Watch Delirium: Photo of Gioia For Free

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The acting in this movie is really good.

After directing several giallo films in a row (Macabre, A Blade in the Dark, You'll Die at Midnight), Lamberto Bava began to dislike the genre and wanted to do more works like Demons. That was the inspiration for this film, where he used the killer's point of view to show fantastic images of the victims, from a woman with a giant eyeball to another that looks like a human insect. He also claimed that this was one of the few times that he had the time and budget he needed to get it right.Gloria (Serena Grandi, the "Dolly Parto" of Italy who also appears in Antropophagus and The Adventures of Hercules) is a former model who has inherited the magazine Pussycat from her dead husband. The magazine takes off once a killer begins murdering whatever model is on that month's cover, starting with Gloria's friend Kim.Her neighbor Mark, who is in a wheelchair due to a mental condition, sees the murder and alerts her, but all she finds are photos of Kim's body. Soon, Kim's body is found in a dumpster.Gloria's brother Tony is a photographer for Pussycat and does a photoshoot with Sabrina (Italian glamour model, singer and songwriter Sabrina Salerno) and tries to have sex with her, but he's impotent. After he leaves, killer bees sting her to death and sends the photos to Gloria.Flora (Capucine, the famous French model and actress), an old friend of Gloria, is trying to buy the magazine and Gloria finally agrees, hoping that the murders will finally end. I wouldn't say that she's a friend actually, as she has all this old footage of Gloria back when she was a model and did porn and horror movies, which keep showing up every time we go back to her office.Tony and Gloria start another photo shoot with Susan in a department store, but Tony ends up dead. The killer taunts them over the loudspeaker and kills Susan. When the police arrive, there are no bodies, but Gloria gets the photos and her friend Evelyn (Daria Nicolodi, ex-wife of Dario Argento, mother of Asia, writer of Suspiria and the star of Shock) finds Susan's body.The police go to question Roberto and discover the backdrops of Gloria that were in every one of the killer's photos. He shows up at her house and she runs, just as a car hits him. The police now consider that the case is closed.The magazine is finally sold and Evelyn quits. Tony's body is floating in the pool and the killer shows up...but it's Tony. He explains that he committed these murders to protect his sister, but he's cutting off her clothes with a butcher knife while he's doing this. So at the last second, Mark shoots him in the groin. He then visits her in the hospital at the end, seemingly recovered from his mental issues.Completely unrelated to the plot, George Eastman shows up as one of her old boyfriends. I'm not complaining - George can be in every movie.I'm not pretending that this movie is any good. You can tell when making a movie like Demons that Bava really cares. Here, things sloppily head toward its ending. A movie about a porn magazine filled with murder, gore and nudity that ends up boring you has to be a total failure. There's just enough here to stay enjoyable, but it's borderline at best.

It's all about director Lamberto Bavas' style in this decent Giallo with a merely okay story but lots of sex and violence. Beautiful Serena Grandi (known as the "Dolly Parton of Italy") stars as Gioia (Gloria in the English language version), a former model who now owns and operates an adults only magazine. Her models begin to be slaughtered by a psycho admirer of hers, who arranges their dead bodies in front of a photo of her. Naturally, this leads her to believe that she will eventually become the killers' ultimate victim.The lighting and camera work are exemplary. Certainly if Lambertos' father Mario had seen this one, he likely would have been proud. There is also some effective suspense at times. Simon Boswell supplies a score that alternates between pounding rock 'n' roll and more conventional arrangements. (One climactic chase scene would have done better to do away with the rock score.) The screenplay by Gianfranco Clerici & Daniele Stroppa does at least succeed in keeping fans of this genre interested in determining which of the possible suspects will eventually be unmasked as the real culprit. The most original touch is when things are shown from the killers' warped perspective, and it's too bad that we don't see a little more of this throughout.The performances are adequate enough for the material. Nothing award worthy, but entertaining. Grandi is well supported by Daria Nicolodi, Vanni Corbellini, David Brandon, Karl Zinny (who'd acted for Lamberto in "Demons", and who here plays a horny, sleazy, surly, wheelchair bound kid), and the most welcome of all, Italian cult & exploitation icon George Eastman, playing Gioias' ex fiancée, an actor. There are several very attractive female cast members and numerous breast shots for those who are interested. Veteran sex symbol Capucine appears as Gioias' bitter business rival.If you enjoy the genre or the films of Bava Jr., this should be an agreeable hour and a half exercise in style and sleaze.Seven out of 10.

Yes, the actress is gorgeous. Great cheesecake if that's all you're looking for. But I expected a lot more from this director, the gratuitous gore and violence he's notorious for. Maybe it was titillating back the pre-internet 80s, but by today's standards it's nothing special whatsoever.*SPOILER* What makes this such a letdown is the buildup to a totally anticlimactic cliché ending you've seen a million times. The villain is just about to get his way, and then Bang, down he goes with one shot. The end.How lame is that?

This is a better than average Giallo and is packed with solid actors. There are scenes that you will remember from this one. George Eastman has a small part in this so don't go in expecting a large amount of him in this one. If you are a fan of this style of film or even just a fan of Serena Grandi you must see this film. George Eastman and Serena Grandi get along way better in this film than in Grim Reaper. ;-)The killer is plagued with delusions and these are worth seeing. There is a nightmarish feel too the film. The pacing is very well done. Look for one of the lead actors of Demons to have a prominent part in this film. Lamberto Bava did a great job with this one. See the Shriek Show DVD version of this one.