Nothing Underneath

Okay, I admit: the eighties is a guilty pleasure for me and most of of the horror movies I watch are from those years.

I´m very fond of giallos from the eightes and this is one of my guilty pleasures. Not as good and stylish as You´ll die at midnight, but good entertainment and quite a good story.

Someone is killing models in Milano and the brother to one of them comes to town to find out what happened to his sister. He get´s help from the soon-to-retired police Donald Pleasence. Because he and his sister are twins, he can sense things that happened to her and that helps him a lot during the investigation.

Carlo Vanzinas direction is simple and very effective and he makes the movie work. I enjoyed his work before, the strange espionage-giallo Mystère (with Janet Ågren, Carol Bouchet and John Steiner).

Blood? Yes, a small amount is shed with happiness and those scenes look really good. But most of the stuff is off screen or just not-so-graphic.

The ending is fabulous, I love the use of slowmo there.

Recommended for the die hard giallo-fans :)

Yellowstone Park ranger Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) shares a psychic connection with his sister Jessica (Nicola Perring), a top model working in Milan. After he 'sees' Jessica being attacked in a vision, Bob flies to Italy where he discovers that she has mysteriously vanished. Local police commissioner Danesi (Donald Pleasence) is unconvinced by Bob's bizarre story, at least until another model is murdered in the same hotel from which Jessica disappeared.

'A little bit of make-up, a beautiful dress, and nothing underneath'—so says a fashion photographer about the models he photographs in this glossy but unexceptional giallo from director Carlo Vanzina. Although the lens-man is talking figuratively, he might as well be speaking literally, for the girls in this film seem to have little call for underwear, revealing their hot bods in several sexy scenes (including one particularly gratuitous moment in which a model walks over a street grate to reveal her bare ass to the camera below!).

If only the violence had been as unrestrained as the nudity...

Although the hilarious 80s fashion and music, and the regular display of female flesh guarantee a reasonable time, Nothing Underneath is crying out for a few Argento-style moments of bloody excess; however, despite the film's killer brandishing a wickedly sharp pair of scissors, this is a frustratingly 'dry' giallo, a fact that will most likely disappoint the majority of the genre's fans (for whom a few really juicy kills are usually considered a must).

5.5 out of 10, happily rounded up to 6 for the use of a power drill in the fun finale and the hilarious scene in which Bob spies a woman in the building opposite indulging in a spot of masturbation, but rather than stand there gawping like most blokes would, he pulls the curtains and proceeds to fondle a pair of his dead sister's skimpy knickers!

Not a top notch giallo but colourful and stylish enough and if the kills are not particularly stunning, the build ups are good and there is enough momentum to keep the film moving on. Very much a latter day entry to the genre, Mr Vazina happily includes many of the much loved elements from earlier gems, so much so that a lot of the time I found myself smiling as the good to see cinematic clichés appeared every now and again like money shots. The provocative title turns out to be rather delightfully appropriate, even if, of course, irrelevant to the story. Donald Pleasance just about keeps his end up, Tom Schanley is fine and the girls all lovely. Most enjoyable.

After slogging through various 80s Italian films this one comes as a pleasant surprise. My expectations were low going in as I didn't know most of the cast and this was Donald Pleasance's phoning it in for a paycheck Era, but it was enjoyable. The performances are fine, the soundtrack is good, the filmmaking is competent. Does the story get a tad predictable? Sure, but it's fun so I give it a 7.6/10.

This one tries oh-so-hard to be a stylish giallo in the Argento-manner, combined with some erotica, and almost succeeds. Of course, you get all the pros and cons of the giallo-genre. Inventive cinematography, nice settings, elaborate murders, good score (by dePalma regular Pino Donaggio) and a plot with more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at, are bonus points plus a walk-on by Donald Pleasance who gives the picture a touch of class.

We also get silly dialogue to howl at, so-called actors/actresses who read their lines in incredibly stilted fashion (my 'fave' is the girl who says 'a maniac is trying to kill us all' with a tone of voice that suggests indigestion more than fright) and a motive for the killer that is far-fetched to say the least. Renee Simonsen is adequate in her part, as is Schanley. Because of the setting, the fashion industry in Milan, the array of beautiful women is neverending (but many of them are made up to look like hookers, not models), but almost none of them are presented in a positive way, rather as money-hungry bitches, ready to do everything for fame and/or money.

For the true giallo-fan there may be one thing that disappoints: the murders. If you are familiar with the works of Argento/Soavi/Fulci, you know that the murders should be vicious and yet beautiful almost. "Nothing Underneath" builds these set-pieces with some flair, but the payoffs (i.e murders) are usually (with one exception) pretty lame. However, the last ten minutes are quite suspenseful and competently put together, and Vanzina manages to pull off some neat set-pieces. Give it a try, but don't expect too much.