The Cult of Horror

The Cult of Horror

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Torso


This particular Italian slasher features a large roster of beautiful college girls that get killed off particularly quickly, with little time for any character development or attachment. But Torso sets it self higher than most other films of this nature. The killer, a dapper and perverse psychopath, donned with a gray ski mask and a handsome silk neck scarf creatively eliminates each victim in the oh-so elegant ways of murder that the scenes are gore-tacular artistry.What makes Torso stand out amongst slashers films with the same premise is the odd camera angles and perspectives, which could have been an influence on John Carpenter for Halloween and I think even more so for Alexander Aja's High Tension. Halloween is praised for its credit for what it did for slasher films but I think credit should established to Italian director Sergio Martino ( Your Vice, All the Colors of the Dark) .

Concerning the blood and gore of the film, for 1973, hack-sawing limbs off of dead corpses and close ups of blood pools slowing draining in the muddy water while a minimalistic score seems pretty bold for the time and place of where this film was in the world of horror. Fortunately, the recent release of Torso on DVD may increase popularity along with the rise of in popularity of the Giallo genre, one would hope a 70's gem like this could be talked about in the next decade as one of the great contributors to horror. 9 out of 10

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