Psychout for Murder (1969)

Sadly Over-hyped

People are voting emotionally.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

More psychological style giallo here, but still interesting, as usual involving the corrupt and over privileged. Young, daft Licia is talked into going to a whorehouse to have sex with her boyfriend Mario, not knowing that Mario merely intends to use the situation to blackmail Licia's dad, a rich business magnate with many ties to the Church and the local community. Her dad responds by declaring that Licia did what she did because she was nuts, and has her thrown in a loony bin. Licia for some reason doesn't take this too well, and hell mend everyone involved when she gets out...Licia casts her net wide when picking potential victims, but then again there are many folk in her life that are corrupt and more immoral than they made her out to be. Her father after all is having an affair with his business partner's wife, who is basically scheming to have her husband put into some political position of power. Her own sister has only been married to her husband for business purposes, and he seems to have the hots for Licia, as you do when your sister in law starts parading around the place half naked in front of you. Mario the blackmailer doesn't escape too easy either, and finds himself a pawn in Licia's game.The best thing about the film is Adrienne Larussa as Licia. She seems to try to blend back into society once released but quickly finds she can't. She also becomes really happy when she decides that she's just going to destroy everyone instead, leading to many scenes where the characters are injured or confused by Licia's antics, including her splicing images of her father's affairs into a business pitch, and giving a non-fatal electrocution to her sister. This is still old school giallo however, so don't expect and excess of blood and gore. There is a freak out dancing scene involving Licia and her dad's assistant that's pretty funny though, plus a terrible song at the beginning. This film involves mind games, blackmail, that sort of thing, but shouldn't be overlooked. If you like Adrienne Larussa you'll love this, because the camera lingers over her most of the time.

Obscure and unusual thriller starring the most effective American actress, Adrienne Larussa, who appeared in Fulci's great Perversion Story the same year. The male lead is famed Italian actor, Rossano Brazzi, who also here directs. It is a decent directorial effort but possibly the two roles made life a little difficult and there do seem to be moments where a little more clarity was needed. A little more thought might have been given to the soundtrack as well as one or two garish tunes seem to go round and round. Still, its a good story involving corruption in high places (what in Italy, surely not!) and a young women seeking revenge for an injustice done. Sex and violence a bit thin on the ground but Larussa's performance is so beguiling we are kept interested and amused throughout.

A beautiful, wealthy young heiress (Adriana La Russa) is tricked by her no-good, blackmailer lover (Nino Castelnuevo) into going to a brothel to make love. After she is caught up in a police raid her lover arranges, her family, to save face, decides to have her put in a mental institution. She gets out, and pretending to be crazy (like a very sexy female Hamlet), proceeds to get revenge on everybody including her lover, older sister, brother-in-law, and not least of all, her father (Rosanno Brazzi, who also directed).This is basically a late 60's Italian gialli. It is not nearly as violent as the films that would later follow Dario Argento's "Bird with Crystal Plumage". It's perhaps more in the the spirit of the "Diabolique"/"Dolce Vita"-type gialli of the late 60's, typified by the films Umberto Lenzi made with Carroll Baker, where jaded wealthy jet-set types scheme against each other. This movie is not as stylized as the Lenzi/Baker films (the direction is actually a little flat), but it is has a good script and it is very well acted, especially by LaRussa. LaRussa had also appeared in Lucio Fulci's "Beatrice Cenci", another film about twisted family relations. She is great and very sexy here as she seduces her hapless brother-in-law, frames one character for the murder of another, and drives yet another to an early death. LaRussa kind of reminded of the late Soledad Miranda in films like "She Killed in Ecstasy". There's little doubt for her victims that beneath her seeming madness lies a scheming malevolence, but they simply can't resist her (much like a male praying mantis can't resist the female that is going to tear him apart and devour him). LaRussa may not quite be as sexy as Soledad Miranda (but who the hell he is?); however, she may very well be a better actress.This is not one of the better directed gialli, but it has a strong plot and is very well acted, and it certainly deserves to be more widely seen.