A lot of shady people here…
The Strange Vice of Mrs.Wardh (1971)
Directed By: Sergio Martino (Torso)
The Prologue
The Strange Vice of Mrs.Wardh (aka Blade of the Ripper), is a kinky little film from Sergio Martino. You may recall Sergio’s other film, Torso, that we’ve covered here before. So if you’ve seen that you know what to expect this time around in this film. There’s a crazy killers, there’s a neat little twist, and there is a lot of naked women running around. And really, isn’t that pretty much the formula for a giallo? I’ve seen my fair share of those and that seems to be the format. But just because it’s expected at this point, doesn’t make the film any less interesting.
The Movie
An ambassador’s wife discovers that one of the men in her life – either her husband, an ex-lover or her current lover – may be a vicious serial killer. This beautiful hypnotic film depicts a series of grisly murders, the victims of which all have some connection to our heroine, Mrs. Julie Wardh (the stunning queen of 1970′s Italian Giallo cinema: Edwige Fenech). Voted one of the top Giallos ever, not only for its surreal S&M imagery featuring plenty of suspense, sleaze, nudity and gruesome killings but also because it this is the film which placed Edwige Fenech (Strip Nude For Your Killer) in the hearts of besotted fans around the world.
Julie Wardh is in an odd situation. She’s married to an ambassador, she’s got a crazy and freaky ex, and she’s got the hots for a new hot shot of a man she’s ran into. Of course as we’ve learned in giallo films before, the best way to handle that is to get naked! It also doesn’t help when you add in the fact that there is a crazy killer running around, and it could be anyone! So the table is set pretty full for this film, and it helps if you pay close attention to everything as it happens just so you don’t get lost. Not that what the film give us is rocket science, but it’s one that deserves having your full attention given to it.
And let’s be honest, for a movie that has a crazy person running around with a knife, the gore isn’t as graphic as you’d probably like. I mean throats are cut, and blood is flying around, but you don’t get the detail you got in other films, and that includes the directors other film, Torso. I’d hate to say that the fact devalued my enjoyment of the film a bit, but it kinda did. I’m not by any means saying it’s a bad movie, I just wanted some hardcore violence and gore. I may be a dude, but I’d trade some nudity for some gore any day of the week. And with that being said, I admit I still did find what was going down on screen oddly amusing and entertaining, even if it’s a little weird.
Now by the time this film wraps, there is a massive and elaborate twist upon a twist ending. Is it a little bit of an overkill? Perhaps so, but it’s kinda cool and kinda funny in it’s own right. You go into one of these looking for a twist, and you get more than just one twist here, you get a few. So, if nothing else you can say the writer was at least trying to be very creative and I can respect that. No matter if the ending jumps the shark in your opinion or not, you have to at least admit it was done with the best of intentions and at least isn’t boring. I wouldn’t overall call this film the best giallo I’ve ever seen. But, it is creative and very stylish, causing me to give it a thumbs up.
The Conclusion
Once again, you can find this and tons of other cool stuff (including this director’s other film Torso) HERE at Shameless Screen Entertainment. The UK based company just keeps rolling out these awesome old films, and this is another good one. Could have used a quicker pace and a little more gore, but it’s overall perfectly acceptable.
The Rating (6/10)
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