Director: Filippo Walter Ratti (as Peter Rush)
Year: 1977
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: I vizi morbosi di una governante; The Morbid Habits of the Governess
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Gathered together at a remote castle, a woman brings her friends together to visit her grandfather’s estate and try to catch up and indulge in some lighthearted sexual fun, but when they realize that a deviant killer is loose in the castle killing them one by one must find a way to stop him.
Review:
This was a decidedly average if still enjoyable enough giallo. Among the better features here is a strong and generally likable setup that manages to mix together some decent erotic ventures alongside the general degradation of the group. Getting together at the castle to have some fun provides enough of a chance to see the friends engaging in all manner of perverse games and overall degenerate behavior as the group splits off at the slightest hint for all manner of intimate couplings that include staged erotic displays for a charades game or indulging in object enhancement during their sexual liaisons with each other. This goes nicely alongside the fine work to keep them isolated at the lavish Gothic castle where everything takes place. This makes for a great juxtaposition involving sleazy imagery and a general sense of degeneration while inside the isolated mansion featuring the usual assortment of Gothic trappings.
When this one turns into more overt slashing sequences with the genre conventions employed, it becomes a somewhat more enjoyable effort. The inspector investigating everything is a big part of that with some impressive attributes here looking into the series of bizarre deaths being committed, being smart enough to piece some clues together, and generally seeing through the indifferent atmosphere of the guests. These actual scenes featuring a shadowy figure emerging out of the darkness and striking a gruesome blow to kill the intended victim and then proceed to pluck out their eye post-mortem make for some grisly imagery at times and plenty of intriguing scenes showing the killer spying before striking and leading to a decent enough final hal where the killer starts taking them out in more involved actions. Overall, these provide this with enough to make for a likable genre effort.
There are some big issues with this one holding it back. Among the main detriments featured here is an absolutely glacial pace that focuses far more of the running time on these sexual shenanigans rather than dealing with the slashing aspects of the genre. As the first half introduces us to the group and shows them hopping into bed with everyone at the drop of a hat and then indulging in extended sex scenes with plenty of fondling and other such activities, there’s an extended piece of time doing anything but knocking the cast off which leaves this feeling immensely slow-going and sluggish to get going with a lot of the action taking place in the finale because of this. The other issue here is the film’s generally cheap and flimsy look, from the castle setting and presentation to the gore effects and its overall presentation which shows off every inch of this one’s middle-of-the-road status that keep this from reaching the upper parts of the genre.
Overview: ***/5
A likable enough if somewhat problematic Gothic-tinged giallo, there’s a few big issues here bringing this one down that keeps it from being anything more than a middle-tier gener effort. Those who are intrigued by this one, are hardcore fans of the approach, or are curious about it will want to give it a shot while most others out there should heed extreme caution in favor of ither genre outings first.
Comments
Post a Comment