Recensione di Coventry

Andrea Bianchi wasn't a great (or even good, for that matter) Italian exploitation director from the 70s-80s period, but cult fanatics will surely remember his name forever, if only because his films are so much sicker, more perverted and more nauseating than the rest! Everybody knows Bianchi's zombie classic "Burial Ground", and more particularly the crazed-out scene in which the creepy kid bites off his mother's nipple. Bianchi's contribution to the giallo-genre, "Strip Nude for your Killer", was also more obscene and nastier than the others. This "Cry of a Prostitute" marks Bianchi's attempt to tell a mafia-tale, but - here as well - the most memorable aspects are the film's extreme gore, the brutal misogyny and the unhinged violence.

Admittedly, the international title "Cry of a Prostitute" is a bit too sensationalist, and not entirely relevant. For once, though, the original Italian title (literally translating as "Those who matter") is lame, unenergized and totally unworthy of the depravity shown on the screen. The plot isn't exactly original. It's basically a mafia/euro-crime version of Sergio Leone's western "A Fistful of Dollars" (and thus also of Akira Kurasawa's "Yojimbo"), with the stern and almost naturally petrifying Henry Silva as a professional killer Tony Aniante, manipulating two rivaling mafia clans at the same time. The titular prostitute, played by the ravishing Mrs. Bouchet, is actually just a sub-plot character. She's reluctantly married to one of the mafia Dons, and hopes for a more exciting life as Tony's mistress, but she gets far more than she bargains for.

As stated already, the violence and sheer brutality in "Cry of a Prostitute" are staggering! The film opens quite impressively, with a car accident in which somebody loses a head - literally - and the shocking discovery that dead children's bodies are being used to smuggle drugs over the borders. Yes, seriously!!

There's more nasty stuff where this came from, in fact. Family feuds are solved, next to big guns, with asphalt compactors and circular saws! Silva's character Tony Aniante balances somewhat between being the anti-hero and the most sadistically evil psychopath who ever appeared on a screen. His attitude towards woman is deeply disturbing, to say the least. During sequences that are definitely not intended for sensitive souls, Silva beats Bouchet to pulp with his belt, or rapes her from behind whilst her face is suffocating in a pig's carcass. And all she ever did, was tease him and demonstrate her sensual banana-eating skills.