(1966)
Overall: MEH
Umberto Lenzi's fumetti neri adaptation Kriminal bounces around between multiple locales as the title thief dresses in a black and off-white skeleton costume, beds a few women, and is one-step ahead of both the police and the competition in acquiring Buddha statues that hide a map to where rare paintings are hidden. Though more light on its feet in tone than the comic series that was created by Max Bunker and Roberto Raviola, (the same creative team behind Satanik, which was brought to the big screen in 1968 by director Piero Vivarelli), Lenzi's interpretation still features the character's misogynistic penchant for sleeping with and then brutally strangling sexy women in order to keep his identity safe. The bouncing musical score by Romano Mussolini, exotic shooting locations, convoluted chase plot, and smirking persona by an otherwise wooden Roel Bos/Glenn Saxson in the lead give it the look and feel of a fast and loose spy movie, even if it ends up being a dull ordeal in the end. Characters prattle on in place of exciting set pieces and nobody on screen possess any noteworthy personality traits, so for a lazy travel montage version of Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik, this does the trick.
(1969)
Overall: MEH
The domestic takeover thriller Orgasmo, (Paranoia, Une folle envie d'aimer), has some style and sleaze at its disposal, but its loose plotting never affords for the story to disturb. Actor Carroll Baker and director Umberto Lenzi join forces for the first of four collaborations, with Baker playing a newly widowed and wealthy socialite whose fling with a young manipulative American and his sister leads to the downfall of all parties involved. How Lou Castel and Colette Descombes manage to effortlessly integrate themselves into Baker's rented Italian villa is straightforward enough as it all begins as a swinging bohemian affair of free love and celebratory excess. The dial that cranks it into a hostage situation is clumsily turned though as the sibling's blackmail scheme seems to spring up out of nowhere and Baker rapidly loses her mind while playing along with her entrapment. The finale is laughable, as if Lenzi and his fellow screenwriters backed themselves into a corner and just said, "Well how about THIS happens then?"; ending the whole thing on a random note which simply refuses to let anyone sail into the sunset. Granted there is no one to root for, (Baker's character is too aloof and underwritten, while Castel and Descombes just come off as soulless brats), but at least Lenzi and cinematographer Guglielmo Mancor keep the camera moving in an attempt to liven things up.
(1969)
Overall: MEH
Competent yet unremarkable, So Sweet...So Perverse, (Così dolce... così perversa), continues the partnership of director Umberto Lenzi and American star Carroll Baker in another backstabbing infidelity giallo. Besides a knock-out brawl between Jean-Louis Trintignant and Horst Frank, (plus the standard component of women getting smacked around at the whim of the men in their life), all other violence is scaled back as only two murders take place and the camera cuts away from gratuitous bloodshed. The same goes for the nudity, though Baker and frequent Italian scream queen Erika Blanc each give their birthday suites a twirl, yet such moments hardly take up enough screen time to warrant this as a particularly seedy enterprise. Ernesto Gastaldi's screenplay does nothing new with the genre, pitting a small group of characters against each other, all of whom seem to be in varying cahoots depending on what plot twist has yet to be revealed. In this respect, none of them are likeable and all are proven to be untrustworthy, but at least the story avoids the dreadfully stale predicament of revolving around police inspector's repetitive inquiries. It is still a game of "Who's playing who" that builds itself up to an unavoidably lackluster finale, but the pacing is agreeable for once and Lenzi manages to squeeze some suspense out of the proceedings.
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