Delirium: Photo of Gioia (1987)

Gloria (gorgeous Serena Grandi) is a publisher of a girlie magazine called "Pussycat" that features nude photos of female models. But someone starts killing people around Gloria. And she becomes frightened for her own life. Whoever it is likes to deceive and trick others by playing mind games.Characters in this Italian giallo are upscale, high-class people and the costumes and sets reflect that elegance. There's not as much suspense here as in other giallos. But one sequence that is suspenseful takes place inside a large clothing store full of mannequins. Having discovered a just-murdered person, the trapped Gloria searches for a way out, only to hear a weird voice from somewhere in the building: "Now it's your turn Gloria; you can't escape." About midway through the plot, there's a scene wherein the killer's motive is described through dialogue and visuals. But the clue is wonderfully subtle.Cinematography gives us sharp, vibrant colors. But when someone is about to be murdered, we see that person from the killer's POV, at which time the sharp colors morph into color-saturated hues of blue or orange. And the intended victim wears an ugly mask, presumably to represent the ugliness of the killer's thought processes.Near the end, at the reveal, the killer looks very different from the killer's previous persona of normality. A look of insanity, or madness, appears on that person's face, possibly the result of overacting. I was quite surprised as to who the killer was. Reviewing the plot, I determined that it was highly improbable, but I could not find any overt plot holes.I could have wished for more suspense. And the acting leaves a lot to be desired. But "Delirium" is worth watching for the nudity, as well as for that clothing store sequence and surprise ending.

Delirium was a film I didn't wanted to see, but I got it on the Psycho Killer triple feature from Shriek Show and well, it came there so, whatever, I watched it. And guess what?! It is as terrible as it could be.First of all, it is a giallo directed by Lamberto Bava, it shouldn't be bad, right?! Supposedly..... The film is about a model called Gioia (Played by extremely "talented" Serena Grandi) which works at Pussycat magazine (Guess what kind of magazine is :p) and well as any giallo, an unknown killer starts killing some of the models of the magazine, then taking photos of the corpses and sending them to Gioia and her friend Evelyn (Played by Daria Nicolodi).You may be thinking it sounds interesting, well, it's not. The ending is terrible, it has more nudity than many sexploitation films I have seen, which doesn't seems to fit in this kind of film.The Script is awful, and Serena Grandi doesn't acts very well, which is something important for a film like this.I can't believe Lamberto Bava directed this piece of s**t.I give Delirium: Photo of Gioia an 3 out of 10.Only for true fans of Lamberto.

It's not often I regret investing in a DVD, but this is $10 I wish I had back. That said, there is an appropriate time and place for everything. For those Mystery Science Theatre 3000 fans among us, it's extremely MiSTable. A fun movie to watch late at night with a bottle of something relaxing and a bowl of popcorn, when you just want something with boobs and gratuitous violence to make fun of, with lots of dialogue pauses and breaks for spoofing. Unfortunately, I've never seen it on any TV listing ever, so your best bet is to trick one of your friends into buying it and then going "haha, now it's too late!". Make a night of it, kids!

~Spoiler~ Delirium: Photo of Gioia is a giallo from the late 80's directed by Italian horror veteran Lamberto Bava. Let me just say that I started off with the best giallo-Tenebre. It was the first one I ever saw. I haven't found one yet that has surpassed it and it's the standard by which I judge all other giallo. So, having said that, Delirium is not the best of its kind, but it's certainly not the worst. George Eastman said in an interview, for the DVD release no less, that it was a waste of time. Daria Nicolodi also pretty much disowns it. Granted Eastman, Nicolodi, and David Brandon aren't given much to do, but it's really not that bad. Bava himself even doesn't seem that proud of it. It's sad really. I thought if they had fixed a few problems this could have been a classic. It needed a few more kills and a little more action. Delirium is basically a starring vehicle for the beautiful Serena Grandi (who gives the film much of its ample amount of nudity). It's about a madman killing models and terrorizing the owner of a Playboy type magazine, Gioia (or Gloria in the US version). But it's also deeper than that. If you check out this DVD do yourself a favor and read the brilliant Scooter McCrae essay included as a special feature. The most creative aspect of this film is the killer's perspective. Whenever he's about to kill someone, we get to see what's inside his head. The victim's are seen as monsters to the killer. It's a really original concept and they should have exploited that more. One of the things I really didn't like was score. It was done by Simon Boswell and he basically re-used the score he did for Demons 2. Also, the film drags at points which is why I think it could have used a few more kills. But it's not as bad as its makers would have you believe. You should either be proud of the things you create, or you shouldn't create them at all.