Delirium ( Delirio caldo ) ( Death at the Villa )

Delirium (DVD) (*)

~~$24.99~~ $18.97

Original Title: Delirio caldo
Alternate Title: Death at the Villa
Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Italian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
Italian ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Italy ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
98 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1972 and produced in:
Italy ( Italy, Greece )

Directed By:
Renato Polselli

Written By:
Renato Polselli

Actors:
Mickey Hargitay ..... Herbert Lyutak
Rita Calderoni ..... Marcia Lyutak
Raul Lovecchio ..... Inspector Edwards
Carmen Young ..... Bonita (US version only)
Christa Barrymore ..... Joaquine
Tano Cimarosa ..... John Lacey
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: ..... Barman
Marcello Bonini Olas ..... Miss Heindrich
Katia Cardinali ..... Willy
William Darni ..... Policeman
Max Dorian ..... First victim
Stefania Fassio ..... Journalist
Stefano Oppedisano ..... Laurel
Cristina Perrier

Synopsis:

Criminal psychologist Dr. Herbert Lyutak (Mickey Hargitay of Bloody Pit of Horror and The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield) is a deranged sex maniac who murders young women. His beautiful wife (the luscious Rita Calderoni of Nude for Satan and The Reincarnation of Isabel) is tormented by visions of medieval torture and lesbian orgies. But as their madness grows more twisted, they will descend even deeper into a nightmare of dementia, depravity and most of all, Delirium!

Italian filmmaker Renato Polselli aka Ralph Brown wrote and directed this wonderfully sick and demented giallo thriller, a shining example of the sort of outrageous psychosexual perversity for which the genre has become cherished by cult enthusiasts. Former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay was already a sleaze favorite for his turn as Il Boio Scarlatto and his disingenuously tearful tour of his late wife's estate in The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay only solidifies that image here as Prof. Herbert Lyutak, a perverse sex maniac employed as a criminal psychologist. Lyutak is first seen giving a young woman a ride in his car, eventually attacking her and chasing her through the woods to a creek, where he beats her to death. Lyutak's wife Rita Calderoni finds his bloody shirt, but because there is another murder while the demented shrink is consulting the police, he is cleared. Working with the authorities, Lyutak has a family friend Katia Kardinali pose as a prostitute to catch the killer, but he simply murders another hooker not far away. The bodies continue piling up, with so many alibis and confusing contradictions that it soon becomes apparent the killings are the work of several hands. Polselli keeps the sleaze factor high throughout, notably in some psychedelic nightmare sequences featuring Lyutak's fantasies of torturing nude women in his basement and in the murder of Kardinali, which features some fairly graphic whipping and kinky sexual allusions. There's also lesbianism, strangulation, and an interesting synth-rock score by Gianfranco Reverberi to keep viewers interested, and the ultimate conclusion is -- in keeping with the title -- a delirious, bloody battle between three psychopaths in a cellar. That's only in the original version, however, because the American re-edit removed most of the sleaze, changed the setting from England to the United States, and added two extra murders and a police shootout, not to mention some dubious Vietnam flashbacks. The ultimate entertainment value to genre enthusiasts, therefore, is highly dependent on which version they see, as the extensive changes reduce a wild, flamboyant shocker to just another dull mystery.

Delirium is Renato Polselli's 1972 feature that tells the tale of a psychiatrist who himself has serious sadistic tendencies. He also suffers a sort of depersonalization where he spends most of his days denying to himself that he is, indeed, psychotic. The film opens with Herbert (played by Polselli regular and former body-builder Mickey Hartigay) strangling a young girl after he picks her up from a bar. Once he arrives home the viewer becomes aware of the intense relationship that he and his wife, Marcia, (played by the always wonderful Rita Calderoni) endure-- Herbert is utterly impotent in the bedroom, having been unable to consummate his marriage with his wife who, regardless or circumstance, is utterly in love with him.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 25 January, 2013.