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Delirium: Photos Of Gioia
Directed By Lamberto Bava
Released: 1987
Starring: Serena Grandi, Daria Nicolodi, Vanni Corbellini, David Brandon,
and George Eastman
Running Time: 94 minutes
Former prostitute, model, and porn actress, Gioia (Serena Grandi), is
finally making it big with her magazine, Pussycat. In order to celebrate
the magazine’s success, a series of photos are being taken featuring young
models in poses that Gioia made famous years before. When the models start
turning up dead, the police begin searching for a killer who poses the
corpses of his victims in front of photos of Gioia for his/her own sick
photo shoot. It is crystal clear that someone has it in for Gioia as more
people continue getting murdered all around her.
If you’re looking for trashy, then look no further. Lamberto Bava (Macabre,
A Blade In The Dark) directs this garish yet creative 80s
Giallo. The extremely dated soundtrack by Simon Boswell is a joke (nice
sexophone, I mean saxophone!) with the creepy sections seemingly lifted
from his own score for
Stagefright. The film has some silly
and awkward softcore scenes that thankfully don’t last very long and the
soap opera melodrama is laughable. However, Delirium: Photos Of
Gioia does have great camerawork, creative and brutal death
scenes, sleazy characters, a dollop of political incorrectness, and the
absurdly voluptuous, Serena Grandi.
The cast of the film is without fear and ready for some seriously trashy business. Grandi is the ultimate eye candy and a good actress to boot in this
bizarre film. One of her costars from Joe D’Amato’s Antropophagus,
George Eastman, is here as well in a small role. Their “sexy” scene in the
bathtub is as amusing as it physically improbable (not impossible though
just improbable). Legendary horror actress, Daria Nicolodi (Deep Red,
Phenomena), is also present but her character doesn’t have
enough to do. The super-cool David Brandon (Stagefright)
plays Roberto, a homosexual photographer who is said to drive around at
night looking for men. Laughable but not nearly as offensive as Karl
Zinny’s (Demons) character, Marc, who Gioia pities because
he’s handicapped. And of course there’s Capucine playing Flora, Gioia’s
bitchy lesbian rival in the naughty magazine business.
Some interesting touches from director Bava keep this one from getting too
out of control. The bizarre hallucinations that the killer sees when he’s
stalking his victims and the excellent death scenes are brought to life by
a competent makeup crew. The brutality and the twisted nature of the
murders are also interesting. Posing the girl’s bodies in photographs as
though they were living models is pretty damn sick and gives the film some
much needed punch. Although, Bava’s own
A Blade In The Dark
may be his best entry in the Giallo canon, Delirium: Photos Of Gioia
is still quite good. Giallo fans will be pleased with the killer’s
cardboard motive, the sleaziness, nearly limitless nudity, and of course,
the myriad of red herrings and suspicious behavior.
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