DVD Review: Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975)
With a title of Strip Nude For Your Killer, you can be sure this isn't family fodder for Christmas Day. But the latest Shameless DVD release is rock solid gialli, albeit one with a higher than average nipple count and to be honest, a slightly deceptive title.
The story kicks off in a private clinic, with a gynaecologist carrying out an abortion. Things go wrong - and the patient dies of heart failure. In a state of panic, the doctor and a mysterious male bundle the dead girl into a car, leaving her in a running bath in her own flat. The end of the story? Not a chance. When the gynaecologist returns to his flat, someone dressed in black bike leathers and a biker's helmet (yes, that old one) is waiting for him, hacking the doc to death in brutal style. The killing spree has just started.
Jump across town to our 'hero', Carlo Bianchi (Nino Castelnuovo). A ladies man on the prowl for fresh talent. Professionally of course, as our Carlo is a professional photographer. He finds the perfect face and body and after a brief fling in a sauna, taking her back to the studio for a try out. And not just any studio - this is Milan's leading photography agency. And by the end of the film, it's going to be severely short-staffed.
You see, the killer of the doctor is also on a mission to bump off the staff of the agency. No-one is safe - from the owners to the photographers and the models. Two people survive the first batch of brutal (and bloodthirsty) slayings, the aforementioned photographer and his latest squeeze, fellow photographer Magda Cortis (played by archetypal 70s beauty Edwige Fenech). They're on the list, but they're also the only people who can stop the killing - and unmask the killer.
If I'm being honest, the plot has more holes than a fishing net, some seriously gratuitous nudity, a convenient rather than clever ending and a title that doesn't quite fit the subject matter - not everyone is 'stripped nude' for the killer. Not even the majority in fact. But it's a great title, so why quibble? And in effect, that sums up the whole film - it might not be perfect, some of the acting is as wobbly as it comes, the police are even more inept than usual (the average 12-year-old could have seen the pattern and the clues) and the storyline doesn't hold up to close investigation. Yet this is a seriously entertaining flick.
I was hooked for the entire 98 minutes, second-guessing who was next to be bumped off (and indeed who was doing the bumping off), as well as enjoying the stylish settings, the even more stylish leading ladies, the cool soundtrack and the occasional blooper (look closely on one murder and you'll even see a cameraman in a mirror). It's also well directed (by Andrea Bianchi), with a nice tension building throughout and some memorable (if not very subtle) set piece killings.
Strip Nude For Your Killer was never going to win any awards and is unlikely to make many top 10 lists. But if you want some good honest Euro exploitation cinema with more than the average amount of nudity, you'll not go far wrong with this.
Not worth buying. Rent it instead. By 1975, giallos were fading out and the remaining few, like this, looked cheap and lost the stylish flourishes that made them memorable. I only completed this film because of Fenech who has short hair in this and looks a few pounds heavier.
Posted by: Elliot James | 11/03/2008 at 01:14 AM