THE SISTER OF URSULA

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS AND BLIMEY, GET A LOAD OF THE GIALLO TROPES ON THAT

I've been something of a fan of giallo movies since a season of Dario Argento films at the much-missed Scala in 1987. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, Four Flies On Grey Velvet and (in particular) Tenebrae were thrilling to discover and over the years I've tried to catch as many other examples as I reasonably can. Sometimes it doesn't work out (Death Laid An Egg is too weird and experimental for me) and sometimes it's an unheralded little gem like Death Walks On High Heels. Every so often another one surfaces but this time it really isn't one of the greats.

The Sister Of Ursula is definitely one of the more sleazy and sex-obsessed, to the extent that I actually stopped watching and looked out of the window instead, every time the film slammed into yet another extended nude scene. (You could tell when the sex bits were going to start because the soundtrack kept launching into the same miserable bit of softcore sax muzak.) Two Austrian sisters, one of whom is screechingly neurotic as well as slightly telepathic, turn up at an Italian hotel where there's an unhealthy trade in drugs going on, and the next thing you know everyone's getting naked and there's a masked maniac on the loose murdering people with a dildo.

The nude and humping sequences are mostly pretty dull, but what's worse is that they get in the way of a serviceable murder mystery; that said, if you cut the skin scenes out the film would be over in half the time. It doesn't really matter who the mad killer is or why they're doing it; this is less a giallo than a frankly tiresome porno with enough bits of plot to almost convince you it's a real movie. Frankly I was only interested in it while it was being a nasty little giallo but got very bored with it every time it reverted to staring fixedly at boobs and bums. Which, unfortunately, was far too often. As nudie giallo movies go, Strip Nude For Your Killer is a much better watch.

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