Amuck! (1978)

Holy Sheeit! Although plot wise this giallo is the old-school type where a bunch of folk in a huge mansion double cross and play mind games with each other before everything comes to a head (like The Third Eye or Libido), this one also gives everything a contemporary seventies vibe with wall-to-wall nudity from start to finish – and those getting naked are Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri! Barbara Bouchet is the newly appointed secretary employed to transcribe a novel that smug writer Farley Granger is writing, and this involves shacking up at his huge mansion where he lives with his equally smug wife Rosalba Neri and their butler Umberto Raho. Seems that the police have been sniffing around for a while as Farley's last secretary Sally has gone missing, and Barbara doesn't seem too surprised to overhear this. She is surprised by finding a hulking brute standing outside of her window and is given a chill pill by Rosalba, which leads to an eye- popping scene where a half-conscious Barbara writhes about naked while Rosalba also strips off and gets busy with her – all in slow motion and immaculately filmed. But don't knock one out yet fellas, there's much, much more where that came from!The next day Barbara doesn't recall that Sapphic encounter but is clued into things right away when, during one of Rosalba's sexy parties, she puts on an adult version of Red Riding Hood ("That hood will be red from all that riding!" – someone exclaims!) and Barbara recognises the actress as her pal Sally! A brief and subtle flashback showing the two of them naked under a waterfall may or may not hint that they might have been more than friends, but I'm not sure. There is actually some sort of mystery in amongst the boobs and arses. Barbara thinks someone has killed Sally, and coincidentally the audio tapes that Farley gives her to transcribe seem to detail the plot of the film she's in, and around this time she begins to suspect that she may be next. Who can she trust? Rosalba, who at one point jumps out of a swimming pool to have a quick puff on a cigarette? Umberto, whose motives are unclear? How about the big brute guy, who guts a live eel in front of Barbara for some reason? Could have done without that bit, which is something I seem to be saying more frequently. It's not very violent and as you'd expect things kick off at the end a bit. There are twists right up until the last thirty seconds. The thing with Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri is that the two of them can actually act too – especially Rosalba, who can switch from sweet to evil to sexy at the drop of her knickers. Barbara Bouchet's Boobs will return in Lucio Fulci's Don't Torture A Duckling!

Rosalba Neri looks stately and picturesque when holding a cigarette, but never entirely convincing when smoking. She stars as Eleanora in this exotic, erotic giallo as the wife of novelist Richard Stuart (Farley Granger). Between them, they exude an aloofness that inclines you to believe they know everything that is going on, certainly more than the audience. So when Greta Franklin (Barbara Bouchet) arrives on their stately island near Venice as the new secretary, their initial smoothness soon becomes something more. A crushed tablet in her drinking water, and soon Greta and Eleanour are stripped naked and getting to know each other.Greta is posing as a secretary to investigate the disappearance of the Stuarts' former employee, Sally, who was Greta's lover. The upmarket sleaze and atmosphere of kinkiness prevalent in their stately home can be ascertained when you look at some alternative titles for this: 'Maniac Mansion', 'Leather and Whips' and 'Hot Bed of Sex' give you every reason to believe that the sex quota in this giallo is generous indeed.Petar Martinovitch is excellent as simple-minded Rocco, a hugely physical fellow who is aroused by the sexuality around him and cannot control the after-effects. Is he a victim in all this? He is certainly deliberately used, and his resultant unrestrained qualities have a large part to play.This may be Neri's best role. She's terrific throughout, and has an incredible presence that dominates the screen. But she's not given an easy ride by Bouchet, who is compelling and never reduced to being a screaming cypher. As is nearly always the case with giallos, the girls get the best moments. Farley Granger shouldn't be overlooked though – his delicate flamboyance as Richard masks a villain in the classic line of frustrated weaklings.

At the dawn of the Seventies, once famous actor Farley Granger had gone slightly bananas, if not completely bonkers. Since he recalled that he had starred in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece Senso in 1954, he returned to Italy to work with the new giants of cannelloni cinema, among them Roman director Silvio Amadio. And indeed, in Alla ricerca del piacere a.k.a. Amuck! erotomaniac Amadio pulls off some quite avantgarde stunts, among them the most static, unfrigginbelievably dull lesbian slo-mo "sex" scene of movie history; he even manages to make giallo princess Barbara Bouchet, almost always a surefire winner when it comes to sensual surplus (see Milano calibro 9 or Quelli che contano), look like a Czech shoe stretcher. Farley Granger himself delivers his lines like a speaking soda machine, obviously hypnotized by Teo Usuelli's mangy porn loop soundtrack, but later, much later he would remember the whispered words Luchino Visconti once had confided to him on a flight to Madrid: "Trust me, Farlito. There's certain bull you can't take by the horns."

Alla ricerca del piacere aka Amuck!(1972)Silvio Amadio***some slight spoilers***A young American woman Greta Franklin (Barbara Bouchet,Don't Torture a Duckling,Red Queen Kills 7 Times)gains employment as a secretary near Venice Italy. Her new employer is Richard Stuart (Farley Granger,Strangers on a train,Rope) an author, who lives on a remote island with his wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri,Hercules in the Haunted World,Slaughter Hotel), even the servants are sent home off the island night, so it is no surprise that Eleanora tells Greta of her desperate loneliness. Greta has an ulterior motive for taking the job though, as her lesbian lover Sally was the previous incumbent in the job, who mysteriously disappeared without trace. On her first night in the house, Greta overhears a conversation between Richard and his friend the Commissioner of police, in which Sally's disappearance is discussed, Greta when the opportunity arrives, grabs the chance and tells him of her quest to find her friend, he warns her that it could be very dangerous and that she should leave the house, she ignores his pleas. Before her disappearance Sally sent a letter to Greta, which contained her fears and stated that she was a sex slave and that she was constantly demeaned in this house of perversions, but somehow the Franklin's had a hold on her and she couldn't escape, no matter how hard she wanted to.Greta goes to bed but is startled when a giant of man appears at her window, her screams are answered by Richard who tells her it was only the local fisherman Rocco, he then puts her in the capable hands of his wife Eleanora who gives her a drink of water into which she sprinkles an unknown powder, in the ensuing moments Eleanora makes some moves on Greta ,she responds and they spend the night making love. Next morning Greta is unsure if it was all a dream as the glass of water she knocked over during their passion is now replaced, was it all a dream?..or had she been taken advantage of, after being drugged?Greta then stumbles on a party that is happening elsewhere in the house, she's invited in, it a swingers party with drugs in abundance, Greta gets cosy with a guest who knew Sally, in order to garner some more information of her disappearance, but is then shocked when she sees Sally in a porno film being screened there, now Greta's fears for her friend grow ever more pronounced. Richard then surprises Greta by ceasing the work on his current book, in order to begin his tale of a missing girl who is murdered by the local psycho and dumped in the lagoon, this is the final straw , as this story bears more than a resemblance to the truth.Silvio Amadio was a director perhaps best known for his comedies, so this was not his usual light hearted affair, he still managed though to create a semi-thrilling and erotic tale of debauchery, he showed great skill in directing the infamous lesbian liaison which could so easily have been tacky, but is here rendered in an sublimely erotic way. Both Neri and Bouchet excel in their roles, Neri as the dark predatory and sexual deviant and Bouchet as the wide eyed and stunningly beautiful innocent, an innocent you can't help but want to be deflowered, especially when she turns up in a highly stimulating baby doll dress. Granger on the other hand is probably as wooden as he always was, but this strangely works in his favour here, although we never quite believe he is capable of anything too debauched. Highlights of the film are undoubtedly the sexual tryst between Neri and Bouchet, a finely handled duck hunting scene in the marshes, the Little Red Riding Hood porno film within the film, Greta's reminiscing of her and Sally's first love making under a waterfall and of course the final reveal. Teo Usuelli's score is at times nothing short of naff and seems to belong to some long forgotten sci/fi film, perhaps even in an elevator, but he also wrote some really funky and enticing little opuses within the film, especially the main theme which is playful and perfect in its execution. Its hard to tell though if Aldo Giordani's cinematography is any good as the Eurovista DVD is just taken from an old pan and scan VHS and a washed out one at that.Amuck! is though an enjoyable romp and a must see for all fans of the Giallo genre.