Torso (1973)

aka The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence
Studio: Blue Underground
Theatrical Release: January 4, 1973
Blu Ray Release: September 27, 2011
Rating: Not Rated!
Review by Craig Sorensen

“From Carlo Ponti, the man who brought you Dr. Zhivago!”

Ah, the Giallo.  You can always count on the giallo genre for sleazy thrills.  For those of you who don’t know, the genre takes it’s name from the yellow covers of lurid Italian pulp novels (giallo is yellow in Italian).  The films themselves can be traced back to Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up and Mario Bava’s Blood & Black Lace.  The plots usually revolve around some Freudian childhood trauma creating a nutcase who murders various attractive Italian ladies.  The main character ends up witnessing one of these murders and spends the rest of the running time trying to remember one clue that holds the key to the killers identity.  All of this is rounded out with stylishly filmed sex & violence.

Torso certainly fits the genre like a black glove.  A series of gruesome murders rocks a small community of friends at an Italian college.  A red and black scarf is found on one of the victims.  Daniela (Tina Aumont) recognizes the scarf, but who did she see wearing it?  She receives a mysterious call warning her not to try to remember...or else.  Fearing for her safety she plans a vacation at her uncle’s villa in the countryside with her friends.  But the killer is not far behind...

Sergio Martino was certainly no stranger to the genre, having filmed four gialli in the two years prior to Torso’s release.  And it shows in his direction, especially in the latter part of the film.  Torso isn’t as stylistically over the top as a lot of other gialli, but Martino is comfortable enough in the genre to let the situations speak for themselves.  That’s not to say that the film is drab or lifeless, because it certainly isn’t.  Torso just feels more grounded to me than say “All The Colors of the Dark”.  It’s still kind of filtered through that 70’s pop-Italian lens that the best of the genre are, but it’s got a nastiness to the proceedings that I don’t feel you get much from the gialli.  I’ve seen more gruesome killings in films for sure, but they just seem so much more sleazy in Torso.

The 1080P transfer on this disc is very nice and improves upon the old Anchor Bay DVD in every way.  Color reproduction looks more true to the film and there is improved detail all around.  There is a nice grain structure going on and the print is pretty free of damage.  I didn’t notice any kind of edge enhancement or compression artifacts.  If they’re there, I didn’t notice them and they certainly didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

Audio is only available in mono for both the Italian and English language tracks.  It sounded good to me though.  The film was released in mono so that would really be the only option that I would want to watch it in anyway.  Dialog is clear and the music and sound effects all sounded balanced to my ears.

There are two versions of the film on this edition, the original Italian version and the American version.  The Italian version runs three minutes longer, at 93 minutes, than the American cut.  I’d recommend sticking with the Italian cut as the dubbing renders a lot of the acting laughable.  Also you get three more minutes of sleaze.  Also included as an extra is the original American opening credits.  They are taken from a fairly beat-up print but are interesting to see.  Other extras include Italian and American trailers, a couple of TV spots, an introduction to the film by Eli Roth for some reason and a nice interview with Sergio Martino.