Rausch der Begierde

OK, I admit it: I rented this movie only because it has Eva Grimaldi in it; well, Eva has only a minor, virtually non-speaking part, and the film is far from the conventional erotic thriller you might expect based on the video box promotion. It's really not a very good movie, but it's unlike anything you've ever seen before. Part kinky soft-core sex film, part murder mystery, set in a vaguely futuristic world, it is a very strange, very arty film, with some bizarre music ("The Man I Love"!) and casting (female bodybuilder Teagan as...herself) choices. It's obvious that one of the goals of this movie was to create (with limited means) its own world; it succeeded admirably. By the way, did the person who said that "it wants to be like "Basic Instinct"" bother to check out its production date? (**)

This film is packaged as a run of-the-mill sex thriller, however theres a lot more to it than meets the eye. The video box neglects to mention that this is a sci-fi adventure. The photography is absolutely magnificent, gorgeous, and well thought out. Sureal and surprising. It's everybit a 'Barberella' for the eighties

'A Taste For Fear' translated from the Italian is a decent title and presumably derives from the rather surprising but brief bondage set-ups in this mish mash of a movie. As soon as this got under way, after the astonishingly daring opening, I wasn't sure I was going to last the course. If you love the 80s, you will be fine but for me the blasts of dance music coupled with music video style photography had me worried. Actually, this is so uneven that there is something for everyone and in the end I quite enjoyed it and its gialloesque features will permit me to add a very late title to my giallo list! So, there is SM, Kid Creole acting, Grace Jones singing, naked girls frolicking, risqué photo sessions, big men in dark glasses bending forward and back as they torture a saxophone, plus gory killings. You cannot say you were not warned.

My review was written in March 1989 after watching the film on Imperial Entertainment video cassette.

This thriller is an excellent example of a recent Italian genre little-known Stateside: the glamorous horror/fashion pic. Direct-to-video release should generate interest in other pasta couture shriekers.

Pic aroused interest in Europe last year (and was featured in photo spreads in "Lui" and other magazines) under the title "Pathos". Helmer Piccio Raffanini has adapted the style of Jean-Jacques Beineix' "Diva" (and cast Beineix' regular thesp Gerard Darmon) to this tale of decadent photographers using high-tech equipment to stylize erotic fashion photos.

Virginia Hey is the antiheroine, whose sexy models are being murdered. Identity of the assailant is possible to figure out, and getting to the bottom of the mystery is made exciting by an excellent musical score, vivid pastel-lit photography by Romano Albani and a very attractive cast (frequently nude).

Hey, an Aussie thesp in tv series "Dolphin Cove", is solid s the shutterbug with a sadistic streak, while Teagan Clive and Carin McDonald offer diverting beauty as muscular femme models. August Darnell, Kid Creole of the vocal group, pops up in a small role.

Gabriele Ducros' hypnotic background score is augmented by well-chosen songs, including Chrissie Hyde's "Private Life", sung by Grace Jones. Tech credits, including English postysynch, are way above average.

I have this movie in my collection and I pull it out to watch it about once or twice a year. It is a very strange movie and that keeps me coming back to examine it over and over. I would have gave it a 10, but it's attempt to look space-age kind of fizzled. However, the acting is good and the characters/actors are good-looking and interesting. The suspense and the music soundtrack make it all the more fascinating. I guess it makes me nostalgic for the 1980s when a slew of B-movies on VHS regularly flooded the small mom and pop video stores. This is one of the movies from that time period that stands out as unusual and entertaining. I recommend watching this creepy and mostly well-made, hard-to-find movie.