Normally I'd have given this movie 5 out of 10, but Miss Mell does so fabulously in this solid Euro-thriller that I had to add three more...
"Diary of an Erotic Murderess" is a sexy mystery drama about a woman who murders a millionaire (Conte) to marry his mentally retarded son (lovely but mute: Juan Ribó). Mur Oti, the director, chose a slow-moving climax which might be considered a little boring by most viewers, but I liked it quite a lot. The interestingly atmospheric score was a great plus for me as well.
Whether you like the plot, the direction, the music etc., or not, after all, this is Marisa Mell's film, and she is just wonderful in it! She steals the movie and is prettier than ever.
Marisa was born Marlies Moitzi in Graz, Austria, went to the renowned Max Reinhard Seminar in Vienna and did a couple of less-than-memorable appearances in German and Austrian movies before, in 1963, she went abroad to star in movies like "French Dressing" (by Ken Russell) or "Masquerade", but her career never quite took off. The multi-lingual (fluent in French, English, Spanish, Italian, and German) Mell did excellent in Bava's pop art extravaganza "Danger: Diabolik" and Fulci's "One on Top of the Other" before, in the 1970s, her movies became more and more obscure. The died of cancer in 1992. She was only 53 and had spent her last few years in poverty. She died as she had lived: alone.
Unfortunately, the American distributor cut about 15 minutes from the film, so that the film lacks both, gore and nudity. The dubbing is also quite poor.
P.S.: If you look closely, you can see Carmen Maura, Almodóvar's leading lady of the 1980s, in one of her first movie appearances.
