Customer Reviews

Torso

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

TORSO [I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carnale] (Italy 1973): Following the murder of several classmates by a frenzied sex-killer, a group of female students retire to an isolated villa until police have apprehended a viable suspect. But the maniac is wise to their deception, and he/she follows them...

This stylish, gripping giallo-thriller - the equal of anything directed by Dario Argento at the time - was co-written by veteran scribe Ernesto Gastaldi and director Sergio Martino, the latter a journeyman technician whose commercial ethos catapulted him from one genre to another within the dictates of Italian popular cinema (cf. BLADE OF THE RIPPER, THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS, SEX WITH A SMILE, etc.). Despite bland performances from an unremarkable cast (including Euro stalwarts Suzy Kendall [THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE], John Richardson [THE MASK OF SATAN] and Luc Merenda [THEY CALLED HIM AMEN]), and some pretty obvious red herrings amongst the supporting players, TORSO is augmented by a number of beautifully crafted set-pieces (most notably the stalking of a young woman [Cristina Airoldi] through desolate marshland by the masked maniac), photographed with stunning visual flair by Martino's regular DP Giancarlo Ferrando (THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL) and edited to perfection by Eugenio Alabiso (MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD). The second half of the movie, during which Kendall becomes enmeshed in a nightmarish situation at a remote but picturesque country villa, is genuinely nerve-racking, staged with cat-and-mouse efficiency by Martino at his most inspired. Spiced with audience-pleasing elements of sex and violence which tested the limits of censorship in 1973, TORSO is a minor gem. Produced by Carlo Ponti, previously responsible for the likes of WAR AND PEACE (1956) and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO!

Sadly, despite Anchor Bay's bold attempts to compile an uncut version of the film, their print is incomplete. According to 'Video Watchdog' magazine, about a minute's worth of footage is missing from a minor scene at the beginning of the film, which is slightly re-edited from the original. All the nudity is intact, however, along with some brief glimpses of fake-looking gore. Some of the material in the English-language version - never intended for audiences outisde Italy - is presented in Italian with English subtitles, and while Anchor Bay has provided an alternate version in Italian throughout, they've rendered it completely worthless by failing to offer subtitles for the rest of the film! A couple of trailers are included.

NB. Viewers are warned that the disc contains an insert which replicates an Italian lobby card, where the killer's identity is made plainly obvious. So, try not to look at it when you first open the casing!!

91m 30s
1.85:1 / Anamorphically enhanced
Mono 2.0
Optical mono [theatrical]
Separate English (dubbed) and Italian (original) soundtracks
No captions or subtitles
All regions

I've seen many of Martino's movies and I can say he's one of the best directors of Italian Gialli in the 60's and 70's. TORSO is an elegant Giallo with basically all of the main features of the genre: a psycopath who stabs (and not only...) young screaming, beautiful girls, black gloves, raincoats and masks, a desolated villa, suspence, blood and whatsoever...The final solution is maybe not as original as the explanation of a child thrauma which has puzzled the killer's mind forever.
ABE presents this movie totally uncut in Widescreen 1.85:1 enhanced for 16x9 TV with both Italian and English mono audio tracks (Some of the English soundtrack was either never recorded or lost and therefore some whole or parts of scenes are in Italian with English subtitles). Unfortunately, the only extra features available are two mesmerizing trailers, but the menus are a sight for sore eyes. It's worth it.

Torso is a great representation of what was going on with the Italian giallo scene in the early seventies. A great looking, very slick piece that is superbly suspensful. You can't go wrong having this one in your collection. If you dig Italian horror and suspense, this is a must. If you look in any of the Italian horror film guides, like Spagehtti Nightmares, this is mentioned. Although Martino didn't do a whole lot of films, this one certainly stands out. The killer and his outfit are especially creepy. Fans of this will also like Aldo Lado's Who Saw Her Die? also an excellent piece. THis is a great print of this movie and shouldn't be missed.

This DVD was highly recommended to me by several horror/giallo fans. After watching it for myself, I was very much let down. Basically, there's some guy going around killing people, and unfortunately, some of the effects make Herschell Gordon Lewis look like George Lucas. Fortunately, the guys in the audience can gape at the abundance of naked women running around on screen, and then they'll scream in disgust when they realize that Suzy Kendall remains clothed the entire time.

Director and co-screenplay writer Sergio Martino develops a loosely interesting mystery through the films course. However, after the first half-hour everything about Torso becomes tediously redundant and stale, and the murder scenes do not succeed in creating any horrific element at all (one scene, where the killer is chasing a witness through the city streets, is actually very effective, though). Redeeming the film somewhat, Torso does have some terrific performances and cinematography coutesy of veteran Giancarlo Ferrando.

Aside from the film, this Anchor Bay release lacks extras aside from two trailers. It also contains scenes where no English translation is present, making the switch from English to Italian at the drop-of-a-hat slightly frustrating (the same problem occurs in the Anchor Bay version of Argento's brilliant Deep Red). Overall, I don't recommend this one.

Torso is a great depiction of the better side of italian cinema. There are a lot of really good italian horror/slasher films and a lot of bad ones. This is a great example of a very good one. This film has everything you could ask for in a movie like this: Great violence scenes, nudity with very good looking italian women, good plot line and some stylish camera work to boot. Torso is relatively the same film as a movie called "Pieces" but this film is much much better. The dubbing can of course get a little annoying but honestly, the movie was so good that after about 15 minutes I barely noticed it.

Overall, very stylish italian horror from the 70's. Pick this one up...it's a keeper.

Fans of spaghetti splatterfests beware- this is in no way a gore film. The title "torso" implies dismemberment; it implies bodies being cut apart with chainsaws, it implies axes and hacksaws and parts of the body that make squishy sounds. While there is one scene where there are bodies being dismembered, (off camera), this film does little to teach us about the human anatomy. That being said, this film does deliver in the "it's 2 o' clock in the morning, i can't sleep, let's watch something completely jacked up" aspect. There are many of the fine staples that make a great midnight movie: unintentional humor, long stretches of time with no dialogue, and somewhat eerily confusing plot points which add to your already disoriented mind state. Guzzle some cold medicine, keep yourself awake until 2:00, then pop this into your VCR.

From the same director who gave us Slave of the Cannibal God comes Torso. Sergio Martino was a prolific Italian writer/director helming over fifty movies in his career, most of them sexy romps or bloody thrillers.

The plot here is simple: there's a killer stalking a college in Rome, leaving mutilated bodies of coeds all over the campus. The police are stumped, of course. Fearing for their safety, four girls head off to the hills for a carefree weekend, but they run head-on into the killer, who has followed them, and the grisly murders continue, until...

As in Slave of the Cannibal God, this movie drips gore. It's a pretty good entry in the slasher genre. The image quality is fair to good. The only bonus features are two different trailers. But if you like bare babes and blood, you'll like this DVD!

In addition to some great atmosphere and location, director Sergio Martino adds touches of voyeurism and fetishism to elevate his horror / giallo to minor classic status ... The result is TORSO, a murder-mystery that, while not groundbraking, is highly enjoyable and visually exciting ... There are sequences in this film that are outstanding, particularly a sexy mud-soaked chase through the woods, and a wonderful dialog-free span in the final reel ... During that time, the lone ( injured ) survivor of a group of women candidly watches as the masked killer dismembers and disposes of the victims ... Very creepy, and recalls the feel of Hitchcock's FRENZY or DePalma's DRESSED TO KILL ... Not quite up to the level of something like Argento's DEEP RED, however, with it's ulta-sexy cast and stylish camerawork, TORSO would be perfect on a doublebill with any of the aforementioned films ...

says the killer. which pretty much describes the modus operandi of TORSO, your average woman-slashing, daftly-scripted giallo. it's not a particularly good one--neither as outlandish or outstanding as some of its other '70s counterparts--but a definite must-see for the final reel, a masterpiece of staging suspense that will have Hitchcock rolling in his grave and Brian de Palma green with envy (which i'm sure he must have ripped off somewhere along the line).

the annoying thing about anchor bay's disc is the spurts of italian dialogue with english subtitles interspersed throughout the movie--it's kind of jarring. what they should have done is had english subtitles for the whole italian track (like on DEEP RED), so you get the option of watching either one. both the trailers are great though.

I have ordered a bunch of horror movies, and this is the only one I regret. The story is mundane, there's little suspense involved and the murders are so obviously faked it made me laugh. For instance, the killer grabs girls by the throat, and four seconds later they're dead! Also, the models of the victims' bodies or heads used are obviously faked too (I think they were stolen from a wax statue museum!). There are some beautiful women and nudity but nothing to write home about. You want to know what I prefered in the movie? Some exterior scenery and the musical theme, which is very cute! So, borrow that movie if you want but don't buy it.