Torso (1973 film)

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Torso
Italian film poster
Directed bySergio Martino
Screenplay by
Story bySergio Martino[1]
Produced byCarlo Ponti[2]
Starring
CinematographyGiancarlo Ferrando[1]
Edited byEugenio Alabiso[1]
Music byGuido De Angelis
Maurizio De Angelis[1]
Production
company
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion[1]
Distributed byInterfilm
Release date
  • 4 January 1973 (1973-01-04) (Italy)
CountryItaly[3]
LanguageItalian

Torso (Italian: I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale, lit. 'The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence', also released as Carnal Violence) is a 1973 Italian giallo film directed by Sergio Martino, produced by Carlo Ponti, and starring Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, and John Richardson. Martino’s fifth gialli, the film centers on a string of brutal murders of young female students at an international college in Perugia. Several critics describe it as one of the earliest examples of a slasher film.[4]

Plot

In

lipstick lesbians) to stay with her at her family's remote country villa in Tagliacozzo
.

John Richardson, Carla Brait, Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont and Luciano Bartoli in a scene from the film

However, the isolated cliffside villa offers no protection from the killer, who has meanwhile run over the blackmailing

stalker (who wears a similar red-and-black scarf to the killer's) go up to the villa, only to be ruthlessly killed too. One of the girls, Jane, sprains her ankle and a local doctor gives her a sedative
; as such, she is asleep when the killer forces his way into the villa and kills her three girlfriends. Jane wakes up the next day only to silently witness the unidentified killer dismember her friends' bodies. Having disposed of the corpses, the killer locks up the villa and departs, inadvertently leaving the injured Jane trapped inside. Later on, having realized that Jane is alive in the villa, the killer silently returns and reveals himself to her.

The killer is Franz, an

killing spree
in order to cover his tracks. As Franz attempts to murder Jane to ensure he is never caught, the doctor shows up and, after a struggle, Franz falls to his death.

Cast

Release

The film was released with its original title in Italy on January 4, 1973.[3] Joseph Brenner Associates later distributed a recut and rescored dubbed version as Torso in the US and the film became a success there on the drive-in and grindhouse circuits, often as a double feature with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).[5]

The film was released on

Arrow Video in 2018.[6]

Critical response

George Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette deemed the film "another display of softcore sex and seamy violence that might better have been kept abroad."[7] Joe Baltake of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote: "Blood flows freely and limbs detach easily, in Sergio Martino's Torso, a disagreeable Italian import with—not surprisingly—little to recommend it."[8] The Los Angeles Times's Linda Gross wrote that the film was a "lazy suspense movie" with a "disjointed and loose" screenplay.[9]

The extended

QT-Fest[11] and fellow filmmaker Eli Roth has cited the film among his favourite gialli and an influence on Grindhouse and Hostel: Part II (both 2007).[12]

PopMatters gave it a 7 out of 10 rating,[13] while Slant Magazine said it "pales next to director Sergio Martino's more inventive sleaze-thrillers (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, All the Colors of the Dark)".[14]

In their 2017 article, Complex named Torso the 6th best slasher film of all time.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale (1972)". Archviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  2. ^ Torso (booklet). Arrow Films. 2018. p. 3. AV171.
  3. ^ a b Binion, Cavett. "Torso". Archived from the original on May 22, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  4. ^ "What Truly Was the First "Slasher Film"? A Paste Investigation".
  5. ^ "Slash with panache?". Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  6. ^ "DVDs of Torso are compared to the Blu-rays HERE". Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  7. ^ Anderson, George (30 April 1973). "'And Now My Love' the Movie of the Month". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^ Baltake, Joe (23 January 1975). "'Torso': Loose Limbs Fly". Philadelphia Daily News. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. p. 44 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ Gross, Linda (20 June 1975). "'Torso'—a Lazy Suspense Movie". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ Bitel, Anton. "Discover the voyeuristic thrills of this gory '70s giallo". Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  11. ^ "QT 3". Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  12. ^ Phipps, Keith (24 October 2007). "24 Hours Of Horror With Eli Roth". Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  13. ^ Bill Gibron (28 July 2009). "Thrills, Italian Style: Torso (1973) and The 10th Victim (1965)". PopMatters. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  14. ^ Fernando F. Croce (28 July 2009). "Torso". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  15. ^ "The Best Slasher Movies". Complex. Retrieved 2021-03-26.

External links

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