Sergio Martino has directed many, many giallo films, (Case of the Scorpion’s Tale, All the Colors of Dark, and Torso – which I love, to name a few)  but, everyone has to start somewhere, and one of his first films was The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh.  If you think the name’s strange well, the film is even stranger.  The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is the story of an American ambassador’s wife, Julie Wardh (played by the beautiful Edwige Fenech) who believes she is the target of a sex maniac who hunts, and kills women around the hotel where she and her husband are staying.

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The difference with The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, compared to say, Slaughter Hotel, is that the murders seem as if they were a second thought.  The first 40 minutes or so of the film is spent following Julie as she wanders around, meeting other men as her husband is busy working.  This makes it really hard to care about her character as she spends a lot of time trying to avoid an old flame Jean played in a very creepy manner by Ivan Rassimov, then meets a new guy; George played by George Hilton, all the while keeping her husband Neil (Alberto de Mendoza) in the dark about what she’s doing.  A huge problem is that Jean is a shady guy, and she’s convinced that he’s the sexual killer, but cannot prove it.  As she tries to sort out her love life a killer is relentlessly tearing apart the town, and the women that he meets.  Sounds like a great set up for a super-tense film, right?  You’d be sort of wrong.

The film meanders about, as if the tension was anywhere but surrounding Julie.  What could have been an intense set of scenes as Julie tries to solve the murders on her own usually putting her own life in peril falls flat.  As I mentioned earlier, this film is similar to Slaughter Hotel in many aspects.  They both feature almost naked to naked women, a maniac killing them, and a location that, while populated, feels very enclosed.  But, where Slaughter Hotel had fun and had a story that connected very well, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh felt like it was trying to hard to be serious.  The acting ranged from passing to non-existent and everyone in the film was deadpan except Julie’s friend Carol, who may be the most interesting character in the entire film.  She’s not opposed to speaking what’s on her mind and has no problem making light of things that would be looked upon as shocking.

A great thing in giallo films is the death scenes.  Many directors have gotten very creative in the way the killer offs his victims.  Argento made a killing (pun intended) doing this.  Look at Opera; the killer ties the main character up, puts needles under her eyes and makes her watch as he cuts her friends breast plate open with massive scissors.  Another great film using deaths to the fullest is What Have You Done To Solange?  The killer uses a rounded blade and does his own ‘abortions’ on the women that he has decided need to be taught a lesson.  Heck, Sergio Martino stepped up his game big time in Torso with some of the nastiest murders I’ve seen.  If you want to see something that is downright wrong, just watch Torso.  But, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh doesn’t have one death that stands out.  They were all done with a razor and were all pretty much the same.  I know it’s not a big deal, but compared to some of the better giallo I felt that Martino could have come up with something a little…more.  I’d say it’s safe to chalk this up to Martino’s inexperience, because his later films just got better and better.

Camerawork and music are big elements in every film, but in giallo they can bring a mediocre story up or take a great story and knock it down.  The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is an interesting film in these aspects.  The cinematography is all over the place.  Some shots are simply stunning.  A later scene where Carol is waiting in a park to meet up with a person who is threatening Julie (great idea, huh?)  is captured beautifully.  The massive walls made of branches seem to reach high into the sky, and the walkway disappears into the distance, giving the park the appearance of a dizzying size.  This is quickly forgotten as Carol moves into a smaller walkway and everything seems to become ugly.  I don’t know if it was the lighting or the angle the camera was leveled at, but it just became hideous to look at.  This is how the camerawork changes all film, and the bad shots become that much worse because they usually follow a beautiful shot.  The music is very similar.  The soundtrack is pretty much the same song, edited to be happy, sad or creepy depending on what’s happening in the film.  At first I thought it was great, but as with anything that happens over and over, you just want something different.  Well, we’re not given that.  Instead the viewer has to suffer through the same song for over an hour and half.

Overall, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is a generic giallo film, starring a sexy Edwige Fenech (the only reason I really rented this film).  If you’re a giallo collector I recommend checking this film out at least once, but if you’re like me, you need a little more than just a bunch of nudy scenes and a hurriedly rushed together climax, I advise steering clear of The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh.