Director: Sergio Martino
Year: 1973
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale; The Bodies Show Traces of Carnal Violence
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Following a spate of brutal murders, a group of college students fears they're being targeted by the killer and retreat to a remote nearby mountain-top villa to relax only to learn the killer has followed them there and must stop his deadly blood-soaked rampage.
Review:
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 make 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.
Overview: *****/5
A truly top-notch and entertaining mixture of the slasher with the giallo, this is one of the finest features in the genre as a whole and features more than enough to like about it that it holds it over some minor drawbacks that barely even register. Give this one a shot if you’re curious about the style approached here, are any kind of Eurohorror fanatic, or are a fan of the creative crew while only those that don’t like any of these factors should heed caution.
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