AN IDEAL PLACE TO KILL (1971)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 90 Minutes
Audio: English & Italian DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Cast: Michel Dardinet, Ornella Muti, Ray Lovelock, Irene Papa
A pair of free-spirited hippie teens, Dick (Ray Lovelocke, Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man) and Ingrid (Ornella Muti, Flash Gordon), are spending the summer vacationing in Italy, driving across Europe in their flower-power painted sport scar, paying their way by selling foreign smut (dirty mags and dirty 7" singles), and when those items are gone they make their own homegrown porn, selling picture booth nudes of the gorgeous Ingrid for cash. Eventually they get busted by the authorities for selling the smut, which was illegal back then, and are told they must leave the country withing the next 24-hours or face imprisonment.
The carefree teens don't exactly make a beeline for the border though and end up detouring through the countryside, where they are antagonized by a gang of thieving bikers for a bit. Continuing on their journey until their gas tanks run dry, stranding them near a secluded villa. It seems empty at first, they enter the garage and begin to siphon gas from a car when they are discovered by homeowner, a middle-aged woman named Barbara Slater (Irene Papas, Don't Torture A Duckling). Barbara at first seems none-too-pleased by their illicit arrival, but then she comes around to their free-spirited ways, seemingly enthralled by their youthful vigor and sexual energy, with the teens unaware that they've walked right into a spider's web.
Director Umberto Lenzi is synonymous with the low-budget gore and splatter films that he made in the early 80's, stuff like Eaten Alive! (1980), Nightmare City (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981), but in the 60's and 70's he was making stylish and sexy sophisticated thrillers and black-gloved gialli, stuff that I myself am only discovering recently, and it's been great fun checking out his earlier stuff after only seeing his more exploitative output.
The film is also known as Oasis of Fear and Dirty Pictures, and immediately sets itself apart with a pop-song theme and playful tone, with both Ray Lovelocke and Ornella Muti oozing youthful sexuality, flaunting authority, and slinging smut for profit to fuel their Italian vacation, it's got a great vibe to it.
The early part of the film plays out episodically as a bit of a humorous smut-peddling European vacation travelogue, but tensions ratchet up once they arrive at the villa unaware that they've walked right into potential trap, with the woman of the house taking advantage of their arrival, scheming to seduce them and make them her patsies! Calling this a giallo is a bit of a stretch in my opinion, it's got some stylish lensing and and the appropriate atmosphere but it's lacking a the black-gloved killer and a decent body count, coming off as more of an erotically charged thriller with some solid twists and turns.
It does feel a bit padded at times with wayward plot threads involving the thieving bikers and a very brief Manson Family reference that seemed out-of-place, but those strays are harmless, and don't spoil it at all. The trio of main characters are all interesting and the film is stylish, with a cool slashery altercation in bird enclosure and a cool flashback to an earlier murder scene that was well put together, but the film certainly wold have benefited from a bit more violence I think.
We also get a bit of nudity, though it's clear from the edit that neither of the nude women are the actual stars Irene Papas or Ornella Multi, but it's not clumsily done, the scenes still look great, and the body doubles offer up plenty of eye-candy. I really enjoyed the playful nature of the film, it defied my expectations a bit, I figured early on that the youthful hippies would take a violent turn along the lines of the Greek exploitation film Island of Death (1976), presuming that they would turn into the villains of the film, but it turns out their the flies caught in the spider web of the older woman they thought they were seducing, making this a solid thriller with a great twisty ending that brought a smile to my face.
Audio/Video: An Ideal Place To Kill (1971) makes it's worldwide debut on Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro in 1080p HD, framed in 2.35:1 and sourced from a new 2K scan of the original camera negative. It's very filmic looking image with plenty of uniform grain throughout, the image can be a tad soft but otherwise showcases natural looking skintones and pleasing colors throughout, with the primaries getting a solid showing. The lensing from cinematographer Alfio Contini (The Night Porter) may not be Argento level stylish but it looks great in HD.
Audio comes by way of both English and Italian DTS-HD MA mono with optional English subtitles. Dialogue on both the Italian and English audio tracks sound good, there's a bit of source related hiss present but only a tiny bit, and the pop score from Italian singer-songwriter Bruno Lauzi sounds terrific, the main theme is a really catchy tune.
Extras begin with a brand new commentary from Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, they're a great pairing and offer up a fun and info-packed commentary, discussing locations, cast and crew, and other films in Lenzi's filmography. There's also an exclusive 24-min interview with the late director Umberto Lenzi in which he discusses the film being altered by producer Carlo Ponti, originally it was panned that the free-spirited teens would be drug peddlers (not smut), and Lenzi was none too happy with that change. He also discusses the casting of the film, passing over Carol baker for fear he was using her a bit too much at the time, and how he knew Ornella Multi from the age of thirteen. He also gets into the score, and how Sophia Loren, who was married to the producer, suggested Bruno Lauzi.
We also get 1-min of deleted scenes, basically small clips of sex inserts, plus a 4-min trailer for the film. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- Brand New 2K Transfer from the Original Film Negative
- Exclusive Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi (24 min)
- Audio Commentary by Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson
- Deleted Scenes (1 min)
- Original Trailer (4 min)
- Mondo Macabro Trailer Reel (14 min)
An Ideal Place To Kill (1971) definitely has me interested in checking out more of Umberto Lenzi's giallo offerings. It's a stylish, playful and erotic thriller, though I would hesitate to cal it a giallo, but it's got plenty of suspense, a bit of mystery, and a great looking cast. The Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic, and we get some excellent extras to go along with it, another rock solid release from Mondo Macabro and a high recommend to lovers of eurocult, giallo and sexed-up thrillers.
