Customer Reviews

Torso

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Anchor Bay's DVD of TORSO is incredible - the image is crisp, sharp, colorful and there is no artifacting whatsoever. The print is also UNCUT! For years the film was seen in the US only in an edited version with most of the gore and sex cut out. It's great to finally see the entire uncut film with it's original opening and the extra sex and gore bits....I love the head crushing scene (albeit kind of fake) plus there's extra shots of the killer sawing up the bodies into little pieces. What more do you want? There's the cool looking hooded killer plus lots of stylistic giallo touches...this movie is better than ever especially in this impeccable presentation. It's letterboxed and includes the fun US trailer-"Tor---so!" as well as the original euro-trailer. A few shots in the film are in italian with english-subtitles because either the english track was never recorded or it had been lost...but it's not annoying at all and you just can't help loving this disc...especially if you are into euro-sleaze! One of Anchor Bay's best!

TORSO
[I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carnale]

(Italy - 1973)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Mono

Following the murder of several classmates by a frenzied sex-killer, a group of female students retire to an isolated villa until police have apprehended a viable suspect. But the maniac is wise to their deception, and he/she follows them...

This stylish, gripping giallo-thriller - the equal of anything directed by Dario Argento at the time - was co-written by veteran scribe Ernesto Gastaldi and director Sergio Martino, the latter a journeyman technician whose commercial ethos catapulted him from one genre to another within the dictates of Italian popular cinema (cf. BLADE OF THE RIPPER, THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS, SEX WITH A SMILE, etc.). Despite bland performances from an unremarkable cast (including Euro stalwarts Suzy Kendall [THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE], John Richardson [THE MASK OF SATAN] and Luc Merenda [THEY CALLED HIM AMEN]), and some pretty obvious red herrings amongst the supporting players, TORSO is augmented by a number of beautifully crafted set-pieces (most notably the stalking of a young woman [Cristina Airoldi] through desolate marshland by the masked maniac), photographed with stunning visual flair by Martino's regular DP Giancarlo Ferrando (THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL) and edited to perfection by Eugenio Alabiso (MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD).

The second half of the movie, during which Kendall becomes enmeshed in a nightmarish situation at a remote but picturesque country villa, is genuinely nerve-racking, staged with cat-and-mouse efficiency by Martino at his most inspired. Spiced with audience-pleasing elements of sex and violence which tested the limits of censorship in 1973, TORSO is a minor gem. Produced by Carlo Ponti, previously responsible for the likes of WAR AND PEACE (1956) and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO!

Torso is a great depiction of the better side of italian cinema. There are a lot of really good italian horror/slasher films and a lot of bad ones. This is a great example of a very good one. This film has everything you could ask for in a movie like this: Great violence scenes, nudity with very good looking italian women, good plot line and some stylish camera work to boot. Torso is relatively the same film as a movie called "Pieces" but this film is much much better. The dubbing can of course get a little annoying but honestly, the movie was so good that after about 15 minutes I barely noticed it.

Overall, very stylish italian horror from the 70's. Pick this one up...it's a keeper.

Anchor Bay's transfer is wonderful and any fan of this film will just wallow in all it's uncut, widescreen glory. Misogynistic, trashy and quite dumb but never dull and director Sergio Martino creates some very tense, suspenseful moments and stylish sequences. Best scene has an injured Suzy Kendall hiding from the killer as he takes a hacksaw to her friends.

This is a better than average Italian horror flick that most likely influenced films such as "Friday the 13th" & "Halloween". The scene with the girl lost in the woods is excellent. The trees are spinning around her and then suddenly...well I won't tell you, but the scene is just wonderfully shot. There is lots of sex and nudity involved (being that the killer IS a psychosexual) but the gore isn't as heavy as suggested with a title like "Torso". It kind of reminds me of a foreign "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". The DVD itself is pretty good. Not PACKED with extras, but still visually marvelous. I was hesitant to buy this film, but I'm glad I did. This is a MUST HAVE for any true horror fans collection!

Overall it's a decent film and worth checking out if you're into this sort of thing. What more can I say? This is by far one of the best Slasher/Giallo's I've happened upon in years! Violent, atmospheric, stylish, moody and did I mention violent?

Yes violent is definitely the word, because this packs it on like hamburger joints pack in salad.... Tons! Slashings, stabbings, eye poking, strangulation, drowning, etc, etc, etc...

Don't listen to people whine about the only uncut version being Italian. I can assure you that once this Slasher starts playing, you won't care one bit.

In many ways this is a fairly decent Italian slasher pic, but it stands out from the rest by having possibly the most beautiful women ever to have featured in this type of film.

In addition to some great atmosphere and location, director Sergio Martino adds touches of voyeurism and fetishism to elevate his horror / giallo to minor classic status ... The result is TORSO, a murder-mystery that, while not groundbraking, is highly enjoyable and visually exciting ... There are sequences in this film that are outstanding, particularly a sexy mud-soaked chase through the woods, and a wonderful dialog-free span in the final reel ... During that time, the lone ( injured ) survivor of a group of women candidly watches as the masked killer dismembers and disposes of the victims ... Very creepy, and recalls the feel of Hitchcock's FRENZY or DePalma's DRESSED TO KILL ... Not quite up to the level of something like Argento's DEEP RED, however, with it's ulta-sexy cast and stylish camerawork, TORSO would be perfect on a doublebill with any of the aforementioned films ...

Anchor Bay is my secret lover. They have managed to put out nearly all the hard-to-find movies I've been searching for in a matter of months. I buy them like groceries. This one, along with Autopsy, was one of the first of these editions to hit my local video stores. It was near my birthday, and I just stared at them lovingly, with my friend looking at me slightly alarmed (we had just come out of American Psycho, something she normally wouldn't watch), as I couldn't decide which one to get, and I asked her advice. After reading them both, she said Torso, and by gosh, she was right on target. This is an awesome giallo that has one of the coolest murder scenes I've ever seen; it takes place in the woods, and the poor girl really gets it good. First, she looks up and sees a figure obscured by the mist, but she's stoned so she kinda just stands there dumbly. Then all of a sudden, he's right in front of her, and let's just say he's not taking an evening stroll. The plot has something to do with a killer who's haunted by some weird childhood memeory involving a doll, and he goes around killing college girls and sawing them into little bits.... Though the film is sometimes dated and sometimes stupid, it is enormously entertaining. There's enough gore to keep everybody interested, and lots of sex and lesbians making out (if you like that sort of thing). I think this is a very capable giallo that should be checked out by eveybody who likes this stuff;you won't be disappointed.

Torso is a great representation of what was going on with the Italian giallo scene in the early seventies. A great looking, very slick piece that is superbly suspensful. You can't go wrong having this one in your collection. If you dig Italian horror and suspense, this is a must. If you look in any of the Italian horror film guides, like Spagehtti Nightmares, this is mentioned. Although Martino didn't do a whole lot of films, this one certainly stands out. The killer and his outfit are especially creepy. Fans of this will also like Aldo Lado's Who Saw Her Die? also an excellent piece. THis is a great print of this movie and shouldn't be missed.

Fans of spaghetti splatterfests beware- this is in no way a gore film. The title "torso" implies dismemberment; it implies bodies being cut apart with chainsaws, it implies axes and hacksaws and parts of the body that make squishy sounds. While there is one scene where there are bodies being dismembered, (off camera), this film does little to teach us about the human anatomy. That being said, this film does deliver in the "it's 2 o' clock in the morning, i can't sleep, let's watch something completely jacked up" aspect. There are many of the fine staples that make a great midnight movie: unintentional humor, long stretches of time with no dialogue, and somewhat eerily confusing plot points which add to your already disoriented mind state. Guzzle some cold medicine, keep yourself awake until 2:00, then pop this into your VCR.