Nue pour l'assassin

Very watchable giallo, which as the English title suggests, wallows in nudity and sex (much of it with a seeming wink to the audience). Stylistically and plot-wise, it's pretty much giallo-by-numbers, with the expected camera and editing flourishes and some fairly good suspense. There are plenty of point-of-view shots of the heavy-breathing masked killer, shock cuts, lots of red herrings and obscure motivations, etc. However, it's the outrageous political incorrectness of it all that separates this one from the mainstream -- the male characters are all cranky and abusive and the females are eager to shed their duds in response. Certainly a must-see for Edwige Fenech fans, and the fade-out is unbelievably tacky, right out of one of those low-humour Italian comedies. There's also fine score, a mixture of funky Bitches-Brew jazz and woo-woo lounge stylings, which helps bridge the suspense scenes.

This is. Basically a excuse for soft porn via the odd murder. Or red paint over a naked woman. It's actually quite funny in parts and has all that 1970's classic funky music and quite fair cinematography, isn't at all bad, but don't expect a classic horror film here, but good looking girls getting into trouble with a photographer and funny dubbed U.K. voices from Italian.

The sleazy giallo picture here known as "Strip Nude for Your Killer" (1975) is misleadingly titled (no victim of the crazed killer is ever forced to strip; they're usually 3/4 naked to begin with!) but still manages to convey the film's two main selling points--sex and violence, dished out in fairly equal measure. The movie might more accurately have been called "Who's Been Killing the Entire Staff at Milan's Albatross Modeling Agency?" All we know for sure is that it's a leather-clad figure with a biker's helmet, a Darth Vader-like respiration problem, and a fondness for knife slaying. For the ladies in the audience, the picture features Nino Castelnuovo, so fondly remembered from 1964's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," still looking hunky here and sporting a perfectly round butt; and for the men, another exquisite appearance from the Queen of Giallo, Edwige Fenech, short-haired here but still quite dee-lish. "Strip Nude" has been directed in a nonstylish, nonflashy manner by Andrea Bianchi. Its plot does hang together, despite the seemingly unavoidable red herrings, though the killer's motivation ultimately proves to be unconvincing (don't even try guessing who the killer is!). There are any number of genuinely suspenseful scenes, though, and the soundtrack, by one Berto Pisano, effectively mixes Euro lounge jazz with a funky theme that suggests the Temps' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Of the half dozen or so Edwige Fenech giallos that I've seen recently, this one is by far the bloodiest and sleaziest (just wait till you see the 300+-lb. guy with his blow-up doll!), but still nothing compared to what filmmakers get away with today. The folks at Blue Underground should be thanked for a fine-looking DVD of a true Italian rarity; still, I'd be thanking them more had they supplied some subtitles rather than the lousy dubbing. And oh...was it just my imagination, or was that indeed an anal sex joke that Nino pulls on Edwige at the film's tail end?

I have to admit this movie delivers exactly what it promises--any number of attractive women (and at least one VERY unattractive man) stripping nude for their killer. The featured actress here is Edwige Fenech, and just as in every one her other movies, you pretty much know she is going to strip nude for somebody. She is actually outdone here, however, by the voluptuous Femi Benussi who has only about ten minutes of screen time but spends at least seven minutes of it completely nude and another two and a half squeezed into an ill-fitting bikini.

As other reviewers have noted this movie is pretty politically incorrect which, depending on your temperament, you will either find offensive or ironically amusing. The woman pretty much fall into three categories: dumb, slutty, and dumb AND slutty. Edwige Fenech's character is strangely unperturbed after her lover grabs her by the throat when she implies he might be connected to one of the murder victims. Femi Benussi's character hilariously hops into bed with both men and women literally minutes after meeting them. Another woman stops a guy from raping her by willingly agreeing to have sex with him, then when he gets a little too, um, excited she turns down money he offers for services he was unable to render. The movie has the same tawdry revenge-for-an-abortion-gone-wrong theme of "What Have You Done to Solange?" but the murder victims are adults rather than schoolgirls and the murders themselves are slightly less tasteless. Still this movie sure seems a lot more sleazy than the earlier film because it is not nearly as well acted or directed. Bottom-of-the-barrel gialli like this and the similar "So Sweet, So Dead" manage to be sleazy, moralistic, and of course hypocritical all at the same time. Maybe that's why I enjoy them so much.

While "Nude per l'assassino" aka. "Strip Nude For Your Killer" of 1975 is quite far away from being a Giallo-highlight it is definitely a film that any lover of Italian Horror should enjoy, and that is especially recommended to all the friends of the sleazier kind of Giallo. Director Andrea Bianchi, who is probably best known for his gory Zombie flick "Le Notti Del Terrore" (aka. "Burial Ground") of 1981, sure knows how to create some wonderful sleaze, and "Strip Nude For Your Killer" is as wonderfully sleazy as it gets.

Sexy young models, all with exhibitionist tendencies, as well as the other employees of a fashion agency, are targeted by an insane killer. Nothing quite new in the Giallo-genre, of course, but director Bianchi truly delivers with tons of female nudity, delightful perversions and genuine nastiness in this one. The female cast-members, all of which have a tendency to get naked at every occasion, include genre-queen Edwige Fenech, this time with short hair, and ravishing and great as always. Apart from the wonderful Mrs. Fenech, easily the Nr. 1 siren of 70s Eurosleaze, the cast also includes the stunningly beautiful Femi Benussi, who moved her curves through all kinds of Italian cult flicks, such as Mario Bava's "Hatchet for the Honeymoon", Fernando Di Leo's "Manhunt", Luigi Cozzi's "The Killer Must Kill Again" or the strangely amusing Kung-Fu-Western "The Stranger And The Gunfighter" starring Lee Van Cleef. Apart from loads of sleaze the film includes several violent killings, several comical moments, as well as a typically great Giallo atmosphere with a stylish photography and cool score. Overall, "Strip Nude For Your Killer" is probably no must-see, but it is doubtlessly a treat for my fellow Giallo-fans, especially to those who like their Gialli sleazy. Highly recommended!