Top Sensation

Eurobabes Edwige Fenech (5 DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON) and Rosalba Neri (LADY FRANKENSTEIN) get wicked, kinky and naked in this bizarre Italian thriller. A rich, sicko socialite (Maud Belleroche) plays weird sex/mind games using a parasitical young couple (Neri, Maurizio Bonuglia), a golddigging prostitute (Fenech) and her own mentally disturbed son as pawns. Most of the action takes place aboard a luxury yacht cruising the Mediterranean. The games get out of control, resulting in murder when the yacht stops at a rustic island populated by sheperds. (The scene with Fenech and the baby goat is simply unbelievable.) Composer Sante Romitelli's interesting score is kitschy and groovy at the same time. The movie looks and sounds terrible on bootleg VHS... Positively screams for a widescreen DVD release!

This movie was obviously an influence on the later, more notorious "Island of Death" with it's decadent European tourists despoiling an idyllic Greek island. But where the latter movie crosses the line into being repulsive and genuinely unpleasant, this movie is deliciously nasty, mainly due to the excellent acting of the three female leads. Maud de Belleroche is a hard-as-nails oil heiress who lures a greedy couple (the wife is Rosalba Neri) and a nymphomaniacal prostitute (Edwige Fenech)aboard her yacht (perversely wired with short-circuit cameras in every room) hoping that one of women will seduce her dimwitted son. It's hard to imagine Neri and Fenech not being able to seduce ANYONE but they are both so incredibly, over-the-top sexy here it's understandable that the kid wilts in their presence like a flower in blistering sunlight. He instead falls for an innocent shepherd girl (Ewe Thulin), so the two voluptuous golddiggers set their sights on seducing HER.

This movie is more genuinely erotic than 10,000 porn films. Rosalba Neri shows off her incredible nude body as usual, but she's just as sexy dressed up in a short-shorts and a halter, cruelly blasting away at goats with a shotgun (she has a similar scene in the equally delicious giallo "Amuck", and she really can shoot like a pro). Neri positively oozes sex and evil in equal measure. Edwige Fenech doesn't play a villain as well Neri but she has the most incredible scene in the movie which involves a goat and gives a new meaning to the term animal husbandry. (I don't know if the SPCA would have approved, but I'm sure the goat didn't mind). Then there's an amazing three-way lesbian scene between the two of them and Ewe Thulin that literally seemed to fog up the camera lens (or maybe it was just my eyeballs). What else can I say? Wow!

Rosalba Neri and Edwige Fenech in the same film...what could possibly go wrong? Very little, it would seem, as what we have here is a sensational slice of Italian trash that works in every way you could want it to. The film is something like Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water mixed with naked women and a handful of Giallo themes. It's a real shame that this film hasn't been given a proper DVD release, as while the seductive nature of the film still shines through on the bootleg DVDr that I saw it on, the film would be much better served with a crisp, clean picture and adequate sound. Anyway, the plot focuses on the events transpiring on a yacht. Mudy - a stone-cold matriarch, wants her son to get laid. Tony is an odd kid to say the least, and even when Mudy recruits Aldo and his sexy wife Paula (Rosalba Neri), as well as saucy prostitute Ulla (Edwige Fenech), he still doesn't seem interested. It's only when he bumps into farm girl Beba that his interest seems to be sparked, and his mother quickly insists on the pair returning to her boat. However, the lovely ladies decide to start playing games with the boy's new girl...

Despite the fact that the film doesn't go too far, it is amazingly sexy, and that is of course down to its female leads. Director Ottavio Alessi makes good use of his women, and scenes involving Edwige Fenech and a goat, as well as a three way lesbian scene stand out most. Neri and Fenech spend most of the movie wearing hardly anything, and neither one minds taking their top off - which is fine by me. The plot doesn't take a backseat to the sex and nudity, however, and that's what really makes Top Sensation stand out above similar films. The way that the yacht is rigged with cameras makes the film feel all the more sleazy, and the idea of a mother trying to get her son laid is exactly whiter than white either. The sleazy elements exist in harmony with the storyline, which makes the film feel more complete than your average porno. The characters are all presented in an interesting way, and the director does well at ensuring that the plot is always interesting by upping the stakes at the right time throughout. The ending is shocking enough, and overall - Top Sensation comes highly recommended to all fans of Italian sleaze!

Because of its elusiveness and because of the poor quality copies that did circulate, Top Sensation developed a reputation that it really doesn't deserve. It is not a thriller. The exploitation goodies, while present, are not as numerous as what one might expect giving its X rating (now, easily an R). Still, Top Sensation provides undemanding viewers with a good time throughout its short running time.

The film could be accurately called seven loonies on a boat. Mudy is a rich, decadent bi-sexual on a private cruise. Her yacht is staffed by an ambitious, morally dubious couple, both of whom are sleeping with the boss. In addition, there is a hired companion (the lovely Edwige Fenech) along to seduce the boss's son. The young man suffers from a mental illness which makes him act like a child. In 70's swinger psychology, mom thinks getting him laid will turn him into a man. The only thing is that boy won't come near his girl toy (turning down Edwige Fenech? The poor boy is worse than I thought!). When the yacht runs aground on a sandbar, the son sneaks off to explore a nearby island. There, he befriends a young, innocent shepherdess. Mom and company are thinking the girl might be good at tending something besides sheep, but what to do with her husband?

This is a silly film, but one that is hard to dislike. It moves along at a nice pace. The viewer is never bored. There is a pleasant music score. The scenery is gorgeous and so are the girls. Edwige Fenech, Rosalba Neri, and Eva Thulin all radiate charm in their bikinis (and occasionally less). In addition, once in a while director Ottavio Alessi will go for an arty touch just because (check out the editing on the scene where the two more experienced girls make up the shepherdess). As nautical themed sex dramas go, Top Sensation is far more fun than Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon.

AKA The Seducers I do like my Italian sleaze and having heard plenty about Top Sensation I was looking forward to watching this entry.The bulk of the film takes place on a luxury yacht owned by a wealthy business woman called Mudy. Also on board are a young couple and a friend of theirs, Ulla (played by the delightfully beautiful Edwige Fenech), and the mentally challenged son of Mudy, Tony. Mudy thinks that by getting Ulla to take her son's virginity it will cure his troubles! This movie is hardly politically correct, and lines such as "Women should be beaten!" only reinforce this. Edwige and her friend Poalo (played by the equally attractive Rosalba Neri) spend most of the time half naked, and are joined later on by another attractive girl called Beba (Eva Thulin), who also gets naked (note - no full frontal nudity). Seeing these three beauties without their clothes on and indulging in soft core sex is pretty much the reason for this movie's existence. For me it did get a little bit boring after a while, however there is one infamous scene involving Edwige and a very lucky small goat that is really worth seeing! As for Mudy she is very butch looking but that doesn't stop her indulging in sex with a younger married man, not to mention a spot of incest! The Mediterranean locations are very nice. This film is NOT a Giallo, Edwige starred in many of these but this isn't one. I started off by watching the dubbed English Language version on DVD but the dubbing was awful, plus it kept dropping into Italian without subtitles, so I would suggest to viewers watch it in its native Italian. More of a curiosity than anything else.