A leather-gloved maniac is slicing up girls with an open razor. Married woman Julie (Edwige Fenech) finds herself menaced by the killer, but is the culprit her sadistic ex-lover Jean (Ivan Rassimov) or someone much closer to her (possible suspects including husband Neil and new lover George)?
Immediately prior to watching The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, I saw the unofficial Turkish remake, Thirsty For Love, Sex and Murder, which replayed many of the Italian film's scenes verbatim. I was hoping that Sergio Martino's original would be a little more coherent (it runs about half an hour longer than its Turkish counterpart), and it is, but there are still a few moments that prevent it from being a truly great giallo—scenes that take quite a bit of swallowing.
Thankfully, 'The Strange Vice ' doesn't have the silly decapitated head trick that rendered the remake laughable, but the alternative is still pretty daft (how long did Jean have to lie in that bloody bath pretending to be dead before Julie and George found him?). Then there's the issue of Julie's plush, high spec apartment having a leaky, rusting radiator. The ending also stretches plausibility an awful lot, with Julie also playing possum in order to help catch the real villains. Still, at least this one offers up a whole lot of gratuitous nudity (a giallo staple) and violence, is better acted and far more stylish than 'Thirsty For Love ', the excellent cinematography and lush score making it both an audio and visual delight.
Fenech fans, of course, won't need convincing that the film is worthy of a watch: with the brunette beauty frequently stripping off, this one's a no-brainer for admirers of the Latin lovely.
Immediately prior to watching The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, I saw the unofficial Turkish remake, Thirsty For Love, Sex and Murder, which replayed many of the Italian film's scenes verbatim. I was hoping that Sergio Martino's original would be a little more coherent (it runs about half an hour longer than its Turkish counterpart), and it is, but there are still a few moments that prevent it from being a truly great giallo—scenes that take quite a bit of swallowing.
Thankfully, 'The Strange Vice ' doesn't have the silly decapitated head trick that rendered the remake laughable, but the alternative is still pretty daft (how long did Jean have to lie in that bloody bath pretending to be dead before Julie and George found him?). Then there's the issue of Julie's plush, high spec apartment having a leaky, rusting radiator. The ending also stretches plausibility an awful lot, with Julie also playing possum in order to help catch the real villains. Still, at least this one offers up a whole lot of gratuitous nudity (a giallo staple) and violence, is better acted and far more stylish than 'Thirsty For Love ', the excellent cinematography and lush score making it both an audio and visual delight.
Fenech fans, of course, won't need convincing that the film is worthy of a watch: with the brunette beauty frequently stripping off, this one's a no-brainer for admirers of the Latin lovely.