Wednesday, April 7, 2010

DELERIUM aka Le Foto Di Gioia

(Lamberto Bava, 1987)
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Here's another late 80s Giallo offering by Lamberto Bava. It tells the tale of Gloria (Serena Grandi), a former "model" who now successfully runs Playboy-esque Pussycat Magazine. Someone is killing off her friends and employees, then sending her photographs of the corpses posed around blown up pictures of her. Among the suspects are Daria Nicolodi (Deep Red, Shock), George Eastman (Anthropophagus, Absurd), David Brandon (Stagefright), and Karl Zinny (Demons)!
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I have to say that although most might consider Bava's films nonsensical and hackneyed (and a few are), they DO have a certain something going for them. For starters, he has his own visual style, with a smattering of Mario Bava and Dario Argento's use of color and lighting. In Delerium, he makes use of heavy red and magenta lighting whenever the murderer is about to strike. And as with most of his movies, emphasis is placed on the death scenes.
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What sets this title apart from the rest are the zany POV shots that reveal how deformed the killer perceives his victims to be. The first girl is seen as having but an eye for a face. Another is seen with the head of a bee. The deaths themselves are fairly well executed, though I must say the Death-By-Bee-Attack scene is a little far fetched (and quite hilarious!). Lamberto also makes good use of Serena Grandi's "talents" here, adding a healthy dose of sleaze to an otherwise mediocre Giallo. Recommended for intermediate Giallo viewers and Bava fans.
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