Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Bezenby Holy Sheeit! Although plot wise this giallo is the old-school type where a bunch of folk in a huge mansion double cross and play mind games with each other before everything comes to a head (like The Third Eye or Libido), this one also gives everything a contemporary seventies vibe with wall-to-wall nudity from start to finish – and those getting naked are Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri! Barbara Bouchet is the newly appointed secretary employed to transcribe a novel that smug writer Farley Granger is writing, and this involves shacking up at his huge mansion where he lives with his equally smug wife Rosalba Neri and their butler Umberto Raho. Seems that the police have been sniffing around for a while as Farley's last secretary Sally has gone missing, and Barbara doesn't seem too surprised to overhear this. She is surprised by finding a hulking brute standing outside of her window and is given a chill pill by Rosalba, which leads to an eye- popping scene where a half-conscious Barbara writhes about naked while Rosalba also strips off and gets busy with her – all in slow motion and immaculately filmed. But don't knock one out yet fellas, there's much, much more where that came from!The next day Barbara doesn't recall that Sapphic encounter but is clued into things right away when, during one of Rosalba's sexy parties, she puts on an adult version of Red Riding Hood ("That hood will be red from all that riding!" – someone exclaims!) and Barbara recognises the actress as her pal Sally! A brief and subtle flashback showing the two of them naked under a waterfall may or may not hint that they might have been more than friends, but I'm not sure. There is actually some sort of mystery in amongst the boobs and arses. Barbara thinks someone has killed Sally, and coincidentally the audio tapes that Farley gives her to transcribe seem to detail the plot of the film she's in, and around this time she begins to suspect that she may be next. Who can she trust? Rosalba, who at one point jumps out of a swimming pool to have a quick puff on a cigarette? Umberto, whose motives are unclear? How about the big brute guy, who guts a live eel in front of Barbara for some reason? Could have done without that bit, which is something I seem to be saying more frequently. It's not very violent and as you'd expect things kick off at the end a bit. There are twists right up until the last thirty seconds. The thing with Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri is that the two of them can actually act too – especially Rosalba, who can switch from sweet to evil to sexy at the drop of her knickers. Barbara Bouchet's Boobs will return in Lucio Fulci's Don't Torture A Duckling!

christopher-underwood Returning to view this film again after a gap of a few years I find I like it much more the second time around. It begins quietly as Barbara Bouchet is introduced to the Venetian villa of Rosalba Neri and Farley Granger. The rather washed out pan and scan print derived from video sources is not good but seems to be all there is and can soon be forgiven as the tense and vivid action develops. Granger is excellent, far better than I've seen him in other films of this period and of course he is ably supported by the lovely and sexy Bouchet and the beautiful Neri. The twisted story always makes sense, remarkably enough, and there is no shying away from the fact that this is steeped in an aura of sex and drugs and.....well maybe not rock 'n' roll, but an occasionally most effective score. Nudity is rampant throughout and whilst some of the sex scenes are gentle and consensual, some are most certainly not. There are also some marvellous sequences relating to past events, that take us out onto a very atmospheric lagoon and to a druggy party gone wrong. There is violence but not much in the way of gore, just more nudity instead. I don't recall a film when so many gorgeous costumes were worn and that came off so easily. Very effective and sleazy giallo.

andrabem "Amuck" (Alla Ricerca del Piacere) tells the story of a young girl Greta (Barbara Bouchet) who goes to work as a secretary for an American writer, Richard Stewart (Farley Granger). Richard Stewart lives with his wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri) in a palazzo in Venice. Greta wants to investigate what happened to her friend Sally, that disappeared leaving no traces, while working for Stewart. The police in Venice have no clues about what happened. The couple involve Greta in psychological and sexual games, but if Greta's suspicions are right she may be playing a very dangerous game."Alla Ricerca del Piacere" is thrilling and sensuous at the same time. The lesbian scenes played by Rosalba Neri and Barbara Bouchet are fantastic. Throughout the whole film an atmosphere of ambiguity prevails. Relations grow and seem to fade, threats hover around and nothing is sure. There are other characters in the film: A silent butler, always present when one least expects and who seems to have a thousand eyes; and a gigantic and menacing fisherman who is their neighbor and is always walking around.Sally, Greta's missing friend, (Patrizia Viotti) appears is some flashbacks. In one scene she is bathing under a waterfall with Greta. Both are naked (of course!), embracing themselves, kissing and laughing a lot. They seem very happy! In another flashback, Sally is dancing and seducing - a scene that reminded me of an old song that said; "don't play with me cause you're playing with fire". The scene is fabulous. Patrizia Viotti should have had her place among the giallo female stars, but some years later she disappeared from the screen.This film is a small gem, but it's hard to find it in DVD. My DVD is from "Eurovista - Digital Entertainment". The DVD seems to have been copied from a VHS tape - it is not what one would call a good quality DVD, but still it is watchable (if you care about the film and not about technicalities).A good, weird and suspenseful story plus very sexy actresses. And there's Venice too. Everything is allowed under the venetian skies. What more do you want? So don't look back and go for it.

david melville A tacky low-budget (un)dress rehearsal for Paul Schrader's sublime The Comfort of Strangers. A couple of jaded swingers live in a crumbling Venetian palazzo. Having little else to do, they lure unwary strangers into their web of kinky games. Alas, any comparison with Schrader's masterwork ends with the plot. Amuck! is one of those sad films that constantly threaten to intrigue us, but never quite do.The heroine of this mess is a pert but stupefyingly dull blonde secretary played by Barbara Bouchet. (She looks like a cross between Jerry Hall and Elaine from Ally McBeal.) Hot on the trail of her vanished best friend, she gets a job with that girl's one-time employers. A voyeuristic American writer (Farley Granger) and his bisexual nympho wife (Rosalba Neri).The key to the mystery is gratingly obvious from the start. The direction is flat and the acting is abysmal, apart from Granger. Incredibly, the camerawork in this film makes even Venice look and drab and stale. No mean feat.Amuck! does offer some surprisingly full-on lesbian lovemaking between Neri and Bouchet. Also a porno home-movie version of Little Red Riding Hood - good for a giggle in the right circles. Unless either of these sets your pulse a-racing, this is one Venice movie you should cross a thousand canals...to avoid.David Melville