The Young, the Evil and the Savage

Titles can be misleading. Antonio Margheriti's "Nude... Si Muore" (aka. "Naked You Die"/"Schoolgirl Killer") is NOT the exploitative and blood-soaked Giallo full of sleaze and nudity one might expect from its title. Sure, the film was made in 1968, at which time the Italian Giallo had not reached the sleaze and violence level it obtained in the early 70s, but the title "Naked You Die" still promises nastiness, especially in the wonderful Giallo-genre. What "Nude... Si Muore" is, however, is a superbly set, beautifully shot and atmospheric Giallo that sets its focus on the mystery, more than on the Horror elements. Yet I cannot deny that the film did just not quite reach my (very high) expectations. For two reasons, that is. First off, I am a great fan of the late genius director Antonio Margheriti. His brilliant Gothic masterpiece "Danza Macabra" (aka. "Castle Of Blood", 1964, with the wonderful Barbara Steele, my favorite actress, in the lead) is a personal favorite of mine, and many of his other films, such as "La Vergine Di Norimberga" ("Terror Castle", 1963) are also excellent films that every Horror fan must see. Secondly, this film was recommended to me by a fellow Giallo-buff as being particularly great and atmospheric. And atmospheric it is, and doubtlessly a very good thriller, but, as far as I am considered it is not a particularly impressive film within my beloved Giallo-sub-genre.

A posh boarding school for girls from rich families is being stalked by a killer. Several new teachers have arrived, and, naturally, everybody is a suspect... The performances are quite good, the cast includes well known faces for fans of Italian genre-cinema, such as Mark Damon ("I Tre Volti Della Paura") and regular cult-cinema actor Luciano Pigozzi, who, among many other films, often had supporting roles in Mario Bava's films. Beautiful Elonora Brown stars in the lead, sadly it is the last role the then 20-year-old actress has played up to date. The girls are entirety pretty, and I also found the actresses' performances quite good. The film's most memorable qualities are the superb and beautiful setting and ingenious camera work, intensified by a funky and great score by Carlo Savina. What (slightly) annoyed me at times was the constant attempt of bringing in (very cheesy) humor. Also, the mystery part could have been a little more complex. Overall, "Nude... Si Muore" has some flaws, but it is supremely shot, highly atmospheric and very entertaining, and a film that my fellow Giallo-buffs should enjoy. Recommended.

Margherriti directs a pedestrian giallo in a highly styli-zed way that results in a watchable film that's entirely predictable. Plus, despite the title, there's no nudity and a lot of the murders are stranglings! That's almost as bad as that slasher I watched once where someone was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning!

Following a murder at the start of the film, with the corpse getting dumped into a fancy suitcase, we find ourselves at the Gary Glitter Boarding School for Horny Teenagers, where our group of teenage girls are all into Mark Damon (and he's into them! Ah, young love), or into the new swimming teacher (that's a plot point), or avoiding the attentions of the headmistress, who is into them. Hmm.

Basically, this is about as average as you can get, plot wise, for a giallo. You've got your black gloved killer, the red herrings (especially Luciano Pigozzi as a peeping tom), the sexism, but also great colour schemes, set design, and costume design. I even managed to guess the killer and their motives, which is unusual for me as I'm a dumbass.

Despite all the odds, it's still worth a watch, because Margherriti's no fool when it comes to making film, or you could just wait and watch Seven Death's In The Cats Eye, which has a gorilla as a suspect! You heard me.

Co-written, albeit unaccredited, by Mario Bava (who's the greatest Italian horror genius of all times) and directed by Antonio Margheriti (who's the most underrated Italian horror genius of all time); this simply had to be a terrific Giallo-outing and a downright must-see for all fans of the Italian horror industry. It's a bit unfortunate that the majority of reviews I encountered thus far aren't as enthusiast as they ought to be. Several people seem to complain about the predictability of the plot and the overall lack of rudimentary Giallo trademarks like gory murders and naked chicks. Well, they do make a valid point but also appear to be forgetting that "Naked You Die" is actually one of the earliest entries in this wondrous sub genre of horror, predating Dario Argento's most famous Gialli ("Deep Red", "Bird with the Crystal Plumage") and carefully elaborating on the trend started by the aforementioned deity Mario Bava ("The Girl Who Knew Too Much", "Blood and Black Lace"). "Naked You Die" was made in an era when clichéd plot twists were still considered original and the image of black gloved hands around the neck of a young defenseless co-ed were still found ultimately shocking and disturbing. On the contrary, I bet in 1968 "Naked You Die" was quite controversial and provocative with its themes about lewd boarding schoolgirls secretly meeting up with their hunky teachers at night and pervert janitors peeping at young girls showering. And, if anything, this was undeniably an influential piece of horror film-making being one of the first to use a remote all-girl school as the playground setting for a psychopathic killer. Several films followed this example, including "The House that Screamed", "What Have you done to Solange" and – not in the least – Dario Argento's "Suspira" and more recent Lucky McKee's "The Woods".

The movie opens with the atmospheric and reasonably creepy murder of a young woman in her bathtub. For whatever motivation, the killer literally parcels up the victim in a suitcase and sends her to a secluded boarding school. Here, we meet a handful of playful and very sexy girls and an assembly of staff members (teachers, headmasters and garden personnel) that all appear suspicious in some way. As to be expected, not everything is kosher in this boarding school. The riding teacher meets up with his favorite pupil in the birdhouse, the overly talkative girl aspires to date the new gym teacher and the gardener is a peeping tom. When girls mysteriously start to disappear and turn up brutally murdered, the experienced police detective Durant has a difficult time getting everyone to fully cooperate with the investigation and tell the truth. The first half hour to forty-five minutes (after the promising intro) admittedly pass very tediously and there isn't much excitement to behold, but at the same time you could also claim director Margheriti takes the time and effort to extendedly introduce all his main characters and make them look extra suspicious. The pacing increases quite a bit around the hour, but sadly from then on the film also becomes very predictable and the climax is even downright transparent. Still, avid Giallo buffs will unquestionably find "Naked You Die" a highly pleasing effort, partly also thanks to the stylish photography, adequate acting performances and the stupendously catchy and rhythmic credit song "Nightmare".

This is interesting giallo-style Italian thriller similar to the later horror masterpiece Suspiria but without the supernatural elements, and the schoolgirl giallo What Have You Done to Solange? but with less sleaze (in fact, it seemed like the edited version shown in the US didn't even have any nudity in it). It's very hard to find these days, but worth finding. It's a very seminal film if nothing else. The first bathtub murder was borrowed verbatim for the murder of the Cristine Galbo character in Solange. I'm pretty sure the morbid joke of the killer keeping the first body around right under the nose of the later victims inspired Black Christmas, which in turn inspired Halloween, and after that the deluge. (In fact, much of the later US slasher subgenre could easily be traced to two Italian films--this one and Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve). And certainly no one can deny the influence on Suspiria. While it probably wasn't the first horror movie/thriller to be set in a girl's school or girl's dormitory, it might have been the first to fully the exploit the psycho-killer and "Ten Little Indians" possibilities of this creepy setting. If you like this movie(and you speak Spanish), also check out the contemporary Spanish horror/thriller, La Residencia which is very similar.

There are artists (like Argento)and there are hacks (like Bruno Mattei) and inbetween there are pros like Antonio Margheriti. He could turn out quite competent movies which, although lacking in originality, have a certain verve. This one develops more along the lines of an Agatha Christie effort than anything else, eschewing as it does the supernatural elements of the ostensibly similar SUSPIRIA.

I wouldn't bother with the cut version as it has been trimmed of almost all the nudity and violence, which are pretty much what one watches these things for. What remains are the performances: Michael Rennie fans should beware as he is barely in it, but there is a great (dubbed) turn from Lorenza Guerrieri as Jill, a hyper-imaginative pupil.

For Margheriti fans, I would place this among his dreary late-60s efforts - nowhere near the Gothic elegance of DANSE MACABRE or VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG, and neither coming close to the simple joie de vivre of his 80s movies with David Warbeck.