TORSO Midnights This Weekend at The Moolah – ‘Late Night Grindhouse’

“Enter… if you dare – the bizarre world of the psychosexual mind.”

In April of 1975, the Italian horror film TORSO opened at the Four Seasons Cinema at Olive and Woods Mill road where it was double feature with THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE! I had tried to talk my dad into taking me to see CHAINSAW when it had opened about 6 months earlier, but he refused (he was usually pretty cool about that kind of thing – but I was just 13). Finally, dad must have got sick of my begging because he drove me and a couple of buddies to the Four Seasons and dropped us off. CHAINSAW ran first and it’s still the most terrifying moviegoing experience of my life. TORSO wasn’t nearly a scary but it was loaded with gore and nudity (which CHAINSAW was not), something I wasn’t used to, so it was kind of the perfect double feature. Andy at Destroy the Brain has run CHAINSAW at the Late Night Grindhouse (twice actually), but this weekend will be the first time I’ve had an opportunity to see TORSO on the big screen in more than 42 years!

Director Sergio Martino’s milestone giallo TORSO is a prime example of everything this brilliant Italian horror sub-genre represents and everything the fans adore so much. Truly beautiful girls (all with exhibitionist-tendencies!) led by luscious Suzy Kendall, attending a Roman college are stalked and brutally slain by a killer wearing an eerie mask and a red and black scarf. When a second victim is found horribly mutilated, the few remaining girls flee to a countryside villa to recover, but the malevolent butcher follows them. The plot is pretty much standard, there aren’t as many twists here as in other gialli and Martino inserts a couple of authentic clichés (black gloves, broken dolls…) but there isn’t a boring moment to bee found anywhere in TORSO!

TORSO is incredibly suspenseful from start to finish and the extremely violent images are illustrated stylishly. Some of the make-up effects are quite staggering, especially the death of Carol (in the woods), which impressed me enormously at 13. The climax, in which the last remaining heroine desperately hides for the maniac, is compelling and it makes this movie a must for all giallo-fans. The score by Guido De Angelis is memorable and the acting is far above average as far as I’m concerned. People that  complain about the supposedly “awful” dubbing should either stop watching European horror or learn Italian and lip read!. TORSO is a terrific horror gem proves that Sergio Martino is an underrated director. His horror movies are always worth your time, and the chance to see TORSO on the big screen may not come around again for another 42 years!  Don’t miss it!

A Facebook invite for the Friday show can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/128080054475583/

A Facebook invite for the Saturday show can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/460238217693713/

TICKETS ARE $7 AND YOU CAN BUY THEM ONLINE VIA MOOLAH’S WEBSITE.

THE PSYCHOTRONIC PRE-SHOW STARTS AROUND 11:30P WITH THE FILM STARTING AT MIDNIGHT.

The Moolah Theatre & Lounge serves alcohol until 2:30AM! Feel free to show up early and stay late to have some drinks and get friendly with the amazing Moolah staff.