Orgasmo (1969)

... aka: Dejlig enke i farlig trekant (Lovely Widow in a Dangerous Triangle)

... aka: Erotisch waanzinnig (Erotically Insane)

... aka: O Louco Desejo (The Crazy Desire)

... aka: Paranoia

... aka: Sadismo

... aka: Une folle envie d'aimer (A Mad Desire to Love)

Directed by:

Umberto Lenzi

Sick of playing the Hollywood game, her limiting contracts at both Warner Bros. And Paramount (she ended up being fired by and essentially blacklisted from both) and having a hard time finding acting work after several high-profile flops, actress Carroll Baker divorced her husband, took her kids and moved to Rome for a ten year period in the late 60s. After appearing in the forgotten comedy Her Harem (1967), she starred in the film would go on to define her entire stint in Italian cinema: Romolo Guerrieri's giallo THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH (1968). Thanks primarily to some coy nude scenes from its star, Deborah became a box office hit in Europe and the actress went on to headline many similar thrillers, mysteries and horror flicks over the next eight or so years, most of which tried to capitalize on the promise of Baker nude scenes. Many of these, particularly the earlier ones, were considered very racy for the time but are tame by today's standards.

Orgasmo (released in the U. S. as Paranoia and noteworthy as one of the first films to get the then-new U.S. X-rating) was Baker's second giallo and third Italian film. It also marked the first of four films Baker did with director Umberto Lenzi. The two followed with So Sweet... So Perverse (1969), A Quiet Place to Kill (1970) and Knife of Ice (1972). Once giallo fell out of favor in the mid 70s, Baker did a couple of sex comedies and then returned to the States. Her first film back was the incredibly tasteless black comedy Bad (1977), an indie for producer Andy Warhol, where she gave one of her finest performances yet. The film managed to renew interest in her and a few years later she was working for top studios like Disney and Warner again.

Baker's role here, which has some interesting and probably not coincidental parallels to her real life, is scandal-plagued widow / celebrity Kathryn West. Kathryn flees to Italy from New York City after Robert, her much-older, obscenely wealthy hubby, unexpectedly died in a car crash. Robert owned two petroleum companies, four television stations, a chain of department stores, real estate and other assets that are all currently in the process of being liquidated and sold off. But all the money in the world couldn't buy love and affection and that's what the relationship was sorely lacking. In other words, while Kathryn may miss him... she doesn't miss him that much. And she definitely doesn't miss his family, who aren't too thrilled that she's planning on selling most of his properties and businesses, which they feel should stay in their family; hence why she was so eager to get out of New York and never plans to return.

Kathryn is greeted by a mob of reporters at the airport, but she's soon whisked away by her lawyer Brian Sanders (Tino Carraro) to the Italian countryside. A beautiful, luxurious and, she hopes, tranquil villa awaits. Kathryn is so dead set on peace and quiet to work on her paintings that she insists on as little noise and commotion as possible, which includes removing all television sets from the home. Due to the stress, she's taken to chain smoking, popping pills and guzzling as much J&B Scotch and wine as she can get her pretty little manicured hands on.

The quiet doesn't last for too long. A confident and very brash young man, Peter Donovan (Lou Castel), shows up one day obnoxiously honking his horn and looking for a place to fix his vehicle. Finding herself attracted to him, Kathryn lets him in and he's soon joining her for a hilarious "steamy" shower romp which wouldn't be funny except for the fact someone from off-screen is going crazy pumping comic amounts of smoke on both of the actors as they're pawing at each other. Trying not to draw attention to their secret affair, and not wanting the moody housekeeper Teresa (Lilla Brignone) to find out what they're up to, Kathryn sneaks Peter out of the villa following every encounter. After all, it probably wouldn't look too seemly for a new widow to be getting her oyster shucked by a young man just a few weeks after her husband's death, eh?

After returning from London from a disastrous meeting with her late husband's aunts, Kathryn wants to pick up where she left off with Peter. At first he refuses her offers of money, but she soon finds herself paying three months of his back rent. When she invites him to stay at her villa for a week, he invites his hereto unmentioned sister Eva (Colette Descombes) over. The short-haired Eva appears to be a free spirited and gentle "make love, not war" type and doesn't hesitate to express her extremely high opinion of Kathryn. And, while flattery may not get you everything, it at least helps get your foot in the front door. Kathryn is soon enjoying the youth culture and partying hard; hitting up discos, drinking even more than she usually does, taking new pills, trying on terrible wigs, engaging in kinky sex (did I mention that Peter and Eva are only stepsiblings?) and sleeping in until four in the afternoon.

Kathryn's life soon starts spiraling out of control. Someone appears to be sneaking into her home late at night, turning showers on, opening windows and doors and moving her self portrait. Eva starts slipping her drugs and Peter fires Teresa and mute handyman Martino (Franco Pesce) and then starts slapping her around. Eventually Kathryn has enough of their "degenerate games" and kicks them out... but they aren't going away so easily and return to take over the home. The twisted duo blackmail her with lezzy photos, keep annoying her by playing the same song over and over again, continue to drug her and ply her with liquor, slap her, beat her with a belt, call her things like "demented drunk" and "filthy bitch," serve her a live frog for dinner and finally plot to kill her.

Even though I've not yet seen all of Baker's European films, this is by far the most entertaining performance I've seen out of her in an Italian film. While she's saddled with plenty of cringe-inducing "naughty" dialogue in the earlier erotic scenes ("Dirty me, dirty me, yes yes yes yes!"; "I want to DEVOUR you!"), she does a decent job when her character later descends into madness. My favorite bit though is when she makes the casual aside "I've had a problem with my liver lately" right before sucking down a pill with some wine.

Though it's admittedly not saying very much, this is also the best giallo I've seen from Lenzi. While not all that impressive visually (there's elegant interior design, garish 60s fashion aplenty and the usual zooms, out of focus and kaleidoscopic shots from the cameraman) it's consistently entertaining, often hilariously (accidentally) campy, sleazy and well-paced, plus you do at least feel invested in what's going on and in the fate of the various characters by the end. Never mind the fact Roger Ebert selected this as the second worst film of 1969, behind only Jess Franco's Succubus! We already know he didn't watch stuff like DRACULA (THE DIRTY OLD MAN), IT'S ALIVE and Scream Baby Scream.

This received pretty spotty home video distribution in the U. S. until recent. At the dawn of the video era, there were cut, pan-n-scan early Beta and VHS releases from NTA and Spotlite Video (both divisions of Republican Pictures) here, plus a VHS from Videoform in the UK. The later DVD-R version from Synergy Entertainment was a cut, full frame TV print. A Blu-ray was finally released in 2020 by Severin Films.

★★1/2

Il paese del sesso selvaggio (1972)

... aka: Cannibalis: Au pays de l'exorcisme (Cannibalis: In the Land of Exorcism)
... aka: Cannibal World
... aka: Deep River Savages
... aka: Man from Deep River
... aka: Man from the Deep River, The
... aka: Mondo cannibale
... aka: Sacrifice!

Directed by:
Umberto Lenzi

1970 saw the release of Elliot Silverstein's A Man Called Horse, a western set in 1825 detailing British aristocrat John Morgan's (Richard Harris) capture by, and eventual integration into, a tribe of Sioux Indians. The film quickly gained notoriety thanks to a lengthy, gruesome "Sun Vow ritual" scene where John is strung up in a tree by ropes through his flesh in order to prove his worth. It was hugely successful; eventually spawning the sequels The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976) and Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983), both of which also starred Harris. As with most lucrative films, others quickly jumped at the chance to emulate its success. Producers Ovidio G. Assonitis and Giorgio Carlo Rossi got in contact with director Umberto Lenzi about directing a cash-in, based on an idea from erotica novelist Emmanuelle Arsan ("Emmanuelle") of all people, relocating the same basic story to the jungle. Instead of Native Americans, there would be Asian native tribes and, instead of one gruesome key set piece, there would be numerous. Italian actor Ivan Rassimov and Burmese / British actress Me Me Lai landed the lead roles and they, along with a small crew, traveled to Thailand and Burma for a difficult 4 month shoot.

Despite copying another film rather closely itself, Man from Deep River ended up being just as influential in its own way. It established and set down the groundwork for later cannibal / jungle shockers to come. You know: White people venture into the jungle. White people are captured by a primitive tribe. White people are tortured and killed by the tribe. It also included scenes of real animals being slaughtered, which would also be included in most of the later films to up the shock factor. Among the titles Man influenced are MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (1978; starring Ursula Andress and Stacy Keach), Ruggero Deodato's infamous CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) and two more from Lenzi himself: EATEN ALIVE (1980; which also featured Rassimov, Lai and recycled much footage from others in this genre) and the notorious CANNIBAL FEROX (1981). Interestingly, Man itself only contains one brief scene of cannibalism.

American photographer John Bradley (Rassimov) is on a sight-seeing trip in Bangkok when a man in a bar pulls a switchblade on him. During the scuffle, John accidentally stabs him, runs off and then gets on a train taking him far away from the big city. He hires a young guide - Chuan (Prapas Chindang) - and the two of them end up in a small village, where they charter a boat to head out deep into the jungle so John can take photographs. Before leaving, John pays off a man to keep quiet in case the authorities should show up there looking for him. That turns out to be a huge mistake. John falls asleep for a nap, wakes up to find his guide dead and is then captured in a net by tribesmen, tied to a pole and dragged off to a village. Tribal elder Lahuna (Ong Ard) believes he is a "fish-man" and puts him to work capturing turtles, but Lahuna's daughter Maraya (Me Me Lai) wants him as her personal slave, so father (sort of) complies with her wishes.

John is kept in a hut tied to pole when he isn't out doing labor at spear-point, but finds an ally in Taima (Sulaleewan Suwanthat); an old woman who was raised by missionaries and knows English (unbeknownst to the rest of the tribe). Maraya falls in love with him and she makes him work naked, but scar-faced warrior Karen (Prasitsak Singhara) is pissed at all of the attention Maraya bestows upon the blonde-haired visitor. When John tries to escape, he ends up in a duel-to-the-death with his rival and manages to kill him, which puts him up for a position as a warrior. He's tied up to a slowly-spinning contraption and natives use blow guns to shoot tiny arrows into his flesh. He's then tied up outside to bake in the sun for awhile. John manages to survive the ordeal and finds his rank among the tribe increasing, particularly after he saves a young boy's life. 

As John gradually becomes accustomed to their ways, rituals and language, he realizes it may not be such a bad life after all, especially after Maraya picks him to be her husband and becomes pregnant with his child. A jealous witch doctor (Song Suanhud) in the tribe burns voodoo dolls in their likeness and soon Maraya becomes sick and goes blind. Another nearby tribe - The Kuru's - are blood-thirsty cannibals who like to swing by every so often to gang rape the women, dismember them and then consume their flesh.

Man from Deep River contains just what one may expect of it if they've seen other films in this sub-genre. Arms are hacked off, tongues are cut out, people are periodically speared, stabbed, sliced and tortured and lots of animals are actually killed; including many snakes (including a cobra during a fight with a mongoose), as well as pigs, goats, a monkey and other poor creatures. There's plenty of nudity, too. There's rape, several sex scenes and a woman whose husband is killed in an accident has to have a gang bang with all interested parties on top of her husband's ashes to allow her to marry again (a scene repeated in Lenzi's Eaten Alive).

Still, this movie feels different than the later films. For starters, Riccardo Pallottini's photography is bright, vivid and crystal clear, which is appropriate since this is more of a gory drama than an all-out horror film. Unlike in the later entries, the tribes people in this one aren't cruel, unreasonable savages bent on doing horrible things to whatever unlucky person stumbles upon their village. The ones here have personalities and are better defined as individuals with clear positions among the tribe. Some even wear colorful sarongs and regular clothes and their huts are even pretty nice and well-decorated. The village is set in a rather wide-open space near a river where a helicopter periodically flies overhead so the usual sense of dense, dark, impenetrable jungle and complete isolation from the 'civilized' world isn't quite established.

Approached on its own terms without certain expectations brought upon by what would come later, this is a pretty good film and is perhaps Lenzi's best all-around feature. It made a huge amount of money all over the world (including in America where it played under the title Sacrifice!), so Lenzi was approached about reuniting Rassimov and Lai for a follow-up. When the producers refused to meet his salary requirements, they instead hired Ruggero Deodato and the resulting film was JUNGLE HOLOCAUST (which was filmed in 1976 and hit U.S. theaters in 1978 under the title The Last Survivor).

★★★