Director: Mario Gariazzo
Year: 1979
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Giallo; Erotic Horror
Plot:
Following a series of scandalous revelations, a high-ranking member of society enlists a police officer to get to the bottom of a potential blackmail plot enacted against him, forcing him to look into a particular motel renowned for their sleazy goings-on where a killer is lurking to knock off the clientele.
Review:
This may work as an immensely kinky and sleazy sexploitation-filled giallo but there’s not much else to this one. As that demonstrates, the film serves as pretty much a constant cavalcade of bare flesh and elaborate, ornate kink-styled sex scenes upon which a murder mystery takes place on the outskirts of the story. Most of the film’s sense of energy and enthusiasm is spent on the scenes at the particular motel where the couplings feature a devil and a nun, a lion-tamer and a lion, and various other getups that are based on explicit sexual fantasies. That extends to the hardcore nature of these scenes as well, with full-on penetration visible in many of the scenarios while the vigor and enthusiasm expected are matched by the performances given there even if the laughably unerotic licking and tongue-flapping that constitutes the film’s idea of kissing to come off immensely unerotic. Even with the photoshoots and adult content frequent throughout here for even more full-scale nudity and eroticism, it’s clear that was the main goal here.
This is a bit unfortunate as there’s the potential for more fun to be had here but it comes up somewhat short. The main setup here, involving the couples being blackmailed and targeted for their visits and preferences for what went on at the motel, has the potential to be a patently fun commentary on the hypocrisy of morality against the elite of society. However, this is glossed over for a weak murder mystery where this idea is never really explored as the endless sex scenes eat up the chance to fix that as this forgets the blackmail plot for large sections of time. Even worse, as a murder mystery, this one comes up short as there’s not much in the way of a body count which means very little blood or gore is featured as the somewhat half-hearted stalking scenes never get the chance to build up a head of steam. With an infectious if inappropriate song over the top of the sex scenes ruining the atmosphere further, these factors are what bring this down.
Overview: **.5/5
Working mainly as a sleazy spectacle and not much else, there’s not much else to say about this one as the straightforward nature causes the film to be pretty cut-and-dried. This is strictly for the most ardent fans of the genre or the sleazy side of the genre who will like this one, while those who are turned off by the style or approach should heed caution with this one if not outright avoid it.
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