Amazon.com: There's a killer on the loose who's murdering and mutilating beautiful young college girls, and there's no shortage of suspects. Four comely coeds decide to escape the madness by vacationing in an isolated country villa, but the maniac has his eye on them--one of them suspects his identity--and drops in for a homicidal holiday. With a title like Torso you know what you're getting, but despite the high body count and the suggestion of dismemberment, most of the gore in this Italian giallo is offscreen... with a few exceptions (an icky eye gouging stands out). Director Sergio Martino is no Dario Argento and the film is blunt, direct, and vicious, as can be seen when the killer disposes of a witness by ramming his skull into a brick wall with his car, not once but twice (with the appropriate close-up). The killer, who hides behind a ratty ski mask and strangles his targets with a florid scarf, is haunted by some obscure childhood memory involving a porcelain doll and a traumatizing accident. He straddles two clichés, the Norman Bates-variety psychos and the hooded, zombielike automatons of Halloween and Friday the 13th. It doesn't make much sense, but like most slasher films, it's really about suspense, spectacle, and a body count, and Martino doesn't disappoint. To restore the film, Anchor Bay has included a few brief scenes in Italian with English subtitles. --Sean Axmaker
"Torso" Is Sergio Martino's Giallo Masterpiece "Torso" is to Sergio Martino what "Deep Red" is to Dario Argento. It is a wonderful slash-and-stalk giallo with a delightfully high body count. Numerous American movies during the slasher frenzy era, especially "Friday the 13th," were influenced by this Italian giallo. Instead of a hockey mask, the serial killer wears a ski mask. Also, some of the musical score for "Torso" reminded me of that found in "Halloween." "Prom Night" was similar to "Torso" in that both movies involved a killer who had suffered a traumatic experience as a child.
Suzy Kendall (star of Dario Argento's "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage") is June, the blonde, virginal heroine in "Torso." She, like so many beautiful blondes in the slash-and-stalk thrillers of the slasher frenzy, is the last to survive the killer's fury. At a secluded villa, she awakes to discover the mutilated bodies of her friends.
The killings throughout "Torso" are imaginative and gruesome. However, they lack the realism found in Lucio Fulci's gialli such as "Don't Torture a Duckling" and "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin."
Sergio Martino directed "Torso" as well as other famous gialli such as "Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key" and "The Case of the Scorpion's Tail." It is understandable why he said that "Torso" was his favorite film in the seventies. He must have been constantly surrounded by beautiful, naked women. "Torso" has a stronger sexual content then most of his other gialli. However, the nude scenes are essential to the plot. They are also understandable considering the "sexual awakening" of the seventies Naturally, the movie also has plenty of drug use, promiscuity, and lesbianism, as much as there was in other gialli of that time period. European directors must've loved watching beautiful women kissing each other. Those crazy seventies.
The plot, characterization, acting, scenery, and musical score are superb. "Torso" is a great giallo and I highly recommend that you buy if for your giallo collection. The out of print Anchor Bay edition is very expensive, but there is a more affordable import. However, I've read that the audio and video are of higher quality from Anchor Bay. Hopefully, "Torso" will be given a new release either from Anchor Bay or Blue Underground.
Awesome Movie The tension makes this movie great. Watch it and see what I mean....hacksaw anyone!?!?!
A Truly Luscious Giallo Gem! Sergio Martino's "TORSO"(aka:Carnal Violence) wich is actually a more fitting title is truly the most luscious italian murder mystery(giallo) ever made. With damn good acting(for the genre),Great Directing from meastro Martino, Very good storyline, some truly carnal violence and a handful of some of the sexiest females the species has to offer cherry topped with a spooky masked killer makes this one a lost gem that this horror fan is very glad to own. The ski-mask wearing killer in this giallo definitely played a visual roll in influencing the later American slasher films to follow such as 'Halloween' and 'Friday the 13th". Get this one before it becomes to hard to find!
Lacklustre giallo I was disappointed with this film. Having recently seen Martino's other giallo's, this easily ranks as his worst effort. But if you love giallo's (like me) there's some to enjoy here. The music score is good, the photography excellent (and the picture quality of this disc allows you to enjoy it's scenery to the fullest) and it's got some decent kills.
However it's nearly completely devoid of any real suspense. It's brutal subject matter is handled rather clumsily, it drags incredibly; for a very long time absolutely nothing happens. Granted, it does have a bit of tension in it's final third, but just think what, say, Dario Argento could have pulled off with a finale like that.
This was Martino's last giallo. I personally think he was getting bored with the genre. This movie seems to have been rushed and not made with any real passion. A shame, it had great potential
Terrific 70's Psycha-Psycho Martino's TORSO is a well-crafted, compelling and fun movie. There are several original sequences, and the film doesn't always remain too tediously dogged to some of the more overwrought conventions of the genre. There's plenty of blood, but much of the over the top gore commonly found in Italian Exploitation gives way to a solid narrative. This film was one of the first and best of the "Giallo" films of the 1970's.
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