Troubled Christian Bauman (a solid and likable performance by Robert Hoffman) discovers the beautiful Barbara (beguiling Suzy Kendall) lying unconscious on the beach. Christian's subsequent involvement with Barbara soon finds him thrust into a puzzling and dangerous world populated by decadent rich oddballs with something awful to hide.
Director/co-writer Umberto Lenzi keeps the compelling, if convoluted, story moving along at a constant pace, does an able job of crafting a dreamy, perplexing, and potently morbid atmosphere (the hideously lifelike female mannequins littered throughout the bleak and surreal landscape are an especially inspired and unsettling touch), and concludes everything on a startling grim note. Hoffman and Kendall make for attractive and appealing leads; they receive sound support from Ivan Rassimov as Christian's protective brother Fritz, Adolfo Lastretti as the menacing Tatum, Mario Erpichini as the possessive Alex, Monica Monet as the alluring, yet enigmatic Clorinda, and Guido Alberti as helpful old-timer Malcolm. Ennio Morricone's exquisitely haunting and harmonic score rates as another major asset. Ditto Guglielmo Mancori's handsome widescreen cinematography. Granted, Lenzi doesn't deliver much in the way of either gore or sleaze, but the tricky winding narrative certainly keeps the viewer guessing about what's actually going on right until the alarming end.
Director/co-writer Umberto Lenzi keeps the compelling, if convoluted, story moving along at a constant pace, does an able job of crafting a dreamy, perplexing, and potently morbid atmosphere (the hideously lifelike female mannequins littered throughout the bleak and surreal landscape are an especially inspired and unsettling touch), and concludes everything on a startling grim note. Hoffman and Kendall make for attractive and appealing leads; they receive sound support from Ivan Rassimov as Christian's protective brother Fritz, Adolfo Lastretti as the menacing Tatum, Mario Erpichini as the possessive Alex, Monica Monet as the alluring, yet enigmatic Clorinda, and Guido Alberti as helpful old-timer Malcolm. Ennio Morricone's exquisitely haunting and harmonic score rates as another major asset. Ditto Guglielmo Mancori's handsome widescreen cinematography. Granted, Lenzi doesn't deliver much in the way of either gore or sleaze, but the tricky winding narrative certainly keeps the viewer guessing about what's actually going on right until the alarming end.