Quelle surprise! Before watching the relatively unknown "Giallo a Venezia" (1979) I certainly didn't expect it to be one of the nastiest, sleaziest, most sadistic and misogynistic films of the Giallo-genre (which generally doesn't scant with sleaze and violence). Director Mario Landi's supremely sleazy flick is certainly no Giallo-highlight, but still highly recommended to all the fans of genuine 70s nastiness.
The film already starts like a punch in the gut, when a guy is repeatedly stabbed in the groin. The corpses of the guy and his wife are found shortly thereafter, he obviously died of the groin-stabbing, she was drowned and then dragged out of the water. When investigating the case, Inspector DePaul (Jeff Blynn) finds out that the murdered couple had a somewhat unusual sex life: The husband was a deranged pervert, who would constantly force his poor young wife (Leonora Fani) to participate in demented and exhibitionist sex-activities. As the couple's acquaintances are interrogated, more people are getting killed...
Half of the film consists of pretty deranged sex-scenes, the rest is full of truly nasty killings. For Giallo-standards, there are not very many murders, but those that take place are brutal as hell: A guy gets (repeatedly) stabbed in the groin, a woman gets (repeatedly) stabbed in the vagina, a guy gets burned alive, and a naked woman (played by Mariangela Giordano, who also had her nipple bitten off in Andrea Bianchi's ultra-gory Zombie flick "Burial Ground") has her leg sawed off while still alive. The music is sub-standard for a Giallo, and even though set in beautiful Venice, the film (unlike most Gialli) features little cinematographic elegance. The budget was pretty low, as it seems, and most of the money probably went into the brutal gore effects, and into paying the actresses to undergo all the sleaze going on on camera. Since none of the characters are likable, there is little suspense for Giallo-standards. The Inspector, who sports John Lennon glasses, is a total ass who cracks jokes about murder victims (Assistant: "The female victim was wearing no underwear." - Inspector: "Too bad for her. Hahaha."). Overall, "Giallo a Venezia" is a sadistic and trashy pile of sleaze with several brutal murders and a rather un-compelling plot; however, it is still highly recommendable to all my fellow Exploitation fans out there, exactly for being such a sadistic and trashy pile of sleaze. While you will never hear me say that it is a good movie, it will doubtlessly entertain those who are demented enough to find this kinda stuff entertaining - such as yours truly. My copy is in rather bad quality, which, strangely enough, fits the movie. If you are a fan of the sleazy and nasty kind of Italian Horror, give it a shot.
The film already starts like a punch in the gut, when a guy is repeatedly stabbed in the groin. The corpses of the guy and his wife are found shortly thereafter, he obviously died of the groin-stabbing, she was drowned and then dragged out of the water. When investigating the case, Inspector DePaul (Jeff Blynn) finds out that the murdered couple had a somewhat unusual sex life: The husband was a deranged pervert, who would constantly force his poor young wife (Leonora Fani) to participate in demented and exhibitionist sex-activities. As the couple's acquaintances are interrogated, more people are getting killed...
Half of the film consists of pretty deranged sex-scenes, the rest is full of truly nasty killings. For Giallo-standards, there are not very many murders, but those that take place are brutal as hell: A guy gets (repeatedly) stabbed in the groin, a woman gets (repeatedly) stabbed in the vagina, a guy gets burned alive, and a naked woman (played by Mariangela Giordano, who also had her nipple bitten off in Andrea Bianchi's ultra-gory Zombie flick "Burial Ground") has her leg sawed off while still alive. The music is sub-standard for a Giallo, and even though set in beautiful Venice, the film (unlike most Gialli) features little cinematographic elegance. The budget was pretty low, as it seems, and most of the money probably went into the brutal gore effects, and into paying the actresses to undergo all the sleaze going on on camera. Since none of the characters are likable, there is little suspense for Giallo-standards. The Inspector, who sports John Lennon glasses, is a total ass who cracks jokes about murder victims (Assistant: "The female victim was wearing no underwear." - Inspector: "Too bad for her. Hahaha."). Overall, "Giallo a Venezia" is a sadistic and trashy pile of sleaze with several brutal murders and a rather un-compelling plot; however, it is still highly recommendable to all my fellow Exploitation fans out there, exactly for being such a sadistic and trashy pile of sleaze. While you will never hear me say that it is a good movie, it will doubtlessly entertain those who are demented enough to find this kinda stuff entertaining - such as yours truly. My copy is in rather bad quality, which, strangely enough, fits the movie. If you are a fan of the sleazy and nasty kind of Italian Horror, give it a shot.