Amuck!

This is one of the better-known giallo titles, if mainly for the presence of two of the more luscious "Euro-Cult" starlets – blonde Barbara Bouchet (whom I saw, still looking good, quite a few times at the Italian B-movie retrospective held during the 2004 Venice Film Festival!) and brunette Rosalba Neri – in perhaps their role of greatest significance; it goes without saying, then, that the film's piece de resistance is their celebrated slow-motion love scene (which actually occurs very early into the proceedings)! With a generic if definitely attention-grabbing moniker that has no direct bearing on the plot, the movie has been given many an alternate title – such as MURDER MANSION and HOT BED OF SEX, depending on which aspect the respective distributors chose to spotlight (for the record, the Italian original translates to IN THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE); incidentally, the English-dubbed and regrettably panned-and-scanned VHS-sourced copy (as a result proving soft and occasionally battered) I watched boasted no credits apart from the names of the picture itself, Bouchet and leading man Farley Granger! By the way, the film marked the second of three giallos the American star appeared in back-to-back (I watched the others, which I quite liked, only a few days ago) but, though I felt he delivered surprisingly committed performances in all of them, once again this one afforded him the meatiest characterization. Having said that, it makes for a good transition between SOMETHING CREEPING IN THE DARK (1971) and SO SWEET, SO DEAD (1972) – featuring elements from each, specifically the old dark house setting and a high sleaze factor respectively! The premise is simple enough, with heroine Bouchet insinuating herself into the Venetian household of renowned novelist Granger and his much younger wife Neri, in order (unbeknownst to them) to probe into the disappearance of their secretary – her colleague/flatmate/lover!; it transpires that the outwardly respectable wealthy couple leads a libertine existence, given to stag parties fuelled by drug-taking and the exhibition of snuff movies: starting to involve a dim-witted brute in their exploits, one day things turn sour and it is the secretary who gets the short end of the stick (no pun intended)! The local Police are aware of Bouchet's undercover 'mission' but, soon enough, she realizes that her employer is too – since the plot of his new novel begins to parallel the events that had taken place in the house and, more importantly, indicate what her own fate will be (a blackmailing servant is similarly gotten out of the way)! To further muddle the waters, Granger pretends to fall for Bouchet (thus getting a piece of the action himself for once!) – in fact, two of the film's highlights involve the depictions (via flashback confessions) of the former secretary's death and the disposing of the body; another – this time around a recollection by Bouchet – is a skinny-dipping episode (which goes a bit beyond that) involving her and the murdered girl, and yet one memorable sequence is the climax (planned to be a reprise of the secretary's unlucky demise, the tables are smoothly turned on the perpetrators: Bouchet had met the couple's unwitting associate during a chance but cringe-inducing encounter where he, a fisherman, had nonchalantly flayed a live eel in front of her and she even treated his injured finger!). As was often the case with the "Euro-Cult" style, one of the lasting ingredients here is Teo Usuelli's score which is versatile enough to suit the film's many changes of mood.

While labeled as a grindhouse movie, there is not that much wrong with "Amuck". For it's time it's decently acted, filmed and edited. It also isn't shy on showing nudity which I leave to you to decide is that good or bad. However, as a thriller, other than it's OK premise and some creepy atmosphere greatly achieved by decent use of music, "Amuck" fails to be either thrilling or entertaining to make it a good movie. Problem is that our heroine is very bland and she is seldom in real danger. All in all, "Amuck" is passable, sure, and it stands out from sloppily made exploitation movies from those times, but other than that, "Amuck" is just something for genre fans. It's far from the worst thing to watch, but it's also far from something you just have to watch before you die. 6.5/10!

This giallo is probably most famous for the slow-motion lesbian sex scene between Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri near the beginning. That scene is certainly impressive (as you might imagine if you have ever seen either of these two actresses in action), but it shouldn't overshadow what a well-made, classic giallo this is. It has everything fans of gialli love--great visuals and setting, pulse-pounding suspense, sordid and perverse characters, truly surprising plot twists, and a great musical score and soundtrack. Farley Granger is wonderful, going convincingly from evil to sympathetic and back again. Bouchet and Neri are also both very good, particularly the latter. Neri is justifiably famous for her beauty (and her frequent nude scenes). She had plenty of competition in that respect when it came to gialli--Bouchet,Edwige Fenech, Nieves Navarro, Ewe Aulin to name a few--but she had no close rival when it came to sheer acting talent. This is definitely her best role, better even than "Lady Frankenstein". To get an idea of how impressive this film is try watching it back to back with one of those terrible "erotic thrillers" they make these days. How did we get from wonderfully sexy gialli like this to that dreck?

The Eurovision DVD has recent interviews with both actresses (who look about the same even though they must be close to sixty by now). They both speak English (Bouchet quite fluently)and reveal some interesting tidbits. The director of this film Silvio Amado, according to Bouchet, dropped out of sight after an unrequited love affair with actress Gloria Guida (the Italian Lolita of the era). I have actually seen a second-rate melodrama Amado made with Guida a few years later, which is why I was genuinely surprised with the talent he shows here. It's truly a misfortune that he didn't stick around to do more films like this. A true classic of the genre

A twisted tale of control and seduction involving the lovely Greta (Barbara Bouchet) who is hired by a perverted writer Richard with an even more kinky wife, Rosalba. Greta however has a reason for being there as her friend/former lover Sally who happened to be the previous secretary hired and who has disappeared. On the way to discovering what happened to Sally, Greta has various adventures from being drugged and seduced by the bisexual wife in a wonderfully surreal, slow motion scene to almost getting swallowed up by quicksand whilst being "hunted" in the marshes. Interesting movie to say the least.

The secretary Greta Franklin (Barbara Bouchet) travels from London to Venice to work with the prominent writer Richard Stuart (Farley Granger), who lives with his wife Eleanora Stuart (Rosalba Neri) in an island. Greta is replacing his previous secretary Sally Reece (Patrizia Viotti) that is missing. When Police Inspector Antonelli (Nino Segurini) interviews Greta, he learns that she accepted the job to investigate what has happened to Sally, who was her friend. Soon she suspects that Richard has murdered Sally, but she cannot find any evidence to prove her theory to the inspector.

"Alla ricerca del piacere", a.k.a. "In Search of Pleasure", is a shallow erotic thriller. The erotic scenes are excellent, but the plot and the behavior of the characters are silly and absurd. There are a couple of twists in the story and lots of nudity along the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Em Busca do Prazer" ("In Search of Pleasure")