BYLETH: THE DEMON OF INCEST (1972)
Dir - Leopoldo Savona
Overall: MEH
After a decade of mostly spaghetti Westerns under his belt, writer/director Leopoldo Savona switched gears to Italy's other chief cinematic export with the Gothic horror-tinged Byleth: The Demon of Incest, (Byleth (Il demone dell'incesto), Trio der Lust). One of many Italian films to feature American Mark Damon in the lead, he plays a deeply troubled man who has been madly in love with his own sister throughout his entire life, only to return home from a long journey to find her married. This naturally kicks in his psychosis where he either is possessed by or summons the demon of the title who wears a black cloak while riding a white horse and also murders women with a three-bladed sword. There is not much to the plot as we merely witness Damon sweat and go crazy as he struggles with his taboo temptations, leaving no mystery as to what is going on but a fair amount of confusion as to the specifics. Due to the small budget, the movie is of course heavy on the talking and low on the action, so Savona has nowhere to go in creating any type of fetching mood. Various cuts of the film exist with more or less nudity depending on which one you watch, but they all amount to a pretty lackluster experience.
THE GIRL IN ROOM 2A
(1974)
Dir - William Rose/Dick Randall
Overall: MEH
The last directorial effort from William Rose, (with further, uncredited work allegedly being done by fellow American producer Dick Randall, who had a career making exploitation films in various countries), The Girl in Room 2A, (La casa della paura, The House of Fear), is an uninspired giallo that is largely forgotten. Gianfranco Baldanello's script was based off of a story by Rose and it is a convoluted one involving organized crime, torture, and a cult headed by a guy in a red mask and robe. Daniela Giordano was no stranger to sensationalized material such as this, but her performance falls flat due to no fault of her own since the material that everyone is working with is so poorly thought out. Equally dull is Rose's direction which has none of the necessary flare to elevate what is by nature an over-the-top sub-genre. Cinematographers Mario Mancini and Giorgio Montagnani seem to be asleep at the wheel and the musical score is laughably out of place, particularly during the opening credits which feature a woman getting violently brutalized while the romantic score tenderly serenades over it. There are a couple of flashes of nudity and brutality, but they stick out awkwardly against the plodding, chatty plot whose mystery is ultimately solved with a combination of confusion and disinterest from the audience who most likely have already checked out long before.
NUDE PER L'ASSASSINO(1975)
Dir - Andrea Bianchi
Overall: MEH
Taking the giallo to comical heights, Andrea Bianchi's Nude per I'assassio, (Strip Nude for Your Killer),
pushes the genre's exploitative angles farther enough than most to
become a near-parody. Opening with a botched abortion, then a brutal
face-smashing murder, then a single take of possibly the most Italian
man ever berating an attractive woman around a hotel while literally
shoving a camera in her face while saying "Mama mia!" several dozen
times, the film has managed to pull off being tasteless, violent, and
hilariously objectifying towards women within less than fifteen
minutes. After that, the kill scenes are staggeringly drawn out for
maximum boredom instead of their intended suspense, (usually involving
the killer turning on water faucets as his soon-to-be-victims very, very
slowly walk around their apartment), and more preposterous moments
occur where women are sexually harassed and rape is made playful light
of. The film would be insulting if not for how shamelessly sleazy it
is, arriving at the peak of such Euro-trash that put butts in the seats
by maximizing the amount of naked women and sadism that was allowed.
Bianchi, screenwriter Massimo Felisatti, cinematographer Franco Delli
Colli, (who does in fact do some effective work here), and composer
Berto Pisano would all collaborate together on future works in a
similarly tacky vein, but giallo fans surely will not complain who love
the more ridiculous aspects of such movies as well as scream queen
Edwige Frenech having less clothes on than even usual.
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