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Released by: Arrow Video
Released on: February 26th, 2019.
Director: Andrea Bianchi
Cast: Edwige Fenech, Nino Castelnuovo, Femi Benussi, Solvi Stubing, Franco Diogene, Erna Schuer
Year: 1975
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Strip Nude For Your Killer - Movie Review:
If the title of the film doesn't alert you to the sleaze factor contained in Strip Nude For Your Killer (directed by Andrea 'This cloth smells like death' Bianchi), the opening scene where a woman dies during an abortion procedure will.
From here we follow the lives of a group of people who are all intertwined through their work at a modeling/fashion photography studio. One by one these people are hunted down and sliced and diced by a maniac in a leather suit and a motorcycle helmet. But what is the motive? Why is the killer after these people? Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo), the top photographer at the agency, and his lady friend Magda (the always lovely Edwige Fenech) are intent on finding out just who is behind the rash of murders, and hopefully why - but will they do that before everyone winds up dead?
While the film lacks the intensity or sophisticated visual flair of a Dario Argento giallo or the artistic murder set pieces of some of Mario Bava's work, Strip Nude For Your Killer is still an entertaining film, even if it rests somewhere approximating the bottom of the barrel. The title of the film certainly implies a lot of sex and violence and it isn't misleading, in fact, the plot seems to exist for the sole reason of stringing along the voyeuristic viewer bold enough to sit down with the film from one naked dead corpse to the next - though you've got to give Bianchi credit for assembling a veritable bevy of beauties to lay down and die this time around. While the plot isn't exactly an engrossing affair, Bianchi seems to know this and makes up for it by piling on the sex, blood, and sleaze. If it isn't high art, who cares - it works and it works well.
The film does have some style, however, and while it isn't as slick looking as the best that the genre has to offer, it's not a bad looking film and it does make nice use of some interesting sets (the dark room of the photography studio) and copious amounts of bright colors. Edwige Fenech, who is frequently seen parading around in nothing but her birthday suit, looks great here with her pixie cut hairdo. If leading man Nino Castelnuovo probably isn't going to be an A-lister in Hollywood anytime soon, he proves capable of carrying the film and is up to the admittedly less than challenging dialogue and characterizations presented to him in the film.
Don't turn to this one for an intelligent movie or for a particularly well-made movie. Turn to this one if you want a dumbed down slasher with lots of pretty naked ladies and some good kill scenes. If you expect much more from it you'll likely find yourself disappointed but going into the movie with proper expectations finds that it's an entertaining diversion and a bit of a guilty pleasure.
Strip Nude For Your Killer - Blu-ray Review:
Strip Nude For Your Killer arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Video on a 50GB disc in a 2.35.1 widescreen transfer taken from a “brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative†and presented in 1080p high definition. This looks quite a bit better than the older Blue Underground release - more film-like, with slightly different framing showing more information on the sides. The colors are more natural here and skin tones look more realistic. We get nice, deep black levels and good shadow detail. The image shows natural grain but little actual print damage and is free of compression issues or noise reduction. Detail and texture are very strong throughout and there's no noticeable noise reduction here.
Original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks are presented in LPCM Mono with optional English subtitles for the Italian mix and optional English SDH subtitles for the English track. Both tracks sound good, with clean, clear dialogue and properly balanced levels. There are no noticeable issues with any hiss or distortion to note. Subtitles are clean, clear and easy to read.
Extras on the disc start off with a new audio commentary by HORRORPEDIA.com's Adrian J. Smith and David Flint. These guys are clearly having a good time dissecting the film, putting it into context alongside other entries in the giallo boom and discussing the impact of some of the film's more notorious set pieces. There's lots of talk here about the cast, Ms. Fenech in particular, as well as Bianchi's directing style. The track strikes a good balance between critical analysis and insight and facts/trivia and can, at times, be quite humorous.
From there we move on to the featurettes, beginning with Sex And Death With A Smile, a new video essay by author and critic Kat Ellinger on the iconic Edwige Fenech. Here, over twenty-three-minutes, Ellinger tracks the rise of Fenech's career throughout the sex comedy and giallo genres that were popular in Italy around the time she was starting to gain popularity. As the talk plays out she offers some interesting commentary about certain films and provides some welcome biographical information on the actress as well.
A Good Man For The Murders is a 'newly edited' video interview with actor Nino Castelnuovo that spends fourteen-minutes educating us, in the man's own words, about his career by covering not just his work on this film but some of the other pictures he made including his work with Lucio Fulci. The Blonde Salamander is a new nineteen-minute video interview with actress Erna Schurer that covers how she got into acting, some of the roles she's played over the years, why certain parts and characters appeal to her more than others and her thoughts on Biachi as a director. The Art Of Helping gets assistant director Daniele Sangiorgi in front of the camera for a new interview running forty-four-minutes in length. In this lengthy talk he takes us through his career, from the early days through to working on this picture and then some of the later pictures he was involved with. He notes that he got along well with Bianchi, in contrast to Sangiorgi's thoughts on the man, and tells some interesting stories from the time that he spent on this production. The last interview is Jack Of All Trades and it features actor and production manager Tino Polenghi on camera for just under twenty-two-minutes. He offers his thoughts on the film, working with producers Sergio and Guglielmo Simonetti, his involvement in other Italian exploitation pictures over the years and more.
Rounding out the extras are two versions of the opening scene (tinted and untinted versions), original Italian and English theatrical trailers, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection. Note that the extras on the Blue Underground disc remain exclusive to that release.
Strip Nude For Your Killer - The Final Word:
While not the best example of what the genre has to offer, Strip Nude For Your Killer is a sleazy and mindlessly entertaining movie with a couple of standout moments. Arrow Video has done a fine job bringing it to Blu-ray for a second time, presenting the picture in very nice shape and with some pretty choice supplements.
Click on the images below for full sized Strip Nude For Your Killer Blu-ray screen caps!
