Bajo el vestido... nada

Not a top notch giallo but colourful and stylish enough and if the kills are not particularly stunning, the build ups are good and there is enough momentum to keep the film moving on. Very much a latter day entry to the genre, Mr Vazina happily includes many of the much loved elements from earlier gems, so much so that a lot of the time I found myself smiling as the good to see cinematic clichés appeared every now and again like money shots. The provocative title turns out to be rather delightfully appropriate, even if, of course, irrelevant to the story. Donald Pleasance just about keeps his end up, Tom Schanley is fine and the girls all lovely. Most enjoyable.

When it comes to horror cinema, I love the Italian Giallo and I love the 80's, but a combination of both usually isn't worth the effort. The Giallo is irreversibly linked to the 70's and unfortunately only a handful of gratifying titles came out during the 80's, mostly either directed by Dario Argento ("Tenebre", "Opera") or Lamberto Bava ("Midnight Ripper", "Delirium"). Therefore it was an extra pleasant surprise to discover that "Nothing Underneath", directed by the relatively unknown Carlo Vanzina, is an overlooked gem in the sub genre. The scenario often doesn't make a lick of sense and the plot twists are implausible and absurd, but that doesn't matter and actually even makes it cooler in terms of Giallo-cinema. The setting, premise and character drawings are as rudimentary as it gets in this type of film. In the glossy and competitive fashion business of Milan, there's a crazed psychopath killing models with a gigantic pair of shiny scissors. The fatigue old police commissioner, who's only two weeks away from his retirement, doesn't have a clue where to begin his investigation, but luckily he receives the help of a young Wyoming park ranger. For you see, the kid witnessed the attack against his twin sister through a telepathic connection between them, and now he traveled to Milan to look for her. Whilst he's messing around with gorgeous models, the killer cheerfully continues to cut up more beauty queens.

Although entirely irrelevant to the plot, this film at least has a title that actually makes sense. Gialli often have lovely sounding but nonsensical titles, but this one is totally accurate as several of these models are wearing nothing underneath their dresses and mini-skirts. In spite of the nudity and a remarkably stylish presentation, the first half hour is rather slow-paced and on the verge of boring. "Nothing Underneath" is then luckily rescued by a few highly inventive and delightfully far-fetched plot twists; making the rest of the film satisfyingly exciting and even suspenseful. The last ten minutes are downright fantastic and almost on par with the quality level of the 80's films by the aforementioned directors Argento and Bava. As said already, director Carlo Vanzina even manages to demonstrate style and flair, like through the use slow-motion images and colorful fashion show glimpses. The murders, on the other hand, are a bit disappointing, as there should have been more of them and especially bloodier. There's one impressively nasty kill involving a backstabbing, but the concept offered so much more opportunities to depict gore and bloodshed. The screenplay greedily processes all the typical Italian fashion industry clichés and stereotypes into the film, including the voyeuristic hotel clerks, the wild drug parties and the harsh competition between the women. The soundtrack contains some wondrous 80's tunes like "One Night in Bangkok", which always puts a smile on my face. Donald Pleasance stars as the aging commissioner who desperately – but in vain - tries to look and sound Italian. Pleasance's role isn't that important, but he definitely brings some name fame to the overlooked production.

The sequel, entitled "Too Beautiful To Die" is a pretty worthwhile film as well. The stories of both films have no plot aspects or characters in common but are nevertheless considered sequels because they were both released in the second half of the 80's and take place in the Italian fashion universe.

Yellowstone Park ranger Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) shares a psychic connection with his sister Jessica (Nicola Perring), a top model working in Milan. After he 'sees' Jessica being attacked in a vision, Bob flies to Italy where he discovers that she has mysteriously vanished. Local police commissioner Danesi (Donald Pleasence) is unconvinced by Bob's bizarre story, at least until another model is murdered in the same hotel from which Jessica disappeared.

'A little bit of make-up, a beautiful dress, and nothing underneath'—so says a fashion photographer about the models he photographs in this glossy but unexceptional giallo from director Carlo Vanzina. Although the lens-man is talking figuratively, he might as well be speaking literally, for the girls in this film seem to have little call for underwear, revealing their hot bods in several sexy scenes (including one particularly gratuitous moment in which a model walks over a street grate to reveal her bare ass to the camera below!).

If only the violence had been as unrestrained as the nudity...

Although the hilarious 80s fashion and music, and the regular display of female flesh guarantee a reasonable time, Nothing Underneath is crying out for a few Argento-style moments of bloody excess; however, despite the film's killer brandishing a wickedly sharp pair of scissors, this is a frustratingly 'dry' giallo, a fact that will most likely disappoint the majority of the genre's fans (for whom a few really juicy kills are usually considered a must).

5.5 out of 10, happily rounded up to 6 for the use of a power drill in the fun finale and the hilarious scene in which Bob spies a woman in the building opposite indulging in a spot of masturbation, but rather than stand there gawping like most blokes would, he pulls the curtains and proceeds to fondle a pair of his dead sister's skimpy knickers!

After slogging through various 80s Italian films this one comes as a pleasant surprise. My expectations were low going in as I didn't know most of the cast and this was Donald Pleasance's phoning it in for a paycheck Era, but it was enjoyable. The performances are fine, the soundtrack is good, the filmmaking is competent. Does the story get a tad predictable? Sure, but it's fun so I give it a 7.6/10.

(1985) Nothing Underneath/ Sotto il vestito niente DUBBED CRIME THRILLER

Adapted from the novel by Marco Parma, co-written and directed by Carlo Vanzina that has camp ranger of Yellowstone Park, Wyoming, Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) finally receiving his first fashion magazine copy cover of his sister, Jessica Crane (Nicola Perring) who is modeling in Milan, Italy. And as soon as some guy attempted to get rough on her following her to the washroom grabbing her arm, her brother Bob feels it too. It is not long before she goes back to the Scale hotel room 303 is when a serial killer was waiting for her. And when Bob was not able to shake the danger off, he would then fly off from his job in Wyoming to Milan to investigate it starting from going into her hotel room before getting investigators involved. And that after speaking with Commissioner Danesi (Donald Pleasence) he finally tells him both him and his sister are telepathy linked as Jessica is his twin sister. He is unable to see the killer's face, but he is able to see the weapon he used which is a pair of scissors and the blood.

And although an obvious body double was used for Jessica's nude scenes, the other models did not have one.