Torso (1973, Blu-ray Review)
Director: Sergio Martino
Cast: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson
Blue Underground / All Region / Unrated / 1.66:1 Widescreen / DTS-HD Mono / English, Italian Language / English, French and Spanish Subtitles / 90 & 93 Minute Versions / BUY FROM TLACULT
Disk Extras: Interview: Murders in Perugia—An interview with Sergio Martino / TV and Radio Spots / Photo gallery / Original theatrical trailer
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Prolific Italian filmmaker Sergio Martino wears many genre hats. He has directed everything from gialli (Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key starring the yummy Edwige Fenech) to jungle-sploitation (Mountain of the Cannibal God featuring the buxom Ursula Andress) and even post-apocalyptic madness (2019: After the Fall of New York). In 2008 he even did a comedy follow up to the ’80s comedy L’allenatore nel pallone (The Soccer Coach). But 1973 brought arguable his nastiest film to date; the giallo/slasher I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale or The bodies show signs of rape, later changed to Torso for the American drive-in audience. This blend of the Italian giallo, American slasher with the sleaze turned up to eleven is a very stylish precursor to the hack and slash films of today.
College girls are being brutally murdered and post-mortemly fondled and assaulted. One of the victims is a member of a group of girlfriends and one of them thinks she remembers seeing the killer right before one of the murders wearing a red and black scarf. The girls, fearing for their safety, decide to get out of the city for a while and spend some time in one of their rural villas. The only problem with that is wherever a group of hot, young chicks go, so goes lecherous, creepy dudes looking to get some ass. There is also the chance of the killer finding you and picking you off like fish in a barrel, which of course he does. The difference in this and a lot of other slasher-type flicks is the absurdly tense final showdown between the film’s “final girl” and the sick, demented murdering pervert that will have you hiding behind the couch cushions and biting your nails.
Sergio Martino delivered all of the goods here; nudity, violence and some really solid scares. The very stylized direction of Martino and cinematography by Giancarlo Ferrando, who also shot Mountain of the Cannibal God, really amps up the tension using tried and true gimmicks like point-of-view action and odd angled camera shots. The movie never gets very graphic in terms of explicit gore, but more than makes up for it in off-screen carnage and true suspense. I would love to shake the hand of the casting director for filling the entire run time with some of the most gorgeous, naked women I have seen corralled in one film in a long while. Fellini and Tinto Brass favorite, Tina Aumont of the full pouting lips and beautiful breast, was absolutely stunning but nearly all of the women, who mostly play the victims, are incredibly attractive. But the sleazy violence is what we really come for and we get it. The disturbingly basic mask of the killer and the sexual assaults after the murders were a really nice touch to unsettle the viewer. And just wait until he gets out the giant hacksaw…
Blue Underground’s new HD blu-ray release of this classic giallo is more than a step-up from the cropped Anchor Bay (and subsequently Blue Underground) DVD from a few years ago. The gorgeous original 1.66:1 framed transfer taken from the original film negative really show what the film was supposed to look like during its theatrical run. This release features the 90 minute uncensored English version and the three minute longer Italian director’s cut which I believe saves a little of the opening credits orgy scene and the climactic hacking finale. The DTS-HD mono track on both the English and Italian versions sounds very clean and well mixed. Apart from the usual trailers, spots and images galleries, there is a pretty interesting interview with Martino who also co-wrote the script. I am not a huge fan of most gialli in part because I find them tedious and horribly paced, but Torso takes a lot of cues from the slasher genre and makes it work for one hell of a fun, frightening experience.
