Bezenby Margherriti directs a pedestrian giallo in a highly styli-zed way that results in a watchable film that's entirely predictable. Plus, despite the title, there's no nudity and a lot of the murders are stranglings! That's almost as bad as that slasher I watched once where someone was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning!Following a murder at the start of the film, with the corpse getting dumped into a fancy suitcase, we find ourselves at the Gary Glitter Boarding School for Horny Teenagers, where our group of teenage girls are all into Mark Damon (and he's into them! Ah, young love), or into the new swimming teacher (that's a plot point), or avoiding the attentions of the headmistress, who is into them. Hmm.Basically, this is about as average as you can get, plot wise, for a giallo. You've got your black gloved killer, the red herrings (especially Luciano Pigozzi as a peeping tom), the sexism, but also great colour schemes, set design, and costume design. I even managed to guess the killer and their motives, which is unusual for me as I'm a dumbass.Despite all the odds, it's still worth a watch, because Margherriti's no fool when it comes to making film, or you could just wait and watch Seven Death's In The Cats Eye, which has a gorilla as a suspect! You heard me.

christopher-underwood One of the earlier gialli and originally helmed by Mario Bava. Some signs of this remain with the interior colours and particularly a couple of brief fantasy light exteriors but on the whole this does not have the mark of the great man. His tendency for humour is here but does not work well because of the way it has been handled. So, we have a select school for girls and because most girls are away with their parents, we only get about six of them and a similar number of teachers and ground staff. There is much murderous action from the very start but although this is kept up well throughout, it is rather sexless and bloodless. Not entirely though and there is enough varied and colourful action to amuse and entertain. Much and many are the twists and red herrings and gladly the eventual revealing is well done and relevant, probably providing one of the film's best sequences.

bensonmum2 Mario Bava is generally credited with creating the Giallo with his 1963 movies The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and Black Lace. While a few more examples were made in the 1960s, the Giallo really took-off after Dario Argento released The Bird with the Crystal Plumage in 1970. I mention these two dates because I think they're important when discussing 1968's The Young, the Evil & the Savage because they point how early in the Giallo cycle it falls. Yet, strangely enough, the movie feels rater tired. It's difficult for me to explain why, but I'll give it a try.Part of the problem is that even though The Young, the Evil & the Savage is an early Giallo, it's actually rather unoriginal. There's very little new ground broken in the movie. It plays like a cross between the previously mentioned Blood and Black Lace and the 1962 film Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory. Replace the werewolf with a mad killer and copy some of Bava's murder scenes and you've got The Young, the Evil & the Savage.Another factor that makes The Young, the Evil & the Savage feel tired is its rather staid, conservative look especially when compared with other films of the same period. There's really no comparison between this film and Lucio Fulci's One on Top of the Other made just a year later. Fulci's film has that hip, colorful, groovy feel to it that is definitely a product of the swinging 60s. To this day, it maintains its fresh and interesting look. The Young, the Evil & the Savage, on the other hand, has a feel and look to it of something much older. Visually, it has more in common with the previously mentioned 1962 film Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory than it does something from 1968.There are, however, a couple of reasons to see this movie. First, if you're a Giallo fan, the novelty of seeing such an early example should not be bypassed. From a historical perspective, it's an interesting film. Second, the final twist where the killer is revealed is quite well done and is easily the highlight of the movie. I'm seen a number of Gialli with underwhelming finales, so it was nice to see one where the ending was not only a winner, but the best thing about the movie.* Edit: I just watched Dark Sky's new transfer of The Young, the Evil, and the Savage (or Naked You Die). Gotta say it was like watching a different movie. There's nothing like have a nice looking transfer with good sound and cuts restored to make you change your mind about a movie. It's still not the best Giallo I've ever seen, but my opinion has improved. Dark Sky's transfer gave the movie some of that funkiness I thought it so desperately needed. Things like the mod/matching clothes to the groovy title song really stood out. I'm definitely glad I gave it another chance.

DanielKing There are artists (like Argento)and there are hacks (like Bruno Mattei) and inbetween there are pros like Antonio Margheriti. He could turn out quite competent movies which, although lacking in originality, have a certain verve. This one develops more along the lines of an Agatha Christie effort than anything else, eschewing as it does the supernatural elements of the ostensibly similar SUSPIRIA. I wouldn't bother with the cut version as it has been trimmed of almost all the nudity and violence, which are pretty much what one watches these things for. What remains are the performances: Michael Rennie fans should beware as he is barely in it, but there is a great (dubbed) turn from Lorenza Guerrieri as Jill, a hyper-imaginative pupil.For Margheriti fans, I would place this among his dreary late-60s efforts - nowhere near the Gothic elegance of DANSE MACABRE or VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG, and neither coming close to the simple joie de vivre of his 80s movies with David Warbeck.