Spasmo

Full of fetish images of inflatable love dolls hanged on trees or covered in blood, this madness of a movie is about the incoming insanity over a young industrial captain, who probably provoked the death of his father several years before. Not really bloody (most of the killings are strangling, and worst of all viewed all together at the end of the movie), not very sexy, not particularly stylish, without any unforgettable scenes and even with a very bland soundtrack, this movie is not a worthy successor of Argento giallos

SPASMO is a gem, and possibly THE most preposterous, infinitely quotable, bafflingly ridiculous film i have ever seen!

The first half hour provides more belly laughs and crazy soundbites than most comedies, and this is supposed to be a deadly serious psychological horror film.

Find SPASMO. But first: watch the trailer! It's got to be the best trailer in the history of trailers; with a ranting, fevered italian bloke panting/groaning the word "SPASMO" at least ten times, ending in a final uttering of "SPASMO!" that sounds like he's constipated on the toilet, desperately trying to squeeze one out!

Wonderful, wonderful stuff. A joy to behold....

Umberto Lenzi's "Spasmo" is not really a horror movie as much as a psychological thriller. There's minimal violence, instead focusing on the main character's (Robert Hoffmann) descent into confusion. But as Lenzi explained in an interview, he had the flick turn out as it does to demonstrate how sick Italy's elites are. Like Lenzi's earlier "Orgasmo" (retitled "Paranoia" in the US), "Spasmo" shows that all is not what it seems in this supposedly nice group of people. Still, the sequence of events leading up to that have some pretty neat occurrences. I will say that I liked "Orgasmo" better (partially for the scene of Carroll Baker in the shower), but this one is definitely worth seeing. Also starring Suzy Kendall, Ivan Rassimov and Guido Alberti.

By 1974 the giallo genre was running out of steam and the films were getting more complicated, more violent and altogether weirder in an attempt to keep viewers coming. Director Umberto Lenzi made two that year, this one and the equally absurd Eyeball, leaving one to hope that Lenzi was putting the audience on and not the stark raving lunatic the films give the impression he was. Whereas Eyeball is a more conventional giallo, with a hooded killer picking off a variety of unwitting victims, Spasmo is more of a "Gaslight"-inspired venture. Someone may be trying to drive the irrepressible Robert Hoffman mad, but he needs little help, and the last fifteen minutes contain the strangest twists I've yet seen in a giallo. Those looking for a stylish thriller will be disappointed by the plant-the-camera-and-shoot direction, and don't expect anything like a plot that's worth following or characters with any relation to human beings. What makes it worth seeing is the genuinely dream-like story, linear yet impossible to follow, and the way each sequence transition requires a twisted justification by the viewer to accept that Yes, maybe it is possible that someone would do this. Here and there a haunting Morricone score comes in, sad and lovely as the one in "My Dear Killer," and there are inexplicable scenes of an unseen man stabbing female dolls, his identity revealed only at the very end in one the finale's many left-field twists. The only giallo remotely comparable to this one is Death Laid An Egg, and at least that had the excuse of being from the 1960's and (I assume) the use of mind-altering chemicals by its creators. I can't imagine what state of mind the filmmakers of this mini-classic were in while making it, but you'd be hard-pressed to find another film like it.

Umberto Lenzi's "Spasmo" is a very weird little film, even by gialli standards. It's a strange combination of Jean Rollin (the middle part in particular feels like something straight out of a Rollin film, in particular "Fascination") and David Lynch, so much so that one can argue how director Umberto Lenzi might be something of a poor man's Lynch. Nonetheless, it works, even if it takes itself way too seriously, often getting surrealism mixed up with cheesiness. The dialog is awfully goofy, and the script jumps all over the place. This might've been Lenzi's intention, and here, he shows that he is actually a pretty competent director, creating genuine suspense as well as some of the most haunting imagery in a genre film. Ennio Morricone's equally dreamy soundtrack perfectly matches the disorienting set pieces and it's perverse sexuality, and it's quite possibly it's highlight alongside the gorgeous cast of women. For those reasons alone, it might not be everyone's cup of tea, also considering how it's pretty tame compared to the works of Fulci, Argento or even Bava, but I love this kind of bizarre cinema, and I don't think the lack of extreme violence and nudity hurt the film at all. So overall, a 7/10 for me - a flawed but throughly entertaining and somewhat obscure piece of Italian horror.