Amuck!

Amuck!
Amuck!
	Italian film poster with art by Renato Casaro
Directed by	Silvio Amadio
Screenplay by	Silvio Amadio
Story by	Silvio Amadio
Starring	Farley Granger; Barbara Bouchet; Rosalba Neri;
Cinematography	Aldo Giordani
Edited by	Antonio Siciliano
Music by	Teo Usuelli
Production; company	West Film
Distributed by	Delta
Country	Italy

Amuck! (Italian: Alla ricerca del piacere, lit. 'In Pursuit of Pleasure') is an Italian giallo film directed by Silvio Amadio.^[3]

Plot[]

Greta, a beautiful blonde American, is the new secretary to Richard Stuart, a famous novelist who lives on an island with his sexy wife Eleanora. Sally, the former secretary, had disappeared without a trace. What Richard and Eleanora do not know is that Greta has a secret motive for taking the job: to find out what happened to her lost lover, Sally.

Greta learns that Sally was accidentally killed in the heat of passion during one of the kinky sex games the Stuarts hold in their mansion from time to time; a hulking man-brute named Rocco lost control and strangled the girl. The bizarre couple then kill their butler when he attempts to blackmail them over the incident. All that remains is for Greta to be disposed of, then the crimes will never be uncovered. Eleanora lures Greta into a three-way private orgy with Rocco and herself, in an attempt to get the easily excited Rocco to repeat his careless crime of passion, one last time.

Cast[]

Farley Granger: Richard Stuart
Barbara Bouchet: Greta Franklin
Rosalba Neri: Eleanora Stuart
Dino Mele: Sandro
Umberto Raho: Giovanni, the butler
Patrizia Viotti: Sally Reece
Nino Segurini: Commissary Antonelli^[4]

Production[]

The original working titles for the film included Replica de un delitto (lit. 'Repetition of a Crime') and Il passo dell'assassino (lit. 'Footsteps of the Killer')^[4] In his book on Itaiali gialli, Troy Howarth described the film as belonging to the trend of "sexy-trashy gialli" opposed to burgeoning films influenced by the films of Dario Argento.^[2]

Reception[]

From contemporary reviews, David McGillivray of the Monthly Film Bulletin reviewed an 81 minute version of the film titled Hot Bed of Sex.^[5] McGillivray stated the film was "cluttered with preposterous suspects" and "ham-fisted attempts at building suspense."^[5]

References[]

^ Howarth 2015, p. 175.
^ ^a ^b Howarth 2015, p. 176.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Alla ricerca del piacere (1971)". Archviodelcinemaitaliano.it. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
^ ^a ^b Luther-Smith 1999, p. 1.
^ ^a ^b McGillivray 1973.

Bibliography[]

Howarth, Troy (2015). So Deadly, So Perverse. Vol. 1. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168507.
Luther-Smith, Adrian (1999). Blood and Black Lace: The Definitive Guide to Italian Sex and Horror Movies. Stray Cat Publishing Ltd.
McGillivray, David (February 1973). "Alla Ricerca del Piacere (Hot Bed of Sex)". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 40, no. 469. British Film Institute. p. 23.