STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER (1975)
Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: ALL
Duration: 98 Mins
Rating: Not Rated
Audio: English, Italian PCM Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Andrea Bianchi
Cast: Edwige Fenech, Nino Castelnuovo, Femi Benussi, Solvi Stubing
Now here's a slab of 70's Euro-sleaze I can sink my teeth into, a sexed-up giallo starring the stunning Edwige Fenech (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh), surely one of the top-five beauties that the high-definition format was created to showcase, no? The title alone tells you that we're in for here, some super-trashy fun that comes to us from none other than the director of the deranged, tit-chomping Italian zombie film Burial Ground (1980), a film featuring one of the most schlocky and shocking mother-son relationships in all of cinema history, but not to be outdone, Strip Nude For Your Killer features one of the oddest film finales you'll ever see.
The film begins with a nifty blue-tinted scenario wherein a model named Evelyn dies of heart-failure during a backroom abortion. The doctor with the help of an unseen accomplice attempts to cover-up the accidental death by returning the corpse to her home where it will appear she died of natural causes in the bathtub. However, later that same night the abortion doc is stabbed repeatedly by an attacker on the doorstep of his home, the killer wearing a skin-tight leather outfit and a motorcycle helmet, it makes for quite a memorable image, very sleek. Turns out the dead woman was a model working for the Albatross Modelling Agency, run by a shrew-lesbian named Giselle and her fat, philandering husband Maurizio (Franco Diogene, Midnight Express). We're then meet the speedo-loving fashion photographer Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo) and his spritely assistant Madga (Edwige Fenech), the photographer is introduced during a really wacky seduction scene wherein he asks gorgeous ginger Lucia (Femi Benusi, Hatchet for the Honeymoon) to pose for him in a steam-room when she realizes there's no film in the camera, and like you did back in those free-loving 70's they make the best of an awkward situation and get it on!
Not long after a photographer at the agency is murdered by the same killer dressed in leather and a motorcycle helmet followed by a model and others, it becomes apparent that someone has it out for the employees of the Albatross agency, in that way it's not not dissimilar to Mario Bava's seminal fashion-slasher Blood and Black Lace (1963), another shocker also featuring a memorably masked marauder terrorizing a fashion house. The film pretty much boils down to Carlo and Madga sleuthing the mystery, but can they uncover the killer's identity before it's too late?
As the title implies the film is quite literally bursting at the seems with depraved sex and violence, perhaps more nudity that any Giallo I can think of, the women of the 70's Italian cinema were world class beauties and it's easy to lose track of the story (what little there was of it, anyway) while I sat down for a a re-watch.
As a giallo the film falls a bit short but as a prime slice of euro-cheese with copious amounts of nudity it's pretty great stuff, so many corny but awesome moments from Maurizio threatening to knock a bitch upside the head with a vase if she doesn't put out for him followed by a moment of impotence and him crying into the arms of an inflatable lover right before he's butchered, it's tasty fromage for sure. In a wonderful red-herring moment our suave fashion-photographer Carlo nearly strangles a lover over what amounts to next to nothing, an abusive lesbian tryst, crazy 70's fashions and some awesomely awful English dubbed dialogue, this film is not lacking for entertainment that's for sure.
Audio/Video: Strip Nude for Your Killer arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Video in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1, a 2K restoration sourced from the uncensored camera negative. Black levels are strong, grain is well-managed, and the colors look a bit warmer than the previous Blue Underground release, with improved clarity and more fine detail in certain areas.
There are both English and Italian PCM Mono audio options with choice of optional English subtitles. The mono track is clean and well balanced, free of distortion, and the Berto Pisano score sounds good throughout.,
Special Features:
- New audio commentary by HORRORPEDIA.com’s Adrian J. Smith and David Flint
- Sex and Death with a Smile, a new video essay by author and critic Kat Ellinger on giallo and sex comedy icon Edwige Fenech (23 min) HD
- A Good Man for the Murders, a newly edited video interview with actor Nino Castelnuovo (15 min) HD
- The Blonde Salamander, a new video interview with actress Erna Schurer (19 min) HD
- The Art of Helping, a new video interview with assistant director Daniele Sangiorgi (44 min)
- Jack of All Trades, a new video interview with actor and production manager Tino Polenghi (22 min)
- Two versions of the opening scene: tinted and untinted viewing options
- Original Italian Trailer (4 min) HD
- English Theatrical Trailer (4 min) HD
- Image Gallery (3 min) HD
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Rachael Nisbet
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage this is not, hjere we have a decidedly lower-tier and less artful film, but it definitely delivers on it's depraved pulpy title, an endlessly entertaining parade of gorgeous flesh and startling murder set-pieces with a few artful flourishes, some decent lensing and a shit-ton of 70's euro-cheese and sleaze, a trashy delight for fans of Giallo and 70's Italian horror cinema, I say this is worth a purchase particularly for you Edwige Fenech fans out there, and this is a nice upgrade from Arrow with some excellent extras.
