Torso (I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carnale)

Murder a la italiana!

Films like Hostel, Wrong Turn, and Severance owe a great deal to Sergio Martino's Torso. But this is not the only European film that got ripped off and stolen by the Americans. Every single murder scene of the first three Friday the 13th -films were carbon copies of Mario Bava's murder scenes that he made 10 years before the first Friday the 13th in a film called Ecologia del Delitto or Bay of Blood. John Carpenter made a career from ripping off Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace and Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso in his breakthrough film Halloween. He even stole Goblin's music. Nowadays the Americans are trying to do the same to Asian films, i.e. remake every good Asian film with American actors, because American people are too stupid to read subtitles. Why don't you learn to read, Americans? Oh yeah, you don't have to, because you're the greatest. And your vice president doesn't even know how to spell potato. No offense, but I wish Canada invaded the USA pretty soon. They can at least play hockey. 

Not another boring threesome!

I kissed a girl and I liked it.

I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carnale which translates as something like "Corpses in poses with traces of carnal violence" but since such a long title won't stay in our weak minds they simply called it Torso. 

Set in Italy, this slasher is pretty bad ass considering it came out in 1973. There is one scene where the killer is dismembering a body and a woman watches from behind a door, trying not to make a peep. You don't see a whole lot of blood, but the movie is a must for gorehounds. A few stabbing scenes in the beginning, plus a dude getting his head crushed by a car start the film off in the right direction.

Never take your girl to a secluded place...

...Or she will end up fucked and dead.

What a stunning film! Sergio Martino is a great Horror director and especially his Giallo are outstanding. Torso My personal favorite of all his films next to the magnificent Poe-inspired Giallo "Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key". Today's 1973 masterpiece in review is a nasty and ingenious gem that is easily one of the most vastly underrated Giallo ever brought to screen. It may not be as complex in its plot and twists as many other contemporary Giallo efforts, but it makes up for this by a menacing atmosphere, constant pure suspense, sleaze and genuine nastiness. This is indeed a truly scary Giallo that combines all elements that make this great sub-genre of Italian Horror so brilliant.

Several pretty girls, all students of the University of Rome, are brutally slain by a masked and gloved killer. The only hint the police have on the killer's identity are fibers of a black and red scarf. While the killer is still on the loose, four ravishing beauties (played by Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Carla Brait and Angela Corvello) who happen to be foreign students in Rome decide to have a calm weekend on the countryside. The girls, who are all stunningly beautiful and not at all shy about exposing their charms travel to a country house owned by the uncle of one of them. As we all know, of course, remote mansions are not necessarily the best hide-outs from masked rippers....

Italiana Tentazione.

Gee, you're in your period!

The film is incredibly suspenseful throughout, and the thrills do not stop for a minute. It is also very violent, there is a considerable amount of gore and the brutal murders are depicted in bloody detail and more than a bit nasty. "Torso" truly is an immensely underrated Giallo, arguably because people tend to underrate films with a certain sleaze-level. All of the girls are ravishing beauties, especially Tina Aumont (who sadly passed away recently) and Carla Brait (basically THE hot black chick in Italian genre cinema) are incredibly sexy. Aumont, Brait, and Angela Corvello are naked for a big part of their screen time, which makes the film even more recommendable. The film is scary from the very beginning, and the brilliant score by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis is easily the greatest that the brothers have ever delivered. The atmosphere is generally creepy, the settings are beautiful and eerie, and photography is fantastic.

Just chillin' until some rapist comes.

Help! I'm a stupid blonde!

Rumor has it, during production, none of the cast was told who the killer was. And because of the high amount of red herrings in the film, many of the actresses were convinced it was someone else doing all the murders. The film was highly censored in English language countries. Because of this, parts of the English dub do not exist for the film. On uncut DVDs, these scenes are played with their original Italian language track and English subtitles (that's the editio you have to look for in case you haven't watched it yet) The complete number of on screen victims in the film is 9.In addition, An alternate ending was shot with the killer surviving in the end but since, he was the bad guy, Martino chose not to use it and chose the one we all know about.

Pomodoro!

You got something in your eye.

Torso is a must watch/must have for any serious connoisseur out there. The combined forces of a brilliant score, ingenious camera-work, gruesome murders and brutality, a gloomy atmosphere and an incredibly sexy female cast, and, most importantly, genuine creepiness and constant suspense makes this film deliver pure Giallo greatness in all aspects. An essential must-see for Italian Horror fans, and an absolute priority for every lover of suspense-cinema in general, Torso is a stunning and brilliant Giallo that comes with my highest possible recommendations! 

Here's the movie trailer: