Excellent Debut Giallo From Sergio Martino

EVOL666

I tend to "genre-jump" a lot when it comes to horror/exploitation film, typically watching several from each sub-genre (slasher,zombie, giallo, "extreme" gore, exploitation/sexploitation, Japanese "pinky" films, etc...) and then jumping to my next "style" of interest. My goal now is to go back and try to fill in the holes of the films I should have seen and haven't. The works of Sergio Martino definitely fall into that category. Having watched several Argento and Bava (along with a small handful of others...) giallos, this is a sub-genre that I've been interested to revisit for some time, and I'm glad I have...

THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH is a top-notch giallo that has all the twists, turns, and surprises that any genre fan comes to expect. This one centers around an Ambassador's wife who begins receiving threatening messages. Turns out that Mrs. Wardh is a bit of a freak, and likes rough sex and is turned on by blood. At the same time a killer that may or may not be the same person who is stalking Mrs. Wardh is on the loose and hacking up some girls also. The list of "suspects" include Mrs. Wardh's husband, a lover from her past, and a current lover that she's taken while in Italy, or possibly just the random guy that's slashing up Italy's female population - or is our slasher one of the other men??? The requisite "red herrings" throw us for a few loops before the end, which turns out to be quite surprising and satisfying...

I would say that THE STRANGE VICE is definitely essential viewing for any giallo fan. The acting, sets and settings, plot, and "twists" are all very well done. Mrs. Wardh and a few of the other ladies on display in this one are smokin' hot, and one of my only minor gripes is that they don't get nekkid more than they do - but don't worry - there's definitely some decent titty-action going on here. I also thought the violence could have been a little stronger, but these small "disappointments" don't drop much in the way of points for this excellent film. Definitely Recommended 8.5/10

score 8/10

EVOL666 13 February 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1291413/