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Very disappointing...

Memorable, crazy movie

As Good As It Gets

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Murder Obsession is the final film from Italian horror director Riccardo Freda, the man responsible for films such as the crazy The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire. Like that one, this is a giallo too, although it's one of the sub-grouping that combines supernatural goings on into the mix. I haven't seen too many of Freda's films but this is my favourite so far. The mystery is diverting enough, while there are some pretty impressive moments of the bizarre, such as the weird, surreal dream sequence where a girl finds herself in a world of madness and black magic with a few nasty surprises. It's quite gory too, although some of the effects are a little ropey.While this is clearly not in the upper bracket of Italian horror, it's a pretty decent feature from the second division. The atmosphere is quite effective and the music is of that early 80's synth type you will have heard in countless American slashers. I guess this is a movie that was trying to pass itself off as an American product, it feels a lot more Americanised than most in the giallo genre. The cast are definitely of the Euro variety though. Anita Strindberg (The Case of the Scorpion's Tail) plays the mother, even though she must be only five years older than the actor playing her son at most. Laura Gemser, star of many Eurotrash flicks such as Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, also appears as an actress friend of the protagonist.If you like American slashers and Italian giallo strangeness then this film certainly combines these two ingredients.

Caca Brute in Italian translates into "really stinky poop." This movie is a mess. It doesn't know what it wants to be, love story, giallo, thriller,soft core, etc. It might be that is was a joint Italian-French production that adds to it's dichotomy. I really found nothing in this film to recommend it to anyone interested in the Italian giallo genre or Freda's work in general. I was watching a fairly good print of the film and still found it extremely dark and/or poorly lit (so much so that I had to strain to make sure of whom I was seeing). The "plot" is threadbare and you can spot the killer almost from their introduction into the movie. The effects are shoddy, the dubbing is shoddy, even the music is shoddy. Skip this one. You really haven't missed a thing.

Michael is a successful actor,but he has a scandal in his past:it seems that at a tender age he knifed his father to death.He and his girlfriend Deborah go to his mother's for the weekend and are joined by the director and others from a recent film project,who are given a rather unwelcome reception by the superstitious housekeeper Oliver.Soon ghastly things begin happening to some of the guests and Michael fears a repeat of his nightmare past is in progress.The vicious black gloved killer is preying on its victims."Murder Obsession" is perhaps the sleaziest offering of Riccardo Freda to date.It features plenty of nudity provided by Silvia Dionisio,Laura Gemser and Anita Strindberg.This often confusing giallo provides some gruesome killings including death by chainsaw and laughably fake spider attack.There is also a Black Mass,a live chicken beheading,a grubby rape scene and some random gore.7 out of 10.

I have to say, I'm not a big fan of Riccardo Freda. His films are often sub-standard and after finding out that a lot of his earlier work was actually completed by the hugely talented Mario Bava, my respect for him went down further. However, it turns out that he did make a few decent films himself - one of which is the Klaus Kinski starring Giallo 'Double Face', and another example is this film which, while a long way from being brilliant, is a very good mix of Gothic horror, insanity and Giallo themes. The plot of Murder Obsession centres on actor Michael Stanford. Michael almost strangles his co-star Beryl during the shooting of a film and, worried that he may be coming to the end of his tether, he decides to take a break at his family home out in the country. He gets to the house with Beryl and meets his mother, and later his film friends turn up also. Naturally, there's foul play afoot as Beryl is almost drowned in the bath and this leads to Michael admitting to his friends that as a kid, he killed his own father...The plot of this film for most of the running time is pretty standard stuff, though it's not boring and Freda peppers the film with a bunch of gory murders, which is nice. Freda doesn't tend to hold back with the gore, although the deaths in his films often aren't all that believable; and unfortunately, that is the case here too. The film benefits from two of the hottest ladies in exploitation cinema, Anita Strindberg (in her last film) and Laura Gemser (who makes a rare Giallo appearance). Its great seeing them both in this film, but unfortunately neither one is given all that much to do; and that's a shame. The atmosphere is rather good and the old house around which most of the plot takes place makes for a foreboding location. The film doesn't get really interesting until the last fifteen minutes, and while the attempt to explain the plot does get a little silly and over the top; you've got to expect things like that from this sort of film; and at the end of the day, it's what makes Giallo so much fun so it isn't a problem. I won't say this is a classic of the genre; but it's a decent entry and I recommend it.