Severin has brought us one hell of a film; The Sister of Ursula is one of those Giallos from the late 80's, and you know what that means. Sleaze, sleaze, and more sleaze!
FILM- Ursula and Dagmar Beyne are going through a tough time. They have lost their father, and decided to get away from it all with a vacation to a beautiful (understatement) Italian island. From the start, we get the feeling Ursula is, em, a little different- to say the least. She is very reclusive, and seems to just want to stay in her hotel room. Dagmar is the opposite. Promiscuous, social, and courting a local boy, Filippo. Their first night there, a prostitute is "dispatched" after providing a peepshow to a very misogynistic killer. Ursula believes the drug addicted Filippo is responsible, and wants to call the vacation quits; however, "Daggie" insists on staying. Soon more and more clothes and bodies fall to the floor as the sex and carnage increases; but will it be too late to escape the killer with one of the most offensive murder weapons ever?
The fun thing about the Giallo sub genre is that it evolved. Late 60's- mid 70's, the Giallo were ruled by Argento and Bava inspired artistic thrillers. From then on, until it dwindled away in the late 80's, the Giallo tried to pile on the gore, nudity, and sleaze. This genre has resulted in everything from visual masterpieces (Deep Red), to balls out Euro-Trash (Torso, New York Ripper). This film, to my enjoyment, falls into the later category. The murder weapon (proudly boasted on the DVD by Severin) is a huge wooden dildo (with a happy old man carved into the base of it, just for good measure). The death by giant dong scenes in this film crushes that pathetic scene in Se7en, and make it look like a Disney movie. We get some knife mayhem thrown in too, but you'll walk away from this one remembering that little wooden trinket. Trust me. The sex scenes in this are borderline hardcore; and with some parts I'm almost positive the actors were preforming real oral sex. The story line is almost like a prime time soap opera, and pretty much lackluster. Just imagine Desperate Housewives with a sadist on the loose and you get the picture. This film is full of sex, violence, and sexual violence; that's either your reason to buy it or avoid it like swine flu. For me this Giallo was a blast! 8/10.
PICTURE/ AUDIO- The film starts out a little rough, with some very obvious print damage, grit, and grain. It clears up around the 20 minute mark, and maintains a decent clean presentation for the rest of the film. The colors and flesh tones are super, and the quality looks very firm (no pun intended). 7/10.
The audio is in it's original language, and sounds good. There is no volume drop, and the soundtrack is nice and loud. The subtitles are very professional, and I didn't find a single error (which is pretty impressive with an independent company). 8/10.
EXTRAS- Severin threw in: The Father of Ursula, a 30 minute featurette with director Enzo Milioni, and the original theatrical trailer. The interview with Milioni answers the burning question everyone will be asking- What ever happened to the diabolic dildo? 7/10.
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