24 Feb 2018, 22:25 #543
314) Blackmail (1974, Italy, Giallo (kind of), Director: Luigi Batzella)
Notable actors: Briggite Skay! Umberto Raho! Rosalba Neri! Briggite Skay's boobs, especially the right one!
I wasn't born until 1975, during a Tangerine Dream concert, so I'm not sure if this film is factually correct, but isn't 1974 a bit late for annoying hippies to be stinking up the place? This film is full of them. Especially the start of the film as we get to see loads of them hanging around some stuffy, body-odour filled nightclub, 'freaking out', 'turning on' and 'dancing'.
Among them is Briggite Skay, covered in beads, full of weed, and bringing out the pink-nosed twins for a bit of topless dancing. One police bust later, Briggite is delivered to her embarrassed father, Umberto Raho, who scolds Briggite for bringing his reputation into disrepute. Briggite responds by heading of to the beach with Claudio, Rik, and other girl, to do a bit of scheming about how to get back at old daddy-o and his stale, unhip, ways.
Briggite, who is still topless at this point, thinks that faking being kidnapped and getting a quarter of a million bucks (lire) out of her father would be a good idea, to which Claudio, Rik and other girl agree. This hilariously prompts an on-beach sudden party where a bunch of other people appear and dance the night away. Before having an orgy.
The next day everyone heads off to Claudio's sister's house (where he thinks she's away for a long time - guess how that works out). Once there, they fake the kidnapping, get Claudio to phone Umberto to arrange the drop, only for Claudio's sister and brother-in-law to turn up, so Rik, who's taking this far more seriously than everyone else, gets the bright idea to use the brother-in-law to make the drop. However, no one has factored in Briggite's evil stepmother - Rosalba Neri!
My absolute favourite bit of this demented pile of crap is when Briggite and Rik have everyone held hostage in the house when the housemaid suddenly arrives at the front door. She's ushered in at gunpoint, but this soon degenerates into a lesbian love scene with Briggite Skay that lasts about ten minutes. So there you go. An easy way to deal with unexpected visitors during a hostage situation.
Of course, things get even more stupid towards the end of the film and Luigi Batzella pulls a blinder with the brain damaged ending. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one based on the premise. Rosalba Neri continues her diminishing appearances in Italian films (maybe she just got bored), and Briggite Skay is surely there to show off her assets, especially the right one which seems to pop out continuously throughout the film. Batzella of course would sink way lower than this with his Nazisploitation film Achtung! The Desert Tigers.
And then way, way lower than that with Nazisploitation film The Beast In Heat.
