By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Julie (Rosemary Dexter) awakens in a fright from a nightmare where her boyfriend Luca (Horst Frank) is murdered. He’s actually missing and she goes looking for him. It is then where she meets Antonio (Gaetano Donati), who brings her to a house where he says someone will help her. He leaves quickly and the building starts crumbling in around her and she barely escapes with her life.
Someone grabs her purse and she makes a run for it. As she flees, she bumps square into Frank (Adolfo Celi), an eccentric old man who claims that there is a woman he can bring her to that she may stay with. He goes back and finds her bag, but the photo of Luca is missing.
Frank tells her to go to Gerda’s (Alida Valli) luscious villa as if Luca had been around, the people there would know. She asks him to bring her, but he insists he can only tell her the way. She drives herself and takes full advantage of the waterfront property before venturing inside. Sadly, as she skinny-dips some immature hooligans steal her clothes and laugh at her.
Thankfully Gerda finds Julie who is a bit embarrassed. offers a towel and delivers one of the greatest pieces of dialogue ever uttered by a character on screen, “a naked woman doesn’t have to go into explanations, especially if she’s as young and beautiful as you.”
Gerda brings her to the house where a group of odd characters make up the residents.
Louis (Michael Maien) is Gerda’s reluctant right-hand-man who is always irritated with her and has eyes for Julie. Eugene (Franco Ressel) is a disgusting little mutt-man who works in audio visusal. Thomas (Gigi RIzzi) and his stunningly magnificent wife Corrine (Peter Kranz) argue all the time, but seem to genuinely have affection for one another. I’m #TeamCorrine regardless. She is heavenly.
They couple are concerned if a secret about them is revealed it could ruin their careers.Toni (Sybil Danning) is a photographer who has a tragic backstory that continues to haunt her.
Though, not a resident of Gerda’s another strange character does appear throughout and has relevance. Saro (Benamin Lev) a teen orphan who is infatuated with Julie paints portraits of things he’s seen. One of he paintings appears to be Luca being killed.
Gerda claims that she hasn’t seen Luca, but Gerda asks Julie to stay the night. She does and the group of people end up playing a game of Scabble while they smoke cigarettes and drink. Oddly, Frank calls Julie but says nothing which worries Julie.
In the house, she spots a book she believes to be Luca’s. Gerda claims it’s hers but won’t allow Julie to look inside to verify an inscription. Later she sneaks a peak, but the questionable page is ripped out. Feeling that Gerda is hiding something about Luca. Odder still, Antonio appears but denies being the man who brought her to the crumbling house the day before.
Frank sends for her and when she arrives says he found the picture of Luca. He claims to have found it on Antonio. He also emphatically demand that she trust him and no one else. He makes a pass at her, but she thankfully gets away.
When Julie gets back to the villa she questions Toni who has a pic of Luca. She claims to have known him two years prior but hasn’t seen him since. The only one to admit having seen Luca Louis.
Later, Julie gets a call from someone claiming to be Luca, but the call disconnects. She steps in to say goodbye to Louis who begins laughing maniacally. He tells her before leaving to check out by the garage.
When she goes out there, she sees Luca’s car and the call is proven to be a hoax. Frank starts questioning everyone around and we find that each person had a really good motive to kill Luca. He was a bad psychiatrist and a worse human being.
Good riddance to bad rubbish! Speaking of bad rubbish, Frank keeps getting rougher with his advances towards Julie. He’s a jerk! I want her with Tom’s (Gigi Rizzi) wife Corinne (Peter Kranz). I think those two would have been amazing together as Tom can be sort of a drag.
Louis and Julie have a romp after tripping on LSD. They pal around while Frank and Gerdy make a sinister pact.
In one amazing scene, Julie is attacked by a group of people who act more like zombies. It’s very strange to see human beings turn into crazed attackers. They’re not the un-dead. They don’t have the mindless blood-seeking reason to attack. The fact that they have know the behavior is horrific yet act out selfishly to attack is horrifying as the realization sets in that if in Julie’s position, you’d have a better chance reasoning with a rabid animal than these guys. It’s very well shot. It’s very well acted. It’s very well done.
The ending is a complete shocker and done spectacularly well. Watching BLOOD AND LACE (1971) just a few days prior, there are striking similarities in tone and theme. Both take a different path way and use stylistic ways that are unique, but I recommend watching them back-to-back.
It is always awesome to see a performance by cult goddess Sybil Danning and this was no exception. Toni had a great deal to emote in a short amount of time dealing with her history with Luca. Danning hits every note and ensures the viewers remain sympathetic to her whether she’s the killer or not.
In all honesty everyone did well. I was hoping to see Eugene get massacred, but you can’t get everything.
Celi also does great at making me hate Frank. Frank is just so sleazy and disgusting. That said, it’s what the character is supposed to be and Celi makes sure you know it.
Kudos to them for taking on a bit of human rights with Corinne’s tale. Kranz’s performance is fantastic and the film’s portrayal is moderately respectful with the topic- especially for the times.
Valli as always is great. She’s just killer in every role. She’s a badass that you don’t want to fuck with and I love badass women. She kills it as fearless crazy Gerda who has a soft spot for Louis.
Lastly, Dexter is terrific in the lead. There are a lot of flashbacks and certain sequences that seem out of place, but Dexter’s controlled and confident performance keeps everything in check. She ensures that the audience never forgets Julie’s motivation or how motivated she is.
Overall I highly recommend it. It’s on both AMAZON PRIME and free on YOUTUBE so there are no excuses not to watch. There isn’t that much sex in it at all, but the killer story and shocking conclusions make up for it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10
