Director: Umberto Lenzi
Year: 1969
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Orgasmo
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Following her husbands’ death in a car accident, his widow decides to head to a lavish villa in Italy to grieve and try to move on, yet when a pair of siblings arrive looking for shelter she takes them in only to find herself a pawn in a dangerous game she may not be able to away from.
Review:
This was a highly enjoyable and generally fun effort. Among it’s better features is the immediacy with which it starts in on the general theme of the psychological mind games. Given that it opens with her literally stepping off the plane to a field of reports and arrives at the house, it gives a quick listing of the situation that goes along with them meeting her mere days later. As that introduction turns to romance but just as soon afterward leads into the sisters’ arrival and swept into the gray with them, it wraps all its fantastic storylines up quite easily and quickly which is a fine touch to this one.
That, in turn, leads into the actual mind-games that are present. With the cars’ breakdown that he employs to stay there and the sneakiness to not only get inside the house but sleeping with her the first day they meet, the surprise of everything goes a long way to starting her downfall as the opportunity to do so is granted. Since this then plays up her deteriorating emotional state being away from him through the fainting, drinking and general frazzed-out nature compared to the calmer and more level-headed version around him makes sense that they’d quickly fall for each other.
The best part, though, is when his sister shows up and the games really begin in earnest. Adapting a full-on assault with sexual and narcotic angles as their constant pill-popping or shoving a drink in her hands as well as easily any argument through sexual shenanigans, they manage to drag her pretty deep into a stupor that gets quite enjoyable as the games continue. As their blackmail scheme takes hold and she begins slipping further the continued back-and-forth nature that erupts as she tries to free herself manages to be immensely enjoyable and entertaining. Overall, these elements give this one quite a lot to like.
There are some issues to be had here. One of the main flaws is the absolutely inane motivations for everything as the hypocrisy of their words doesn’t match their actions. Repeatedly claiming not to do anything for money, this is belied when the final reveal is given pertaining to blackmailing her for the money. This causes plenty of outright annoying scenes here with the claims about not being interested in her money yet obviously ecstatic when they come across any of it, adding tons of hypocrisy on top of that irritation. These are the main flaws to be had with this one.
Overview: ****/5
A strong, stylish and immensely appealing sleazy entry into the suspense thriller side of the giallo, this one only has a few minor drawbacks to keep it from reaching the top of the genre. Give this one a look if you’re into the thriller side of the genre, a fan of Eurohorror or Eurosleaze as well as the creative crew involved with this one while others who prefer the body-count variation of the style might not be too enthused with this one.
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