Enigma Rosso

Original VHS cover.

Hello there fellow blog readers this weekend has proven to be very interesting for yours truly since I've watched 3 movies to review. The first one was  The Murder Mansion, a boring Spanish horror film not worth a penny, so I'll just say don't watch it unless you get it for free. The second film is the one I'll review right now: Enigma Rosso, a 1978 Italian exploitation interesting film known also as Trauma (English Title),Red Rings of Fear (another English Title) Orgies Des Todes(German Title) & Tráfico de Menores(Spanish Title)

The version I'm reviewing.

German movie poster.

Same movie different name.

Spanish movie poster.

So, after checking some movie posters, VHS & DVD covers I'll go straight to the point, the movie itself.

The movie is basically about a quite classic formula that delivers us horny schoolgirls, psycho killers and police officers who like to do things forgetting the by-the book rule. What more could you possibly expect to see in a 70's Italian Giallo, besides from maybe some decent graphic nudity and gritty bloodshed? Well, "Enigma Rosso" has all of these features and plenty more I might say.

Despite the fact that no less than six people are credited as scriptwriters, this film undoubtedly is (according to cult movie sites, not me as I haven't seen the other two films) the weakest installment in Massimo Dallamano's trilogy revolving on Schoolgirls in Peril. The unofficial franchise included What Have You Done To Solange? as part 1 and What Have They Done To Our Daughters as part 2.

Natural Talent.

Storyline firestarter: schoolgirl murder.

Tempting.

Italian teens were this grown? dear oh dear.

70's bushes!

Engima Rosso unfortunately suffers from predictability, though Dallamano and his army of co-writers attempt to mislead us with red herrings and mysteriously behaving side character, we can see right through every plot twist and easily unravel the identity of the culprit(s) by ourselves. It nevertheless remains a worthwhile horror gem for Italian horror fanatics to purchase, though, if it were only to behold the awkward and thoroughly unorthodox investigation methods Insp. Gianni Di Salvo (Fabio Testi) uses to unmask his sleazy killer. Di Salvo is charged with the case of an attractive 16-year-old schoolgirl who was raped and sadistically cut open with a large sharp weapon. The victim's witty younger sister informs him that Angela, along with three of her boarding school girlfriends, formed a secret alliance known as The Inseparables and frequently escaped from their dorm to serve as lustful & sexy entertainment for rich businessmen! oh boy.

Natural acting talent.

School of Sin. 

You should see her with a dildo.

Di Salvo knows where to look for the killer, but due to some of the suspects' prominent reputations the commissioner holds him back. Enigma Rossa is an overall amusing Giallo because the story contains so many odd & unusual sub plots. For example, the inspector's girlfriend is a notorious shoplifter and his own interrogation techniques are rather ingenious, to say the least. He invades the boarding school in the middle of the night to question the scarcely dressed teachers and even drags his main suspect onto a wild roller coaster to force him to testify. The gorgeous (barely legal?) teenage girls provide this film with a more than fair amount of full-frontal nudity and lusciousness; while the light-hearted dialogs and Testi's utterly cool performance contribute in making Enigma Rosso easy and undemanding viewing. The exciting score is courtesy of Riz Ortolani ("Cannibal Holocaust") and Alberto Negrin's direction is overall competent. Recommended viewing for trained Italian sleaze-fanatics.

Here's the movie trailer to finish this movie review.