Arabella: Black Angel

Trying to revive a life that has ended, eroticism viewed more like a virtue, but burdened and victimized by the christian, puritan values that come from outside forces. Hard to judge performances in an italian movie from this era, the dubbing doesn't help, but everyone feels genuine in this, tinì cassino as the titular black angel is fantastic, a completely thankless role that is entirely focused on eroticism, sensuality, a genuine sex drive that falls under every scene. Stelvio massi's direction is fantastic, the 4:3 frame just acts as a great wavelength to where incredible blocking and camera movements are seemingly easy (which they aren't), the constant zooms, the glorious sense of atmosphere, this is a director's movie and the way he shoots bodies, the fog, the nighttime, and the outward virtues is glorious. R. filipucci's screenplay, because it is italian, is nonsense in many ways, but the structure allows this to form into something genuinely mysterious, i can easily say i didn't know what was going to happen, so kudos to that, the screenplay forms pretty perfectly where it allows a sense mystery and character to actually be built. A fantastically mesmerizing, erotic, tantalizing, unnerving, and genuinely disturbing movie that could only come from weird italians.

I was able to put in my collection the full uncut version, that means English spoken with Japanese subtitles. Japanese means that private parts are forbidden, so the erotic parts of the movie are blurred. And there are a lot of them in the movie. For me it's a typical giallo with changing plots. The gore is surprisingly low for a giallo. i think that's one of the reasons that it never had a major label to promote it. if you're in giallo's be sure to collect this OOP and hard to get full uncut version. as many giallo's don't be annoyed about the music and bad acting. Collect your peanuts and a beer, sit down and watch a underrated giallo.

They often say the greatest Gialli (excessively violent Italian murder mysteries) were only produced during the early 70s. Well, they are probably right. You can hardly refer to the late-80s "Arabella the Black Angel" as a good giallo, but boy is it ever entertaining!!! In fact, the whole giallo sub-plot is nothing but a mere footnote, since the film is primarily a semi-pornographic thriller full of demented characters with perverted fetishes and kinky after-dark habits.

Beautiful and voluptuous nymph Arabella, or Deborah, roams the streets at night and visits secluded bondage/orgy clubs because her beloved husband Francesco is paralyzed and can't physically please her. The reason why he's in a wheelchair is actually quite hilarious and, moreover, Arabella's own stupid fault! During a raid at the orgy club, she's raped by a filthy copper who subsequently lets her go, but only to show up at her front gate the next day for a second portion of joyful sex! Arabella knocks him dead with a hammer, because she knows Francesco is watching, and apparently this vile act sparks up their sex life again! Francesco encourages his wife to pick up random strangers for sex, while he writes her adventures down in a new erotic novel, but meanwhile there's also an unseen killer with shiny black gloves butchering Arabella's bed partners with a pair of scissors.

The plot continues to make utterly bonkers twists and turns, since the traumatized police inspector Gina (with massively oversized glasses to illustrate just how feminist she is) gets put on the scissor-murders case and her lesbian lover promptly backstabs her, but it's all too to insane and useless to write down. The only thing you need to know is that "Arabella the Black Angel" is purely unhinged Italian exploitation trash! The obvious giallo trademarks (black gloves, ominous music, vicious gore, etc) are definitely there, but quintessential things like suspense and surprise denouements are sorely missing. The identity of the scissor-killer is easy to guess, but it doesn't matter all that much, because the beauty of Tiní Cansino's continuous nakedness compensates for all the shortcomings. Director Stelvio Massi was a prolific Poliziotesschi director during the seventies, but during the 80s he had to revert to making sleazy flicks like this one.

Whole intention of the movie seems to be showing Tinì Cansino's flesh. That's a pity, because this could have been a good Giallo. Lot of loopholes in plot - which by itself is not a big issue, because movies of this genre are not known for immaculate plots - but total focus on sex/sleaze & nudity has diluted the actual suspense part. Tini is not a good actress but she is hot & has given few very bold scenes.

By the late seventies, the Giallo genre had practically ground to a halt; by the late eighties, what's left of the genre was just trickling through in dribs and drabs. Arabella, Black Angel takes some influence from the Giallo films of the past; but clearly this is intended to be more of an erotic thriller. The film is not exactly short on the sleaze factor - and director Stelvio Massi practically drenches the film in it; the film begins in a grubby S&M club, and things just take off from there. The plot focuses on the title character. Arabella is a nymphomaniac who regularly goes out looking for men to have sex with. She is busted one night and later raped by the arresting officer; who enjoys it so much that he actually turns up at her house for second helping! Arabella seduces and kills him; but is caught by her husband - a crippled bestselling author. He gives a strange reaction to her infidelity - and actually encourages her to go out and meet other men. But before long, a black gloved killer is picking her lovers off one by one...

The main problem with this film is clearly the plotting; it's not particularly suspenseful and the plot is driven by sex rather than murder, which might not go down too well with Giallo fans. However, these shortfalls are made up for by the sleazy atmosphere; the film is extremely grubby and this blends very well with the plot. The film has become difficult to obtain, especially in its uncut form. The version I saw was released in Japan and unfortunately a lot of the nudity was obscured and the lead character was called Deborah! Thankfully it didn't distract from the film too much, but I'd love a restored uncut print of the film. The lead role is taken by Tinì Cansino; and it has to be said she's not the greatest actress. She is hot, however, so her acting talent isn't too much of a problem. The mystery side of the plot works fairly well; the murders are frequent enough to stay in the audience's minds and the film provides some good red herrings. The killer's identity is revealed a little bit too soon; but it's a good conclusion and makes sense! Overall, this film is likely to be appreciated by anyone that approves of a good dose of sleaze and comes recommended to anyone with a mind to seek it out.