[a.k.a. Il sesso della strega] (Italy/1973) Review by; Johan Melle
Cast: Susanna Levi, Augusto Nobile, Lorenza Guerrieri, Camille Keaton, Donal O’Brien, Jessica Dublin, Gianni Dei, Franco Garofalo, Marzia Damon, Annamaria Tornello, Maurizio Tanfani, Irio Fantini, Ferruccio Viotti, Sergio Ferrero, Santo Simone, Giovanni Pitti 
Written and directed by Angelo Pannacciò. 
Source: DVD-R of Dutch VHS 

One of Italy’s most obscure genre filmmakers has to be Angelo Pannacciò, whose relatively short filmography consists of a few Spaghetti westerns and horror films, as well as a handful of hardcore pornos with Italy’s biggest porno diva of the 1980s, the (in)famous Marina Frajese. Most viewers are likely to dismiss Pannacciò as a careless hack, and while not entirely untrue, this attitude may deprive one of a few delirious pieces of obscure Italo-trash like his SEX OF THE WITCH, a bizarre horror film that could also easily fit into the giallo category. 

The film kicks off inside a large, old castle belonging to the aristocratic Hilton family where the old family patriarch, Sir Thomas Hilton (Santo Simone), is on his deathbed. Gathered around him are a bunch of his young nieces and nephews, who have all come to be with their dear, old uncle in his final moments. Well, either that or to get their greedy hands on his large fortune. The old man finally draws his last breath, and all the nieces and nephews kiss their dead uncle goodbye. At the same time as Sir Thomas lies close to death, the estate’s two sex-hungry servants, Tony (Franco Garofalo) and Gloria (Marzia Damon), are going at it – unashamedly having sex on top of the coffin Sir Thomas is soon to be buried in. This tasteless scene sets the tone of the film early on – there is plenty of more sordid fun like this to follow… 

Let’s take a look at the cousins – some of whom are fairly nondescript. There’s Susan (Pannacciò regular Susanna Levi), a pretty and sympathetic girl, who has a fondness for making erotic clay sculptures, and her boyfriend Edward (Augusto Nobile), who is also one of the nice cousins. Then there’s Ann (Camille Keaton), whose main concern appears to be cousin Johnny – yes, there are lots of couples among these cousins! Nath (Maurizio Tanfani) is Ann’s brother, who seems to have a rather unhealthy interest in his sister – frequently sending creepy, jealous gazes at Ann and Johnny as they go about kissing and having fun. There’s also the very beautiful Ingrid (Annamaria Tornello), who appears to be a somewhat mysterious girl. And finally there’s Lucy (Lorenza Guerrieri), a pretty but rather bitchy blonde, who is easily the greediest of the bunch. Lucy is appalled by the presence of Sir Thomas’ secretary Simon (Gianni Dei), who was also the uncle’s gay lover. She fumes with anger at the thought of Simon being included in Sir Thomas’s will. 

Of course, the reading on the will is next on the agenda. A notary announces how Sir Thomas’s fortune is to be shared in equal parts among his nieces and nephews, and – as Lucy suspected – his faithful secretary Simon. However, a clause in the will states that each heir has to turn 30 before he or she will get their inheritance. If anyone of them should die before hitting 30, their part of the inheritance will then be shared among the survivors. Well, well! I smell good motive for murder already! But there’s more going on too. Sir Thomas has disinherited his daughter Evelyn (the inimitable Jessica Dublin) because of her mean-spirited nature and deep hatred towards the rest of the family. However, one exception to her hate would appear to be Ingrid, the mysterious cousin. Ingrid goes to visit Evelyn, who on hearing the news of her father’s death, wryly smiles and enigmatically utters: “Now only we know the secret of the Hiltons!” 

Meanwhile, the oldest of the cousins is Johnny, who’ll turn 30 in exactly one month and five days. Unsurprisingly, poor Johnny ends up being victim number one – gorily clubbed to death by a mysterious killer when he returns to the Hilton estate after a night on the town. Cue the arrival of a bumbling police inspector (Donal O’Brien), who announces he’ll be staying on the estate until the murderer is caught. But in spite of the inspector and his assistant’s presence, more murders occur. The killer’s face is actually shown early on but the question of WHO this killer really is remains unanswered until the end. I don’t want to spoil anything else but as you may already have guessed, it all has something to do with “the secret of the Hiltons”… 

From the above plot summary, SEX OF THE WITCH may sound a lot like a traditional, if somewhat trashy, giallo. Indeed, the first 30 minutes play much like a typical giallo but the film soon reveals itself as a strange concoction of different genres thrown together. As the title implies, there’s plenty of sex and nudity, mixed together with the giallo elements and a somewhat gothic horror setting. There are also some interesting and quite absurd supernatural Jekyll and Hyde-style elements thrown in for good measure – hence the witch of the title. 

Often given a bad rap, this certainly isn’t a film for everyone’s taste as it does tend to meander here and there. After the first murder, for example, it really takes its sweet time before another one occurs as the killings are few and far in between. The first murder is quite gory but the others mostly cut away before the razor is seen making its impact – the carnage only seen in the aftermath stage. 

So there aren’t many flashy, stylish murders. Yet, in spite of this the film manages to work. Much of its success must be attributed to its overall weirdness and the many trashy delights that help elevate it. Daniele Patucchi’s droning, ominous harpsichord-based score is strangely effective; managing to create an eerie atmosphere of decadence and dread even in the scenes where there isn’t anything especially horrific going on. Likewise, the delightfully soothing title theme – complete with the obligatory wordless female vocals – is a real treat (the very same theme was also previously heard, albeit very briefly, in Mario Mancini’s trash fest FRANKENSTEIN ’80 (1972), and probably in a few other films as well, as music from the C.A.M. library is frequently recycled). Visually, the old Hilton castle makes for a sinister baroque location with its narrow and sparingly lit corridors; and its crumbling castle grounds. The good-looking cinematography captures the locations beautifully, and Pannacciò demonstrates a good eye for stylish angles. However, a few shots do seem a bit contrived, like the constant cuts to a goldfish in a fishbowl and a hand trying to catch it during a threesome with the servant couple and a willing platinum blonde. 

Another scene that certainly deserves mentioning is the truly bizarre and completely irrelevant scene with the oldest cousin, Johnny, in a night club. It’s a very psychedelic scene in all red, green and yellow colors as a band keeps playing some pretty awful rock song while everyone in the nightclub strip, dance around half-naked and finally roll around naked on the floor in a small orgy. All of which is quietly observed by Johnny, who doesn’t appear to be enjoying himself at all. One wonders about the point of this trippy scene, which feels completely out of place. Yet its inclusion helps to make the film as a whole even more odd and fascinating. 

A similarly pointless scene involves Simon, the secretary/gay lover, telling Susan that Sir Thomas told him before he died, that Evelyn once hurt Susan as a little girl; causing her to get a scar on her breast. Susan denies this and claims she hurt herself while playing as a child. This particular plot point is never elaborated on and doesn’t really serve any purpose at all, except to later have Susan disrobe in front of the mirror to check the scar on her breast, which she of course starts fondling and caressing. It’s a mind-numbingly daft scene but you got to give Pannacciò credit for randomly inserting an irrelevant scar into the plot for the sole purpose of having a breast-fondling scene before the mirror! 

The cast too is a truly impressive assortment of who-is-who of trash cinema. For more general viewers the most famous names in the cast are definitely the two Americans, Camille Keaton and Jessica Dublin. Camille (grandniece of the legendary silent film comedian Buster Keaton) is of course known to all fans of classic exploitation cinema for her leading role in the notorious I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) but she actually started her career in Italy as a Playmen centerfold and by appearing in a number of little-known thriller and horror films such as this one. To be perfectly honest, Camille isn’t exactly an outstanding actress. She’s pretty but doesn’t make that much of an impact. Her only really effective scenes come after she is accosted in her bedroom by the killer. After that she sort of loses it and lapses into a detached, almost catatonic state. Camille is quite good at playing characters who suffer post-traumatic symptoms – she had done it already in WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? (1971) and would of course do it again in I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, which is the best performance she gave in her rather short but interesting career. 

Jessica Dublin, unfortunately, only appears in a few short scenes but this eccentric trash actress is always worth watching. Dublin made her film debut in Italy in the late 1960s when she was already pushing 50. What started like a serious career with roles for prime directors like Fellini and Visconti soon developed into a trash movie career of unbeatable proportions: she played Terence Hill and Bud Spencer’s mother in the western comedy TRINITY IS STILL MY NAME (1971); was in a handful of gialli and horror films like SO SWEET, SO DEAD (1972) and of course this film; then off to Greece where she appeared in sleazy exploitation films like the infamous ISLAND OF DEATH (1975) and THE PARA PSYCHICS (1976) for Nico Mastoriakis; and then back to America where she appeared in a bunch of ultra-crappy film for shitty company Troma, including two TOXIC AVENGER sequels. Even now she’s going at it; appearing in several well-received indie-movies even though she is now well into her 80s. But as mentioned, Ms Dublin’s screen-time in this flick is limited, but she’s still an utter delight to behold in the scenes in which she does appear – sporting some colorful 1970s outfits and a startling amount of eye make-up. Her intense stares and eager overacting fits perfectly with the rest of the film. 

Another familiar face here is Irishman Donal O’Brien, another enjoyable over-actor and trash regular from various spaghetti westerns and horror films. O’Brien is always worth watching but keeps it all surprisingly straight here as the dedicated and well-meaning inspector who is nevertheless completely unable to solve the case. A clueless police inspector is of course not at all unusual in gialli, as there’s always a nosy hero or heroine ready to do some amateur sleuthing. The attractive Susanna Levi – whose all too brief career consists almost solely of films either written or directed by Pannacciò – does a good job as the film’s likable and sweet heroine, Susan, but other than a few encouraging words to the inspector, she is more occupied with making erotic clay sculptures than she is catching the killer. 

Actually, all of the other characters too go about their own business and don’t seem to be too worried about the killer. The servant couple played by Franco Garofalo and Marzia Damon actually have little to do with the rest of the characters. They sporadically serve them food and exchange a few phrases but it’s clear that their main function in the film is to provide nudity and sex in order to compensate for the long stretches between murders. Garofalo (a Bruno Mattei favorite), who has the most creepy and intense eyes, is used to good effect here; constantly resting his hungry eyes on Damon as she conveniently keeps bending over while cleaning or cooking. In turn, Damon (a very interesting trash actress who appeared in a bunch of decamerotica and horror films in the 1970s before ending her career in the hardcore porno film DOLCE GOLA in 1981) is insatiable with lust every time her sweaty beau Garofalo feels her up. 

There’s something really lurid and perverse in the air during all of Garofalo and Damon’s scenes, which really adds to the film’s trash value and also the audience’s guilty pleasure feel. Some of the film’s finest moments of perversity are almost worthy of Renato Polselli himself, although the film lacks Polselli’s feverish scenes of unrelenting sexual violence. Pannacciò does, however, share one of Polselli’s favorite plot themes of perversion and murder in a bourgeoisie family. And the Hilton’s are indeed a pretty rotten upper-class family. Obviously very high-moral, they are almost unanimous in their condemnation of their uncle’s young, homosexual lover, who they label as filth. Yet, they seem totally oblivious to their own – considerably worse – vices, such as Nath’s creepy incestuous feelings towards his sister etc. 

There’s other stuff too that makes this a somewhat unusual giallo entry, such as the lack of any black gloves for the killer. Heck! There’s isn’t even as much as a single J&B bottle in sight! Then again, the film is at times really draped in yellow. There’s a really funky-looking yellow door, and the bedroom where Camille Keaton is attacked by the killer is furnished with some huge yellow draperies. The groovy 1970s clothes worn by the cast members are also likely to drive fans of 70s mod fashions up the wall! 

But by far the most mind-boggling aspect of the film is the killer’s method of disguising his/her identity. I’ll resist from spoiling it here but it’s safe to say that it may be one of the most outrageous and farfetched methods ever seen in a giallo, which is no small feat! 

An interesting moment in the film is when the police inspector asks Susan why all her clay sculptures are erotic, and she replies that this is the only way she knows how to make them. In many ways Susan’s reply seems to mirror director Pannacciò himself: he’s made this film the only way he knows how to – with plenty of sleaze and an abundance of sex. The result is hardly a good film in the traditional sense of the term but it’s a very enjoyable piece of Euro trash cinema. 

Quite tricky to get hold of, SEX OF THE WITCH doesn’t appear to have had any English language release anywhere, even though an English-dubbed version may well have been prepared. All we can do is hope that it will get a quality DVD release one day. Fans of Italian trash will certainly not want to miss this little gem! 

3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS

2008 @ Cinema Nocturna