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There's a killer on the loose who's murdering and mutilating beautiful young college girls, and there's no shortage of suspects. Four comely coeds decide to escape the madness by vacationing in an isolated country villa, but the maniac has his eye on them--one of them suspects his identity--and drops in for a homicidal holiday. With a title like Torso you know what you're getting, but despite the high body count and the suggestion of dismemberment, most of the gore in this Italian giallo is offscreen... with a few exceptions (an icky eye gouging stands out). Director Sergio Martino is no Dario Argento and the film is blunt, direct, and vicious, as can be seen when the killer disposes of a witness by ramming his skull into a brick wall with his car, not once but twice (with the appropriate close-up). The killer, who hides behind a ratty ski mask and strangles his targets with a florid scarf, is haunted by some obscure childhood memory involving a porcelain doll and a traumatizing accident. He straddles two clichés, the Norman Bates-variety psychos and the hooded, zombielike automatons of Halloween and Friday the 13th. It doesn't make much sense, but like most slasher films, it's really about suspense, spectacle, and a body count, and Martino doesn't disappoint. To restore the film, Anchor Bay has included a few brief scenes in Italian with English subtitles. --Sean Axmaker
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Last updated: August 11, 2009, 1:45 am
Torso Cusomter reviews:
Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 29
(Robert P. Beveridge, 2009-08-28) Torso (Sergio Martino, 1973) Pretty standard z-grade giallo in that it completely abandons any pretension at coherence and sits around coming up with inventive ways to kill people. Of course, there are directors who do this sort of thing wonderfully, but I'm still not convinced that Sergio Martino is one of them. In this case, it seems that a crazed killer is targeting art students at a prestigious Italian university. One student's father counsels her to get out of town and head for his country villa (conveniently located in the middle of nowhere) and take as many friends with her as she wants to. Setting up, of course, the classic, and somewhat boring, secluded-house-stalked-by-killer scenario. That said, while the ending is predictable (by Roger Ebert's rule of thumb in bad slasher films that the guy you least expect is inevitably the killer), Martino does take a few liberties with the time-tested formula, and so this isn't quite as bad a film as it could have been (and as many now-forgotten giallos are), but it's still trite and full of cliché. You can do a lot better. **
(Matt the Knife, 2009-07-29) There's a clear reason why all of the male characters in "Torso" spend their time ogling the female characters: it might have something to do with a certain region of the female anatomy (above the stomach and below the neck, in case you need it spelled out) which is frequently on display in this film. Most of the standard giallo elements get a bit shortchanged here: gruesome deaths, intriguing mysteries, clever red herrings, and so on (the gore is minimal and the killer's identity is extremely easy to figure out). Instead, the film's primary asset is the revelation that clothing is apparently not a high priority to college girls in Italy. Depending on what the viewer's priorities are, "Torso" is either a disappointment or a masterpiece.
(Bartok Kinski, 2009-07-12) 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.
(rareoopdvds, 2009-01-18) This refers to the edition released by Anchor Bay. There seems to be a few editions released of this film, and I am not sure of how each differs from the other, but there seems to be slight variances among them. Anchor Bay, in the early days of DVD, were, perhaps one of the best companies releasing cult titles as they were usually of high quality remastering and the best versions available at the time (many times the first time available in any home video format). Needless to say, Torso certainly falls in that category as they release an uncut version for the first time to US audiences. Some of the scenes are in its original Italian because some of the original English soundtrack was lost. But you do have the option of watching with original Italian language with subtitles, or dubbed in English. Both work equally well. It is presented in Widescreen and the image looks clean. Directed by Sergio Martino tells the story of a killer of sexy coeds in Rome by using a red and black scarf that everyone is now suspicious of anyone who owns one. In the meantime, Tina Aumont and Suzy Kendall, along with other women, show off enough skin to let the audience forget about the killer, at least for a time. The plot is not deep or thickly involving, but does have its moment of curiosity. There are some scenes of excellent tension towards the end, but it is a little slow getting there, despite some of the gruesome killings. On the other hand, the killings are also never overdone as to be a bloodbath for the sake of gore, but plays within the means of the story. Of the giallo's, TORSO remains one of the classics of its genre. According to dvdcompare.com, the Anchor Bay version has 1 scene cut from it, but no censor cuts. This is not the Us released version which originally cut out scenes for its violence and gore. It includes 2 trailers, the US release and the international release, also known as Carnal Violence. Optional language tracks.
(Puzzle box, 2008-10-26) It's nice to finally see this rare giallo flick from Sergio Martino who previously made films like The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail and the classic cannibal film Mountain Of The Cannibal God. Torso is an overlooked and stylish giallo film that didn't get the recognition that it deserved during it's release in Italy back in the early 70's which is a shame, Sergio Martino fills the screen with beautiful women, black glove assassin, good music and outstanding murder scenes I mean the set pieces in this film were pretty awesome and intense, there was a scene where Suzy Kendal's character was hiding in the house while the killer was hacking up her best friend. This had me on the edge of my seat. A series of sex murders shock a college campus,and four young beautiful girlfriends (Jane, Daniella, Ursula and Katia) head for the safety of an isolated country villa. Soon a mysterious black-gloved killer begins to kill them one by one and a scarf is left at the crime scene. Torso is filled with plenty of sleaze, nudity and graphic violence so fans of Italian exploitation won't be disappointed, there was a brutal scene where a guy gets his head crushed by a car against the wall which I thought was terrific but those who don't like gory stuff should probably avoid this. This copy from Anchor Bay was completely uncut cause you'll notice a couple of scenes that were in Italian and have English subtitles so I guess it was completely restored. Martino managed to generate a fair amount of suspense and the atmosphere was great with prolonged shots of misty woodlands and a nice chase sequence, this definitely has all the ingredients to make a great giallo flick but it did have a few plot holes. Anyway if you love Italian horror then your gonna love this, I highly recommend this great giallo flick.