otherwise, this one here is one of the more enjoyable efforts in the style.
Overview: ****/5
A wholly enjoyable slice of Eurosleaze in it's greatest form, this piece of exploitation offers up the kind of perverted thrills that draws plenty to the genre which is what makes it so fun. This is wholly for those looking to tap into that side of the genre or willing to wallow in that mindset, while those who prefer the classier side of the genre won't find much to like with this effort.
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