Widow Kathryn West (Carroll Baker) arrives at an Italian villa after the death of her husband. Her only company is an older, nearly deaf gardener and a sour-faced maid, though she has regular contact with her lawyer Brian, who seems like he might be interested in more than a lawyer-client relationship. Feeling at odds, and getting hooked on booze to numb herself, she has no firm plans for the future except dealing with two aunts who are waiting for their cut of the husband's estate. One morning a handsome young man named Peter (Lou Castel) enters her life. His car breaks down in front of the gated villa and she lets him in to call for a mechanic. Peter is blond and a little flirty, and that evening he walks into the shower stall with her to have sex. She invites him to stay in the villa (for more sex, we assume). The two engage in some power dynamics shenanigans—she's older and more experienced, he's young and energetic, and he frequently acts rather cold to Kathryn when they're not in the sack together. A couple of days later, his sister Eva (Colette Descombs) arrives and they become a threesome of friends, with Kathryn pleased to feel young again, but when Peter and Eva start playing sadistic mind games with Kathryn, she is less charmed by them. Discovering Peter and Eva in bed together shocks Kathryn and soon they get her to the point of being drunk or out of it most of the day as they hold her a virtual prisoner in hopes of taking over the villa and her considerable estate. The addled Kathryn hopes to get help from Brian, but she soon finds herself isolated and suicidal. Will help arrive before Kathryn has a breakdown?
Another collaboration between director Umberto Lenzi and actress Carroll Baker, this is a cross between a Hitchcock film and the classic French psychological thriller Diabolique, though the plot goes in a different direction by the end. Despite its marketing as an early giallo film, it has almost none of the characteristics of that genre. There is sex, some well-appointed sets, and some trippy visuals, but little physical violence and no blood and gore. It's better described as a damsel in distress film featuring a messed-up damsel and two amoral torturers. It's not a pleasant film, but it is well acted and it's interesting to follow the twists and turns of the plot. Baker is perhaps a bit too young and attractive to be fully believable as the aging widow but she goes right to the edge as she wigs out. Castel and Descombs display the amoral affectlessness of their characters quite well. I think Castel is incredibly sexy in his role and I've watched this movie more than once just to see him. The twists at the end are rather fun but you have to be paying close attention (at least in the American cut which does differ slightly from the original Italian version) to figure out what’s happening in the last few minutes. Pictured are Baker and Castel. Orgasmo, the original Italian title, is a bit of a cheat, promising sexual activity we don't really see. The American title, Paranoia, is more accurate, though oddly, the American cut has slightly more sex. The Blu-Ray has both versions with a weak audio commentary that is too common these days. [Blu-ray]
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