Emanuelle: Queen of Sados

Laura Gemser stars in this story-driven melodrama, as a woman who gets revenge on her abusive husband, by hiring a hit-man to kill him. This is an unofficial entry of the "Emanuelle" series, but definitely one of the better ones, and a good film in it's own right. Gemser is still Emanuelle in this, but she is no longer the photo Journalist, but rather a much abused wife of a very wealthy industrialist. The title suggests that Emanuelle is cruel or evil, but in fact the husband did deserve to die, as he was brutally raping and torturing his wife, and most likely would eventually have killed her. She is left to care for her 14 year-old daughter, who has inherited her fathers fortune. Too young to care for her estate, Emanuelle is assigned her guardian. Of course things go wrong when Mario the hit-man turns up to blackmail Emanuelle, who really seems to care for her daughter Livia. Meanwhile Livia meets Mike, a boy a couple years her senior, and the two begin a very sweet and innocent affair. Mike, played by the beautiful Vagelis Varten, seems also to love the young girl, but neither he nor Emanuelle can protect her from the corruption that surrounds her. Livia eventually loses her innocence to Mario, when the man brutally rapes her. To be sure this is entertaining drama, and a tale filled with lurid suspense, but one problem is that the film is too ambitious for it's own good, and introduces too many characters to be able to develop any one to any great length. And this is one case where the sex scenes were actually too frequent, and slowed down the story as it unfolded. But this is an "Emanuelle" film, and this is to be expected. i had hoped for a little more time to be spent on Livia's and Mike's blossoming love, as it was the sweetest part of the film, and Vagelis Varten should have been given more screen time. But it is always a pleasure to see Laura Gemser in romantic scenes with her real-life husband Gabriele Tinti. She is noticeably more comfortable doing erotic scenes when they are with him. 'Emanuelle-Queen of Sados' must surely be controversial, as the girl who plays Livia couldn't be a minute over 14 years old, and yet she appears totally nude throughout the film, and is featured in the disturbing rape at the climax. I could imagine this film being banned in certain parts of the world! The music score is nice enough, fitting the beautiful Cypress locale, but Nico fidenco's score is missed here. I have a Greek DVD, which seems to be uncut, although there is one short scene of a woman masturbating by the pool, that is optically blurred. This is a must for fans of Laura Gemser, as she is given a lot of room to act here, and is the main player. A fun, trashy film, recommended!

Although several cuts above the average Emanuelle opus, the only character who generates any interest here is Haris Tryfonas as Mario, the hit-man hired by Emannuelle to bump off her wealthy perverted husband by arranging a fatal accident. Most of the film centers on Mario's continuous casual but very passionate conquests of the fair sex and he is mostly responsible for the film's erotic scenes as he trails Emanuelle to blackmail her. A couple of these scenes are with a woman he met on the plane to Cyprus and they're both erotic and humorous: as soon as she puts some eggs in the frying pan or some fresh coffee on to boil when he arrives, he inevitably "has at her." The eggs heat up and explode, or the coffee boils over and splatters, a perfect accompaniment to their hot, passionate sex bouts. Mario is actually pretty cool in demeanor until his vicious side comes out...and his brutal, graphic rape of the spoiled pubescent stepdaughter destroys any feelings of approval one might have formed for him. Emannuelle in this film is just as immoral and coldblooded, mean and vicious.The abrupt ending only hints at her ambitions coming to an end when her part as instigator in the murder plot is revealed. Worth watching for Tryfonas' performance which is the only element in this that hold one's interest. With his memorable portrayal of the sinister but sexy lady-killer with the fresh daily rose in his teeth, Tryfonas alone raises it to a 7. Without him there would be no film at all, and it would rate barely a 3.

Given the title, one might be forgiven for thinking that Emanuelle Queen of Sados has its dusky star Laura Gemser playing the wicked ruler of an ancient, lost kingdom of the type to be found in the classic H. Rider Haggard novel She. Sadly, this is not the case: what we actually get is yet another mediocre adventure for the sultry sex-mad siren in which, as usual, she gets to bonk just about everyone else in the film.

This time around, Emanuelle isn't a world famous reporter, but rather the vengeful wife of a businessman who is out to settle the score after being sexually abused by her despicable hubby Victor and his equally nasty colleagues, Ilona (Nadia Neri) and Robert (Gordon Mitchell).

After hiring a killer named Mario (Haris Tryfonas) to bump off her wicked spouse in a 'flying accident', Emanuelle is appointed the executor of her step-daughter Livia's inheritance, plus control over her late husband's business, and wastes no time in making life hard for Ilona and Robert. Upset at Emanuelle's interference, and not entirely convinced that Victor's death was accidental, Robert decides to do some investigating which makes Mario less than happy...

A Greek Cypriot production directed by Ilias Mylonakos, Sados never plumbs the depths of tastelessness reached by Italian filth-monger Joe D'amato in his more infamous Emanuelle films: the sex is strictly soft-core—raunchy but not explicit—and there is certainly no gore to speak of. Despite this, Sados does manage to be uncomfortable viewing at times, thanks to the presence of jail-bait actress Livia Russo, who as blossoming teen Livia not only has to strip off for a shower scene and dance suggestively (flashing her gusset), but also be subjected to a harrowing sex attack that spares no detail. I've no problem with nudity (I wouldn't be watching a Gemser film if I did), but someone that young getting her kit off in a soft-core porn flick just feels wrong.

But hey, I suppose that's why they call it exploitation!

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for killer stud Mario's silky shirt and massive flares.

The "Black Emanuelle" series went from pointless erotica ("Black Emanuelle") to the most crass and tasteless Italian exploitation ("Emanuelle in America")without ever actually achieving any drama or a real plot. This is about the closest the series ever came to a real movie. Gemser has a meatier-than-usual role as a trophy wife who has knocked off her rich, jaded husband, but is being blackmailed by the sleazy character she hired to do it. She falls in love with her late husband's industrialist partner (played by Gemser's real husband Gabrielle Tinti), and for some reason keeps around her husband's busty mistress, who had helped him sexually torture her and who begins plotting with the blackmailer against her. On the other, she seems genuinely devoted to her husband's teenage daughter, Livia (thus this movie was alternately called "Emmanuelle's Daughter" to capture the lucrative pervert market). The blackmailer, a sleazy looking Greek guy who always has a rose between teeth, makes his way sexually through the entire female cast, but isn't necessarily a very intimidating villain.

The ending of this movie is abrupt and incredibly stupid, but up until then there is some genuine dramatic tension, making this slightly more interesting than the typical Emanuelle flick. It's not nearly as transgressive and disturbing as some of the Joe D'Amato Emanuelle films (although the Italian sleazemeister was peripherally involved in this on the production end). There is one unpleasantly graphic, but not entirely gratuitous, rape scene involving an actress of an indeterminate, but probably pretty young, age--but no "snuff film" footage, equine masturbation, or cannibalism here.

Gemser, on the other hand, looks great and really gets a chance to act for change. Definitely recommended for Gemser/Emanuelle fans. As for everyone else. . .well, why are you reading this anyway?

The Emanuelle series is basically made up of two types of film; 'official' entries (as official as an Italian rip-off of a French porn series can be) and random Laura Gemser films that were re-titled 'Emanuelle' to help them sell. Emanuelle: Queen of Sados, is one of the latter. The film is something of a crime-drama...although it could be better described as 'wall to wall sex scenes', as that's mostly what it is. Anyway, the plot basically hinges on a woman whose plan to hire a killer to murder her husband backfires when the killer begins blackmailing her. In the version I saw, Laura Gemser's character was called 'Emmanouella', although despite a similar name; she has no relation to the journalist character seen in the official entries. The title is interesting...and I really have no idea where the 'Queen of Sados' part comes from. Perhaps it was an attempt to fool audiences into thinking that the film has something to do with sadomasochism? Anyway...I really can't say that this film is all that interesting. The sex scenes are not bad, but do become monotonous after a while; and the cinematography isn't great either so it doesn't benefit from good looking scenes like the earlier Black Emanuelle, White Emanuelle did. I'm not sure what fans of the series would make of this film; but Laura Gemser is in it (and looks great as usual) so that's something at least. Overall, I'd put this in the mid-range of Emanuelle films and only fans of the series need apply.