Three deranged, morally-bankrupt sisters share a home in Budapest. First, there's Vida; dance instructor by day, call girl by night. Then there's bisexual Sissy, who works with the blind. Ludmilla, the most bizarre of the three, is a musician who carries random percussion instruments around with her. When Ludmilla discovers Vida's shady boyfriend, Yuri, dismembered in their washing machine, police inspector Alexander Stacev is called to the scene. When he arrives, there's no body to be found, so he assumes it was just a late night, alcohol-induced hallucination. However, the sisters insist that Yuri is dead, and each one brings new clues to light by seducing Alexander with increasingly depraved acts. By the time they reveal their true faces and intentions, the inspector is already ensnared in their tangled, and notably sticky web...
Deodato's updated giallo/ erotic thriller was a pleasant surprise. Sexy, sleazy, and stylish, it pushes the erotic angle to the point of softcore porn. Nothing new for the genre, but he really heaps it on here. What keeps The Washing Machine from being but early 90s Euro smut is that there's actually a story, convoluted as it may be, and unprecedented character development, a rarity in gialli. Another anomaly is the controlled use of gore. Aside from the opening scene with Yuri's corpse, the blood is kept to a minimum, thus making it's rare appearances that much more effective. And to top it off, it's all set to Claudio Simonetti's particualr sound. That's more than enough reason to track it down. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the cast are sexy as Hell either.
Where'd you pick this one up?
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