A little giallo gem

 The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971)

Well if the last six movies from the Shameless collection were not that great, this movie pretty much makes up for all of them. This movie by Sergio Martino is among the best giallos I've seen. Life is not easy for Julie Wardh (Edwige Fenech), she is troubled by nightmares of her violent ex-lover Jean (Ivan Rassimov) and one day Jean returns to haunt her. While her husband Neil (Alberto de Mendoza) seems to never be around a lover, George (George Hilton), steps into her life, but when Neil returns things become even more complicated. Amongst this mess of relationships there is a serial killer on the loose and it seems the killer is also after Jean. Sure as in many giallos the story isn't this movie's strongest point, but in this one it's surprisingly intriguing. That even despite the multiple twists at the end which almost turned into comedy in their out of the blue way of pulling the rug under the feet of the viewer. But like in most giallos, the style and atmosphere make up for what the story might be lacking. The cinematography in this one is pure brilliance and very diverse, even amongst other giallos. That in addition of the great music by Nora Orlandi, which was a surprisingly strong effort from her, makes this one a true beauty. And then there's Edwige Fenech. Probably the best giallo actress in the whole genre and certainly the most pleasing for the eyes. The rest of the cast wasn't bad either and somewhat surprisingly for the genre there were even some great performances in this one. For every giallo fan this is a must see as it's one of the best in the genre.
98%

This torso is a full grown slasher thriller

Torso (1973)

Someone is murdering young college girls in Rome and a woman recalls she might have seen the suspect. She travels to the countryside with three of her friends, but the murderer follows them there. There's no shortage of nudity or blood and guts in this one so the entertainment values are well in hand. The story however is a bit ridiculous, but to be honest it doesn't really matter that much. The cast is quite beautiful, acting however could have been a bit better at parts. The style is quite straight forward at the start with only a few somewhat great scenes, but towards the end around the last 15 minutes or so there's some proper tension building. And that end is really worth the whole movie, there's really not much dialog and mostly just the killer and a victim but the way it's built is something well worth seeing. Takes the thriller on levels that even Hitchcock would have been proud. But getting there might not be easy if you are looking forward to a scary thriller. The beginning is a sleazy fun slasher and luckily quite fast paced so you won't get bored. The score didn't really strike that special, though it wasn't bad either. Same goes for the cinematography which at parts worked quite great, but most of the time was quite basic. This movie is kind of special also because it helped to influence the slasher genre which became hugely popular during the 80's. Sergio Martino is not as big in giallos as for example Argento, but still I'd put him up there with the best of them and this movie is only one proof of his greatness.
79%

The lone rider with an axe

Mannaja - A Man Called Blade (1977)

Sergio Martino is more known from his stylish giallos than spaghetti westerns. But he also wanted to give his input to the genre and thus was born Mannaja, one of the last spaghetti westerns. The story of Mannaja, the man who's actually called Blade, is very formulaic using pretty much all the cliches in the storyline which the genre had ever produced. The plot has more holes than I could count and at parts it takes quite ridiculous routes. But as usual the story is not the main point of spaghetti westerns, it's the style and the mood of it. The movie looks quite good with it's rainy and foggy style, though as I watched the extra documentary they said it was to cover the very poor condition of the set. Well never the less it works for the good of the movie as it brings it's own atmosphere to it. The cinematography is quite nice also, so the visual side of it is in order. The music however is quite bad. There's some parts where it works great, but for example the theme song which plays every time Mannaja rides out is quite hilarious with it's deep voice singing. And I bet it surely wasn't meant that way. The acting was quite ok, nothing special but nothing great either. Hard to see Maurizio Merli as a cowboy after all of those crime movies, but he does a decent job. Luckily the pace od the movie is fast enough to keep the interest up when the script and mood fails. Was worth watching but in the end it falls into the vast void of mediocre spaghetti westerns.
58%