10:26 AM - Nov 22, 2018 #783 543) Giallo In Venezia (1979, Italy, Giallo, Director: Mario Landi)

Notable actors: Leonora Fani! Mariangela Giordani!

If Maurizio Merli and Richard Harrison got it on and had a child, that child would be actor Jeff Blynn. Blessed with Merli's bushy, fair hair and moustache, he also has the glare of real life ninja Harrison.

Jeff is a cop in Venice and he's got some case to solve: the murder of a married couple, one drowned, one stabbed in the crotch. More confusingly, the drowned woman has been removed from the water and left beside her husband. There was a witness to this, an old man who spies on everyone, but he's not talking for reasons that don't make any sense and aren't really explained at all.

Jeff goes to a friend of the couple, played by Mariangela Giordani, and there things start getting stranger. She's nervous as hell (I would be too seeing as Jeff insists on sitting right next to her and munching on boiled eggs all the time!) and seems to be avoiding Jeff's questions, until she caves in and the film descends into sleaze for what felt like about six hours.

Y'see, husband Fabio and wife Flavia (played by Leonora Fani, who is well named judging by how often the camera lingers on her crotch) are a couple of pervs, especially Fabio. Fabio likes to mix things up a bit in the sex department, as we'll see over and over and over again as Jeff conducts his investigation. This includes:

1) Getting strangers to spy on him while getting it on with Flavia. 2) Spying on strangers getting it on with Flavia. 3) Letting strangers cop a feel of Flavia in the cinema while knocking one out. 4) Having orgies with hookers and Mariangela Giordani. 5) Reading porn magazines, sniffing coke, whipping Flavia and then having sex with her for about ten seconds before blowing his wad. 6) Bumming Flavia while she was trying to put a washing on.

In a film that's just over an hour and half long, all this perversion doesn't leave a lot of time for Giallo-style antics, and maybe this is why director Landi just goes ahead and reveals the killer about half an hour in. That said, this is a giallo, not a slasher film, and things are that straightforward. They're not that great either mind you and the mystery is rather weak.

The violence and sex, however, is amped up to the max, well beyond what you'd expect. One character is tied to a table and has her leg graphically cut off while she watches on, while another is repeatedly stabbed in the fanny over and over again. You've got to kind of wonder what Landi was aiming for. The whole film is a wall to wall sleazefest that does live up to its reputation. And for the ladies, you get to see a guy having a chug in close up. It's as ridiculous as it sounds.

Considered by many giallo fans to be one of the least palatable examples of the genre, Giallo a Venezia's notorious reputation as a total sickie is well deserved, giving even Lucio Fulci's New York Ripper a run for its money in the misogynistic violence stakes.

Director Mario Landi turns what could easily have been a fairly mundane murder mystery into an exercise in pure depravity through the use of wall to wall sex and a few extremely harsh murders, making this unmissable stuff for those who love their Italian horror/thrillers to be as twisted as possible.

As Venetian copper Inspector DePaul (Jeff Blynn) investigates the deaths of exhibitionist architect Fabio (Gianni Dei) and his submissive wife Flavia (Leonora Fani),he slowly unravels their life of sexual experimentation and moral abandonment, allowing Landi to pile on the wanton debauchery and extreme brutality.

In a series of flashbacks that portray the events leading up to the young couple's deaths, viewers are treated to all manner of sexual shenanigans, and one or two really grisly scenes of carnage, including a hooker stabbed in the crotch with a big pair of scissors, a guy doused in petrol and burnt alive, and a woman having her leg cut off with a massive kitchen knife—all of which qualifies Giallo a Venezia for a sleaze-tastic rating of 8/10 from this particular reprobate.

Honesty and openness are characteristics that you rarely ever come across in the horror genre. Doesn't it frequently happen that you purchase a title that loudly promotes itself as "the ultimate experience in pure terror" whereas, in reality, it's just another dull and totally unoriginal thriller that wasted both your time and your money? Well, at least Mario Landi's "Giallo A Venezia" is completely different! The brief description on the back of the VHS cover sincerely admits already that this film is a total failure when it comes to building up mystery or suspense, but takes pride in the fact that it is one of the nastiest, sleaziest and most brutal gore flicks ever produced in Italy. And let me assure you, this isn't a lie! Every single reviewer on this website agrees that this is a sick, sick, sick, SICK film and exclusively meant for horror freaks who're constantly searching for new heights in extreme film-making. The plot of "Giallo A Venezia" is hardly worth mentioning, as Landi doesn't even attempt to involve the viewers in the search for the demented serial killer on the loose in the streets of Venice. The mutilated corpses of a young couple are found near a river and pretty soon it becomes clear that they were fanatically into bizarre sexual fetishes and perverted games. A duo of unlikely police inspectors, one addicted to eating boiled eggs and the second looking like a homicidal maniac himself, investigate the case by questioning local prostitutes and their clients. Even though the killer isn't very good at keeping his identity secret, he still manages to commit several more very gruesome and misogynistic murders. As promised, there's absolutely no tension or atmosphere and even the 'surprise' ending is rather laughable. Although supposedly set in one of the most beautiful places in the world, every filming location and piece of scenery looks ugly and unappealing while there isn't the least bit of variety in camera-work or choreography. Mario Landi lacks all the qualities of a real director and allows his cast to do whatever they want, naturally resulting in atrocious performances. It really just is the graphic sickness that makes this movie memorable. The killer, wearing horribly over-sized sunglasses, repeatedly stabs a defenseless woman in the crotch with scissors and the camera proudly zooms in on how the blood floods down her legs (yikes!). Another poor sucker is shot multiple times and subsequently set on fire, yet he remains floundering until all his skin and flesh is burnt up. Mariangela Giordano stars as well and this woman urgently deserves a statue for being the Italian actress who suffered THE most on screen! In "Burial Ground", she had her nipple bitten off by a zombified teenager, in "Patrick Still Lives" (by the same director) she got vaginally impaled with a poker and, in this dubious classic, her leg is sadistically amputated with a rusty saw. Personally, I moved heaven and earth in order to finally obtain a copy of this notorious horror-shocker and, as disturbing as it may sound, I'm actually proud to add it to my collection, even though 99% of the film revolves on UN-sexy sex sequences and sickening gore. Consider yourself warned