Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key

Behind the dynamic title of this Sergio Martino giallo is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poes' 'The Black Cat', albeit a rather loose one for a while. Luigi Pistilli ("A Bay of Blood") plays Oliviero, a washed up author living on a villa with his very put upon and frazzled wife Irina (Anita Strindberg). Irinas' neuroses soon manifest themselves in her antagonistic relationship with Olivieros' black cat (amusingly named Satan), while assorted characters occasionally get murdered on or around the premises. Complicating matters is the arrival of Olivieros' sultry niece Floriana (genre star Edwige Fenech).

Martinos' film does go on longer than it needs to, with a subplot about Florianas' romance with a delivery man / motorbike racer not really adding anything to the story. It might disappoint viewers hoping for more sleaze, or a higher body count, or more flamboyant stylistics. It actually functions more as a character study and portrait of a descent into debauchery (for Oliviero) and madness (for Irina). This domestic drama is interesting stuff, with some pointed dialogue, but the film is never more fun than when it's giving in to the more exploitative tendencies of the genre. To that end, viewers will be satisfied with some lesbian sex and nudity, and some pretty good (but never overdone) gore. Bruno Nicolai composed the wonderful music score, and this benefits further from the location shooting and photography. (Those opening credits are particularly well done.) This definitely hits its stride once Fenech shows up, and the story more closely follows the classic Poe tale.

The acting is solid from all concerned (Ivan Rassimov plays a mystery man named Walter, Franco Nebbia the standard police inspector character you always get in this sort of entertainment), with special mention going out to Ms. Strindberg. You do feel pretty bad for this lady given the treatment that she must put up with. Fenech is at her absolute sexiest.

Enjoyable for fans of the genre.

Seven out of 10.

Only thing I can compliment in this movie is some clever use of camera, decent, though, as usual, over the top acting and some hints of dread. What remains is, I can only guess, having seen the same director's movie "Torso", trademark style of Sergio Martino. A LOT of nudity and some gore mixed with a "Black Cat" story from E.A.P. If you are even little familiar with the story, you basically know how the movie will end few minutes in. I do not consider this to be giallo, in true meaning of that word... This is yet another thriller with very little things to be scared of, since you don't really care for any of the characters, because they are all sleazy and perverse. 6/10 and I don't really recommend it. You are not missing anything significant by not watching this movie.

I watched this with a few people and it was really fun to laugh along at the ridiculous plot developments. It starts off way too serious and strange... there is a spousal abuse scene that is difficult to watch. That happens in an... orgy party I guess... scene, and the movie has frequent nudity and sexuality. The Poe story seems to only influence the movie a little, but knowing the Poe story does certainly spoil the very ending. Regardless, the most enjoyable part of this was laughing my friends at how crazy the plot and characters became. The ending is typical for Giallo, and overall this movie isn't terrible and isn't great. Some fun and good moments are here, adding up to pretty middle-of-the-road fare.

Even by gialli standards this movie is pretty off-the-wall, but it is also, strangely enough, probably the most faithful adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story "The Black Cat" that I have ever seen. There is a bit of a gender role reversal where it is the wife who is tormented by the black cat (named "Satan") which is the cherished pet of her cruel, alcoholic husband. The mother-obsessed husband takes out his writer's block on his long-suffering spouse and may be responsible for a string of serial killings. Thrown into the mix is a black maid who seems to only be in the movie so the sleazy characters can make a lot of racist, offensive comments about her--oh yeah, and also so she can get naked. And speaking of getting naked, Edwige Fenech also shows up as the husband's sexy, conniving niece and demonstrates once again her extreme aversion to wearing clothes. In between nude scenes, however, Fenech really seems to be doing some acting this time, and she plays against type here as a villain rather than a victim. She seduces both her uncle AND her aunt, and pretty much everyone else in the movie (with the possible exception of "Satan" the cat).

Not that this is a good movie. It has an idiotic subplot where Fenech has an affair with a goofy-looking motorcross racer for no apparent reason other than to pad the running length with some racing footage that would do a lot better in a sports video than in a giallo. The movie also isn't nearly as well directed as some of Sergio Martino's other gialli like "Torso" or "All the Colors of Darkness" (also with Fenech). And Martino-regular Ivan Rassimov is tragically wasted in a perfunctory role. Still even a bad Martino-Fenech giallo is not without its charms. And if you're an Edgar Allen Poe fan, you'll especially enjoy this one.

Possessing what could be the second-best title in film history (after 1963's "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies," of course), "Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key" (1972) reunites director Sergio Martino and stars Edwige Fenech and Ivan Rassimov, who had previously collaborated on such wonderful films as "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1970) and "All the Colors of the Dark" (1972). (Indeed, this film's title was copped from a line of dialogue in "Mrs. Wardh"). This time around, though, the story mainly concerns a decadent writer, Oliviero, well played by Luigi Pistilli, who spends most of his days drinking booze and abusing his wife (giallo regular Anita Strindberg) both physically and emotionally. While a wave of murders sweeps through their small town, Oliviero's niece pays a visit, and so we finally get to see our Edwige, a full 1/2 hour into the picture. Gorgeous as always, Edwige here sports a short-haired bob for a change but looks smashing still. Anyway, truth to tell, I had no idea where this picture was going for at least the first hour. The film concludes very neatly, though, with some nifty surprises, and always keeps the viewer intrigued by combining a truly decadent atmosphere with bits of Poe's "The Black Cat," echoes of Clouzot's "Diabolique" (1955), some jolting murders, soft-core lesbianism and, typical for gialli, some red herrings. The fine folks at No Shame have come up with yet another great-looking DVD package, containing recent interviews with both Martino and Fenech. Edwige's interview suggests that the woman has made some kind of unholy pact with the devil himself; no woman could possibly look as beautiful, at 57, as she does today. Just remarkable!