 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 1973 Italian giallo film torso by Sergio Martino And I was very excited going into this one as you know If you've been watching my channel as you know I've been going through a lot of giallo films because shutter when I'm doing this review has a lot of them And I've gone through all that I have other ones. I already have reviews on so If you also are into giallo, there is a whole giallo playlist on my channel Check it out. I think at this point. There's like 22 23 giallo film reviews on there and I'm gonna keep going I have two more on shutter to do and Then I have some on Blu-ray that I'm gonna start doing and I'll get some more. I'm gonna keep doing it Maybe not immediately, but we'll get there. Anyway 1973 torso now this one I was very excited about because some people I know had said that this was their favorite and When people say, oh, this is your favorite expectations tend to go up But since I've seen so much giallo, I watched the film and I was a little bit let down. It's still good I still enjoyed it. Most of all, I think the visual aspect of it I really do like Sergio Martino and the way he directs and also the The all the visuals the cinematography looks really good There's a lot of nice visual stuff going on with the film, but overall it dragged a bit too much But there are a lot of good things, but obviously I'll get to all that during the main meat of the review So like I said directed by Sergio Martino who's also done films such as the case of the Scorpions tail All the colors of the dark your vices a locked room and only I hold the key the strange vice of Mrs. Ward one of my favorite giallo films The suspicious death of a minor the scorpion with two tails an American rickshaw Which actually American rickshaw is gaining a lot of traction right now? So I may be checking that one out at some point. I actually may be purchasing the blu-ray to check that out I've heard it's very interesting This was written by Martino and also Ernesto Gestaldi and Gestaldi was also Had also done work on scripts for the vampire and the ballerina werewolf in a girl's dormitory The whip and the body which I have a review for the case of the scorpions tail all the colors of the dark Also have a review for that the case of the bloody iris have a review for that your vices a locked room And only I have the key I want to get to that one the suspicious or I'm sorry the strange vice of Mrs. Ward I do have a review for that the suspicious death of a minor and the scorpion with two tails This was also called the bodies bear traces of carnal violence Now I kind of think that might be a better Title than torso. I mean torso doesn't tie a ton into the film I guess maybe from the standpoint of towards the end when the killer is You know hacking up the bodies I guess it's kind of a reference to he's kind of hacking them up So it's they're just a torso because I look like he was taking the appendages off, but I don't know I It's not a great title for it really I mean, it's a cool sounding title, but as far as tying into the actual film in the events and the story being told It's not a great title. The film was heavily edited for its English language markets It's a thing that was happening and I just I hate that it was happening But I like that with a lot of these that they're being restored to their original state and on shutter It's in Italian. There's no dubbing on this one on that version The cast was never informed who the killer would end up being so many of the people had Suspicions while they were filming and a lot of them ended up being incorrect Now this is a perfect time for me to tell you that I always like to guess with these Jala films early on in the film because that's usually when the killer has been introduced as early on and then you don't see them for a while so Very early on I set my guess as Franz the professor and I was right not for the reasons that I chose Which I will go over later, but I ended up being right I found I've been right about these Jalos most of the time, but I think that's because I watch so much of it I kind of understand the formula for how these these killers are introduced and then kind of They try to make the audience forget about them by not visiting them that much But they show up like just enough so that when you find out they're the killer you're like oh Okay, because you remember who they are because they've shown up a few times But they're not heavily in it. So you're not so focused on them. You're focused on other characters So they kind of just like slipped by The film has been cited as providing some inspiration for the Grindhouse films the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino films that had come out And also hostile part 2 that Eli Roth did now having watched the film now From I see the influence maybe with hostile 2 from a visual standpoint of like the cityscape used But other than that I really don't see the influences Between this film and these films cited so I don't know Anyway getting to the actual events of the film I put down well It didn't take long to get to nudity obviously it starts with kind of blurry You know from from afar because they don't want to show you who's involved a threesome going on people completely nude So I was like oh, you know there's nudity and you you know You see breasts you see but stuff like that But That's that's definitely a way to to lead with nudity which a lot of these films feature nudity because we need to remember This was the time period. This was a selling point for film like this pornography was not nearly as Easy to obtain as it is nowadays on the internet. So those were selling points back then they were more titillating It was to have a sexy film like this was it was a big draw for for audience goers So, you know Remember the time frame. That's important. I do like the camera shutter like shuttering open and closed During that scene. I thought it looked really cool. It gives you the idea that there was actually, you know someone taking pictures of what was going on which I Guess that ended up coming into play. I guess what that may have been was Franz Getting it on with the two friends that he says in the end were blackmailing him because he can't have normal relations with women Because of what happened to him in the past, but I'll come back to that because I have some questions about that one That'll be at the end. There's a real long pause by Stefano when he gets turned down in the very beginning to give a ride to I think it was Jane and Stefano obviously is is the one that they focus on so much in the film because he seems like The easiest person to kind of pin as being it so back then back, you know when this film came out in 1973 You know people probably weren't as savvy with film as they are nowadays So they would watch it and be like, oh man, I mean that must be the guy But nowadays I think people kind of approach these films from a standpoint of well He looks so obvious. It's most likely not this guy And if it is this guy I'm probably gonna be mad at the story because I want something more interesting some sort of twist to it and that's what Giallo does so But they did they strongly strongly strongly went for for people to be suspicious of Stefano And I'll talk some more about a few aspects of that Nice camera work how it moves around the car and the couple having sex That's during the first kill scene where the couple's having sex in the car under that bridge and the killer kind of you know It's got the typical Giallo killer POV shot coming in But how it like all the movements kind of around the car really cool really smooth And that's something that Martino has going on in this film and other films of his that reminds me a lot of the camera work and directing from Mario Bava because He was very typical and kind of like a lot of kind of side-to-side movements to kind of open up the scene a lot more and You see it probably most or most strongly used by Martino in this film when they're in the villa Especially initially when the girls are in the villa and they're kind of like you know relaxing having some drinks in the main room And he kind of he likes to kind of you know get all the aspects of that room Which I think is great it kind of like it creates more for the the actors to work with on scene And it also makes the audience members feel like that scene has opened up more like you can see more of what's there And it's more immersive that way I feel The way the killer jumps out of the dark and strangles the woman in the beginning looks good, but she dies too fast I don't think it was actually realistic with how long it really would have taken her to be strangled to death with that scarf so How he jumps out of the dark and gets her I didn't see it coming right at that moment So good jump scare, but she dies just a little too too fast. That's you know very minor issue Great use of the cityscape in this I like the camera movement from one side of that cement bridge to the other as the one as I think it was Jane Passes under the bridge If followed her from the one side then then kind of pan over and and saw her coming out the other side I really like those type of camera movements once again talking about how great that is But also overall the cityscape the cityscape looks so cool Especially now in 2020 when I'm doing this looking back at a 1970s Italy It's cool to see that architecture. It's cool to see the cityscape, and I think the cityscape was used very well It's very beautiful. It's beautifully shot and it ends up playing well visually for the film The dope smoke and free love and party is a cool scene due to the setting of the rundown building Where I think it's Danny. No, it's not Daniela Ursula I think was the friend who went there with those two guys and they almost have sex and then she runs away from them kind of insinuating that these guys could be killers which Pretty much all males in this film are insinuated as potentially being killers So they really had a ton a ton a ton of suspects Which I think that was one of the big criticisms of this film By critics and and audience goers when it came out was that there were too many red herrings There are too many suspects. It was just too confusing and too tough to figure out Which you know, I feel like that's a good thing though But anyway, yeah that dope smoke and free love and party I thought it looked awesome because once again, you know It's a shot that shows a lot of the scene and it's like very far back in this rundown building It just looks really cool and then with the music that they're playing throughout it and people dancing. It's a cool scene They paint once again, they paint so many males in this film as hyper aggressive Therefore giving the feeling that they could be killers, you know It doesn't take that that much for people to see a character who's hyper aggressive and think okay Well now they can be a murderer. It's not that much of a jump to get there The shot of the second woman victims blood flowing down her arm and the mud looks great I like that kill in general because of the setting of it in the woods when she's running away You know first she sees the silhouette kind of in the mist of the killer and then he's coming after her slowly She's falling down in the mud how dirty it is looks really good and the puddles But like I said the that final moment that they show of her bleeding out Over her arm and into the mud looks really cool. Once again, really nice visuals in this film. So I like that There are an awful large amount of scenes of people staring at other people Mainly guys because they're trying to make them look kind of like disconnected from reality like this guy's lost it Maybe he's the killer. So there are a lot of scenes of just like staring going on which is a little bit annoying It's a little excessive The scarf vendor says he sells so many of those particular scarfs the one that was used for murders But then he makes that extortion phone call indicating that only one person bought that So then we found out later at the end that Franz had purchased the actual Particular one that was used in the murder, but that Stefano had one that was basically the Opposite color scheme, but the same pattern So that was an interesting kind of like visual thing that people if they were really paying attention would pick up on I did not first because you don't really look for those things You just see that the patterns the same and the colors are the same, but you don't look at the color scheme necessarily It's hard to remember those things So I thought that was a cool little trick to use to kind of show You know this person has a scarf that's like it, but they are not the killer obviously So that also goes to what the vendor was talking about where he's like I sell plenty of these scarves But that one particular one because of this that particular pattern and color You know which color goes where within the pattern He knew who it was Franz and obviously he tries to extort him by calling him And then I guess that wasn't such a good idea because he gets run down by a car Creepy uncle spying on his niece is disgusting Daniela's uncle which actually for a little bit. I considered him a potential suspect You know I said initially I guessed Franz and I ended up being right with that But for a little bit I was like this creepy uncle is really creepy like he was looking through the door when she was had gotten out of the Shower was like checking out her legs gross Then he keeps talking so much about how he's going away to Paris and then there's that really interesting moment And I was like oh, maybe this is a hint where she He calls her he calls Daniela at the villa and she says where are you? Oh Paris? It sounds like you're in the next room and I thought that was gonna be hint that he's actually there and he is the killer But no that was a good kind of misdirect That they did in the story Based on the sequence of events leading up to it You would think the creepy uncle ran down the scarf vendor in his car since he was just leaving for Paris That's another one of those misdirects where you put a scene here And then you go to another scene and because you just saw this scene the audience Viewer thinks oh, they're somehow connected and I kind of did it that moment because I was like You know this uncle's talking a lot about going to Paris and then Immediately this scarf vendors being run down by a car and he was just leaving basically so maybe it's him doing that Pretty gruesome head crushing with the car by the way for that time for the 70s. It looked good I think first for 70s gore effects They really use the space of the villa's main room with the significant camera movements are I talked about that? Every time you see the killer's knife you get that glint of light on it Now this is something that a few giallo films have done. What was the most recent one? I can't remember the most recent one that did that that I that I reviewed But it was one pretty recently I reviewed and every single time that knife comes out There is that glint of light that they get on it. I like that. It's cool. It kind of makes it a little more menacing It's just a cool visual Stefano showing up at the door dead. I thought it was funny Now I didn't think it was funny from the story standpoint of it or the fact that he ended up being dead But when they opened the door at the look on his face is what was funny to me like his staring was just like Which he'd done that stare numerous times prior in the film So I thought he was just being a weirdo again But then you find out he falls forward and he has been killed by the killer. I like that as much as I would have liked to see the kill scenes for Jane's friends once the killer gets into the villa It has more impact to see them for the first time when Jane discovers them for the first time So I was really like oh we missed out on the actual kill scenes I really would have loved that but then as Jane kind of gets out of bed and she goes downstairs and she Finds the grisly scene There is a lot of impact especially within the story for that so I was then like okay I understand it is more important that we do it this way Jane seeing her friends hacked up is pretty horrific not from you know the standpoint of You know me watching the film. I wasn't like oh man This is horrific, but from the standpoint of watching Jane watch it and her acting behind it I was like that's horrific. So good job on that Good use of silence in this film when Jane's trying to hide from the killer I thought they did a really good job of you know taking the music away Which focuses on how quiet she needs to be and it really ratchets the tension up So I love that aspect of what they did there Anytime that silence is used to good effect in a film I'm a huge fan of and I will always talk about that in the review. So nice nice use of silence The coincidence of the killer hearing the drunk guys say four women are in the villa Way too convenient. I did not like this little part. It's one of those Lazy writing issues where you know, there's so many other ways that the killer could have found out She was there making noise. Whatever even just like a little noise I would have preferred that to him about to leave and Some drunk guys will like oh no, I swear there are four girls in the villa Like they wouldn't even be talking about that and the coincidence of the fact that he happens to be there when they're Talking about that and when they're talking about it. They happen to be outside of the villa. It's just too convenient It's dumb. I hate that type of stuff. It's lazy writing. So that's one of the things I did not like Okay, so after we get the reveal of Franz being the killer I put so Franz wasn't capable of having normal Relations with women because a girl said she would show her body to his brother If he got if he went down and got her doll, which was kind of down this Hill a little bit and instead he fell to his death and I guess that traumatic moment Just ingrained in him forever that he could never have normal relations with women because a woman had done him wrong in some way and It just you know sent him over the edge. I Mean a little bit weak, you know kind of weak, but this is something that was kind of hit on a lot I'll talk about it a little bit later But this is something that was hit out hit on a lot in giallo films for motives for the killers But I'll talk about that in a bit Smart moves switching the scarf color and pattern. Yeah, I already talked about that. So Franz tells Jane Okay, this was my question on this Franz tells Jane that two of her friends were blackmailing him because they knew he couldn't Have normal relations with women Does this mean he was attempting to sleep with students? Wouldn't he not try Because he knows that he can't have normal relations with women So I don't like that doesn't make sense to me really the whole blackmailing thing They didn't even need that because they even go so far as Franz is basically saying that You know, he views all the women as being like that girl who traumatized him by you know Sending his brother to his death basically so that you don't even need the aspect of the blackmailing And it just doesn't make sense his his story on that or what was going on because I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be trying to have sex with women if he knows he can't have sex with women Because that's kind of the implication of it is that he's impotent now basically like you can't get it up So that doesn't make sense But then you know getting that information made me think that that's what the opening scene was was him trying to Sexually be with these students and the camera is them taking pictures for blackmail Just a guess, but let me know your thoughts My earliest theory was the professor Franz since he was so focused on bashing the artist That painted martyrs in paintings with no blood That was a very opening thing the opening thing that happened after the sex scene a point is made of then showing the blood Very specifically on the first victims like really focusing on the blood So for that reason I took that contrast as I think he's the killer because he's railing so much About the lack of realism with this painter and the martyrs just not having any blood So that's why I ended up thinking was Franz. I ended up being right, but for kind of a different reason The continual flashback of hands doing things to a doll before the killer Kills his victims. I think was meant to kind of be a statement of childhood trauma I ended up being correct about that. That's when I made that note as those things were happening But well before the reveal of the killer. So I was right once again This is something that comes up a lot with Jalo is you know childhood trauma that ends up turning into you know a Reason they become a killer. So my last thing it kind of rolls into this This fits into a large grouping of Jalo films with killers motivated by a woman wronging them in some way So now all women have to pay they start viewing every single woman as exactly But like that one woman who wronged them and that wrong is so wrong that they can't forget it And they must be punished and they just see every female as just like that one person So that's used a good deal in Jalo. So nothing super new here with that It was a popular thing to do with with Jalo twists. What can I say? But anyway overall, I did enjoy this film enough I was just let down for the aspect of people saying it was like one of their favorite Jalo films and I've seen a lot. So I was just like, oh man This is gonna be better than like Tenebrae and deep red and strange vice of mrs. Ward I wouldn't go that far. It is pretty good though. I'm gonna give it out of five stars with half stars in play a Very solid three and a half star rating. I do like it. I think it's pretty solid I mean most Jalo is pretty solid except a few One in particular, I would just not recommend ever watching but there's a review for it on my channel If you can find it, let me know and put a comment down there But anyway speaking comments put comments down there. Let's talk about your feelings on torso Also, let's talk about Jalo in general because I would love to get nerdy about that But do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button if you like this video or any video I've ever posted because that's your way to repay me Not getting paid to do this or anything. I'm just pouring my time into it to build a nerdy horror community here And talk nerdy poor shop with everyone So if you could just repay me real quick for my time just with a quick subscribe Because it's quick and painless But also hit that's a notification bell button and that way you know You will know when I'm putting up new movie reviews or unboxings or any of that type stuff But regardless, I thank you for taking your time to watch this and until next time Keep it brutal