Torso

'Enter, if you dare, the wickedly warped world of the psycho-sexual mind'...Murder-Maestro, Sergio Martino's gruesomely gaudy, gleefully gut-gashing, alpha dog, Giallo, 'Torso!' Witness blissfully boorish, blithely bodacious blood spillage for maximum, midnight movie thrill-age! Be positively tumescent from plentifully-exposed plethora of tip-top 70s Boobage! All this triumphantly titillating, blood-spattered tit-bits and magnificently murderous, maniacally macabre mayhem makes for an especially bellicose, knock-out haymaker to any horror-loving nut! 'Torso' is one salaciously sleazy, serial-thrilling, magisterial-arterial, B-movie masterpiece with a higher body count than medical deviate, Harold Shipman!

Nothing worse than a whodunit where the killer only appears in a very early scene therefore providing no real motive until a convenient flashback in the last few minutes of the film. Poor poor poor

This is by far one of the best Slasher/Giallos I've seen outside an Argento or Mario Bava effort. Its lethargic but never tedious, full of suspense and has some genuine edge-of-the-seat moments. There is a highly intense scene where the beautiful Suzy Kendall must hide from the killer while he dismembers three of her friends. The plot is simple but there are plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing. There is a very eye-catching female cast and the acting is pretty good. The only down side is the mediocre special FX. But this can be forgiven as the story is so good.

This is a brilliant and massively underrated italian slasher and is definitely up there the best horror films such as "Halloween" and and "Psycho" for pure creepiness, it is also a brilliant stalk and slash style horror movie and probably of the best of that kind, its also really clever how you get to know who the killer is in the end and how surprising it is!!

Absolute tripe, couldn't sit through more than 20 minutes.

very good. product as described and delivered quickly.

Correct sending of this classic giallo-movie, Very recommendable and entertaining !

I have to admit that I was somewhat put off by the title of this one. If that sounds somewhat dismissive, it is mean to. Titles like this were meant to capture the unadventurous imaginations of a jaded public who would rather indulge Hollywood's latest trite outpourings than take the chance on a little, otherwise unheard of film lurking on the bottom shelf of their local video rental store. In addition, Shameless Video, all too aware of this, have done their best to take us back to those heady times, of standing round in crowded, smoky rooms staring at row upon row of uncertified films, by presenting Torso with a particularly lurid cover and citing the by-line "Where whores meet saws". The fact that the original Italian title is hidden in the small print only confirms their commitment to its one-time-notorious video nasty status. On the other hand, the fact that the Italian title, I Corpi Presentano Tracce Di Violenza Carnale, translates as "bodies bear traces of carnal violence" means that they needn't have gone to so much trouble.At its heart, Torso is classic giallo, no more and no less. The basic premise is of a killer with a damaged childhood killing off women and men (just for a change) in a variety of gruesome ways for reasons that are disclosed in the film's closing minutes. No surprises there then. However, what lifts this particular giallo out of the mire, if not to the dizzy heights occupied by the likes of Blood and Black Lace and Tenebrae, is solid direction from Sergio Martino and the ingenious editing skills of Eugenio Alabiso. Together, they have conspired to create a cracking thriller that moves from admittedly sketchy early scenes to a tense trapped-in-a-chateau final that would have tickled Hitchcock.There are the usual shortcomings, of course. The acting is mostly functional. This is hardly a surprise considering the characters are little more than a parade of victims and red herrings. Still, since I mentioned Hitchcock, you could hardly call the likes of Lila Crane and Sam Loomis three-dimensional creations. The special effects leave a lot to be desired, too. Rubber heads are crushed in close up and latex limbs are sawn off with little realism. Taking into account the limited number of special effects technicians working in Italy at this time (the days of the great Sergio Stivalletti were still some eight years away), the parade of crude effects can easily be forgiven.I know it seems that I am now running off a set of excuses for the film's various shortcomings, and, yes, I could go on... But if you are reading this review, chances are that you probably have a penchant for low budget horror and know what to expect. So do yourself a favour and check out this satisfying entry in the great giallo tradition. If nothing else, you can be assured of a more entertaining time than with Hollywood's recent disappointing efforts.