Madness

An escaped convict called Joe Brezzi (Joe Dallesandro) returns to the farmhouse where he stashed money from one of his robberies, but finds the farmhouse now occupied by a married couple (Gianni Macchia and Patrizia Behn) and the wife's sister (Lorraine DeSalle). This film from director Fernando Di Leo (which he co-wrote with Mario Gariazzo) was released in 1980 and is one of those hostages being held (and terrorised) by a madman films. It's essentially a four hander set largely in the farmhouse (you can imagine it as a kind of lurid play) and involving a bit of voyeurism (peeking through windows) and soft core porn scenes. Joe bounces around in a pair of jeans and a vest showing off his muscles and 'Little Joe's tattoo, whilst doing a manic eyed number. It all seems rather slow.

Paula and Sergio are married and own the small house in the mountains where they only travel to at weekends and Lillian is Paula's sister,who just happens to be having an affair with Sergio.Sergio is going hunting,Paula is going shopping and Lillian is staying home to sunbathe naked.Lillian puts on the radio and we hear a news report a thief and murderer who has escaped from jail and is on the loose after murdering farmer with a pitchfork.The criminal named Joe Brezy has stolen the car and is hiding near the house.He has buried 300million lira in the house(from the previous robbery).Joe takes the three of them hostage whilst he digs for his loot.When he finally gets his loot he plays Paula,Lillian and Sergio against each other telling Paula about the affair her husband and sister are having."Vacanze per Uno Massacre" is a cheaply made thriller highly influenced by rape and revenge sub-genre.Lorrainde de Selle provides lots of full-frontal nudity and the climax is violent and memorable.It's a crying shame that this nasty little tale of sexual tension is so obscure.8 out of 10.

Escaping the world's least secure prison through an open window and down a sturdy length of knotted rope, murderer and thief Joe Brezzi (Joe Dallesandro) legs it to a farmhouse where he attacks two men (killing one with a pitchfork) and steals their car. He then drives to a remote cottage to retrieve the 300 million lira buried under its fireplace, but finds that the poky property is now owned by yuppie couple Sergio (Gianni Macchia) and Liliana (Patrizia Behn), who arrive for the weekend in the company of Liliana's sister Paola (Lorraine De Selle ), who we later discover is having an affair with Sergio.

Joe waits until Liliana is out shopping and Sergio is hunting before making his move, surprising Paola while she sunbathes topless (this chick has a serious aversion to clothing, spending 90% of the film completely naked). He forces her to dig before deciding to rape her, receiving compliments from the woman about his lovemaking skills (this is NOT a film with a feminist agenda). Liliana returns to find Paola tied up and soon joins her sister bound and gagged while Joe hacks away at the hearth. Soon enough, Sergio returns and a power play ensues as Joe reveals the truth about Sergio and Paola, and takes a fancy to Liliana.

Obviously inspired by the likes of The Last House On The Left, Hitchhike and The House On The Edge Of The Park, this sleazy, exploitative home-invasion thriller starts off great, as Joe prowls the property preparing to make his move, but loses steam once he begins to terrorise the group. Watching them dig and argue is boring, even with De Selle flashing her big hairy bush all the time. After much tedium (even the scene where Joe forces Sergio and Paola to have sex in front of Liliana is dull), the film picks up for a bloody finale in which the adulterous couple make a crap bid for freedom, and Joe pays the price for leaving his shotgun unattended.

5/10. I might have scored it higher if Behn had joined De Selle in getting nekkid, but she remains fully clothed throughout.

At the end of the 70s, Fernando di Leo's career was going downhill, avalanche-style. The producers of Madness (a.k.a. Toy) generously provided him with two heaps from the used car dealer next door and a ramshackle hut in the Abruzzo region including posters of Marlon Brando and John Travolta on the wall – conditions that made di Leo so enthusiastic that he churned out a script for the libido thriller kammerspiel of the year, at least in his head. Enter the world champion in eye rolling, ex-Andy Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, as an escaped convict looking exactly like the village plumber ... and ricky-tick he's laying pipe to two low-rent lascivious gals desperate for a nice and thorough rape ("It wasn't bad at all ... Were you so keen due to abstinence? I enjoyed it. Whenever you feel like it, I'm all yours"), refined with some of the most harrowing canzone from the Italo hit parade 1979 (plus Luis Bacalov's score directly nicked from di Leo's by far best work, Milano Calibro 9). Amateur actress Lorraine de Selle is showing her beaver off for most of the ninety endless minutes, but - pardon me - that's not the reason why the word "lousy" might haunt you for a few days. Another sample of Dallesandro's dialogue, per favore? "And now screw. Show us what men like." It's only a short stop to Joe D'Amato from here. His porn flicks, for sure.

A husband and wife (Gianni Macchia and Patrizia Behn) go to their country cottage along with the wife's younger, university-student sister (Lorraine DeSalle) with whom the husband is having a secret affair. They run into an escaped convict (Joe Dallesandro) who has hidden a cache of money in the cottage. The convict gets the upper-hand over the husband and holds the trio hostage, having his way with both of the women. It doesn't really end well for anybody.

Although it was directed by the respected Italian genre director Fernando DiLeo, this is actually an Italian "terror film",a sleazy and disreputable cycle films that involve lower-class cretins brutalizing, raping, and generally terrorizing wealthy bourgeois-type characters. These films were all indirectly influenced by the notorious American film "Last House on the Left", but the more proximate influence was no doubt other Italian films like "Late Night Trains" and "Hitchhike". These films differ somewhat from "Last House" and the American "rape-revenge" films in that they generally have a little less gory violence and trade more in humiliation and softcore sex. The victims in the Italian films are often unsympathetic hypocrites who might be as bad or even worse than their lower-class assailants. Most controversially, the (invariably sexy) female victims in these films almost always manage to develop a case of sexual Stockholm's syndrome either willingly having sex with one or more of their attackers, willingly having sex with one and getting raped by the others (a la "Straw Dogs"), or worst of all getting raped but ending up enjoying the experience.

Lorraine DeSalle plays the sexual Stockholm syndrome victim here. But she's such an amoral, grasping, nymphomaniacal character to begin with, who is willing to betray her sister and manipulate both of the men in any way necessary in order to get her own hands on the money, that her character doesn't come off as particularly offensive (just not very believable). The wife is a good character and the husband is OK (albeit totally unsympathetic). The real weak link is Joe Dallesandro, who plays the lone criminal (usually in "terror" films there's more than one criminal). This would have been FAR more effective if this role had been played by another American, David Hess, who was the villain in "Last House", "Hitchhike", and most notorious and harrowing Italian "terror" film, "House by the Edge of the Park". Former Warhol "superstar" Dallesandro though is much more of a male model than an actor and not very menacing (it's kind of like being held hostage by "Zoolander").

This is better than any of the Italian "terror" films except "Hitchhike" and "Late Night Trains" (but that's not much of a compliment). It's better made, but far less harrowing than "House by the Edge of the Park" (although the gorgeous DeSalle, who was in both films, somehow manages to have even more nude scenes in this one). It's not nearly as good though as any of DiLeo's police thrillers or his better sexy melodramas like "Being Twenty" and "The Seduction". I'd still recommend it I guess, but keep your expectations kind of low.