The Torturer (Lamberto Bava, 2005)

The Torturer is a pretty forgotten movie from famous Italian genre movie director Lamberto Bava, which is kinda odd. It might have crappy distribution, but Bava making what is essentinally a "torture porn" movie should make a little bit of a splash in the fan world out there. Personally I hate the "torture porn" lable, it's a lazy way of describing a movie - and The Torturer might get a lot of its inspriation from the Saw and Hostel movies (and maybe more from the countless of rip-offs who came afterwards), but deep down it's just a mediocre giallo with a torture-twist. Not saying it's completely worthless, because it's quite entertaining in a stupid way, but it's far from top quality. I'm actually kinda surprise it's Bava who directed and wrote the screenplay, based on a story from genre stalwarts Dardano Sacchetti and Michele Massimo Tarantini - especially the involvment of Bava, a man who actually don't like gore and sleaze (belive it or not, and except some early movies he's more or less leaves a bloodless trail of silly movies after him). 

The Torturer on the other hand is packed with boobs, cheap violence and even cheaper acting. So here's the "story": Simone Corrente is Alex, a young and edgy underground filmmaker who happens to want a lot of hardly dressed women in his crappy c-level horror movies. So he auditions one after another, but strangely enought they disappear one after another... and is tortured to death! One evening Ginette (Elena Bouryka) comes in to show her boobs... he, I mean, "acting talent" and she ends up in bed with Alex. She's invited to his family's house where things start to ge even more disturbing! Is Alex a crazy killer or is there someone else lurking the shadows with all the torture equipment in the whole wide world?

Yes, something for the whole family. Not. This is trash. It's cheap, disgusting trash. It's like something Giovanni Paolucci could have produced for Bruno Mattei, just slightly more stylish. This what I wrote now don't have to be a bad thing, no no, but remember this is from the man who brought you Demons, You'll Die At Midnight, Blastfighter and the very underrated Body Puzzle. He's a man of taste, just like his father, and The Torturer just feels like a very awkward way to squeeze himself into modern horror without leaving the safe grounds of the giallo. I wasn't bored, I admit that. The pacing is fine and some of the actors are alright, but for a gay man it's a bit boring to look at one shot after another on half-naked women posing in front of the camera. I'm pretty sure producer Angelo Frezza got laid a lot while making this film. 

But how's the story then? Well, as a giallo it works quite bad because there's not as many characters to choose from. The killer is pretty obvious, and I won't even consider that a spoiler. The scenes of torture and mayhem is - for the first part of the movie - inserted as their own short films, with a slightly different style - color grading etc - which makes the whole film go a lot faster than it should have been if they built it more traditionally. The gore and violence is okay-ish, mostly hidden in rapid editing and silly camera angles. But it's not bad, it works fine and gives the movie an aura of sadistic schadenfreude. 

I wouldn't stop you from watching it (I rarely do!), but expect cheap, silly, trashy, close to softcore-pornographic expoitation and you'll be fine!

Comments

[Megatron]

"Personally I hate the "torture porn" lable, it's a lazy way of describing a movie"

I use it sometimes.....I was very disappointed in Hostel (2005) and the sequel, I can understand people using that label.

"comes in to show her boobs... he, I mean, "acting talent"

Whoa now, of course it´s her acting at display here....hahhahhahahha

"Yes, something for the whole family. Not. This is trash. It's cheap, disgusting trash. It's like something Giovanni Paolucci could have produced for Bruno Mattei, just slightly more stylish."

I started thinking about Snuff killer - La morte in diretta/Snuff Trap (2003 Video) , cheap, trashy, sleaze film.

"but for a gay man it's a bit boring to look at one shot after another on half-naked women posing in front of the camera."

I can understand that.

"I wouldn't stop you from watching it (I rarely do!), but expect cheap, silly, trashy, close to softcore-pornographic expoitation and you'll be fine!"

I will, good review and thanks Fred.

[Bob's Juice]

Thank you for giving me todays movie to watch!