I vizi morbosi di una governante

(1977) Crazy Desires of a Murderer/ I vizi morbosi di una governante (In Italian with English subtitles) HORROR THRILLER

It has one of those odd introductions with someone viewers are unable make out other than his already bloody hands coming straight toward someone. A phone rings with the baron, De Chablais (Stuart Brisbane Colin) displeasure speaking with his teenage daughter, Ileana De Chablais (Isabelle Marchal) informing her dad ahead of time she has invited a few friends of hers. Meanwhile, Pierluigi La Rocca (Claudio Peticchio) is trying to make a drug deal with two goons on his case, and they are giving him a week to pay up. And it is during then we get to see Illeana's friends she has invited to stay with them who are Frank Hoffman (Giuseppe Colombo) who is a doctor to which the baron knows his dad; Elsa Leiter (Patrizia Gori), Gretel Schanz (Adler Gray); the drug dealer, Pierluigi La Rocca (Claudio Peticchio) with his friend, Bobby Jelson (Gaetano Russo). Living with the baron in the castle are housemaid, Berta (Anie Edel) and servant, Hans (Hugh Denis) . And it was not until the movie is progressing we find out there is a third person, a young man who became a mute, Leonardo (Roberto Zattin) who appear to be already been scarred as a result of the death of his mother. Leonardo loves down below them near the wine cellar that was supposed to staying in a room all to himself. He appears to be the character viewers saw at the opening with the bloody hand as it turns out he is a taxidermist, the reason why his hands are bloody at all times. When one of the guest's are killed after making out with one of the other friends, the detectives are then called and they cross examine each resident staying with them, including Leonardo. At this point all fingers point to him because when the victim was killed, her eyeballs were plucked out, and those same eyeballs eventually showed up in his dungeon room to which they could be planted there to make it appear like he did it.

Anyways, at first I was unable to get involve with watching it because the movie did some abnormal things, such as at the opening when the daughter, Illeana was speaking with his daughter on the phone. It appears that someone with bloody hands was going to attack the baron, because the way it ended their abrupt conversation was ambiguous. Illeana just kept calling out for her dad with no answer. She neither calls for authorities or anything. And then, it is like as soon as they do finally meet each other, it is as if nothing had ever happened. We find out much later that it was the brother. Viewers are also oblivious the connection between the killer and it's victims, for the drug scenario between Pierluigi and what happened has no relation with one another. Anyways, the eyeball sequence is more gross than it is scary. The poster is misleading as there are only two nude scenes throughout the entire movie of one of the guests and the maid, anyone who presume to see a ton of nudity would be disappointed.

This may seem like a very bizarre and silly statement, but bear with me. If the Giallo sub-genre is one big and joyful family, then "Crazy Desires of a Murderer" would be the weird and creepy uncle! He's unreliable and always involved in some sort of trouble, but his stories and lifestyle are utterly fascinating. Nobody openly appreciates his perverted remarks or his twisted sense of humor, but secretly everybody loves him just a little bit. And, finally, the family party or reunion simply isn't complete without him.

What I basically mean with the above gibberish is that "Crazy Desires of a Murderer" is a very atypical and experimental Giallo, but nevertheless one that keeps you intrigued and amused even though the overall sentiment at the end is disappointment. Arriving quite late at the party (the giallo's heyday ended around 1974-1975; while this was released in 1977), the script incorporates various other non-giallo styles, genres, and story elements.

The rudimentary plot of a spoiled rich girl and her eccentric friends being stalked by a sadist killer is pure and unhinged Giallo, obviously, but the setting at the remote old family castle with its mandatorily sinister inhabitants (a crippled patriarch, a spooky amateur-taxidermist son, a cold-blooded housemaid...) also makes the film an authentic gothic-horror effort. There's also a crime/thriller angle, since one of the guests at the castle is up to his neck into drug-smuggling and plans the theft of a valuable family jewel. As soon as the police inspector enters the scene, played by the eminent Corrado Gaipa, "Crazy Desires..." even almost turns into an Agatha Christie novel, since he's a sort of Poirot who draws all the attention to him and sets traps for the potential culprits. Last but not least, the film also shares the contemporary Italian fetish for eyeball-violence. There's a regrettably low number of kills in this film, especially considering the expanded cast, but the poor girl who gets it first suffers tremendously as her eyes are literally spooned out of the sockets and put in a bag.

As said, a very strange flick full of gratuitous sex and shocks, but also one that is ultimately unsatisfying. Director Filipo Walter Ratti has enough material here to fill at least two full-length movies, but stuffing everything into one script made it hectic and unnatural.

A bunch of people converge in a large old castle and before long they start getting murdered and have their eyeballs removed! There's a paralyzed, clairvoyant patriarch, a returning countess, her deranged younger brother who is obsessed with taxidermy. There's drug smuggling via antique vases and one member of the party who is being pressurised by gangsters. Who could be guilty of the murders and why! A dogged detective arrives and starts sleuthing.

This is one of the gialli which combined a gothic element into its contemporary story. To that end we have the interiors of the old castle as the backdrop to much of the usual sex and violence recipe. Like most in this sub-genre, it has some nice cinematography and music by Piero Piccioni (with some Ennio Morricone music taken from A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, oddly enough). Unfortunately, the story isn't as interesting as it should be, given the ingredients and it often feels a bit half-hearted. There's just enough giallo craziness to take it over the line though.

I am not kidding, I had this movie for almost two decades and I began watching it at least five times but the first 20 minutes or so never really caught my interest enough to keep watching for some reason. Now, finally I watched it to the end and can conclude that if you get past the opening 25-30 minutes you are in for a quite entertaining and good looking little giallo with quite some eerie atmosphere. Corrado Gaipa is the most memorable in the role of the inspector, along with Isabelle Marchall as the young countess. The opening and ending theme, which I believe is by Piero Piccioni (he is the credited composer here) is an incredibly atmospheric piece, but the rest of the soundtrack is a mystery to me. I hear themes from at least two other earlier giallo movies not scored by Piccioni. It would be nice to see these themes accurately credited.

Pros: Better than average script for this type of movie. There are some interesting subplots. Some of the locations are nice. I really liked the music - it's simple but effective!

Cons: Poor direction. No style. The shots waste locations. The acting is pretty bad across the board. The inspector comes across as the best of the bunch, but he can't carry the whole movie. There is a bunch of gratuitous bad sex scenes. I've been more turned on watching paint dry. Also, it takes awhile to get to the first murder.

Overall: It's a low budget mess created by a director who can't direct a bunch of actors who can't act.