(1972/ITALY)
AKA-EXCITE ME, GENTLY BEFORE SHE DIES, EYE OF THE BLACK CAT, IL TUO VIZIO E UNA STANZ CHIUSA E SOLO IO NE HO LA CHIAVE.
REVIEWED BY-STEVE GENIER DIRECTED BY-SERGIO MARTINO CAST-EDWIGE FENCH, ANITA STRINDBERG, LUIGI PISTILLI, IVAN RASSIMOV, FRANCO NEBBIA, RICCARDO SALVINO, ANGELA LA VORGNA and DANIELA GIORDANO. SOURCE-NO SHAME FILMS DVD (NTSC REGION 1 /2005)
VICE follows the abusive, burned out novelist Oliverio (Luigi Pistilli) who with his wife Irina (Anita Strindberg) live in a huge villa just outside town. There Oliverio hosts a local hippie group for nightly parties involving sex, booze and drugs. All of which is a sedative for forgetting about his dead mother, who is a consent memory that torture his very soul. Unfortunely enhances his hatred towards his wife, constantly tormenting her with physical and verbal abuse. Then when Oliverio’s mistress is found dead, the police come look for him to inquire about their relationship and a meeting between the two of the that was suppose to happen. He explains that he never showed up for the meeting, that he was at the villa the whole time. Something of Irina being the abused wife confesses even though it’s not the truth.
Oliverio gets a notice telling him that his niece, Floriana (Edwige Fenech) is on her way to stay for a few days. Upon her arrival, she automatically notices the abuse that Oliverio hands to Irina. She explains to Irina that she is there to help her through this rough time and to trust her. In doing so, Irina tells Floriana everything that has happened. While all of this is going on, there is a string of ghastly murders terrorizing the local town. Though short lived, the murdered is found, though many secrets lay waiting to be exposed.
Yet another fine example of just how important Sergio Martino’s work to the giallo is. Using his usual style, one that helped shaped his other pieces like TORSO, ALL THE COLOR OF THE DARK and of course THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS.WARDH among others. Another collaboration with script writer Ernesto Gastaldi, who together borrow elements from Poe’s classic tale THE BLACK CAT. Though not entirely owed to this tale, there is also their own tale at work. VICE is pretty much a multi-angled storyline that serves up many different zones that run parallel to the main plot. This is something that is very apparent in many of this pairing’s work. Along with the storyline, this like many gialli, serve up a whole host of red-herrings, but none so apparent then that of Luigi Pistilli’s character of Oliverio. Together these aspects weave one of Martino’s best gialli films to date. This is only helped with the wonderful cast and the solid acting that they have brought to the table.
Though, both Luigi Pistilli and Anita Strindberg are the central characters for the most part of the film, it isn’t until Edwige Fenech shows up that the real fun begins. With her sex appeal, though I’m not a big advocate of her with short hair. Her on screen lure once again is exploited perfectly by Martino. Though unlike other films she has an evil streak, all of her usual innocents as been wiped out. This is something that brings a whole new dimension to her appeal, one that is just as deadly if not more then when she plays the victim. Her sex scene with Anita Strindberg just sizzles the screen, you can’t even notice that they were new to this type of situation. Something that Fenech discusses during the NO SHAME DVD extra’s featurette. They were quite embarrassed and very new to this type of scene, yet they both look very much at home.
Pistilli’s character of Oliverio is a great example of just how versatile he is as an actor. He’s torrid anger towards his wife, his soul tortured by the loss of his mother and his free use of lust are all examples of what fills Oliverio’s very being. All of which Pistilli asserts with extreme precision, something that Anita Strindberg works opposite quite well. Though her character is a stark difference, it in a dark way works out in the end. Of course that being something I wouldn’t want to spoil for those who have yet to see this film. Sadly the use of Ivan Rassimov though quite effective, is very limited. Something that one would have to get used to especially with his screen presence being so strong and distinctive. For those hardcore Euro-Cult buffs, you’ll notice the first screen appearance of a very young and quite sexy Euro-starlett, Dalila di Lazzaro who can be seen at the start of the film while hippie party is in full bloom. Exactly when the one girl belts out the song 2 Daughter, Daughter you see a very young di Lazzaro doing a nude dance on the table. Just an interesting little tidbit of info, in many thanks to Kit Gavin.
Like their other Martino DVD release, VICE brings yet another Italian rarity back to it’s full glory. Presented in a beautiful and very clean wide screen aspect ratio of 1.85:1/16x9 with it’s original Italian mono audio track. This is also presented with English subtitles. Though the disc indicates that there is also an English mono track as well, I was however unable to access it for some odd reason. Maybe it was just my DVD player? Anyhow, like the picture qualities, the sounds is quite clear as well. On to the extras, which again No Shame employs the like of Sergio Martino, Edwige Fenech and Ernesto Gastaldi for the featurette UNVEILING THE VICE. Running roughly 20 odd minutes this feature brings us present day interviews with the three as they discuss the in and outs during the making of VICE. Along with the faturette, there is also trailers, stills and booklet that covers selected filmographies.
STORY/FILM-4 BITCH SLAPS PICTURE-4 BITCH SLAPS AUDIO-3 BITCH SLAPS EXTRAS-3.5 BITCH SLAPS OVERALL DVD-3.5 BITCH SLAPS
This can be purchased at X-Ploited Cinema
