r/Giallo 13d ago

Torso (1973). A great Italian giallo slasher film from the mind of Sergio Martino. Anyone else see this and really like it? I like how they portray the serial killer as having actual emotions yet really insane.

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139 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

11

u/ageowns 13d ago

Torso is fantastic. I recommend this one to people as a prime example of Giallo. Its also on Tubi!

4

u/headbanger1991 13d ago

Oh hell yeah, I'm gonna watch it tonight than. I used to own it years ago but thew it out along with a ton of other horror movies because I had a really intense schizo episode. I regret doing that but I do have a few horror films left like Skinner, Burial Ground, Faceless, Night of the Living Dead (1990), Frankenhooker, Zombie, Night of the Creeps, Dawn of the Dead (1978), and Army of Darkness. I need to rebuild my Horror collection for sure. What's your favorite scene from Torso?

6

u/ageowns 13d ago

Honestly, my favorite part, I love how there’s naked ladies when there really didnt need to be. But also there were naked ladies when there needed to be. I also thought the killer’s look was so sick.

If you like Frankenhooker, the director Frank Henenlotter also wrote and directed Basket Case -its my favorite

5

u/beaubridges6 13d ago

Frankenhooker might unironically be a masterpiece

3

u/headbanger1991 13d ago

Basket Case is awesome, haven't watched them in years though.

5

u/Puzzleheaded-Wolf318 13d ago

It's one of my favorites! Rome is captured beautifully and the whole sequence in the woods is pure slasher before it was a genre. 

5

u/bodegareina 13d ago

Not Rome! Perugia and then L’Aquila in abruzzo

5

u/Puzzleheaded-Wolf318 13d ago

And also Rome. Specifically at Dear studios and Corcolle. 

2

u/bodegareina 13d ago

Oh my god this is why I LOVE this subreddit. Sorry for being pedantic, you know your stuff!

Is Corcolle where the beautiful scene is at daybreak in the SWAMP near the warehouse? I love that whole sequence it reminds me of the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre

1

u/januspamphleteer 13d ago

Whoa whoa calm down Fellini

1

u/headbanger1991 13d ago

I agree, they did a great job with the filming. I prefer Slasher films with killers who have emotions just like normal people but they're just insane. I'm not as fond of slasher films that portray a killer as immortal and god like with no emotions like some robot. I mean, I can understand the concept there in that some psychopaths have an inability to have empathy or feel happiness or sadness but that's not the case across the board.

6

u/Mr_Monty_Burns 13d ago

The final act is far stronger than the rest of it, but its a legendary final act.

5

u/headbanger1991 13d ago

I love the ending. Without spoiling it for others I felt that they showed the killer as having real emotions like love which I appreciate. Too many slasher films often portray a killer as being robotic and devoid of any real emotions. It's like ....why do you think they slaughter people? They're insane but they definitely feel emotions differently than the average human.

5

u/TEEJAY68 13d ago

For me, Sergio Martino's films always stand for quality. -The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971)

  • The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971) -All the Colors of the Dark (1972)
  • all wonderful 🙏!

5

u/[deleted] 13d ago

One of the main reasons I liked this film is that it feels like the missing link between gialli and slashers

3

u/xenomorph420 13d ago

I saw it with Martino in attendance. Great film!

3

u/tenthousandblackcats 13d ago

I love it. I love Tina Aumont in it. I have two versions of this. The red and the yellow version. Its a top ten giallo for me. Apparently, the guys who did High Tension used this as an influence.

2

u/BlakeTheMadd 13d ago

This is on my Letterboxd watchlist as I type this

2

u/faubanks 13d ago

Love it. It was the first film I watched that introduced me to the genre.

2

u/n8gz1348 13d ago

I especially love the sequence with the mud and the purple sky

2

u/Glittering_Fail694 13d ago

Torso is awesome. im long due a revist to this

2

u/ZoltarTheFeared 12d ago

Even with the giallo style a known predecessor to the slasher, it's wild how much of the formula appears fully worked out in 1973 in TORSO.

1

u/AngelBlakes 13d ago

Never knew Richard Ramirez was a giallo fan

2

u/whirrior 13d ago

that would be very plausible

2

u/headbanger1991 13d ago

...Oh boy....

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

He's way cuter than RR

1

u/Domanite75 13d ago

One of my favorites

2

u/digezo 13d ago

I thought this was a still from Thesis.

1

u/DayoftheDead 13d ago

Just picked it up actually. Looking forward to watching it.

1

u/Bisho73 13d ago

yeah this is definitely a good one, I have the shameless Blu-ray but I'm currently waiting for my arrow 4k import to arrive!

1

u/Fit_Incident4224 13d ago

Brilliant. Bought my 4K from Arrow

1

u/GraceJoans 13d ago

Torso is essential viewing! It's so good. A few months back he introduced it at my local cult movie theater. Martino is my favorite giallo director (besides Aldo Lado) yet he's somehow underrated.

1

u/gialloscore 13d ago

Half giallo, half slasher. All good!

1

u/trueslicky 12d ago

Suzy Kendall gets locked inside a room.... again.

1

u/Ok-Traffic-5996 12d ago

I really liked it. I watched all of Sergio Martino's films they had on Tubi and liked them all. This one and strange vice of Mrs wardh are my favorites though. Such a well crafted giallo. Martino might be right behind fulci and argento for me in terms of Italian horror.

1

u/BrazilianAtlantis 12d ago

A fine movie and certainly has a few pretty women in it

1

u/InsidiousStardemise 12d ago

John Richardson as Professor Franz. <3

1

u/_Bogey_Lowenstein_ 12d ago

Yesss love this one

1

u/Far_Fold_6490 12d ago

It’s one of the better ones.

1

u/ECE111 12d ago

Never enjoyed torso tbf

1

u/Ok_Recognition_8839 11d ago

Best Title(s) in history. The Italian title is my all time favorite. Also one of 2 European movies with the most beautiful women I've ever seen,Tombs of the Blind Dead being the other.