Toy

"Madness" or "Holiday Massacre" superficially looks like another umpteenth "Last House on the Left" rip-off, but actually it's not. LHotL and all of its copies revolve on two major themes, namely rape and revenge, whereas this flick doesn't feature any 'actual' rape and certainly not any revenge. This is merely a typical late 70's/early 80's sexploitation effort with a bit of additional violence near the ending. Joe Dallesandro, the handsome but slightly eccentric star of various Andy Warhol movies, stars as a badass fugitive convict in a very remote and rural area. He escapes from a prison that doesn't look like a prison and kills a farmer with a pitchfork. He has to pick up the loot from a previous heist in a countryside cabin, but the place is occupied by three people on a summer holiday weekend. Now, since this is an Italian exploitation thriller, it means that the "victims" are in fact equally sleazy and heinous as the criminal. Sergio is supposedly happily married with his wife Liliana, but has an affair with his nymphomaniac sister- in-law Paola. Paola herself is a genuine bitch on a continuous quest for lust and power. "Madness" is a competent but not highly memorable thriller. The plot is predictable and all too quickly reverts to clichéd situations and detestable conclusions. Women's right activists, in particular, should avoid this movie at all costs, since the script proudly concludes that women provoke being rape victims and end up enjoying it after all. The film does benefice, however, from the isolated cabin filming location. Fernando Di Leo perfectly manages to create an atmosphere of despair and inescapably. You can also almost sense the heat and sexual oppression through the screen. Di Leo is of course a very experienced and visionary director. He wrote and directed multiple downright brilliant crime/gangster movies "Manhunt", "Caliber 9" and "The Boss". Another strongpoint of the film is excellent soundtrack by Louis Bacalov. Recommended, but perhaps only if you're familiar with European – and then particularly Italian -exploitation from the late 70's and early 80's.

Escaped convict, Joe Brezzi (Joe Dallesandro) is on the run. Before the opening credits, he's already committed two murders. Brezzi arrives at a villa where a man and two women are staying. He watches, as copious nudity and love scenes take place. Joe takes a nap, awakens, and moves in on the trio.

We soon learn that Brezzi is a bit too familiar with this villa. He knows the place, and seems to be looking for something.

MADNESS is a preposterous crime / thriller, that's mostly an excuse for softcore, simulated sex scenes, interrupted by sudden, rather tame outbursts of violence. In between assaults, Brezzi spends most of his time grimacing and squinting a lot.

Be forewarned, much of the story is taken up by the family troubles of the three victims. In other words, this movie is pretty dull, in a soap opera sort of way. So, don't expect non-stop action or thrills.

The semi-bloody "shock" finale is okay, but hardly makes up for the rest of this nonsense...

At the end of the 70s, Fernando di Leo's career was going downhill, avalanche-style. The producers of Madness (a.k.a. Toy) generously provided him with two heaps from the used car dealer next door and a ramshackle hut in the Abruzzo region including posters of Marlon Brando and John Travolta on the wall – conditions that made di Leo so enthusiastic that he churned out a script for the libido thriller kammerspiel of the year, at least in his head. Enter the world champion in eye rolling, ex-Andy Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, as an escaped convict looking exactly like the village plumber ... and ricky-tick he's laying pipe to two low-rent lascivious gals desperate for a nice and thorough rape ("It wasn't bad at all ... Were you so keen due to abstinence? I enjoyed it. Whenever you feel like it, I'm all yours"), refined with some of the most harrowing canzone from the Italo hit parade 1979 (plus Luis Bacalov's score directly nicked from di Leo's by far best work, Milano Calibro 9). Amateur actress Lorraine de Selle is showing her beaver off for most of the ninety endless minutes, but - pardon me - that's not the reason why the word "lousy" might haunt you for a few days. Another sample of Dallesandro's dialogue, per favore? "And now screw. Show us what men like." It's only a short stop to Joe D'Amato from here. His porn flicks, for sure.

Paula and Sergio are married and own the small house in the mountains where they only travel to at weekends and Lillian is Paula's sister,who just happens to be having an affair with Sergio.Sergio is going hunting,Paula is going shopping and Lillian is staying home to sunbathe naked.Lillian puts on the radio and we hear a news report a thief and murderer who has escaped from jail and is on the loose after murdering farmer with a pitchfork.The criminal named Joe Brezy has stolen the car and is hiding near the house.He has buried 300million lira in the house(from the previous robbery).Joe takes the three of them hostage whilst he digs for his loot.When he finally gets his loot he plays Paula,Lillian and Sergio against each other telling Paula about the affair her husband and sister are having."Vacanze per Uno Massacre" is a cheaply made thriller highly influenced by rape and revenge sub-genre.Lorrainde de Selle provides lots of full-frontal nudity and the climax is violent and memorable.It's a crying shame that this nasty little tale of sexual tension is so obscure.8 out of 10.

An escaped convict called Joe Brezzi (Joe Dallesandro) returns to the farmhouse where he stashed money from one of his robberies, but finds the farmhouse now occupied by a married couple (Gianni Macchia and Patrizia Behn) and the wife's sister (Lorraine DeSalle). This film from director Fernando Di Leo (which he co-wrote with Mario Gariazzo) was released in 1980 and is one of those hostages being held (and terrorised) by a madman films. It's essentially a four hander set largely in the farmhouse (you can imagine it as a kind of lurid play) and involving a bit of voyeurism (peeking through windows) and soft core porn scenes. Joe bounces around in a pair of jeans and a vest showing off his muscles and 'Little Joe's tattoo, whilst doing a manic eyed number. It all seems rather slow.