MARIO GAUCI
Though I had long toyed with the idea of acquiring this one on DVD (the recent Blue Underground re-issue being particularly cheap) – not least because it contained two different versions of the film – I was always dissuaded by the extremely mixed reaction it seemed to elicit from viewers. Now that I've watched it too, I can better understand this reasoning – indeed, I feel much the same myself. If anything, one has to admit the fact that rarely was a giallo better served by its lurid title: the last half-hour of this one is truly demented, folks! Besides, it has the guts to give away the identity of the serial killer from the outset: as played by Mickey Hargitay, actually, he's not that much of a stretch from his trademark role of The Crimson Executioner in BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965) – which I also only recently watched for the first time.So far, so good: for the first 75 minutes or so, we get a number of more or less traditional slayings and their ensuing police investigation (the latter are aided by psychiatrist Hargitay himself – playing a character hilariously named Lyutack!). However, at least, one eye-witness is able to connect the star to the first murder…and, here, comes the catch: Hargitay's wife (luscious Rita Calderoni) is so blindly devoted to her hubby – despite his being a self-confessed "mad impotent"! – that, to draw the cops' suspicion away from him, she notches up a trio of victims for herself while he's in their company!! Having said that, the director throws in a lame red herring by placing a slick little car-park attendant (played by Tano Cimarosa and who has a tendency to break into English slang – his role actually grows in stature as the film goes along) at the time and place of at least one of these additional murders. Here, then, lies the film's major fault: while it's certainly unusual, thus interesting, Polselli's treatment can perhaps best be described as hypnotically inept – anyone familiar with Jess Franco's more idiosyncratic output from the 1970s will know what I mean! However, nothing that had occurred until now (not even Calderoni's occasional nightmares of lesbian orgies in a dungeon, witnessed by an aroused but chained-up Hargitay!) could have prepared me for the denouement…which is so thoroughly off-the-wall that it's rather hard doing it justice by way of mere description – it's truly a climax that has to be seen to be believed! Much of this has to do with the utterly unhinged ravings of both Calderoni and Christa Barrymore (her character only really comes into play during this latter section: she's Hargitay's niece who, however, harbors an unhealthy affection for Auntie!). Calderoni goes off her rocker first, because she had earlier tortured and attempted to gas the maid who got wise to her murderous habits (of which even Hargitay is unaware)…but the scene was witnessed by Cimarosa (having suspected Hargitay all along, he breaks into the doctor's home to search for possible clues), who saved her at the last minute and the maid has now confessed everything to the Police. Incidentally, the latter are a mostly ineffectual bunch: at one point, they even cause a female collaborator of theirs (she's actually used as bait to lure the supposed killer into the open, Hargitay claiming to have arrived at the exact place and time of 'his' next strike by way of extensive metereopsychic[?!] research) – who, having found evidence that could incriminate Hargitay, unwisely decides to confide in Calderoni first – to drop from the eight floor of a building!! Anyway, Calderoni is terrorized of being caught (somewhat sadistically, Barrymore plays a recording of an angry mob which Calderoni believes are at their front door – this is another element which is thrown in without any rhyme or reason, just like the subplot involving Hargitay's trysts with a female student that prolong the film for no discernible reason). When Hargitay and then the Police appear on the scene, the doctor is willing to give himself up (he's clearly lost his marbles, too, screaming repeatedly at his own reflection in a mirror and at the top of his lungs, "You're a hyena!") …but it's Barrymore's turn to go nuts and summarily beats Hargitay to a pulp with a ball and chain for having turned her beloved aunt into a murderess! Eventually, the Police are shown the way in by Cimarosa – where they're greeted by a ghastly sight, as all three persons inside are dead: Barrymore having also strangled Calderoni but who, before perishing, had managed to drive a rake into the former's neck! Interestingly, composer Gianfranco Reverberi is given a prominent place in the credits – soon after the two leads i.e. before even the supporting cast!; that said, his contribution is significant and versatile (alternating between sleazy lounge and percussion-heavy rock). Equally odd is the fact that the picture concludes with a montage of some of its highlights – with the emphasis, unsurprisingly, on those bits involving sex and violence! For the record, I'd be interested in checking out the alternate and much shorter U.S. version (which inserts new characters and even makes Hargitay a shell-shocked Vietnam vet – a plot point which, apparently, the star came up with himself!) but not enough perhaps to buy a copy of the DVD. In the meantime, I'll be following this with Polselli's even more outrageous and nonsensical THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL (1973) – in which virtually the entire cast and crew of DELIRIUM return for a second helping
andrabem
The best translation for "Delirio caldo" would be hot delirium. When a desire (specially when it is a deep desire) is not fulfilled, it may turn into delirium.The film begins with sexual violence followed by murder and the identity of the killer is revealed right away. Well, I'm not giving anything away - this is the very beginning of the film. The killer is Dr. Herbert Lyutak (Mickey Hargitay). And this murder is just another one of a series of murders committed against pretty girls. When Dr. Herbert Lyutak returns home, his wife Marzia (beautiful Rita Calderoni) is waiting for him. Their marriage is not working, but she loves him very much. Marzia has suspicions about his alternative life, but she'll do everything for him.Other murders will happen and suddenly we are not so sure anymore about who really is the murderer. There are other characters, such as Joaquine (Marzia's niece) and the maid who works for Dr. Herbert and Marzia. Dr. Herbert is a psychiatrist that, ironically enough, helps the police in their investigations. From then on the story will unfold in many directions."Delirio Caldo" is a very sensual film. The actors are committed to their roles. Rita Calderoni seems to melt all over when touched by Mickey Hargitay - Her liquid eyes roll and seem to vanish in an expression of ecstasy.Marzia dreams a lot. In her night dreams strange and erotic visions go through her mind, but in her daydreams, Marzia conjures kitschy visions of a normal happy life.Marzia's niece, Joaquine (Christa Barrymore) has also intense feelings for someone and even the maid will have her moment of divine ecstasy.The soundtrack is very good and underlines the different moods of the film - frenzy, tenderness "noir", romanticism etc.."Delirio Caldo" is at the same time wild, tragic, pathetic and romantic, if I'm allowed to use so many adjectives. Open up your heart and mind and see this sensual and delirious masterpiece.
Troy Ros
Not exactly a movie for the kiddies, I would consider 1972's Delirium to be some what of a grade B Giallo. The production is okay, the acting not bad, the dialogue average, but the violence is over the top with several grisley murder scenes. There is also way more nudity than your average Giallo.
There are two versions, the American (85 minutes) and the European (102 minutes). The American version starts out with the main character, Herbert Lyutak, getting wounded in Vietnam. The movie mixes stock footage from the war with newly filmed scenes in a pretty ungraceful job of editing. But wedo learn that Herbert was born in Hungary and immigrated to the US in 1961 and joined the army in 1962. He has done three tours of duty in Vietnam and is a decorated, model soldier. He has been wounded and is being taken away in a helicopter. He is looking at a nurse and she changes into another woman who we soon find out is his wife, Marcia, played by the lovely Rita Calderoni (The Reincarnation of Isabel, Nude for Satan). Right after the credits we get to see Herbert pick up a girl in a bar and drive her out to a remote spot, chase her into a stream and then strip her and beat her to death. It's a pretty violent scene and not for the squeamish. Of course that could apply to almost every murder in this movie.The European version really is quite different than the American release and I thought it had a more coherent story. Both versions are a bit confusing but the European version is more consistant. It also skips the whole Vietnam segment which wasn't very well done anyway. The endings are both quite different as well and a couple murders are filmed differently also.
I don't want to give away too much but we do know that Herbert murders a girl at the beginning of both versions and after that it is a bit of a cat and mouse with the cops who are trying to solve the murders along with Herbert who is a criminal psychologists and suposed to be helping them in the investigation. His wife starts having weird S&M dreams invloving her husband as the sadist and their maid and another woman who we later find out is her niece. Ther three women fondle and kiss each other while Herebert watches. The editing from the dreams to reality is a bit confusing and at one point early in the film Herbert does beat and cut Marcia as a substitution for sex which he can't perform with his wife. He does seem troubled about his violent tendencies and does not want to unleash his murderous ways on his wife. But he does like looking at her throat which is a very enticing part of female anatomy for him.The picture on the European version looks fine and is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen. The American version however is missing a couple sections of the original so Anchor Bay had to take some Dutch footage from a VHS copy and splice it in. So you are watching and all of a sudden the picture gets worse and there are Dutch subtitles! But we are talking only a couple minutes worth so it is pretty minor actually. There is also a recently filmed 14 minute interview with director and writer Renato Polselli and Actor Mickey Hargitay which is pretty good really. I watched the US version, then the interview, and then the European version of the film. I did have more of an appreciation for the film after the watching the interview and as I said earlier, the European version is overall a better and more coherent storyline. The US version is dubbed in English and the European version is in Italian with English subtitles. Overall not too bad if you like extreme Giallo. Not nearly as good as say, What Have You Done With Solange, or most Bava's or Argento's, but certainly worthy of $15 or so.
