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Holy Sheeit! Although plot wise this giallo is the old-school type where a bunch of folk in a huge mansion double cross and play mind games with each other before everything comes to a head (like The Third Eye or Libido), this one also gives everything a contemporary seventies vibe with wall-to-wall nudity from start to finish – and those getting naked are Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri!

Barbara Bouchet is the newly appointed secretary employed to transcribe a novel that smug writer Farley Granger is writing, and this involves shacking up at his huge mansion where he lives with his equally smug wife Rosalba Neri and their butler Umberto Raho. Seems that the police have been sniffing around for a while as Farley's last secretary Sally has gone missing, and Barbara doesn't seem too surprised to overhear this.

She is surprised by finding a hulking brute standing outside of her window and is given a chill pill by Rosalba, which leads to an eye- popping scene where a half-conscious Barbara writhes about naked while Rosalba also strips off and gets busy with her – all in slow motion and immaculately filmed. But don't knock one out yet fellas, there's much, much more where that came from!

The next day Barbara doesn't recall that Sapphic encounter but is clued into things right away when, during one of Rosalba's sexy parties, she puts on an adult version of Red Riding Hood ("That hood will be red from all that riding!" – someone exclaims!) and Barbara recognises the actress as her pal Sally! A brief and subtle flashback showing the two of them naked under a waterfall may or may not hint that they might have been more than friends, but I'm not sure.

There is actually some sort of mystery in amongst the boobs and arses. Barbara thinks someone has killed Sally, and coincidentally the audio tapes that Farley gives her to transcribe seem to detail the plot of the film she's in, and around this time she begins to suspect that she may be next. Who can she trust? Rosalba, who at one point jumps out of a swimming pool to have a quick puff on a cigarette? Umberto, whose motives are unclear? How about the big brute guy, who guts a live eel in front of Barbara for some reason? Could have done without that bit, which is something I seem to be saying more frequently.

It's not very violent and as you'd expect things kick off at the end a bit. There are twists right up until the last thirty seconds. The thing with Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri is that the two of them can actually act too – especially Rosalba, who can switch from sweet to evil to sexy at the drop of her knickers.

Barbara Bouchet's Boobs will return in Lucio Fulci's Don't Torture A Duckling!

The stunningly beautiful Barbara Bouchet plays Greta, who gets a job working as a secretary at the large house of writer Farley Granger with the motive of solving the disappearance of her friend/lover Sally, who had previously been employed there. In my opinion this is borderline horror/giallo. There is no gloved maniac killing people off and the few deaths, when they do happen, aren't especially gruesome. In terms of horror we get a couple of raging thunderstorms, a very good night time disposal of a corpse and a rather bizarre incident of psychic powers. But that's about it. However, what this movie does have is lots of female nudity, including a couple of lesbian sex scenes. Like many Italian movies of this time it is beautifully filmed, the reflections of Venice in the water being particularly stunning. There's a fair amount of suspense, especially when Greta explores the house. Plus it has a great 70's euro groovy, jazzy, psychedelic score. This one won't tax the brain and like I said, may disappoint some giallo or horror fans, but it's visually it is highly enjoyable. No masterpiece but well worth seeing.

The secretary Greta Franklin (Barbara Bouchet) travels from London to Venice to work with the prominent writer Richard Stuart (Farley Granger), who lives with his wife Eleanora Stuart (Rosalba Neri) in an island. Greta is replacing his previous secretary Sally Reece (Patrizia Viotti) that is missing. When Police Inspector Antonelli (Nino Segurini) interviews Greta, he learns that she accepted the job to investigate what has happened to Sally, who was her friend. Soon she suspects that Richard has murdered Sally, but she cannot find any evidence to prove her theory to the inspector.

"Alla ricerca del piacere", a.k.a. "In Search of Pleasure", is a shallow erotic thriller. The erotic scenes are excellent, but the plot and the behavior of the characters are silly and absurd. There are a couple of twists in the story and lots of nudity along the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Em Busca do Prazer" ("In Search of Pleasure")

This is one of the better-known giallo titles, if mainly for the presence of two of the more luscious "Euro-Cult" starlets – blonde Barbara Bouchet (whom I saw, still looking good, quite a few times at the Italian B-movie retrospective held during the 2004 Venice Film Festival!) and brunette Rosalba Neri – in perhaps their role of greatest significance; it goes without saying, then, that the film's piece de resistance is their celebrated slow-motion love scene (which actually occurs very early into the proceedings)! With a generic if definitely attention-grabbing moniker that has no direct bearing on the plot, the movie has been given many an alternate title – such as MURDER MANSION and HOT BED OF SEX, depending on which aspect the respective distributors chose to spotlight (for the record, the Italian original translates to IN THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE); incidentally, the English-dubbed and regrettably panned-and-scanned VHS-sourced copy (as a result proving soft and occasionally battered) I watched boasted no credits apart from the names of the picture itself, Bouchet and leading man Farley Granger! By the way, the film marked the second of three giallos the American star appeared in back-to-back (I watched the others, which I quite liked, only a few days ago) but, though I felt he delivered surprisingly committed performances in all of them, once again this one afforded him the meatiest characterization. Having said that, it makes for a good transition between SOMETHING CREEPING IN THE DARK (1971) and SO SWEET, SO DEAD (1972) – featuring elements from each, specifically the old dark house setting and a high sleaze factor respectively! The premise is simple enough, with heroine Bouchet insinuating herself into the Venetian household of renowned novelist Granger and his much younger wife Neri, in order (unbeknownst to them) to probe into the disappearance of their secretary – her colleague/flatmate/lover!; it transpires that the outwardly respectable wealthy couple leads a libertine existence, given to stag parties fuelled by drug-taking and the exhibition of snuff movies: starting to involve a dim-witted brute in their exploits, one day things turn sour and it is the secretary who gets the short end of the stick (no pun intended)! The local Police are aware of Bouchet's undercover 'mission' but, soon enough, she realizes that her employer is too – since the plot of his new novel begins to parallel the events that had taken place in the house and, more importantly, indicate what her own fate will be (a blackmailing servant is similarly gotten out of the way)! To further muddle the waters, Granger pretends to fall for Bouchet (thus getting a piece of the action himself for once!) – in fact, two of the film's highlights involve the depictions (via flashback confessions) of the former secretary's death and the disposing of the body; another – this time around a recollection by Bouchet – is a skinny-dipping episode (which goes a bit beyond that) involving her and the murdered girl, and yet one memorable sequence is the climax (planned to be a reprise of the secretary's unlucky demise, the tables are smoothly turned on the perpetrators: Bouchet had met the couple's unwitting associate during a chance but cringe-inducing encounter where he, a fisherman, had nonchalantly flayed a live eel in front of her and she even treated his injured finger!). As was often the case with the "Euro-Cult" style, one of the lasting ingredients here is Teo Usuelli's score which is versatile enough to suit the film's many changes of mood.

A twisted tale of control and seduction involving the lovely Greta (Barbara Bouchet) who is hired by a perverted writer Richard with an even more kinky wife, Rosalba. Greta however has a reason for being there as her friend/former lover Sally who happened to be the previous secretary hired and who has disappeared. On the way to discovering what happened to Sally, Greta has various adventures from being drugged and seduced by the bisexual wife in a wonderfully surreal, slow motion scene to almost getting swallowed up by quicksand whilst being "hunted" in the marshes. Interesting movie to say the least.

Barbara Bouchet is the highlight here. You can't take your eyes off her. She is an incredible lead.

The film is wonderfully shot. There are great locations and good atmosphere. There are some fun sequences with a bit of suspense.

However, the script is quite bad. The characters make impossibly stupid choices that go against their own motivations. The ending was also unbelievable with the plans of the villain appearing pretty dumb.

There is more sex/nudity here than the average giallo.

At the end of the day, this is a nice movie to look at if you turn your mind off and go for a ride, but the unbelievable character decisions/reactions keep this from being a truly good film.

I'm a big fan of the Italian thriller, commonly known as 'Giallo', but I've found that truly great ones aren't that common, which makes it all the more sweet when you do find that illusive masterpiece - and that is a term that can definitely be attributed to this film! Amuck isn't about a ruthless, black-gloved murderer or a police investigation; it's a film about mystery and the sexual tension between its protagonists. The film is a lot like the brilliant Sergio Martino film, 'Your Vice is a Locked Door...' so anyone who's seen that will almost know what to expect. While Martino's film is the most polished of the pair; Amadio's is far sexier. The film features the typical labyrinth plot, although it's all kept together nicely and despite lots of interfering emotions; Amuck always flows well. The film follow Greta, a young woman who takes a job as a secretary for a successful writer as his house is the last place her former lover; the beautiful Sally (oh yes) was last seen. While there, she is introduced to the stunning Eleanora and it soon becomes evident that all is not as it seems...

This film features a number of standout scenes; from the marshland shooting, to the enacting of the writer's book, all the way down to the superb ending - but the scene that this film will be best remembered for is without doubt the seduction scene between the two female leads. Lesbian sex is only good in films if it's done right, otherwise it looks like a silly attempt to sell the movie; so I'm pleased to say that Silvio Amadio's scene is definitely done right. The two leads are stunning in different ways; we've got Barbara Bouchet, the wide-eyed, innocent blonde girl - and Rosalba Neri, the cerebral seductress, and the sequence that sees them pair up is directed with just the right amount of eroticism to ensure that it's electric on screen. The way that the plot plays out otherwise is very relaxed and nicely fits the beautiful Venetian settings in which the film takes place. The score by Teo Usuelli is haunting and sexy in the right places, and what the film lacks in suspense is made up for by intrigue emanating from the sexual tension of the lead characters. Overall, this might not do much for those who like their Giallo's tense and ultra-violent, but if you want a seductive, tightly-wound little flick; Amuck is one the best!

While labeled as a grindhouse movie, there is not that much wrong with "Amuck". For it's time it's decently acted, filmed and edited. It also isn't shy on showing nudity which I leave to you to decide is that good or bad. However, as a thriller, other than it's OK premise and some creepy atmosphere greatly achieved by decent use of music, "Amuck" fails to be either thrilling or entertaining to make it a good movie. Problem is that our heroine is very bland and she is seldom in real danger. All in all, "Amuck" is passable, sure, and it stands out from sloppily made exploitation movies from those times, but other than that, "Amuck" is just something for genre fans. It's far from the worst thing to watch, but it's also far from something you just have to watch before you die. 6.5/10!

This thing ... Much better titled "Hot Bed of Sex" than anything is championed along with Amadio's other effort "Smile before Death" and the truly awful "Top Sensation" as prime giallos ... Well they aren't ... They really are just very lame sex films that the director hangs a thriller plot on to try and grab both audiences ... Unfortunately neither Amadio nor Allessi could pull off a second of tension if their lives depended on it ... There is no style ... No ingenious deaths ... The sort of plot twists that you see coming from a mile off ... And basically these films are just bad OK Rosalba gets her kit off as usual ... But so what ... A bad film is a bad film and these are just limp badly directed fodder that was thrown out by the bucketload A great giallo is a great film full stop ... So just because this aims for the same genre and has a bit of skin in it, don't hype it up guys ... Its Dross

'Amuck' is a stylish and erotic Giallo thriller with a simple yet effective storyline that creates some genuinely suspenseful moments and brimming with sexual tension, all of which is bathed in a stunning yet hypnotic dreamlike atmosphere. The pace could have done with a little tightening, but there's enough on display for even the most avid fans of the genre.

The plot centres around Greta Franklin (Barbara Bouchet) who takes a new job as a secretary to novelist Richard Stuart (Farley Granger) on a secluded island with his wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri). But Greta's really to investigate the disappearance of her friend who also worked for the couple and soon enough Greta finds herself the target of the couple's erotic desires and quite possibly her life's in danger.

The movie is a hell of a lot of fun with excellent direction and great writing both by Silvio Amadio who creates a compelling narrative and infuses the flick with fantastic energy especially in the tasteful seductive scenes without coming across as trashy as well as putting in plenty of red herrings and twists and turns to keep the momentum going. The movie isn't perfect by any means as there's a few dull moments here and there and the climax could have been a lot less predictable, but the fantastic cast more than makes up for the movie's short comings.

The performances are fantastic here with Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri providing engaging performances with excellent chemistry together and totally stealing the show. Farley Granger also provides a solid performance as the male lead, but he's totally overshadowed by the female leads.

Overall 'Amuck' is a steamy seductive thriller with plenty of style and entertainment and a firm highlight of the Giallo genre.

Amuck! is a great title, but this is a movie that has a ton of great other titles –Alla ricerca del piacere (In Pursuit of Pleasure), Maniac Mansion, Leather and Whips and Hot Bed of Sex were also used and the working titles were Replica de un delitto (Repetition of a Crime) and Il passo dell'assassino(Footsteps of the Killer). No matter what name you give it, this is one dark little film.

Greta (Barbara Bouchet, who next to Edwige Fenech could be considered the queen of the giallo thanks to turns in Don't Torture a Duckling and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times ) is an American abroad, working as the secretary to Richard Stuart (Farley Granger, So Sweet, So Dead and What Have They Done to Your Daughters?).

Along with his wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri, Lady Frankenstein), the writer lives in comfort on his own island. Their past secretary, Sally, disappeared without a trace. However, Richard and Eleanora don't know Greta's reason for joining them — the missing girl was her lover, a fact we find out via a flashback lovemaking scene that is artful, if stilted, awkward and the way that men would assume women would couple (staring at one another and attempting to kiss, then going to sleep). Indeed, it feels like the fever addled wet dream of a maniac, which pretty much sums up what giallo can be at times.

The more Greta gets close, the more sex, drugs and violence is unearthed. The Stuarts often hold sex parties in their palatial home. Oh yeah — Eleanora has ESP, seeing Great's death, screaming about it while in a fit of prophecy.

Indeed, death begins to follow our heroine. The next day, a hunting trip turns into a brush with quicksand, that most evil of all movie doom.

Richard reveals that Eleanora fascinates him because of her duplicitous nature and he is falling in love with Greta because of how honest she is. He then reveals the accident that claimed Sally's life in a flashback: Eleanora watches Rocco through her hunting scope before inviting him to a rendezvous with her and Sally. They both dance for him in a series of druggy jump cuts — perhaps the film's most assured scene. After making love to Eleanora, the fisherman kisses Sally tenderly before losing control, which is shown by how the film speeds up, like the Keystone Kops. He ends up choking Sally to death while Eleanora watches, powerless to stop him.

Richard and Greta end up making love later that night during a storm. Eleanora watches through the doorway before looking directly at the camera, as if she is sad yet not surprised.

This giallo is probably most famous for the slow-motion lesbian sex scene between Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri near the beginning. That scene is certainly impressive (as you might imagine if you have ever seen either of these two actresses in action), but it shouldn't overshadow what a well-made, classic giallo this is. It has everything fans of gialli love--great visuals and setting, pulse-pounding suspense, sordid and perverse characters, truly surprising plot twists, and a great musical score and soundtrack. Farley Granger is wonderful, going convincingly from evil to sympathetic and back again. Bouchet and Neri are also both very good, particularly the latter. Neri is justifiably famous for her beauty (and her frequent nude scenes). She had plenty of competition in that respect when it came to gialli--Bouchet,Edwige Fenech, Nieves Navarro, Ewe Aulin to name a few--but she had no close rival when it came to sheer acting talent. This is definitely her best role, better even than "Lady Frankenstein". To get an idea of how impressive this film is try watching it back to back with one of those terrible "erotic thrillers" they make these days. How did we get from wonderfully sexy gialli like this to that dreck?

The Eurovision DVD has recent interviews with both actresses (who look about the same even though they must be close to sixty by now). They both speak English (Bouchet quite fluently)and reveal some interesting tidbits. The director of this film Silvio Amado, according to Bouchet, dropped out of sight after an unrequited love affair with actress Gloria Guida (the Italian Lolita of the era). I have actually seen a second-rate melodrama Amado made with Guida a few years later, which is why I was genuinely surprised with the talent he shows here. It's truly a misfortune that he didn't stick around to do more films like this. A true classic of the genre

Gorgeous young American secretary Greta (Barbara Bouchet) accepts a job with successful and charismatic author Richard Stuart (Farley Granger) in order to find out what has happened to her close friend Sally (Patrizia Viotti), who has mysteriously disappeared while in the writer's employ; to get to the truth, Greta must become a participant in the hedonistic lifestyle enjoyed by Richard and his beautiful wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri) and ultimately risk her life in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

With stars as stunning as Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri, neither of whom mind shedding their clothes when called upon, a strong story wouldn't be much of a priority to many, but to his credit, writer/director Silvio Amadio still bothers to weave a pretty good tale amidst all of his film's eroticism and debauchery, creating a neat little mystery that offers up several well executed scenes of suspense, excellent location work in the waterways of Venice and the surrounding marshlands, an atmospheric score (which utilises a theremin to add extra eeriness), and just a smidgen of gore.

Nail-biting highlights include Greta's search of the Stuarts' cellar and a duck hunt that goes horribly wrong for our heroine, but the most memorable moment for me (as I imagine it will be for most men) has got to be Bouchet and Neri's amazingly hot, slow-motion, lesbian sex scene, which is more than worthy of a rewind or two.

Farley Granger leading role as women's seductor took the picture a distrust at least, totally miscasting to the role for obvius reason, Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri were the highlights in fine sexy scenes, even the screenplay has a overdose of female relationship instead with opposite manner, certainly was an intent of Silvio Amadio who implied such direction, the swamp nearby Venece is also beautiful landscape which adds too much to increase interest for the movie that spent so much time almost in a castle, the final is easily predicable, however worth spend some money to see those gorgeous girls like Bouchet and Neri in a few nudes shots!!

Resume: First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.25

At the dawn of the Seventies, once famous actor Farley Granger had gone slightly bananas, if not completely bonkers. Since he recalled that he had starred in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece Senso in 1954, he returned to Italy to work with the new giants of cannelloni cinema, among them Roman director Silvio Amadio. And indeed, in Alla ricerca del piacere a.k.a. Amuck! erotomaniac Amadio pulls off some quite avantgarde stunts, among them the most static, unfrigginbelievably dull lesbian slo-mo "sex" scene of movie history; he even manages to make giallo princess Barbara Bouchet, almost always a surefire winner when it comes to sensual surplus (see Milano calibro 9 or Quelli che contano), look like a Czech shoe stretcher. Farley Granger himself delivers his lines like a speaking soda machine, obviously hypnotized by Teo Usuelli's mangy porn loop soundtrack, but later, much later he would remember the whispered words Luchino Visconti once had confided to him on a flight to Madrid: "Trust me, Farlito. There's certain bull you can't take by the horns."

Probably one of the harder to find horror films from Italy, that is actually worth seeking out. I wasn't expecting too much from this film. I usually go by the idea that when a film has drawn artwork for a cover there is usually not to much substance to the film. And from reading the back of the film it sounds like any other, "girl's friend is missing, girl searches for friend from last place she was, these people are strange, girl ends up like friend, or something like that.

This however has to be the absolute exception to the rule. The ladies are all beautifully stunning and not a bit shy. The plot twists to the point that you are as uncertain as the heroine what exactly is real and what exactly happened, is happening, very disarming. An intelligent horror/mystery film. Convincing acting all around, suspense, psychological drama, some gore and lots and lots of nudity and sex that just never seems to end. Considered by some as euro-sleeze due to the nudity, and it does fit the catagory easily but I find that if gore or nudity are pertinent to the plot they are welcomed, gratuitous this is not. The seduction scene between Grete (Barbara Bouchet) and Eleanora (Rosalba Neri) will most likely be enblazed in my memory till I die. Hard to explain. The scene is erotica with a twist. The cinematography is great throughout but superb during this scene.

An intelligent story that turns out to be different than I expected and I have watched alot of horror films great and small. Recommended if you want something far different than the down to the last teenager horror flic I was impressed.

Amuck! Is the kind of low-grade, juvenile Giallo that appeals to sex crazed incels and teenaged boys. While some subtle erotica is fine, this one needlessly piles on the soft core porn with two different assault scenes on top of that, so trigger warning is advised.

There is a mystery but it isn't very interesting or even twisty. Bouchet's character is stupid and takes absurd risks - your typical prototype for later slasher flicks in the U. S. No one in their right mind would have continued hanging around, and certainly wouldn't do a 180 and start trusting the suspects.

I am however giving it a five because it is very good-looking, filmed in Venice, with a great estate house and lovely furnishings.

"Amuck" (Alla Ricerca del Piacere) tells the story of a young girl Greta (Barbara Bouchet) who goes to work as a secretary for an American writer, Richard Stewart (Farley Granger). Richard Stewart lives with his wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri) in a palazzo in Venice. Greta wants to investigate what happened to her friend Sally, that disappeared leaving no traces, while working for Stewart. The police in Venice have no clues about what happened. The couple involve Greta in psychological and sexual games, but if Greta's suspicions are right she may be playing a very dangerous game.

"Alla Ricerca del Piacere" is thrilling and sensuous at the same time. The lesbian scenes played by Rosalba Neri and Barbara Bouchet are fantastic. Throughout the whole film an atmosphere of ambiguity prevails. Relations grow and seem to fade, threats hover around and nothing is sure. There are other characters in the film: A silent butler, always present when one least expects and who seems to have a thousand eyes; and a gigantic and menacing fisherman who is their neighbor and is always walking around.

Sally, Greta's missing friend, (Patrizia Viotti) appears is some flashbacks. In one scene she is bathing under a waterfall with Greta. Both are naked (of course!), embracing themselves, kissing and laughing a lot. They seem very happy! In another flashback, Sally is dancing and seducing - a scene that reminded me of an old song that said; "don't play with me cause you're playing with fire". The scene is fabulous. Patrizia Viotti should have had her place among the giallo female stars, but some years later she disappeared from the screen.

This film is a small gem, but it's hard to find it in DVD. My DVD is from "Eurovista - Digital Entertainment". The DVD seems to have been copied from a VHS tape - it is not what one would call a good quality DVD, but still it is watchable (if you care about the film and not about technicalities).

A good, weird and suspenseful story plus very sexy actresses. And there's Venice too. Everything is allowed under the venetian skies. What more do you want? So don't look back and go for it.

Bouchet and Neri sans clothes. At the same time, in the same bed, and in slow motion should be sufficient to recommend this film but if we need to further elaborate, 'Amuck' (aka 'Maniac Mansion') features an attractive cast of genre veterans, classy set design, and a reasonably taut plot that doesn't waste time on pace-defying melodrama.

Farley Granger stars as the suspicious employer whom with sultry, smoky-eyed spouse Neri likes to indulge in swingers parties where erotic home movies only add to the suspicious disappearance of an earlier secretary with whom Bouchet was once friends, and now hopes to uncover the missing girl's whereabouts.

Suspenseful, febrile erotic thriller is economical and intelligently constructed with some effective moments, amongst them, the duck hunt where Neri gets to show her sinister side, whilst leggy Bouchet manages to keep her eyelashes and makeup immaculate despite her soggy brush with death.

Like all good giallo, there's red herrings and gaslighting games, and it holds together pretty well until the last act. No major surprises, but it's still fun while it lasts, with plenty of skin, a dash of Chianti and the aforementioned Bouchet-Neri tryst that for some audiences will be the jewel in this giallo crown.