ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Micransix Crappy film

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

BA_Harrison 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.

matheusmarchetti Sergio Martino's "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" has to be one of the finest gialli of all time - a visually stunning, atmospheric masterpiece that is right up there with genre classics such as Argento's "Deep Red" and Bava's "Blood & Black Lace". It has aged perfectly, unlike many others of it's kind. The film remains very suspenseful, intelligent, creepy and never boring, always keeping the viewer on the edge of the seat, and it often feels like an acid version of a Hitchcock film. Speaking of which, Martino seems to intentionally pay tribute to the Master of Suspense in many of the film's set pieces, the most clear example is the 'murder in the shower' scene. Also, I love the film's dream sequences, which feels like something David Lynch would do. The beautiful soundtrack is also a bonus, and a naked Edwige Fenech doesn't hurt either. Overall, 10/10. Essential viewing for fans of Eurohorror and Italian cinema.

Michael_Elliott Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, The (1971) *** (out of 4) Extremely well made giallo about a woman (Edwige Fenech) who is being stalked by a crazed killer dressed in black. It could be her old lover (Ivan Rassimov), her current husband (Alberto de Mendoza), her current lover (George Hilton) or perhaps the serial killer that is stalking the city. This is one of the better examples that mixes great twists and turns like a Hitchcock movie but also mixes in sex, nudity and graphic violence. Director Martino handles the material very well and delivers quite a bit of suspense, some great style and some very memorable killings including a great sequence where a blonde woman is attacked while taking a shower. The screenplay is very well written and it keeps the mystery throughout the entire film until there's twenty-minutes to go and then it kicks into high gear and delivers several twists and turns that all work perfectly well. Another big plus are the performances, which are all very good. I just now discovering Fenech but she's certainly jumped up among my favorite Euro actresses. She delivers another very strong performance as the sexual wife who slowly begins to crack when she has this killer stalking her. The three male leads are also very good and add great support to Fenech. The movie also features some very good cinematography as well as a great music score and all of this adds up to a highly entertaining film.

Boba_Fett1138 This is a great typical Italian Giallo genre example, that has all of the usual and required elements in it, such as lots of fake blood, bad dubbing, weird sound effects, some surreal dream-like sequences, a lunatic murderer, an eerie atmosphere and lots of sex and naked women (for some reason they even start to wrestle naked in the movie).These Italian thriller/horror productions from the '70's and '80's are often fantastic to watch and are totally overlooked by the big audience. It's a great and original genre on its own and it uses different 'rules' than the Hollywood productions from the same era and beyond. It for instance has different kind of editing, different kind of cinematography (often also hand-held to increase the movie its atmosphere and tension), a different style of build-up (real European-style). It's always something special and unusual to watch. It has an unpleasant and creepy kind of atmosphere, in which unexpected things happen all the time. There's never really much to the story of these sort of movie, even though they always try hard. It's simple but it always works well. This movie is not really an exception to this, even though it surely has its original moments and like always a great twist at the end and some twists in between.The acing is above average and is by genre standards. The women are cast because of their beautiful looks and the men because of their charismatic appearances, both pretty and villainously ugly. Especially Ivan Rassimov works out great, while Edwige Fenech is also a pretty good leading lady, who perhaps faints and scream one or two too many times. She now also plays a small part in "Hostel: Part II", an obvious reference and homage to her Giallo past, by director Eli Roth. The movie has a great typical Italian genre movie musical score by Nora Orlandi. The kind of stuff Ennio Morricone also used to compose in his most early days. Very unusual sounding but wonderful at the same time. The musical score was even reused later again by Quentin Tarantino, for his movie "Kill Bill: Vol. 2".Not the best but still a great example of the genre.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/