Ms. 45

The time for men to die has come.

As previously discussed in our Run! Bitch Run! review, making a good exploitation films requires a lot of talent, and sometimes, the usual tricks (nudity, sex, graphic violence)  are not enough to convince the connoisseur audience. Today's entry is one of those exceptional rape & revenge films made with class: Ms. 45, AKA  Angel of Vengeance, is a magnificent 1981 movie that knows less is more. Directed by Abel Ferrara, a neo-noir film maker with an extended selection of independent films where gritty urban settings are his trademark.  

The girls-with-guns fetish is a major erotic element in the exploitation genre, so much so that it's hard to imagine a one-sheet movie poster for a low-budgeted action flick without one. The most notable, including (but not limited to) "Thriller: a Cruel Picture", "Foxy Brown", and "Hannie Caulder", were bonkers revenge beasts that pushed the boundaries of already boundary pushing territory — and 1981's "Ms. 45" is arguably the sensational peak of the juxtaposing sub genre. The film is an explosive portrait of a serial killer, disguised as a luscious ode to the earlier, more substantial revenge flicks of the 1970s.

Thana, a regular girl living in a regular world.

Mute but with a lot to say.

Though it has Ferrara's greasy fingerprints smeared all over it, "Ms. 45" is Zoë Lund's show — an ethereal beauty with looks just as comparable to Lauren Bacall as they are to an alien women from a distant planet, Lund plays Thana, a mute seamstress who lives alone in a dumpy apartment on the bad side of town. Day after day, she and her female co-workers are harassed by street punks who catcall with underlying threat. While her peers have the ability to flip the bird at a potential predator or throw out an insult to make the message clear, Thana is forced to remain quiet, giving most the idea that she likes the constant coos.

One particularly rough day, she is raped at gunpoint in an alleyway by a sadistic masked goon, who gets away before she can contact the authorities. Beaten up and understandably traumatized, she barely makes it up to her apartment. Only seconds into gathering her thoughts and understanding the reality of the situation, though, she finds herself in the presence of yet another attacker, who coincidentally hid in the flat during her horrifying walk home. He too proceeds to sexually assault her, but he doesn't get away with it — while under duress, Thana grabs a nearby glass fixture and slams it against his head, killing him instantly.

A coward monster hides behind the mask.

Thana's turning point.

A few paranoid encounters later (though none of them nearly as serious as her prior two damaging experiences), Thana goes from silent victim to femme fatale, embarking on a path of revenge with eyes set only on the male sex. Only she doesn't murder in self- defense — she targets men violent toward women, men showing care for women, and men just walking around and, you know, being men. Thana's quest acts as a sort of metaphor for the crushing societal norm of male dominance, playing out like a potential scenario if women stopped taking unwanted come-ons and didn't let rape become an undiscussed taboo, thus avenging the wrongs done to them by a culture that accepts inequality.

But this is only a passing analyzation, considering "Ms. 45" was made as a violent exercise in cinema, laced in sadomasochism, gritty street danger, and visual eroticism. N.G. St. John's screenplay is extremely simplistic, setting up an abundance of climactic scenarios and allowing Lund to do most of the heavy lifting; and aside from a myriad of visual exultations (the rainy noir texture of Thana's first moonlit mass killing, the harrowing finale, which is a slow-motion account of a massacre at a Halloween party during which Thana masquerades as a killer nun), Ferrara mostly does the same. Lund's expressive face, lit with, exotic enchanting beauty, tells a story all on its own, beginning with a meek innocence and morphing into something savage. It's impossible to take one's eyes off of her otherworldly facsimile. So simultaneously virginal and deadly, it makes her actions all the more terrifying.

This woman isn't afraid anymore.

Die! disgusting man!

Despite the above mentioned scenery & Lund's acting, music and the lack of it, also play a key role in the film. There are moments where our heroine is desperate and alone, and that's exactly what we get from the absence of music, while when raging situations are about to take place, music is there to energize the moment. Joe Delia wrote the music, that fits like a glove, and takes you back in time where scores played a key role in setting the overall mood on a good film.

The name of Zoë Lund's character, Thana, is reminiscent of the Greek god of death, "Thanatos". Sigmund Freud used the word to refer to the "death drive", a subject's internal drive to return to an inorganic state.

 

Blessed bullets.

a nunsploitation nod.

Zoe Lund's ability to keep hold of an audience despite her lack of speech in this movie is truly phenomenal, and it's what's truly makes this film worth watching not just one time but a lot of times. During all of the action sequences, her innate command of viewers takes hold and makes your eyes automatically drawn to her and Thana's character. The way she shows Thana's ongoing mental decay is brilliant as well. She was certainly brilliant in the film, but what happened to her leaves much to be desired.

Unfortunately, Lund died of a cocaine overdose when she was 37 years old. She was a talented musician, model and screenwriter, and rather easy on the eyes. It's too bad she was taken at such a young age, like many other talented actresses. Who knows where she could have gone with that many talents...  

Dressed to kill.

Undressed to kill.

Ms. 45 was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival and the Milano Film Festival before its official release on April 24, 1981.Although ridiculed upon release, the film became a cult object and was released on DVD for the first time in the year 2000 by Image Entertainment, a brand known for their extensive catalogue of obscure cult movies. Later, in 2014 the film was re-released by Drafthouse Entertainment on DVD & in pristine high definition Blu Ray.

 
Overall, Ms. 45 is a  strange but highly enjoyable film that takes exploitation films to a whole new level. The gritty direction by Abel Ferrara and the smart writing from Nicholas St. John elevate this movie above most of the mediocre rip offs that were produced during this time period.

Here's the movie trailer:

Avere Vent'anni: To Be Twenty

Bad girls don't go to heaven.

Although Gloria Guida is widely recognized as a comedy sexploitation actress, there was this one time where she worked in a shocking sexploitation film with one of the crudest finales you could ever imagine. Oddly enough, fans & critics worldwide agree Avere Vent'anni (Being Twenty) is the best film of her extended filmography. Why is this odd? you may ask. Well, because this movie is the only one that is not a campy sex comedy (don't worry, there's plenty of sex & nudity in it) 

Co-starred by Lilli Carati, Avere Vent'anni AKA Being Twenty, AKA To Be Twenty is a 1978 Italian sexploitation film written and directed by Fernando Di Leo, and it tells the story of Lia (Gloria Guida) and Tina (Lilli  Carati) two beautiful girls who meet and realize that they have a lot in common. They are both young, beautiful and pissed off, so they decide to hitchhike their way to Rome to find Nazariota's commune, a place to stay for free and have all the sex they want... or so they think. Things don't go as they have planned though, and soon they become involved in prostitution, the police, an aggressive gang an one of the most unexpected and shocking finales celluloid can deliver. Being Twenty premiered in Italy in 1978, in West Germany in 1979, in Hong Kong in 1981 and it was shown at the Reggio Calabria Film Festival in 2006 in Italy. In addition it was released in DVD for the first time in 2005 as a part of the Il Cinema Secreto Italiano collection. Unfortunately, it was a Region 2 (PAL) release that is, as you can probably guess, currently out of print. The film was also released in VHS during the early 80's and most of the copies that made it outside of Europe ended up in a few selected cult rental stores. 

We don't need men to make a living, do we?

This cream tastes like jizz, You'll like it.

This movie is available in two versions. The English-language version is a badly-dubbed, waste-of-time sex comedy (not unlike a lot of the films co-lead Gloria Guida was starring in at the time). The Italian version is similarly light-hearted for much of its running time, but it does make some serious commentary on police corruption, the confused politics and ultimate hollowness of the 70's era counterculture, and the reactionary nature of male-dominated rural Italy. The ending is unforgettably brutal, inspired no doubt by films like "Last House on the Left" or "Late Night Trains". Like those films it was quite controversial, and really for the same ironic reason--because you really come to like the two lead characters and care what happens to them. This is no mean feat as Gloria Guida had no real acting talent beyond looking (really) good naked and the other lead, porno-starlet-to-be Lili Carati, was, if anything, even less talented.

Fernando Di Leo is a director that gets a lot of criticism; and most of it is unfair in my opinion as he's directed a lot of the best Italian crime movies of the seventies, as well as some other curious gems. To Be Twenty is something of a departure from his crime films and doesn't really fit into any of the main genre headings that were popular in seventies Italy; although at a stretch it could be described as a cross between a sex comedy and an exploitation flick. The film is slightly misguided and that is its main problem as on the one hand it's light and breezy, and on the other hand it actually tries to make some points...with mixed results. The plot focuses on two young girls who are both young, hot and angry that meet on a beach. They set off to hitch a lift together and so begins an odyssey as the pair try to create an existence for themselves in a world overridden with sex, perverts and drugs. They manage to find a place to stay but not everything goes to plan and before long, the girls find themselves living a nightmare.

Let's eat our pussies out.

Fucking you felt really good but I miss the taste of cum in my mouth.

Yeah, but tell me what is Avere Vent'anni about!!

 

Although the movies isn't near being a masterpice of the genre, the viewer ends up feeling sympathy for the two leads. Tina (Carati) who is the feisty and rebellious one and Lia (Guida) who is more sensible and innocent. The two ladies want to have fun and enjoy life so are looking for liberation and after stealing some food from a local supermarket, the set to find a commune for shelter. Whilst they are there all the men apart from the owner appear to be stoned and not capable of doing much especially when the owner says to the girls they can stay there rent free "if they sleep with the men". The only other woman at the commune is finding it a struggle to look after three babies.

Tina and Lia decide they don't want to have to sell themselves in order to stay at the commune and instead decide to sell encyclopedias  for the owner (yes, that was a thing in the 70's I presume) in order to continue staying there. They encounter a few strange people with Lia having another young woman who is lesbian makes advances towards her.

We suck your dick dry if you buy us an encyclopaedia.

Hippies: as portrayed by the Film Industry.

Things change at the commune when a film crew arrive and want to do a documentary on the people living there, only Tina and Lia talk to them and then we get to find out more about their backgrounds which were not pleasant as they grew up. Then they get mixed up within police corruption and the commune is searched for drugs from an apparent tip off which results in the girls being deported...

On a side note, Lilli Carati became a full time Italian porn star in the late 80s, sharing on screen, or should I say on bed time with none other than Rocco Siffredi himself. Unfortunately, she died in 2014 due to a brain tumor. Before she became an actress she was named "Miss Elegance" in 1974, thus starting a modeling career in Milan. Her acting career started in 1976 with La professoressa di scienze naturali The same year Gloria Guida became "Miss Teenage Italy" and starred her first two films La Ragazzina & La Minorenne.

Did you think you could get away with murder, you bitches?

Unexpectedly shocking finale.

Back to the movie, I can say the overall tone of the movie is one of the best things about it as the director excellently captures the hippy-style care free atmosphere through the two young girls. The film stars Gloria Guida and Lilli Carati; both of whom serve the movie well in the looks department, especially when their clothes come off, but don't exactly set the film on fire with great acting. However, luckily this is a film that doesn't need great acting to succeed. The plot flows well and the two girls provide likable characters that make the film fun to watch. It's not exactly plot heavy and the film basically follows the girls on their unplanned journey right up until we come to the tragic ending. The ending is actually rather strange as it doesn't fit the tone of the movie and actually looks more like something straight out of a roughie film. However, it is rather powerful and won't be forgotten in a hurry; and the reason for that is mostly down to the way we are made to like the characters throughout the film. Overall, this film probably won't be for everyone's taste; but if you like this sort of stuff, you could do worse. 

Gloria Guida in the nude.

Lilli Carati.

 Here's the censored made for TV edition of the film with the English dubbing:

And here's the theatrical version of the film in the original Italian language:

 

La Minorenne: The Under age Girl

Virginity is yester news

After an exhilarating and fulfilling research on Leonora Fani's filmography it's time to move on into other cult exploitation films from the 70's. To celebrate 8 years and 700K visits we decided to make a few changes in our blog. First, we changed our SPAM-Alternative name for something way more in tune with what we do. You see, the original name was nothing but a joke (it was my IRC chat's alternate nickname circa 2000-2003). SPAM stood for nothing until, I thought it had to mean something related to movies, so there you have it, the Stuff, Pubes & Movies Alternative dyslexic acronym was born. However, the term "Spam" is not one internet users dig a lot (for obvious reasons), many people would mark our posts in other social networks (Facebook, twitter, Instagram) as legit spam so we couldn't reach many audiences and got blocked constantly in several places. In addition, some people thought our website was about anti spam software thus, misunderstanding "spam-alternative" as the go to app to fight god awful bloody disgusting spammy messages and clickbait crap found everywhere these days. Despite all the confusion our name could cause, we still enjoyed quite a lot of visits and gain some followers too, so from today on, you're on the same cult film blog with a far more fitting name, enter Sleazy Pictures Muggy Archive, and don't forget to update your bookmarks!

Today's film in review is Silvio Amadio's La Minorenne AKA The Underage Girl a 1974 Italian sexploitation comedy that marks the debut of voluptuous blonde starlet Gloria Guida. At the same time this film was produced, she also starred in another Italian sexploitation comedy internationally known as Monika but originally titled La Ragazzina.

Gorgeous Gloria Guida.

Rosemary Dexter, Pakistani beauty.

Anyways, La Minorenne tells the story of young and virgin Valeria Sanna (Gloria Guida) a private Catholic boarding school student coming of age a tad earlier than expected. For strange reasons Valeria is constantly daydreaming she's losing her virginity in the most awkward ways. The movie opens with her first fantasy: walking home and being chased by a biker gang that eventually ends up raping her (nothing graphic here). Then, she wakes up in her bedroom, being assisted by one of the sisters from her school. However, as soon as she is recovered she has another daydreaming fantasy: being crucified and then rescued by her very lesbian classmates & sexy lingerie nuns. At this point the viewer is like "OK, I get it, this movie will play as short sex clips from different fantasies the girl has". And all of a sudden, Silvio Amadio (the director) changes pace  and the film becomes a typical Italian domestic melodrama film, which in a way, changes the film from going full sexploitation (the first fifteen minutes that is) to a commedia all'italiana adult comedy. 

When a movie is titled "the Underage Girl" what viewers are expecting is clearly a sleaze fest of gratuitous nudity & sex and yet, Silvio Amadio & Piero Regnoli's writing offer us an entertaining & refreshing sex comedy done with good taste. If there's one thing that separates Gloria Guida's career from Leonora Fani's is precisely that: directors, writers & producers with a taste for comedy instead of sleazy daring exploits that are worn out just after you've watched them for the first time. However, there are a lot of Italian sex comedy films, so if you're a newcomer you may want to do some research before you get started on the wrong foot.

Oh no! a biker gang!

Stop rubbing your pussies in the tree!!

While Gloria Guida's stunning voluptuous beauty may make it hard to believe she's an innocent coming of age teenage girl looking for love, the rest of the cast, specially those who play her family & friends will clearly enhance such belief because they're all a big bunch of horny peeping toms and adulterous relatives. For instance, the rather obscure Pakistani actress Rosemary Dexter plays Franca Sanna (Valeria's mother) an unhappy or shall I say unsatisfied married woman who's fucking other men not giving a shit about Massimo Sana (Marco Guglielmi) his cheating husband. And then, there's Lorenzo Sanna (Luciano Roffi), Valeria's horny brother, who's after a piece of ass from Carlotta (Gabriella Giorgelli), the family's maid, so how can we possibly blame it on poor Valeria's wet dreams? I mean, she lives with a family of sexual maniacs! No wonder why her parents sent her to a Catholic school for girls only.

Once school is out, Valeria returns to her family only to find his brother making money out of his friends via a peeping tom show where she's the unaware star! In addition, other men from town are lusting after Valeria's virgin pussy, while at the same time she's teasing some of them in order to find the right man to give away her precious hairy virginity.

I better wash off all the Nuns vaginal juices I came home with.

I wonder, will I try anal this summer?

To make matters even more unrealistic, Valeria's search for the right man, finally brings her to a local sculptor who doesn't even know her name! After they're done fucking, he actually asks Valeria "so, uhm, what's your name?" Reasons as to why she chose him instead of her previous teases (including an old man who's a friend of her parents that has a thing for disguising as a Nazi officer) are unclear, and that is to be expected in an Italian sex comedy film. La Minorenne isn't a masterfully written piece where the main story goes pristine from start to finish, au contraire, it's an 84 minute TV commercial introducing the world to the undeniable beauty Gloria Guida is. 

The story has it, Silvio Amadi was son into Gloria Guida (and who isn't?) he made this film only to portray her beauty and moderate acting skills. Later in 1975 he would work with Guida again in "Quella Eta' Maliziosa" and "Peccati di Gioventú". 

"Your mother didn't try cum until she got married"

So, you want me to suck your friends?

Unlike Leonora Fani, who had acting skills but lacked a good opportunity, Gloria Guida was certainly not as skilled in the acting department. She was kind of a limited one (her acting range could best be described as "scantily clad to completely nude"). To be fair, Guida still had her best roles ahead of her. This movie is certainly not a total waste of time, especially for Guida fans (i.e. heterosexual males everywhere), but aside from the surreal, bizarre fantasy scenes at he beginning it's pretty unremarkable.

As for the amount of gratuitous nudity this film has, I'd say it's a moderate amount of T & A compared to other films Guida has starred.  Being a 1974 film, the plot is very naive compared to what other film makers were making the same year. Other popular sexploitation films that year were, Big Bad Mama, Candy Stripe Nurses, Sex Play, Flesh Gordon and Immoral Tales. 

Look at those tits man!

You can cum on my tits if you like.

Although starred by Gloria Guida, La Minorenne features other sexploitation starlets, Rosemary Dexter & Gabriella Giorgelli. Dexter is known for her work in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Jess Franco's Marquis de Sade's Justine (1969) & Eye in the Labyrinth (1972) On the other hand Giorgelli is known for her roles in The Organizer (1963), Federico Fellini's City of Women (1980) & a Tale of Love (1983). 

La Minorenne, never premiered outside Europe during the 70's. Obscure VHS tapes bootlegged later during the 80's allowed overseas enthusiasts to get a glimpse of Gloria Guida's debut. Fortunately for her (and for us too) most of her movies were (at least in Italy) released on DVD allowing her overseas fans to watch her most popular films in pristine quality.  Nevertheless, not every film featured English subtitles or English dubbing so, as I said before in other reviews, do yourself a favor and learn some Italian, it'll do you good and it'll help you enjoy a gigantic list of Italian sex comedies from the 70's. Unfortunately, most of these DVD editions have long gone out of print, and news on re releases are nowhere to be found but if you look hard enough you may find a few of her films among the many communities of movie fans that exist online. 

Gabriella Giorgelli.

Easy girl, easy, let that moist flow through your twat.

Overall an entertaining film despite its campiness. Recommended to Gloria Guida fans and Italian adult comedy films enthusiasts.

Here's the movie trailer:

And here's the movie (Italian language only)

Bestialitá: Dog Lay Afternoon

Borderline exploitation!

The time has come to take a look at Leonora Fani's sleaziest film of her career: Bestialitá (Bestiality) AKA Dog Lay Afternoon. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, bestiality means either sex between a person & an animal or a cruel and violent quality. In the case of today's film in review, it means the earlier. Yes, you read that right, a movie that features (simulated) sex between a person and an animal, in this case a dog. Disgusting, isn't it? If you're still with us, bare in mind cinema has relied on exploitative tricks since the dawn of time. Linda Lovelace, the world famous Deep Throat legendary porn star is said to have been forced to have sex with dogs many times. There are even some biographies stating she couldn't even bare to pronounce the word dog, replacing for its spelling d-o-g. If you're interested in reading more about this god awful paraphilia, there's a very interesting and serious article about it, written by Mish Barber Way here.   

The SPAM-Alternative team is a group of sound minded people. In the past we have explained several times how we will never post any film related to illegal practices that go beyond the "it's only a movie" quote. We don't even support piracy. So, why is Dog Lay Afternoon still being reviewed after all this mumbo jumbo? Well, because the film doesnt' feature any actual scene of paraphilias of any kind. As a matter of fact, there are two scenes (the opening & the final scene) that deal with this serious matter in a very childish way that denotes clearly, it's a farce and no animals were harmed whatsoever. We love pets, we love dogs, we love everything that means doing no harm towards anybody or any animal, so rest assured, this film only uses the theme to gain more audiences throughA curiosity rather than shocking their viewers with, crap that goes beyond any sound mind idea. Still, that's why there's a warning message before accessing our blog, because it's meant to be visited by grown up adults who understand.

Witness of an act of bestiality.

Lusty tourists.

Setting explanations aside, Bestialitá is a 1976 Italian sexploitation directed by George Eastman (from Anthropohagus & Porno Holocaust fame) & Peter Skeri. The film premiered on November 16th in Italy and in 1977  in Turkey, Belgium and Spain. Obviously, it never premiered outside Europe due to censorship regulations that are more than needed at certain times. Although the film could have been internationally known as "Bestiality" distributors opted for "Dog Lay Afternoon" which clearly ripped off from Al Pacino's 1975 Dog Day Afternoon which has absolutely no resemblance with the earlier.

Anyways, the story begins with the perverted love relationship a married woman has with her dog. Unfortunately, her daughter Jeanine (Leonora Fani) witnesses the entire scene, and her father burns the house with the dog inside and take them out of there for good. Later, the movie changes its focus to a fifty something year old married couple that is visiting the island on vacation. Years have gone by, and the story of the woman & the dog ends up being an urban myth locals tell tourists to add some darkness to their vacation. For some reason beyond comprehension, Paul (Philippe March) gets interested in the story and every time he spots a mysterious girl and her dog, he somehow fantasizes about her being the urban myth. Yvette (Juliette Mayniel) who happens to bo Paul's wife, soon realizes there's a wandering young girl who seems to be unreachable to everyone, developing an interest on her too. 

Ilona Staller is also in the movie.

Sunbathing in the nude.

Although publicized as a Leonora Fani film, her role isn't exactly the lead. Instead, the movie is told and seen through the eyes of the married couple touring the island (no exact location of the island is given during the movie).

The married couple is there for pure sex & entertainment. On the island they meet other tourists like them, and join in with them several times. Ilona Staller's unnamed character seems to be that of a prostitute hired by older men or interested in dating rich old men. Anyways, she barely gets a line on the film, all she does, is I presume, her best, getting naked and dancing while teasing some more old men. I've always wondered why she chose the porn industry instead of following a softcore career with more respectable fans. Even her appearance changed over the years as porn wasn't easy to shake off of her skin. 

Jeanine & her dog.

Sunbathing pals.

So, anyways, after partying a lot, the married couple finally meets the mysterious girl who happened to have stolen Paul's photo camera. From then on, they befriend her and end up somewhat becoming a family spending days together in the sun. Paul & Yvette never had any children because they couldn't so, Jeanine seems to be the daughter they never had. Nevertheless, the sleazy factor can't possible allow us to picture them as a family because as soon as they're together, Jeanine & Yvette fuck each other on a daily basis until Paul is invited to join in for a threesome that will happen several times again. 

Later, Jeanine sort of develops something that looks like an epilepsy condition that has her screaming and mumbling about her dog and her mother. Here's where the married couple is like "what the fuck is wrong with this girl?!". Although plot wise there isn't much explained on behalf of her condition, it's implied she became a nymphomaniac (a dated word I might add) because seeing her mother with a dog, traumatized her so hard, the only way she could cope with it was fucking random strangers every time tourist season began.

Hey, let's swim!

Hey! let's fuck!

Despite the fact Bestialitá is known as a must watch cult piece among film connoisseurs, the movie clearly doesn't live up to its hype, neither it survives as an entertaining sexploitation film. The only item that drives people into watching this flick, is obviously the heavily marketed (and luckily simulated) disgusting paraphilia scenes. The fact that Leonora Fani is in it, doesn't really mean much. Her role as a support character isn't nowhere as good as other support roles she's done in other films. The amount of nudity and/or sex scenes the film has is very little compared to her later works. Not even Ilona Staller has a lot of naked business in the film. As for the leads, well, they look too old for school and their nude scenes are meh!

So, is there any real artistic value in this film?

No, there isn't. I for one believe Leonora Fani wasn't that lucky when she began her film career. Most of the roles she was in were, well, basically an abused girl who ended up enjoying forced sex and, that clearly isn't something to be proud of. She had potential, and you can see it in Pensione Paura, Nene, Sensitivita and even in minor roles in The Last Round & The Private Lesson. To be fair, surviving the sleazy 70's film industry being an actress, was a beast of a burden only few could master.  The sexploitation genre helped built the career of many European starlets but, on the other hand it closed doors for a more serious driven type of film genre. As a matter of fact, out of all the Italian starlets that raised to stardom in the 70's I believe Ornella Muti is the only one who enjoyed a satisfying career working in varied film genres. 

a young Ilona Staller.

Your wife inviting you into a threesome? How can you say no to that?

By the time the movie reaches its climax, we're introduced to a private investigator that's been following Jeanine's case for quite some time. After Jeanine's shocking revelation, she leaves the couple and goes back to wherever she lives to sort of, re-arrange her life with her dog. Bestialitá has shocking all over, so by the time the grand finale comes, it is also revealed locals have been trying to find this mysterious girl in order to cure her off of her disease by killing her dog. Obviously, easier said than done, so once Jeanine accepts her perverted destiny, she decides it's time for her to take her mother's place in a disgusting legacy. Unfortunately for her, and this is pure presumption by myself, the one time she tries to do as her mother did, she's attacked & by her dog and hurt so bad, her screaming alerts the locals who ultimately kill her and her dog (there are no graphic scenes of the murder, only sounds and a few shots of the sea rocks whatsoever) 

Overall, not Fani's best work by a long shot. Also, there's a lot of dialog that, had it not being for the Italian language & the English subtitles, I would have seriously thought this was a lame French art film. The Sexploitation value is very low. Sexploitation films are usually about comedy, murder, mystery, coming of age and even horror, Bestialitá is nothing but a fucking perverted publicity stunt with a few shocking twists that add up nothing to the overall feel of watching this movie. Only for Lenora Fani fans only. Faint of heart, stay away from it!

The beauty of Ilona Staller.

The beauty of Leonora Fani.

Believe it or not, there's a film trailer that looks way better than the actual copy I got to review this flick:

In addition, there's a music video with a glimpse of the soundtrack written by Coriolano Gori:

La Svergognata: The Shameless Woman

Shame on you Leonora!

1974 marks the year the world witnessed the debut of Leonora Fani in the film industry, the sexploitation film industry to be more precise. Directed by the rather unknown Giuliano Biagetti who worked as director, writer and producer of Italian erotic films, he is known for Decameroticus & directing Gloria Guida in La Novizia. La Svergognata AKA The Shameless Woman, AKA La Desvergonzada, can be best described as a forbidden love story between a married couple, their horny teenage daughter and a former lover. Although the film has been officially released on DVD in Italy, such release is currently out of print and there are no international official editions available as of yet. Unfortunately, the available copies that are online,  feature neither English subtitles nor dubbing of any language, so I guess it's  a good time for you to pay a little visit to your local Italian Culture Center and sign for an Italian language course. 

La Svergognata is starred by Philippe Leroy (who looks like The Flash's John Wesley-Shipp) as Fabio Lorenzi; Leonora Fani as Ornella Bernardi and last but not least, blonde bombshell Barbara Bouchet as Silvia Lorenzi (yes, Fabio's wife)

I'm your wife Fabio, of course I'll take anal!

I'm your teenage craving Fabio, of course I'll swallow!

In a nutshell, La Svergognata is about a writer (Philip Leroy)comes to stay at an island resort and gets involved with a teenage lolita (Fani) who is there with her parents and rather malicious best friend. She teases the older man mercilessly--going to a hotel and dancing with him naked and then suddenly getting dressed and running off to a party with a young American guy. But it's not so much because she is malicious, but because she is really an insecure virgin. Finally, he gives up on her after his beautiful wife (Barbara Bouchet) shows up. But the younger woman becomes jealous and is not going to give up so easily. So, essentially this film is about a malicious love triangle that has a poor man making the hardest decision of his life: Is it Barbara Bouchet's blonde and experienced beauty the best? or is it Fani's malicious teenage teasing?

In the past, we reviewed many films about the same love triangle/forbidden love story line, and as a matter of fact, most of the sexploitation movies from the 60's, 70's & 80's were mostly based upon  teenage characters craving sex, something that allowed many beautiful actresses to rise to stardom through making a few of these films. Names like Christina Lindberg, Ornella Muti, Gloria Guida, Laura Antonelli, Peggy Church, Marie Liljedhal and Solveig Andersson  are only a few I can think of right now as actresses that portrayed horny teenage girls more than once throughout their careers. 

a walk on the beach keeps the dick craving away.

I'm confused, do men want me?

So, is La Svergognata just another teensploitation in an extended list of rip offs?

Yes and no depending on what your personal standards define a movie as worth watching or a total waste of time. Philippe Leroy & Barbara Bouchet (despite showing up only after half of the movie is done, and not as naked as she's been in other films) certainly deliver in their roles. Leroy is a bored writer who's lost inspiration long ago, while Bouchet  is his believable wife. Leonora Fani, on the other hand, is a newcomer to the world of acting on screen, and yet, her role as malicious teen Ornella is skillfully carried out, I might add.  Nevertheless, the film's plot is highly derivative and won't bring any refreshing ideas to a genre, that although it was on its peak in the early 70's, it quickly hit rock bottom by the end of the decade. In its defense, I'd say La Svergognata is neither a pretentious film nor an avant garde softcore film desguised as art. In addition, its running time is only 78 minutes, so it doesn't beat around the bushes. So by the time, Fabio's wife arrives on the island, things go south pretty quickly, and just before he can give Ornella a good fuck, his wife gives him a hard time and leaves. Unfortunately, Ornella is more of a tease than a slut, so after she is confronted  by Silvia, she decides to call it a day too, leaving our poor infamous main character with blue balls.

I wanna suck it.

Uhm, nope, now I don't want to.

La Svergognata was filmed in its entirety on the beautiful island of Ischia, near Naples. Most of the outdoor scenes are stunning just for the fact they were filmed on the island. The cinematography of the film was in charge of Antonio Borghesi (a regular in Biagetti's flicks). The music was composed and arranged by Berto Pisano, who worked mostly making music for horror films. His most remembered work is 1981's Burial Ground: The nights of Terror.

Although the film premiered only in Italy in 1974, the film was internationally released in Spain & Greece. The film never made it to American theaters. However, the VHS tape release, made it a very popular cult film during the 80's outside of Europe. If you're lucky enough, you can still find copies of it around the internet. The only known releases of the film were the original Italian version (bootlegged as is) and a Spanish dubbed version, so a second language diploma may not seem that useless now.

The Spanish dubbed VHS.

Good girl! you swallowed it to the last drop!

Author Susan Bassnett wrote the book Feminist Experiences (RLE Feminis Theory) in 1986. In such book, she has a few lines for Leonora Fani: 

Section 2 opens with an interview with Leonora Fani, an actress who has appeared in box-office pornographic movies, one of which featured her having intercourse with a large dog. Leonora Fani defends her work with the now traditional "they don't have to see it if they don't want to" line...

Now, let's straighten things up. First, Leonora Fani has never worked in a pornographic film. Her movies are either known as softcore or erotic films. The 1975 porn film "Calde Labbra" features a brief intervention by her, but it has nothing to do with real sex. Second, she's right, if you don't like her movies don't fucking watch them, and that's it! She was an erotic film actress and nude model because she chose to, she wasn't forced to do it. The 70's were a very different time and age where society was opened to every source of entertainment with almost no restrictions. She was a part of it, she didn't conspire against women to become sex objects. 

There's nothing wrong with erotic films, you know.

To each his own ma'am!

Overall, La Svergognata's relevance is evidently the fact that it marks Leonora Fani's debut in the world of the erotic film genre. Plotwise, it's the same story that has been told way too many times and in some cases with better production or a more sex centered focused plot that may be more interesting to certain viewers. So, as a teenage love story, lame. As an erotic movie, a little less lame, and as the debut of a young Italian actress, well, it can't get any better than this. Sharing on screen time with experienced actors (Leroy & Bouchet) is priceless. Thanks to the popularity this film got her in Italy, she was able of nailing around 15 roles in different sexploitation films. If we were to rank all of her films, our ranking would be as follows:

1.Pensione Paura

2.Nene

3.Giallo a Venezia (yes, you read that right)
4.Bestialitá (yes, you read that right too! it's our next review!)

5.The Last Round
6.Naked Massacre
7.La Svergognata
8.Eden no Sono
9.The Private Lesson (yet to be reviewed)
10.Sensitivita.

Bare in mind she worked in more films but in very minor roles.

Barbara Bouchet.

Leonora Fani.

Finally we move to our video section with some very audiovisual material. 

Here's the movie trailer:



Here's the main theme from the soundtrack:



And here's the entire film (Italian only) courtesy of YouTube: