Dr. Herbert Lyutak (Mickey Hargitay) is off his rocker as he picks up and kills a young girl in the film's opening minutes. The police are baffled by this murder, the latest in a series of strangulation deaths in the town. The only person offering any insight into the killings is police psychologist -- dramatic pause -- Dr. Herbert Lyutak! Unable to please his wife (Rita Calderoni) sexually, Herbert decides to give himself up by hinting to the police he knows when the killer will strike again. He shows up to attack a decoy but his plans get sabotaged when another women is murdered in the same vicinity. This is one seriously demented giallo from director Renato Polselli and really goes to extremes when doing the whole sex/death connection. The revelation of the mystery killer isn't going to surprise anyone since the cast is so small, but there are some standout scenes. Hargitay, the former Mr. Jayne Mansfield, is good in the lead role and gives the right emotions for mentally unstable man. What is really fascinating about the film is the Blue Underground DVD offers two versions to watch and they are very different. The shorter American version opens and closes with scenes set in Vietnam with Hargitay as a wounded soldier and Calderoni as a helicopter nurse. There is also an extra killing and a different denouement inside the lovely family S&M torture room.
