Torso

Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: September 27, 2011.
Director: Sergio Martino
Cast: Suzy Kendall, Luc Merenda, Tina Aumont, John Richardson
Year: 1973
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The Movie

“Enter… if you dare, the bizarre world of the psychosexual mind!” You've got to love a tagline like that, right? How much more salacious can you get? Throw that over top of an image of a guy wielding a giant hacksaw and a foxy lady in a tight fitting nightgown and you've hit movie marketing gold!

While not quite as popular as Dario Argento and Mario Bava, the Giallo films directed by genre-hopper Sergio Martino are popular with fans for the genre for good reason. Even if his films weren't quite as hyper-stylized as the aforementioned Godfathers' efforts, Martino still managed to crank out some stylish and influential films before the popularity of the genre started to wane - and one of his most entertaining efforts is Torso.

The picture begins in Rome where four young female art students are busy studying and periodically getting it on with their professor. This is a fairly randy lot, everyone seems to be having sex with everyone else, but hey, it was the Europe of the early seventies, wasn't it like this all across the continent? Regardless, a couple of girls from the school are found dead, the victim of a maniac with a penchant for sharp instruments of destruction and a thing for strangulation. All the local cops have to go on is a red scarf found at the scene of the last crime, though that turns out to be a more important clue than they first realize.

The girls try to figure out why that scarf looks familiar but decide their efforts would be better put to use by focusing on a countryside vacation (which seems to involve drinking a lot of J&B, smoking, playing the piano and even indulging in a little girl on girl lesbian sex!). The whole group heads out of the city to get away from it all for a bit, in hopes that the cops will solve the crime and no one else will get their eyes poked out or their fun-bags carved in. However, as luck would have it, the killer has followed them and he's not even close to finished with them yet.

Stylishly directed and quite quickly paced by Martino, who is probably best known for All The Colors Of The Dark and The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh (both of which are better films than this one, at least from a critical perspective if not an entertainment value perspective), Torso is a pretty grisly thriller with enough sex and violence to satiate all but the most demanding of exploitation and horror junkies. Martino keeps the action moving quickly and if the few red herrings aren't so successful in throwing us off the real identity of the killer, at least this slightly predictable Giallo delivers lots of naked ladies and blood.

Speaking of those naked ladies, the film really benefits quite a bit from the presence of the lovely Suzy Kendall (best known for Argento's The Bird With The Crystal Plumage) and sultry Tina Aumont (star of Salon Kitty), along with a couple of other lovely Eurobabes who frequently get naked for Martino's leering lens. Not nearly as sexy or naked is Luc Merenda, the stoic and heroic star of The Big Racket and Gambling City (also directed by Martino). His role, while more of a supporting effort, is an interesting one even if the English dubbing doesn't quite feel right (thankfully Blue Underground offers up an Italian track that improves on that somewhat - more on that in a bit).

While, as mentioned, the film is a little on the predictable side, it remains a surprisingly mean spirited slasher picture with a lot of crazed energy, bizarre if very creative murder set pieces, and a great score from the De Angelis brothers. It makes excellent use of its locations, from the courtyard square of a small town full of horny guys eager to ogle the ladies right to that fancy villa up on the hills where the girls go to relax. It's also an unusually voyeuristic film, putting SEX in the forefront of the viewer's mind right from the opening scene and upping the sleaze ante considerably by doing so. It might not be the highpoint of the Giallo cycle but it's certainly a worthwhile entry that, to some fans, really does embody what the genre was all about.

Blue Underground's Blu-ray debut for the film includes the ninety minute 'uncensored English version' and the ninety-three minute 'director's cut'(under the Carnal Violence title, of if you prefer, The Bodies Show Signs Of Carnal Violence) - when watching the director's cut with the English track enabled the footage that was never dubbed will switch over to Italian with English subtitles automatically. The differences are minor (a couple of dialogue bits and some different shots here and there) but it's nice to have both versions included.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Blue Underground's spiffy new 1.66.1 widescreen transfer looks good, encoded in AVC and presented in 1080p high definition. Detail is improved over standard definition offerings of the past while color reproduction looks great. Close up shots show a lot of facial detail while texture is also considerably better than what we've seen in the past. Flesh tones look good, print damage is minimal (you'll spot a few specks here and there but otherwise things look very clean) and there aren't any heavy edge enhancement problems to complain about (you might spot some minor instances here and there but it's never overpowering). Compression artifacts are a non-issue as well and overall, the movie looks very good here.

DTS-HD Mono options are available for both cuts of the film in English and Italian language options. As far as the optional subtitles are concerned, the Italian cut features subs in English only while the English version features subs in English, French and Spanish. As mentioned earlier, Merenda's English dubbed voice sounds a bit goofy so it's nice to have the Italian language option here but whichever track you choose you should be quite happy with. Dialogue is clean, clear and well balanced and the score and sound effects come through very nicely as well. The subtitles are easy to read and free of any obvious typos. Some might lament the absence of a surround mix but you can't fault Blue Underground for including the original mono options instead.

The best extra on the disc is an all new ten minute featurette entitled Murders in Perugia which is basically an interview with co-writer and director Sergio Martino who speaks about shooting in the small town location, casting the film, why certain actresses were chosen and about some of the film's themes. He also talks about working with co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi and about using the D'Angelis brothers to score the film. It could have been longer and remained just as interesting but it's a well put together piece by Red Shirt Pictures and Martino really comes across as a genuinely nice guy here. Well worth a watch.

Also included on the disc are the alternate U.S. Opening Credits sequence. This is presented in pretty rough shape but it's cool to see it as it's fairly amusing. Rounding out the extras are a trio of theatrical trailers, a pair of TV spots, a radio spot and a pretty extensive poster and still gallery of color and black and white ephemera and production stills. There's also a two minute introduction to the film from Eli Roth that provides some historical context for the movie - it's optional, you can skip it if you want to. Animated menus and chapter stops are also included.

The Final Word:

While not the most sophisticated Giallo ever made, Martino's film is nevertheless an entertaining and sleazy slasher with plenty of style, loads of boobs and blood and an interesting cast. Blue Underground's Blu-ray debut for the film offers up both versions in very nice quality and throws in a few extras to boot. Great stuff!

Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!