“Torso” (1973)

Studio: Compagnia Cinematografica Champion
Starring: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson
Directed by: Sergio Martino
Rated: R
Running Time: 85 min.

Synopsis: College students in Rome are being stalked and murdered by a masked killer.

REVIEW

Chris Woods

Torso is an Italian horror film that is part giallo and part slasher. The film is also ahead of its time in some ways for having a masked killer preying on college students. This is way before the peak of slasher films in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Torso may be ahead of the game, but the film lacks many key elements that made the slasher films of the 80’s good.

The movie is about a masked killer going around a college in Rome and murdering students. The school is terrified and the police are trying to figure out who the killer is and why are they doing this. The film stars Suzy Kendall from Bird with the Crystal Plumage fame. She and a few other girls from the college go into the country to try and escape the killer, but just when they think they are safe, the masked killer follows them and starts to wreck havoc in the countryside.

As I mentioned before, the film is one of the early slasher films and uses many of the standards that were used throughout the slasher genre, such as the killer wearing a mask (which happens to be a ski mask), killing people with a knife or machete, preying upon teenagers or college students that are having sex or doing drugs, and the killings themselves are very brutal and bloody. However, Torso does not have a good story and great characters the later slasher films would have. Most of the college students are unlikable and I do not care if they live or die. Most of the story is slow and there are parts of the film that is very forgettable. Even some of the killing scenes are not scary and are boring.

The film tries to redeem itself towards the end with a scene where Kendall’s character wakes up in the morning and finds her three other friends dead by the killer’s hands. The terrifying part is when the killer is still on the grounds and is disposing of the bodies and is unaware that Kendall is in the house. She tries to stay out of sight and keeps quiet while the killer is in the house. This scene is the best part in the movie and is packed with suspense. If only the rest of the film were like this.

Even though it looked promising towards the end, the films finale is lackluster and after redeeming itself with the scene in the house with Kendall, the movie does not deliver with the ending. Torso was one of those films on my list to see for a while and it turned out not to be a terrible film, but it was not very good either. I would say it is a film worth watching at least once for those slasher horror movie buffs and to watch the well put together climax, but not the ending.