Orgie des Todes (1978)

Orgie des Todes: Directed by Alberto Negrin. With Fabio Testi, Christine Kaufmann, Ivan Desny, Jack Taylor. A detective investigating the murder of a teenage girl begins to focus his suspicions on the three girlfriends of the victim, who call themselves “The Inseparables.”

“Naughty schoolgirls, perverted killers and unorthodox police officers… What more could you possibly hope to see in a late 70u0026#39;s Italian Giallo, apart from perhaps some large portions of graphic nudity and gritty bloodshed? Well, u0026quot;Rings of Fearu0026quot; has ALL of this (and more…), but still it certainly doesnu0026#39;t rank among the best efforts in this wondrous sub genre of horror. Even though no less than SIX persons are credited as scriptwriters, this film undoubtedly is the weakest installment in Massimo Dallamanou0026#39;s trilogy revolving on u0026quot;Schoolgirls in Perilu0026quot;. The unofficial franchise began magnificently, with u0026quot;What Have You Done To Solange?u0026quot; – arguably one of the best Gialli ever made – but already lowered in quality a bit with u0026quot;What Have They Done To Our Daughtersu0026quot;, which felt more like a crime film with loads of car chases and gangster networks. u0026quot;Rings of Fearu0026quot;, however, features the least amount of surprises and shocks and painfully suffers from the one demerit Gialli should never suffer from: predictability! Dallamano and his army of co-writers attempt to mislead us with red herrings and mysteriously behaving side characters, but even if youu0026#39;re only just slightly familiar with the standard Giallo trademarks, you can see right through every plot twist and easily unravel the identity of the culprit(s) yourself. It nevertheless remains a worthwhile horror gem for Italian horror fanatics to purchase, though, if it were only to behold the awkward and thoroughly unorthodox investigation methods Insp. Gianni Di Salvo (Fabio Testi) uses to unmask his sleazy killer. Di Salvo is charged with the case of an attractive 16-year-old schoolgirl who was raped and sadistically cut open with a large sharp weapon. The victimu0026#39;s witty younger sister informs him that Angela, along with three of her boarding school girlfriends, formed a secret alliance known as u0026quot;The Inseparablesu0026quot; and frequently escaped from their dorm to serve as lustful u0026amp; sexy entertainment for rich businessmen. Di Salvo knows where to look for the killer, but due to some of the suspectsu0026#39; prominent reputations the commissioner holds him back. u0026quot;Rings of Fearu0026quot; is an overall amusing Giallo because the story contains so many odd u0026amp; unusual sub plots. For example, the inspectoru0026#39;s girlfriend is a notorious shoplifter and his own interrogation techniques are rather ingenious, to say the least. He invades the boarding school in the middle of the night to question the scarcely dressed teachers and even drags his main suspect onto a wild roller coaster to force him to testify. The gorgeous (barely legal?) teenage girls provide this film with a more than fair amount of full-frontal nudity and lusciousness; while the light-hearted dialogs and Testiu0026#39;s utterly cool performance contribute in making u0026quot;Rings of Fearu0026quot; easy and undemanding viewing. The exciting score is courtesy of Riz Ortolani (u0026quot;Cannibal Holocaustu0026quot;) and Alberto Negrinu0026#39;s direction is overall competent. Recommended viewing for trained Italian sleaze-fanatics, but newcomers to the Giallo-industry should probably postpone their viewing of u0026quot;Rings of Fearu0026quot; until theyu0026#39;ve seen some of the works of Dario Argento and Sergio Martino, or Massimo Dallamanou0026#39;s initial masterpiece u0026quot;What Have You Done To Solange?u0026quot;.”