User Reviews

Rosalba Neri looks stately and picturesque when holding a cigarette, but never entirely convincing when smoking. She stars as Eleanora in this exotic, erotic giallo as the wife of novelist Richard Stuart (Farley Granger). Between them, they exude an aloofness that inclines you to believe they know everything that is going on, certainly more than the audience. So when Greta Franklin (Barbara Bouchet) arrives on their stately island near Venice as the new secretary, their initial smoothness soon becomes something more. A crushed tablet in her drinking water, and soon Greta and Eleanour are stripped naked and getting to know each other.

Greta is posing as a secretary to investigate the disappearance of the Stuarts' former employee, Sally, who was Greta's lover. The upmarket sleaze and atmosphere of kinkiness prevalent in their stately home can be ascertained when you look at some alternative titles for this: 'Maniac Mansion', 'Leather and Whips' and 'Hot Bed of Sex' give you every reason to believe that the sex quota in this giallo is generous indeed.

Petar Martinovitch is excellent as simple-minded Rocco, a hugely physical fellow who is aroused by the sexuality around him and cannot control the after-effects. Is he a victim in all this? He is certainly deliberately used, and his resultant unrestrained qualities have a large part to play.

This may be Neri's best role. She's terrific throughout, and has an incredible presence that dominates the screen. But she's not given an easy ride by Bouchet, who is compelling and never reduced to being a screaming cypher. As is nearly always the case with giallos, the girls get the best moments. Farley Granger shouldn't be overlooked though – his delicate flamboyance as Richard masks a villain in the classic line of frustrated weaklings.

Given that Amuck features two of my Euro-favorites, Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri, it's a surprisingly average giallo. Bouchet is a young secretary working for a publishing house. She becomes concerned when her friend and fellow co-worker goes missing. She gets assigned to the same writer (played by the dull Farley Granger) to investigate her friend's disappearance. She immediately suspects the writer and his lover, Neri, and must endure their sexual advances if she is to find her friend.

For a film of this type to be effective, I've found that it's important to believe the protagonist is in real danger. You have to believe that their investigations might lead to their death. Other than the duck hunting scene in Amuck, I never once felt that Bouchet's character was in any real sort of mortal peril. While there was a real chance she was going to be drugged and forced to have sex, I knew she wasn't going to die. Add to this the fact that the solution to the murder is laid out in the first 30 minutes and you've got no real tension or suspense.

Alla ricerca del piacere aka Amuck!(1972)Silvio Amadio

***some slight spoilers***

A young American woman Greta Franklin (Barbara Bouchet,Don't Torture a Duckling,Red Queen Kills 7 Times)gains employment as a secretary near Venice Italy. Her new employer is Richard Stuart (Farley Granger,Strangers on a train,Rope) an author, who lives on a remote island with his wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri,Hercules in the Haunted World,Slaughter Hotel), even the servants are sent home off the island night, so it is no surprise that Eleanora tells Greta of her desperate loneliness. Greta has an ulterior motive for taking the job though, as her lesbian lover Sally was the previous incumbent in the job, who mysteriously disappeared without trace. On her first night in the house, Greta overhears a conversation between Richard and his friend the Commissioner of police, in which Sally's disappearance is discussed, Greta when the opportunity arrives, grabs the chance and tells him of her quest to find her friend, he warns her that it could be very dangerous and that she should leave the house, she ignores his pleas. Before her disappearance Sally sent a letter to Greta, which contained her fears and stated that she was a sex slave and that she was constantly demeaned in this house of perversions, but somehow the Franklin's had a hold on her and she couldn't escape, no matter how hard she wanted to.

Greta goes to bed but is startled when a giant of man appears at her window, her screams are answered by Richard who tells her it was only the local fisherman Rocco, he then puts her in the capable hands of his wife Eleanora who gives her a drink of water into which she sprinkles an unknown powder, in the ensuing moments Eleanora makes some moves on Greta ,she responds and they spend the night making love. Next morning Greta is unsure if it was all a dream as the glass of water she knocked over during their passion is now replaced, was it all a dream?..or had she been taken advantage of, after being drugged?

Greta then stumbles on a party that is happening elsewhere in the house, she's invited in, it a swingers party with drugs in abundance, Greta gets cosy with a guest who knew Sally, in order to garner some more information of her disappearance, but is then shocked when she sees Sally in a porno film being screened there, now Greta's fears for her friend grow ever more pronounced. Richard then surprises Greta by ceasing the work on his current book, in order to begin his tale of a missing girl who is murdered by the local psycho and dumped in the lagoon, this is the final straw , as this story bears more than a resemblance to the truth.

Silvio Amadio was a director perhaps best known for his comedies, so this was not his usual light hearted affair, he still managed though to create a semi-thrilling and erotic tale of debauchery, he showed great skill in directing the infamous lesbian liaison which could so easily have been tacky, but is here rendered in an sublimely erotic way. Both Neri and Bouchet excel in their roles, Neri as the dark predatory and sexual deviant and Bouchet as the wide eyed and stunningly beautiful innocent, an innocent you can't help but want to be deflowered, especially when she turns up in a highly stimulating baby doll dress. Granger on the other hand is probably as wooden as he always was, but this strangely works in his favour here, although we never quite believe he is capable of anything too debauched. Highlights of the film are undoubtedly the sexual tryst between Neri and Bouchet, a finely handled duck hunting scene in the marshes, the Little Red Riding Hood porno film within the film, Greta's reminiscing of her and Sally's first love making under a waterfall and of course the final reveal. Teo Usuelli's score is at times nothing short of naff and seems to belong to some long forgotten sci/fi film, perhaps even in an elevator, but he also wrote some really funky and enticing little opuses within the film, especially the main theme which is playful and perfect in its execution. Its hard to tell though if Aldo Giordani's cinematography is any good as the Eurovista DVD is just taken from an old pan and scan VHS and a washed out one at that.Amuck! is though an enjoyable romp and a must see for all fans of the Giallo genre.

Basically, you only require two main reasons to make this "Amuck!" priority viewing, namely the starring of both female leads Bouchet and Neri, so all the cool story lines, nifty camera-work and bizarre sense of humor are just welcome bonuses. But let's focus on the sexuality aspects some more, first! The very first lesbian sequence involving both aforementioned beauties is so HOT that it nearly burnt holes in the screen of the TV. It's redundant eroticism, but extremely elegant and pictured quite tastefully. Bizarre sexual tendencies and decadence are the most prominent themes in this early 70's giallo (at least, I assume it qualifies as a giallo) and fans that like to see explicit sleaze combined with gory murders will be sorely disappointed since there isn't any of that. Young Greta travels to Venice to work as a secretary for the famous novelist Richard Stuart but her main mission is to personally investigate what happened to her vanished lesbian lover Sally. She was previously employed by Richard and Greta suspects that she had become too much of a burden in the sex-parties that involve all of the writer's acquaintances. Richard knows what Greta is looking for and messes with her mind by making the story of his new book suspiciously sound like Sally's presumable fate. The story is compelling enough to keep you interested, but some sequences, like the swamp-hunting, feel a bit overlong and tedious. A bit of gore would have been nice too, though. Still, this is a very enchanting film, professionally directed by Silvio Amadio and benefiting a great deal from the charisma of its two lead lead actresses.

Well, when you've got Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri in your movie it seems like a no-brainer to involve them in a lesbian scene, but maybe this film should have delayed it a little longer; it comes in the first 15 minutes, with next to no buildup, and despite both stars' phenomenal bodies, it falls a bit flat (another lesbian scene later in the film, between Bouchet and Patrizia Viotti, under a waterfall, works better). "Amuck!" does not have a great story to tell, but it finds an interesting way to tell it, using the (SPOILER, of course) "partially false flashback" technique that Alfred Hitchcock made famous in one of his lesser-seen movies, "Stage Fright", so it manages to surprise the viewer after all. It's not one of the greatest mysteries ever brought to the screen, and although it's set in Venice we don't get to see much of Venice, but it is quite watchable. **1/2 out of 4.