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Released by: One 7 Movies
Released on: 4/15/2011
Director: Fabrizio Rampelli
Cast:George Ardisson, Pierfrancesco Campanella, Angelo Cannavacciolo, Milly D'Abbraccio
Year: 1988
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The Movie:
Fabrizio Rampelli's 1988 film Transgression was written by and stars Pierfrancesco Campanella as a college student who is struggling with his studies. When it comes time for him to start cramming for an important term paper, he decides to give himself a little artificial confidence and turns to drugs for a bit of an extra boost. Rather than the desired effect of improved focus and better stamina, he finds himself tripping pretty hard and starts to have some bizarre hallucinations, most of which are sexual in nature and involve a beautiful woman played by Milly D'Abbraccio.
As our 'hero' lives out his fantasies in a drug induced stupor, things begin to take a darker turn and he soon finds himself involved in a murder - but is this happening in the real world or in his drug addled brain?
About as loopy as you'd expect for a movie that is essentially based around an LSD trip, Transgression is really just a series of bizarre set pieces strung together by a fairly thin plot. There's no shortage of weirdness on display, but Rampelli, in his only feature film as a director, doesn't always manage to hold it together in terms of storytelling and the film feels pretty disjointed. It does manage to build to a reasonably satisfying conclusion in the last twenty minutes or so but even with a bit of nudity and debauchery, the middle part tends to drag a bit.
Thankfully the two leads are good enough in their roles that things don't completely fall apart. Pierfrancesco Campanella, who would later go on to write and direct Bad Inclination (the film he's probably best known for at this point in his career) is pretty convincing as the stoned out college kid in over his head, while Milly D'Abbraccio proves an interesting and enigmatic foil to his character. Best known for her work in the Italian hardcore porno industry of the nineties (though she worked into the 2000s and even appeared in a Rocco Siffredi movie - Cocktales 6 for those keeping track of such things!), she doesn't have a load of dialogue here but does a good job in her part, vamping it up when the script calls for it and exuding enough sex appeal that, if nothing else, we can see why she might appeal to his stoned libido. Character actor George Ardisson of Amok and Bava's Hercules And The Haunted World pops up in the last third of the movie and it's interesting to see him here, even if he doesn't seem all that interested in the material himself.
Rampelli infuses the film with enough style that its lack of substance is easier to overlook than it would be otherwise and if Trangression isn't a forgotten masterpiece of late eighties European cinema, it's at least a moderately interesting film and worth seeing for those with an interest in trippy drug films.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The anamorphic widescreen image is watchable enough but certainly leaves a lot of room for improvement. Presented in its original aspect ratio, it shows some noticeable print damage and moderate to heavy grain throughout in addition to some minor macroblocking and compression issues. Colors are usually pretty decent if occasionally faded while skin tones look fine.
The Italian language Dolby Digital Mono mix on this disc, which comes with optional English subtitles, doesn't sound half bad. The score has some nice disco-ish bounce to it and things are generally well balanced. There's a bit of minor background hiss if you listen for it, but no serious problems to report.
The disc isn't loaded with extras but there are a few here, starting with a single deleted scene and an alternate ending running a combined 4:47. Presented in Italian with English subs and taken from a tape source, these aren't anything amazing but it's good that they're included. One 7 Movies has also dug up a trailer for the film under the working title of Cattavi Pierrot and another trailer for it under La Transgression. Static menus and chapter selection are also included.
The Final Word:
A reasonably well made sex infused dope themed thriller, Transgression certainly could have looked better than it does here. Worth seeing once, though not likely something that'll hold up to repeat viewings, it's fairly well acted and if it's occasionally slow, the bizarre third act helps redeem that.
