BY DANIEL D'ARPE

If there is one scene that sums up the tone of Sergio Martino's Craving Desire, it is the climax. After her true nature is revealed, a deranged Sonia (Vittoria Belvedere) begins to sensually strip down to nothing but her garter and panties. While doing so, she uses the heel of her stiletto to brutally attack Luigi (Ron Nummi), who is helpless against the assault. Belvedere’s performance here is many things: disturbing, terrifying, deranged; yet also mildly erotic. Such are words that not only perfectly sum up the movie, but many of the films produced in the giallo style of horror.

Filmed by legendary Italian low budget director Sergio Martino, Craving Desire was made in the 1990s, long past the golden age of the genre. Although more of an erotic horror/drama hybrid than a pure giallo, it still contains enough hallmarks to somewhat qualify as one. Overall, it is a truly dark film that leaves viewers with a distinct sense of unease. For horror fans, this undercurrent of dread has the potential to hook you up until the very final seconds.

The story of the film follows Luigi, a man who seemingly has everything. He lives in a beautiful apartment, has a gorgeous fiancée (even if she is a total witch), and seems to have a fairly decent job. Yet it is clear that Luigi is simply unhappy in life. This all rapidly changes one day after a funeral, when the beautiful Sonia shows up on his door step. They quickly jump into bed and overnight Luigi’s existence becomes full of the excitement that he so desperately craves. Yet as he continues to spiral deeper and deeper into debauchery, his life begins to fray before completely falling apart. Finally hitting rock bottom, he tries to end things with Sonia, only to realize what a true monster his lover is. He becomes trapped in mortal peril, with no possible escape in sight. Thus, Luigi learns the hard way an age old lesson: man should always be careful about what he wishes for.

To start, credit must go where its due. Ron Nummi does his best with what’s given to him, trying to make us like his character. Yet the truth is that Luigi comes across as a very flat, one dimensional guy who has a knack for poor decision making. As the film progresses, it becomes clear that he simply is an idiot who falls into a trap of his own construction. To sum up, he is too much of a dirty minded moron to really feel pity for.

As that stands, the real focus of the film goes to Nummi’s lovely costar Vittoria Belvedere, and understandably so. Her character is not developed any better than Luigi, yet she still does quite the exceptional job regardless. Belvedere portrays Sonia as some type of succubus; although there is something clearly off about her, she radiates a sexuality that is both mystifying and alluring. She is like a praying mantis whose entire existence consists of feeding off a victim’s lust. The thing is, no lover can ever satisfy her completely, even after they torpedo their entire life for her: a disappointed Sonia is unfortunately also a very deadly Sonia. Belvedere, who was only in her twenty’s at the time, proves that she has some real acting potential. Sadly, she is the only real bright spot in a film that screams “mediocre” right from the get-go.

From a creative and technical standpoint, Craving Desire isn’t a very good film. At times, it struggles just to be watchable, let alone enjoyable. For one thing, the production value leaves a lot to be desired, with abrupt transitions between scenes and a music score so bad it makes the soundtrack’s of adult films seem like platinum sellers. (One scene sums all this up perfectly: early in the film a boom mike can clearly be said hovering directly above an actor’s head. It’s pretty difficult for any movie to recover from a start like that). While other films can rely on a decent plot to cover up such shortcomings, Craving Desire sadly has no such luck. Evidently, Martino and his producers realized all this and decided to follow an age old tradition that has helped visual media thrive for generations. Vis-a-vis: sex and nudity. Lots of it.

Ms. Belvedere’s figure (“assets” is a more accurate term) is often used in an attempt to distract viewers from the film’s numerous flaws. (One memorable scene involves Belvedere and a female club goer involved in a very “breezy” sequence that probably melted some of the cameras on set). Although it’s unlikely that many (male) viewers complained about such obvious gimmickry, it sadly makes the movie devolve into pure T&A at times. In fact, it’s not really unfair to claim that most of the movie simply lurches from one T&A moment to the next before it ultimately culminates in a rather gruesome fashion. Hence, the results are anything but impressive.

To further add to the list of negatives, much of the content in Craving Desire will shock and/or upset many viewers. Foremost on the list is that the fact that Sonia and Luigi, the film’s lustful lovers, are cousins, or at least have been raised as such. Such gross revelations aside (there’s an even worse one at the end), the violence can get shockingly brutal. The aforementioned heel scene is a prime example of this, becoming very uncomfortable to sit through. As such, it’s strongly recommended that one check out the movie’s content beforehand if they plan to watch it.

Craving Desire was released by Mya Communication, the notorious label that quickly squandered away its promise by releasing horrible quality films ripped straight from old VHS. Thankfully, Craving Desire is not such a feature. The audio is respectable while the video quality, while not Blu-Ray, is still quite crisp. The special features are, well, nonexistent. The DVD simply comes with a language selection (English/Italian) and chapter viewer (which at only six, seems a bit insufficient). There are no subtitles, so whichever language one chooses (Nummi speaks English while Belvedere only talks in Italian) some characters are going to get dubbed. Thankfully, the dubbing is, for the most part, fairly well done and not too noticeable.

All in all, the film was not this reviewer’s cup of tea. So why the recommendation? Although falling short, the movie does represent something that makes it special. It’s bad but different; a quality often lacking these days. After all, horror (like many Hollywood genres) has been recycling content for some time now, making the genre grow somewhat stale of late. In today’s film market, originality is a characteristic that is getting harder and harder to come by. Even when something novel does come along, it is often rehashed so rapidly that within a year we have an entire trilogy, if not franchise, of diminishing returns. All in all, it is not a pretty picture.

In a nutshell, Craving Desire is a movie that hints at a better place for horror fans, pointing to a sub-genre that was sadly never really noticed in the United States. Although giallos are the forbearers of the American slasher film, they are also so much more. With a focus on eroticism and paranoia, they are films that truly focus on the psychological aspect of fear. While it is true that their heyday has long past, occasional films continue to be made today, often with respectable success.

At the very least, Craving Desire can be viewed as a kinky date movie for Halloween. But even more so, the film can be regarded as the doorman to the giallo genre. If one can sit through the movie, and actually enjoy it, then they might want to consider giving other (and better made) giallos a chance. Odds are they are the missing link that your horror collection has been waiting for.

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