TORSO (1973)

Sergio Martino's TORSO is one of those movies that I'd always heard about and read about over the last handful of years.  Back in the day, I'd seen posters and other artwork for it at conventions, but never took the time to check it out….

Until this past weekend.

Easily a quintessential Italian Giallo, Torso tells the tale of a crazed "psychosexual" killer terrorizing a group of college girls.  While watching it, I was amazed at how many bits and pieces (pun intended) were direct blueprints for the Slasher craze of the 70s and 80s!  A lot people seem to hail Black Christmas as the prototypical Slasher film, but watching a few Giallos from the likes of Martino, Dario Argento, and even Lucio Fulci, and it's clear to see where this Italian subgenre bled itself into the veins of the Slasher boom.

 The story begins with a double murder which leads to a game of "who dunnit" with one of the main girls having some idea of who the killer might be.  All the while, the viewer is kept guessing while the bodies start quickly piling up. 

One standout sequence involves a girl -- having just smoke some dope in a hippy hideaway -- being chased through a muddy swamp, with the killer seemingly appearing from the foggy haze ahead of her.  

The setting quickly shifts when the group of girlfriends decide to "get away from it all" for a weekend at a cottage high atop of a mountainside, overlooking a rustic Italian village.  Naturally, the killer follows them . . . and there are some surprises as everything unfolds, leading up to the big reveal.  

Possibly the best part of the film involves an intense game of "cat & mouse" as the Final Girl is trapped inside the cottage and witnesses the killer dismembering several victims for disposal.  Seriously, this part of the film ranks right up there with HItchcock!  

You might feel a little let down by the revelation of who the killer is and, more likely, exhausted by his long-winded reasoning for committing all of the murders, but I thought it was still a fun time! 

Torso is now available of DVD and Blu-ray from Blue Underground, so definitely check it out!!