AKA The Seducers
I do like my Italian sleaze and having heard plenty about Top Sensation I was looking forward to watching this entry.The bulk of the film takes place on a luxury yacht owned by a wealthy business woman called Mudy. Also on board are a young couple and a friend of theirs, Ulla (played by the delightfully beautiful Edwige Fenech), and the mentally challenged son of Mudy, Tony. Mudy thinks that by getting Ulla to take her son's virginity it will cure his troubles! This movie is hardly politically correct, and lines such as "Women should be beaten!" only reinforce this. Edwige and her friend Poalo (played by the equally attractive Rosalba Neri) spend most of the time half naked, and are joined later on by another attractive girl called Beba (Eva Thulin), who also gets naked (note - no full frontal nudity). Seeing these three beauties without their clothes on and indulging in soft core sex is pretty much the reason for this movie's existence. For me it did get a little bit boring after a while, however there is one infamous scene involving Edwige and a very lucky small goat that is really worth seeing! As for Mudy she is very butch looking but that doesn't stop her indulging in sex with a younger married man, not to mention a spot of incest! The Mediterranean locations are very nice. This film is NOT a Giallo, Edwige starred in many of these but this isn't one. I started off by watching the dubbed English Language version on DVD but the dubbing was awful, plus it kept dropping into Italian without subtitles, so I would suggest to viewers watch it in its native Italian. More of a curiosity than anything else.
18 Reviews
Not a linear movie
stefanozucchelli1 February 2022
Sensational spoilers ...
parry_na10 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
It's a familiar story. Not this tale of Tony, who is apparently mentally handicapped, and his mother Mudi (Maud de Belleroche) and friends' attempts to rid him of his virginity, amidst exotic, sun-kissed locations. I mean the story of a film with a certain reputation presumed lost - or woefully incomplete - found and meticulously reconstructed, proving to be ... mostly unspectacular.
Not since Godzilla trudged out of the water to confront a shabby Japanese King Kong have two more mighty icons shared screen-time together. Seeing two mighty giants of giallo films - Rosalba Neri (Paola) and Edwige Fenech (Ulla) - sharing screen time together is an almost surreal scene, and it is this pairing that probably ensured interest in 'Top Sensation'. The result spends vast amounts of its running time exploring the tremendous environment and the equally tremendous star players.
Visually, it is great. The locations are incredible and lend themselves entirely to the casual paradise in which these rich layabouts live their lives. It goes without saying Fenech and Neri are masters of their craft: naturally beautiful and exuding casual confidence and a sense of presence, it is a pity this is the one and only time they are billed together. There's a scene featuring Fenech and a goat that is as mind-boggling as it sounds.
Mudi is pretty fixated on her son's plight, going to the lengths of implanting hidden cameras in the yacht and copping off with Paola's husband Aldo (Maurizio Bonuglia). The stinger here is that Tony, despite being surrounded by such wanton temptation, falls for uncorrupted local farm girl Beba (Ewa Thulin). Only then do events turn particularly strange and nasty, and the shift from mild sex-romp to drama becomes apparent. This interesting development almost feels tacked on, it arrives so late, but is still very effective and unexpected.
The final scene leaves things open-ended but fairly gloomy, which is a good contrast to the sunny, carefree hi-jinks earlier on.
Not since Godzilla trudged out of the water to confront a shabby Japanese King Kong have two more mighty icons shared screen-time together. Seeing two mighty giants of giallo films - Rosalba Neri (Paola) and Edwige Fenech (Ulla) - sharing screen time together is an almost surreal scene, and it is this pairing that probably ensured interest in 'Top Sensation'. The result spends vast amounts of its running time exploring the tremendous environment and the equally tremendous star players.
Visually, it is great. The locations are incredible and lend themselves entirely to the casual paradise in which these rich layabouts live their lives. It goes without saying Fenech and Neri are masters of their craft: naturally beautiful and exuding casual confidence and a sense of presence, it is a pity this is the one and only time they are billed together. There's a scene featuring Fenech and a goat that is as mind-boggling as it sounds.
Mudi is pretty fixated on her son's plight, going to the lengths of implanting hidden cameras in the yacht and copping off with Paola's husband Aldo (Maurizio Bonuglia). The stinger here is that Tony, despite being surrounded by such wanton temptation, falls for uncorrupted local farm girl Beba (Ewa Thulin). Only then do events turn particularly strange and nasty, and the shift from mild sex-romp to drama becomes apparent. This interesting development almost feels tacked on, it arrives so late, but is still very effective and unexpected.
The final scene leaves things open-ended but fairly gloomy, which is a good contrast to the sunny, carefree hi-jinks earlier on.
Wow! What else can I say?
lazarillo23 October 2004
This movie was obviously an influence on the later, more notorious "Island of Death" with it's decadent European tourists despoiling an idyllic Greek island. But where the latter movie crosses the line into being repulsive and genuinely unpleasant, this movie is deliciously nasty, mainly due to the excellent acting of the three female leads. Maud de Belleroche is a hard-as-nails oil heiress who lures a greedy couple (the wife is Rosalba Neri) and a nymphomaniacal prostitute (Edwige Fenech)aboard her yacht (perversely wired with short-circuit cameras in every room) hoping that one of women will seduce her dimwitted son. It's hard to imagine Neri and Fenech not being able to seduce ANYONE but they are both so incredibly, over-the-top sexy here it's understandable that the kid wilts in their presence like a flower in blistering sunlight. He instead falls for an innocent shepherd girl (Ewe Thulin), so the two voluptuous golddiggers set their sights on seducing HER.
This movie is more genuinely erotic than 10,000 porn films. Rosalba Neri shows off her incredible nude body as usual, but she's just as sexy dressed up in a short-shorts and a halter, cruelly blasting away at goats with a shotgun (she has a similar scene in the equally delicious giallo "Amuck", and she really can shoot like a pro). Neri positively oozes sex and evil in equal measure. Edwige Fenech doesn't play a villain as well Neri but she has the most incredible scene in the movie which involves a goat and gives a new meaning to the term animal husbandry. (I don't know if the SPCA would have approved, but I'm sure the goat didn't mind). Then there's an amazing three-way lesbian scene between the two of them and Ewe Thulin that literally seemed to fog up the camera lens (or maybe it was just my eyeballs). What else can I say? Wow!
This movie is more genuinely erotic than 10,000 porn films. Rosalba Neri shows off her incredible nude body as usual, but she's just as sexy dressed up in a short-shorts and a halter, cruelly blasting away at goats with a shotgun (she has a similar scene in the equally delicious giallo "Amuck", and she really can shoot like a pro). Neri positively oozes sex and evil in equal measure. Edwige Fenech doesn't play a villain as well Neri but she has the most incredible scene in the movie which involves a goat and gives a new meaning to the term animal husbandry. (I don't know if the SPCA would have approved, but I'm sure the goat didn't mind). Then there's an amazing three-way lesbian scene between the two of them and Ewe Thulin that literally seemed to fog up the camera lens (or maybe it was just my eyeballs). What else can I say? Wow!
So over rated its criminal
boydwalters8 June 2011
It isn't really even a giallo ... Its just a rather lame sex film that the director hangs a thriller plot on to try and grab both audiences ...I've only seen it in the English dub which is so bad that its hysterical ... How can you call this a giallo/thriller when there isn't a second of tension... There are some ridiculous costumes and nudity and dancing ... But no ingenious deaths and the plot twists that you see coming from a mile off ... Rosalba and Edwich gets their kit off as usual ... But lets be honest, they made their living doing that and its nothing to get excited about This comes across more as a comedy these days ... And the older woman lead is the sort of Ilsa of soft porn A very silly little film that many see as a huge letdown after such hyping up ... "Interabang" was similar and both leave you with this sort of so what and why feeling
Edwige & Rosalba... 'Nuff Said!
SuperDevilDoctor2 September 2003
Eurobabes Edwige Fenech (5 DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON) and Rosalba Neri (LADY FRANKENSTEIN) get wicked, kinky and naked in this bizarre Italian thriller. A rich, sicko socialite (Maud Belleroche) plays weird sex/mind games using a parasitical young couple (Neri, Maurizio Bonuglia), a golddigging prostitute (Fenech) and her own mentally disturbed son as pawns. Most of the action takes place aboard a luxury yacht cruising the Mediterranean. The games get out of control, resulting in murder when the yacht stops at a rustic island populated by sheperds. (The scene with Fenech and the baby goat is simply unbelievable.) Composer Sante Romitelli's interesting score is kitschy and groovy at the same time. The movie looks and sounds terrible on bootleg VHS... Positively screams for a widescreen DVD release!
Twisted love boat
eratomartha28 December 2021
The movie for the ones, who would like to see young Edwige Fenech ( and other candid actresses )
or the ones, who like the culture of late 60s, as it has a lot of elements attractive to the viewers from the era, the rich people in a luxury boat, sun, bikini, excitement
spicing it up with animals, lesbian threesome, virginity and ... an artificial plot built around a handicapped guy.
But the guy is not the protagonist here, his illness is just used as a justification of otherwise random actions of other actors.
Their play is not bad itself, but prompted by the other title - The Seducers, and the teasers that sounded like - the orgy ... the terror - one would expect rather intense feelings and emotions of various kind, none of those are visible in the movie.
Instead, there is a group of good friends cavorting on Mediterranean(?) and that is all.
Well, there is something one could call seduction, but this is as far away from the real thing as the movie ketchup from the real blood.
But the guy is not the protagonist here, his illness is just used as a justification of otherwise random actions of other actors.
Their play is not bad itself, but prompted by the other title - The Seducers, and the teasers that sounded like - the orgy ... the terror - one would expect rather intense feelings and emotions of various kind, none of those are visible in the movie.
Instead, there is a group of good friends cavorting on Mediterranean(?) and that is all.
Well, there is something one could call seduction, but this is as far away from the real thing as the movie ketchup from the real blood.
Fenech and Neri whip up a storm at sea
Red-Barracuda29 January 2016
Unlike what you may think going into this one, it only barely qualifies as a thriller and is more an erotic drama with some thriller elements. There's really no suspense generated at any point, even if the plot-line does move onto murder in its latter half. No, this one's focus is more squarely on other things for the majority of its screen-time. This is not exactly a bad thing though, as it means The Seducers is perhaps slightly less generic than a lot of its contemporaries. I was definitely brought to mind of Roman Polanski's psychological drama Knife in the Water (1962) though, with its group of unsympathetic characters playing out their melodrama and mind-games on a private boat cruise. But then again, I was also reminded of the outrageous Greek exploitation extravaganza Island of Death (1976) on account of that one's scene of goat-based bestiality – in The Seducers we move into a similar basic ball-park, albeit of a decidedly less disgraceful variety. Unlike in Island of Death where we have a male sociopath roger an unfortunate animal, here we have the lovely Edwige Fenech really only getting up close and personal with it. It's a mixture of the questionable, the erotic and the outright bizarre – a properly strange scene whichever way you look at it.
The story takes place on a luxurious yacht cruising in the Mediterranean. A wealthy woman of questionable motives hires three people – the seducers of the title - to deflower her mentally-deranged son. Add an innocent farm girl to the mix and you have the recipe for much sexploitation shenanigans.
This one is notable for both being a very early screen appearance from cult icon Fenech but is of additional note in that it pairs her up with another of the hottest actresses working in Italian genre films at the time, Rosalba Neri. In actual fact this film is owned by Neri mainly. Kitted out in a leather bikini, carrying a rifle and throwing dynamite into the sea, she is a bad girl par excellence in this one. I've seen Neri in a number of movies but this may very well be her definitive moment here, as her assertive sensuality is a perfect fit for this character. In any case, her and Fenech together in an erotic set-up is never going to be a bad thing, in actual fact they even at one point indulge in a three-way girl-on-girl-on-girl romp with the farm girl they bring on board.
All-in-all, this is a bit of an unheralded gem. I only saw it when a very kind fellow IMDb user sent me a copy which suffered from pretty ropey sound quality. It's definitely a movie, though, that is crying out for a proper transfer, it definitely deserves that kind of care and is one that Euro-cult enthusiasts will definitely lap up.
The story takes place on a luxurious yacht cruising in the Mediterranean. A wealthy woman of questionable motives hires three people – the seducers of the title - to deflower her mentally-deranged son. Add an innocent farm girl to the mix and you have the recipe for much sexploitation shenanigans.
This one is notable for both being a very early screen appearance from cult icon Fenech but is of additional note in that it pairs her up with another of the hottest actresses working in Italian genre films at the time, Rosalba Neri. In actual fact this film is owned by Neri mainly. Kitted out in a leather bikini, carrying a rifle and throwing dynamite into the sea, she is a bad girl par excellence in this one. I've seen Neri in a number of movies but this may very well be her definitive moment here, as her assertive sensuality is a perfect fit for this character. In any case, her and Fenech together in an erotic set-up is never going to be a bad thing, in actual fact they even at one point indulge in a three-way girl-on-girl-on-girl romp with the farm girl they bring on board.
All-in-all, this is a bit of an unheralded gem. I only saw it when a very kind fellow IMDb user sent me a copy which suffered from pretty ropey sound quality. It's definitely a movie, though, that is crying out for a proper transfer, it definitely deserves that kind of care and is one that Euro-cult enthusiasts will definitely lap up.
Modest but entertaining softcore drama
jrd_7314 September 2014
Because of its elusiveness and because of the poor quality copies that did circulate, Top Sensation developed a reputation that it really doesn't deserve. It is not a thriller. The exploitation goodies, while present, are not as numerous as what one might expect giving its X rating (now, easily an R). Still, Top Sensation provides undemanding viewers with a good time throughout its short running time.
The film could be accurately called seven loonies on a boat. Mudy is a rich, decadent bi-sexual on a private cruise. Her yacht is staffed by an ambitious, morally dubious couple, both of whom are sleeping with the boss. In addition, there is a hired companion (the lovely Edwige Fenech) along to seduce the boss's son. The young man suffers from a mental illness which makes him act like a child. In 70's swinger psychology, mom thinks getting him laid will turn him into a man. The only thing is that boy won't come near his girl toy (turning down Edwige Fenech? The poor boy is worse than I thought!). When the yacht runs aground on a sandbar, the son sneaks off to explore a nearby island. There, he befriends a young, innocent shepherdess. Mom and company are thinking the girl might be good at tending something besides sheep, but what to do with her husband?
This is a silly film, but one that is hard to dislike. It moves along at a nice pace. The viewer is never bored. There is a pleasant music score. The scenery is gorgeous and so are the girls. Edwige Fenech, Rosalba Neri, and Eva Thulin all radiate charm in their bikinis (and occasionally less). In addition, once in a while director Ottavio Alessi will go for an arty touch just because (check out the editing on the scene where the two more experienced girls make up the shepherdess). As nautical themed sex dramas go, Top Sensation is far more fun than Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon.
The film could be accurately called seven loonies on a boat. Mudy is a rich, decadent bi-sexual on a private cruise. Her yacht is staffed by an ambitious, morally dubious couple, both of whom are sleeping with the boss. In addition, there is a hired companion (the lovely Edwige Fenech) along to seduce the boss's son. The young man suffers from a mental illness which makes him act like a child. In 70's swinger psychology, mom thinks getting him laid will turn him into a man. The only thing is that boy won't come near his girl toy (turning down Edwige Fenech? The poor boy is worse than I thought!). When the yacht runs aground on a sandbar, the son sneaks off to explore a nearby island. There, he befriends a young, innocent shepherdess. Mom and company are thinking the girl might be good at tending something besides sheep, but what to do with her husband?
This is a silly film, but one that is hard to dislike. It moves along at a nice pace. The viewer is never bored. There is a pleasant music score. The scenery is gorgeous and so are the girls. Edwige Fenech, Rosalba Neri, and Eva Thulin all radiate charm in their bikinis (and occasionally less). In addition, once in a while director Ottavio Alessi will go for an arty touch just because (check out the editing on the scene where the two more experienced girls make up the shepherdess). As nautical themed sex dramas go, Top Sensation is far more fun than Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon.
Near the top of the Italian sleaze pile!
The_Void3 January 2007
Rosalba Neri and Edwige Fenech in the same film...what could possibly go wrong? Very little, it would seem, as what we have here is a sensational slice of Italian trash that works in every way you could want it to. The film is something like Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water mixed with naked women and a handful of Giallo themes. It's a real shame that this film hasn't been given a proper DVD release, as while the seductive nature of the film still shines through on the bootleg DVDr that I saw it on, the film would be much better served with a crisp, clean picture and adequate sound. Anyway, the plot focuses on the events transpiring on a yacht. Mudy - a stone-cold matriarch, wants her son to get laid. Tony is an odd kid to say the least, and even when Mudy recruits Aldo and his sexy wife Paula (Rosalba Neri), as well as saucy prostitute Ulla (Edwige Fenech), he still doesn't seem interested. It's only when he bumps into farm girl Beba that his interest seems to be sparked, and his mother quickly insists on the pair returning to her boat. However, the lovely ladies decide to start playing games with the boy's new girl...
Despite the fact that the film doesn't go too far, it is amazingly sexy, and that is of course down to its female leads. Director Ottavio Alessi makes good use of his women, and scenes involving Edwige Fenech and a goat, as well as a three way lesbian scene stand out most. Neri and Fenech spend most of the movie wearing hardly anything, and neither one minds taking their top off - which is fine by me. The plot doesn't take a backseat to the sex and nudity, however, and that's what really makes Top Sensation stand out above similar films. The way that the yacht is rigged with cameras makes the film feel all the more sleazy, and the idea of a mother trying to get her son laid is exactly whiter than white either. The sleazy elements exist in harmony with the storyline, which makes the film feel more complete than your average porno. The characters are all presented in an interesting way, and the director does well at ensuring that the plot is always interesting by upping the stakes at the right time throughout. The ending is shocking enough, and overall - Top Sensation comes highly recommended to all fans of Italian sleaze!
Despite the fact that the film doesn't go too far, it is amazingly sexy, and that is of course down to its female leads. Director Ottavio Alessi makes good use of his women, and scenes involving Edwige Fenech and a goat, as well as a three way lesbian scene stand out most. Neri and Fenech spend most of the movie wearing hardly anything, and neither one minds taking their top off - which is fine by me. The plot doesn't take a backseat to the sex and nudity, however, and that's what really makes Top Sensation stand out above similar films. The way that the yacht is rigged with cameras makes the film feel all the more sleazy, and the idea of a mother trying to get her son laid is exactly whiter than white either. The sleazy elements exist in harmony with the storyline, which makes the film feel more complete than your average porno. The characters are all presented in an interesting way, and the director does well at ensuring that the plot is always interesting by upping the stakes at the right time throughout. The ending is shocking enough, and overall - Top Sensation comes highly recommended to all fans of Italian sleaze!
Baa! BAAA! Right there! Baaa! Don't Stop!
Bezenby7 September 2017
When I heard this was the film where Edwidge Fenech gets friendly with a goat, I thought she just fed it some oats, maybe gave it some fresh straw to sleep on. Boy, was I wrong! Although I guess she did feed it something...
This hugely daft pile of crazy nonsense called Top Sensation is yet another giallo set on a boat where the female cast lounge around in tiny bikinis. The entire plot of this one seems to be set around getting shy, possibly autistic son of an oil heiress laid to make him a man, but he just wants to play with his toy racing car (that's not a euphemism). Neri and her husband have hired Fenech to do the job but nothing's getting him interested.
Also, the heiress has CCTV in her boat so she can watch folks getting it on, but then Neri's husband can watch her getting it on with Neri (and he gets it on with Fenech). It's a sixties film. They probably all had crabs.
The boat of course crashes on a sandbank and that's when our mob of nymphs find a local goat herder, a lucky goat, and the goat herder's wife, who raises the interest of the heiress's son! It's about this time when Fenech makes a remark about how rough a goat's tongue is...Plus, they have to get that lady herder spruced up for the strange son...and Rosalba needs some sun cream rubbed on her chest...
Of course, this not being a hardcore porn film everything is implied and there's very little by way of nudity, and the plot kind of deviates away from all the sleaze (save for the last five minutes). It's an enjoyable film, not least due to the strange story and the actresses involved, and for a film involving murder, it's all so light hearted.
I wonder if Edwidge's grandkids have ever watched this one? And I also wonder if the subsequently made it illegal for Fenech and Neri to star in the same film (or put the moves on another woman at the same time - my blood pressure!).
This hugely daft pile of crazy nonsense called Top Sensation is yet another giallo set on a boat where the female cast lounge around in tiny bikinis. The entire plot of this one seems to be set around getting shy, possibly autistic son of an oil heiress laid to make him a man, but he just wants to play with his toy racing car (that's not a euphemism). Neri and her husband have hired Fenech to do the job but nothing's getting him interested.
Also, the heiress has CCTV in her boat so she can watch folks getting it on, but then Neri's husband can watch her getting it on with Neri (and he gets it on with Fenech). It's a sixties film. They probably all had crabs.
The boat of course crashes on a sandbank and that's when our mob of nymphs find a local goat herder, a lucky goat, and the goat herder's wife, who raises the interest of the heiress's son! It's about this time when Fenech makes a remark about how rough a goat's tongue is...Plus, they have to get that lady herder spruced up for the strange son...and Rosalba needs some sun cream rubbed on her chest...
Of course, this not being a hardcore porn film everything is implied and there's very little by way of nudity, and the plot kind of deviates away from all the sleaze (save for the last five minutes). It's an enjoyable film, not least due to the strange story and the actresses involved, and for a film involving murder, it's all so light hearted.
I wonder if Edwidge's grandkids have ever watched this one? And I also wonder if the subsequently made it illegal for Fenech and Neri to star in the same film (or put the moves on another woman at the same time - my blood pressure!).
WOW!! Wait until you see the disturbing ending!!!
scottdou4 July 2021
Most of this movie is silly harmless soft core naked women on a large boat. However, there is an undercurrent of mystery regarding the efforts to cure the boat's lesbian/bisexual captain's insular child-like son by trying to set him up with a female to have sex but right at the end the plan backfires horribly. Then it gets even more shocking at the very very end with what happens between the son and his mother and the cold way the rest of the crew get rid of two "problems" with violence. Watch to the end and if you like crazy shocking finales, your rating of this movie will go up as mine did.
Vastly entertaining and rather sleazy Italian thriller.
HumanoidOfFlesh20 February 2006
A sexy vixen Edwige Fenech stars as a prostitute hired by the overbearing,vaguely incestuous mother of a shy,mentally-retarded 20-year old named Tony. Fenech is meant to claim Tony's virginity on a sea cruise,also attended by sexy Paula and her slimy husband Aldo,who incessantly try to curry the wealthy mother's favor.Ewa Aulin shows up as an island girl who dies when the dull-witted Tony accidentally strangles her,leading her husband to board the ship,where he is quickly dispatched by the rifle-toting Neri."Top Sensation" is a perfect example of Eurotrash cinema.There is plenty of sleaze and fantastic lesbian sequence between Edwige Fenech,Rosalba Neri and Ewa Aulin.The film is cheaply made,but highly entertaining.Give it a look.My rating:9 out of 10.
My first glimpse of Edwige.
morrison-dylan-fan27 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Celebrating 9 years of being on IMDb,I started searching round for a title that I could view to celebrate the day.Taking a look at the DVD's,I suddenly realised that I have somehow never set eyes on leading Euro 'genre' actress Edwige Fenech,which led to me excitingly getting ready to see Fenech in a seductive sounding Giallo.
The plot:
Taking her son Tony on a private cruise after getting him out of a mental hospital (as you do!) Mudy decides that she must help Tony to break out of the shell that he has placed himself in.Desperate to get her son's hair down,Mudy invites oil kingpin Aldo and his wife Paola on the private cruise,in the hope that they will show Tony a good time.Suspecting that a loss of virginity may help Tony find his voice again,Mudy hires a prostitute called Ulla for the cruise,in the hope that Ulla will give Tony the spark he desperately needs.
As days go by on the cruise,Mudy begins to fear that Tony is going deeper into his shell then anyone could ever have expected.Suddenly,Aldo notices that they have sailed near to a remote island,whose sole inhabitants are a farmer and his wife.Catching a glimpse of the wife,Tony begins to have deadly feelings that he has never had before.
View on the film:
Despite the print that I viewed being more than a little bit dusty,Edwige Fenech's (who was only 21 when the movie was made) performance was thankfully still able to shine.Placed in a number of 'different' situations which go from a lesbian 3 sum,to getting VERY friendly with a goat,the beautiful Edwige Fenech gives Ulla a strikingly charismatic side which reveals a ruthless smirk,as Fenech shows Ulla's desire to get every penny out of the hands of Mudy.
Joining Fenech,the gorgeous Rosalba Neri gives a deeply sensual performance as the money grabbing Paola,whilst Mauda Belleroche gives an excellent performance as Tony's deranged mum Mudy, and the stunning Eva Thulin perfectly shows the damage that the cruise-setting elite have done to her quiet life.
Straying close to a number of pretty uncomfortable subjects,co- writer/ (along with Nelda Minucci and Maurizio Bonuglia)director Ottavio Alessi impressively avoids turning the title into a grotesque freak show by openly embracing every bonkers moment that the film has to offer,with Alessi using tight side angles to give the viewer a strong tease of the incidents taking place.Along with the wonderfully outrageous moments,Alessi also uses sharp quick editing,which reveals that not everything is going well at all on the cruise ship.
Whilst the movies appearance is rather fleshy,the writer's take a brilliant swipe at mixing underlying Giallo themes with sly social commentary.Gradually revealing Tony to not be the sanest person around,the writers reveal each of the jet set crew to be obsessed with controlling and owning everything in their sight,with the writers showing their high-life fliers destroying the peace that the farmer and his wife have made on the secluded island,as they become seduced by the seducers.
The plot:
Taking her son Tony on a private cruise after getting him out of a mental hospital (as you do!) Mudy decides that she must help Tony to break out of the shell that he has placed himself in.Desperate to get her son's hair down,Mudy invites oil kingpin Aldo and his wife Paola on the private cruise,in the hope that they will show Tony a good time.Suspecting that a loss of virginity may help Tony find his voice again,Mudy hires a prostitute called Ulla for the cruise,in the hope that Ulla will give Tony the spark he desperately needs.
As days go by on the cruise,Mudy begins to fear that Tony is going deeper into his shell then anyone could ever have expected.Suddenly,Aldo notices that they have sailed near to a remote island,whose sole inhabitants are a farmer and his wife.Catching a glimpse of the wife,Tony begins to have deadly feelings that he has never had before.
View on the film:
Despite the print that I viewed being more than a little bit dusty,Edwige Fenech's (who was only 21 when the movie was made) performance was thankfully still able to shine.Placed in a number of 'different' situations which go from a lesbian 3 sum,to getting VERY friendly with a goat,the beautiful Edwige Fenech gives Ulla a strikingly charismatic side which reveals a ruthless smirk,as Fenech shows Ulla's desire to get every penny out of the hands of Mudy.
Joining Fenech,the gorgeous Rosalba Neri gives a deeply sensual performance as the money grabbing Paola,whilst Mauda Belleroche gives an excellent performance as Tony's deranged mum Mudy, and the stunning Eva Thulin perfectly shows the damage that the cruise-setting elite have done to her quiet life.
Straying close to a number of pretty uncomfortable subjects,co- writer/ (along with Nelda Minucci and Maurizio Bonuglia)director Ottavio Alessi impressively avoids turning the title into a grotesque freak show by openly embracing every bonkers moment that the film has to offer,with Alessi using tight side angles to give the viewer a strong tease of the incidents taking place.Along with the wonderfully outrageous moments,Alessi also uses sharp quick editing,which reveals that not everything is going well at all on the cruise ship.
Whilst the movies appearance is rather fleshy,the writer's take a brilliant swipe at mixing underlying Giallo themes with sly social commentary.Gradually revealing Tony to not be the sanest person around,the writers reveal each of the jet set crew to be obsessed with controlling and owning everything in their sight,with the writers showing their high-life fliers destroying the peace that the farmer and his wife have made on the secluded island,as they become seduced by the seducers.
Rosalba Neri, Edwige Fenech and Eva Thulin
christopher-underwood24 April 2013
Rosalba Neri, Edwige Fenech and Eva Thulin. All in one film and in and out of their clothes, throughout, I barely need to say any more. And yet, all three perform really well, be it barely clothed or nude and the film moves at a decent pace with constant surprises and sharp dialogue. A middle aged woman (who seems to have a preference for women) owns a smart boat and takes a young couple along with her son and a hooker in an attempt to get the son to recover from his madness by having sex with Fenech (the hooker). As you can see she is as mad as her son, but all get it on in various ways and much fun is had. There is also a shepherd and his young wife (Thulin) and an amorous goat who Fenech seems to take a shine to. This is an early film for Fenech, who would go on to make some classic giallo, but at only 21 she certainly gets stuck into the sex scenes even if Neri steals all the other scenes. She is 10 years older here, a veteran of many films already and assuredly takes centre stage, especially when given a gun to hold! Really good fun.
Eurotrash Sleaze and Political Economy
paulknobloch24 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I haven't posted a review in a while because I haven't seen anything worth reviewing, but this little 1969 masterpiece from Ottavio Alessi, TOP SENSATION, hit me on the head like an anvil when I stumbled across it this morning. Maud de Bellroche, looking like a butch dominatrix on the run from Nazi hunters, plays Mudy, an oil Baroness who has taken her demented pyromaniac son out for a pleasure cruise with a couple of swingers and their prostitute girlfriend, the impossibly beautiful Edwige Fenech. They toss sticks of dynamite into the ocean and drop acid and drink whiskey and screw each other, all in the hopes of creating an ambiance that will get Tony, the Baroness's weirdo son, to pop his cherry. Eventually they run into a sandbar and explore an isolated island where Tony falls for a virginal and equally impossibly beautiful goatheardress who shines in brilliantine contrast to the frivolousness of mom and her crew of golddigging pals. All while Rosalba Neri, the other sexpot from the ship, wanders up into the hills to blow the brains out of the peasants' goats.
Of course, things go terribly wrong .
Beba the goat girl and her oafish brute of a husband meet their proletariat demise aboard the ship, and later Tony strangles mother dearest: the girl he really wants to lose his virginity to. In the end, the boat sails off into the sunset with Mommy's Little Madman at the helm. Capital has remained in the hands of the decadent ruling class, and Tony steers his crew of hustlers and murderers towards their next plunder-rich target. Sounds like Antonioni a bit, or even Lina Wertmuller, just a lot more entertaining. In fact, being a filthy, elitist libertine never looked like so much fun.
Of course, things go terribly wrong .
Beba the goat girl and her oafish brute of a husband meet their proletariat demise aboard the ship, and later Tony strangles mother dearest: the girl he really wants to lose his virginity to. In the end, the boat sails off into the sunset with Mommy's Little Madman at the helm. Capital has remained in the hands of the decadent ruling class, and Tony steers his crew of hustlers and murderers towards their next plunder-rich target. Sounds like Antonioni a bit, or even Lina Wertmuller, just a lot more entertaining. In fact, being a filthy, elitist libertine never looked like so much fun.
Top Sensation
BandSAboutMovies15 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
By the loosest of categorization, we can call this movie a giallo; it's also an example of just how scummy an Italian exploitation movie can get.
Also known as The Seducers, Sensations and Swinging Young Seductresses, this movie has quite the plot: Mudy (French author Maud de Belleroche in her only movie) is the mother of a shy and mentally disturbed manchild named Tony (Ruggero Miti) who isn't interested in women and really only cares about setting things on fire. Her plan? A sea cruise where she's hired a prostitute named Ulla (Edwige Fenech!) to take her son's virginity and if that doesn't work, she also has her married lovers Paula (Rosalba Neri!) and her husband Aldo (Maurizio Bonuglia, The Perfume of the Lady in Black) aboard.
Everybody wants the oil project that the wealthy Mudy can give out. And somehow, Tony can resist both Fenech and Neri - this movie is science fiction - and only shows affection for Beba (Eva Thulin, who the New York Times misread as Ewa Aulin), the wife of goat herder Andro (Salvatore Puntillo). Also, someone has been strangling women everywhere the boat docks, someone that looks a lot like Tony.
Directed by Ottavio Alessi (who wrote Emanuelle In Bangkok and Emanuelle In America, so yes, he's a maniac), who co-wrote the script with Nelda Minucci from a story by Lorenzo Ricciardi (who made Savage Man, Savage Beast and the cockfighting comedy - oh man, an Italian film about fighting cocks can't be friendly to animals - Venere creola), everybody is having sex with anybody and everybody - and yes, there's a scene with Fenech and Neri you filthy-minded reader - is doing it except for Tony, who Mudy thinks will break out of his lack of development if he can just get on top of Beba, who is rushed out of a Fenech and Neri sandwich into the young boy's room so he can show off his slot cars while everyone keeps Beba's husband busy.
Also: Neri shooting everything she can with a rifle, Fenech making out with a goat and a choking after a post-incestual makeout session? Oh Italy, you do know how to make a movie.
Just listen to the music from Sante Maria Romitelli in this and wonder why life can't always be this good.
Oh man - I found a Pittsburgh Press review of this movie from when it played the Warner and it referred to it as "something dreadful" and said, "The Warner has brought forward some real doozies in recent months, but certainly nothing low enough to touch this number." The best line? "Garbage is the best way to describe Seducers, which was apparently meant to be a poor man's version of La Dolce Vita."
That's a rave review, dude.
Also: the movie ends with a Bible verse like some kind of demented apology for all the sin we've just witnessed.
Also known as The Seducers, Sensations and Swinging Young Seductresses, this movie has quite the plot: Mudy (French author Maud de Belleroche in her only movie) is the mother of a shy and mentally disturbed manchild named Tony (Ruggero Miti) who isn't interested in women and really only cares about setting things on fire. Her plan? A sea cruise where she's hired a prostitute named Ulla (Edwige Fenech!) to take her son's virginity and if that doesn't work, she also has her married lovers Paula (Rosalba Neri!) and her husband Aldo (Maurizio Bonuglia, The Perfume of the Lady in Black) aboard.
Everybody wants the oil project that the wealthy Mudy can give out. And somehow, Tony can resist both Fenech and Neri - this movie is science fiction - and only shows affection for Beba (Eva Thulin, who the New York Times misread as Ewa Aulin), the wife of goat herder Andro (Salvatore Puntillo). Also, someone has been strangling women everywhere the boat docks, someone that looks a lot like Tony.
Directed by Ottavio Alessi (who wrote Emanuelle In Bangkok and Emanuelle In America, so yes, he's a maniac), who co-wrote the script with Nelda Minucci from a story by Lorenzo Ricciardi (who made Savage Man, Savage Beast and the cockfighting comedy - oh man, an Italian film about fighting cocks can't be friendly to animals - Venere creola), everybody is having sex with anybody and everybody - and yes, there's a scene with Fenech and Neri you filthy-minded reader - is doing it except for Tony, who Mudy thinks will break out of his lack of development if he can just get on top of Beba, who is rushed out of a Fenech and Neri sandwich into the young boy's room so he can show off his slot cars while everyone keeps Beba's husband busy.
Also: Neri shooting everything she can with a rifle, Fenech making out with a goat and a choking after a post-incestual makeout session? Oh Italy, you do know how to make a movie.
Just listen to the music from Sante Maria Romitelli in this and wonder why life can't always be this good.
Oh man - I found a Pittsburgh Press review of this movie from when it played the Warner and it referred to it as "something dreadful" and said, "The Warner has brought forward some real doozies in recent months, but certainly nothing low enough to touch this number." The best line? "Garbage is the best way to describe Seducers, which was apparently meant to be a poor man's version of La Dolce Vita."
That's a rave review, dude.
Also: the movie ends with a Bible verse like some kind of demented apology for all the sin we've just witnessed.
One of the greatest sleazy giallos ever
kannibalcorpsegrinder28 November 2020
Setting off on a trip together, a woman and her friends try to force her dim-witted son into adulthood by engaging in his first sexual encounter, but when his attention turns elsewhere than their intentions, an effort to keep everything on schedule is threatened when several strangers are brought into their games.
This was an exceptional and highly impressive sleazy giallo. This one gets so much of the enjoyable elements featured through the use of its appealing and frequent amount of nudity or sexual situations from those well-qualified to deliver it. Considering the participants, this one gets plenty of mileage out of not just the nude couplings or just casually lounging around which is played for such a fiery, erotic tone. Given that everything is designed for sexual manipulation and is part of a game at some point with the trip being an effort to make the son lose his awkwardness around women, there's plenty on display here to enhance the eroticism featured with a generally raw sexuality based on getting them into these positions as often as possible. Moreover, with the sexiness on display, there's a lot to like with the gradually darker turn this makes. As the main focus of the trip is to bring the son into adulthood by using their feminine wiles, there's already a perverse tone apparent from the start where sexual games are par for the course and seduction plays a huge role in the outcome of everything. When this is turned around with their own thrills involving the island girl brought into their circle, the innocence she displays is in stark contrast to their free-spirited ways even after the attempt to introduce her into their lifestyle. That it turns into a veritable bloodbath at the end with some unexpected bodies showing up and the rather risky nature of trying to get away with it all offers a fun series of thrills on top of the somewhat shocking action featured. These here all make for a highly enjoyable and impressive genre effort with a lot to like about it. There are some minor issues on display here. The main problem is that there's very little about the son that actually endears us to want to see him succeed in his quest. A shy, quiet introvert who stays by himself, tends to get into trouble due to a curiously unexplained child-like view of the world and just seems completely bland compared to everyone else, this one has very little interest in getting his sexual experience. The scenes of him on the boat playing with the island girl are just excruciating as they have no chemistry at all and the whole affair tends to go ignored for such long stretches it can easily be forgotten. The other issue here is the odd and unsatisfying motivations in the finale which are highly underwritten and don't seem genuine to what's come before in their characterization which creates wildly inconsistent characterizations in this section. Otherwise, there isn't much to dislike here.
Rated Unrated/R: Nudity, sexual scenes, Violence, Language and mild drug use.
This was an exceptional and highly impressive sleazy giallo. This one gets so much of the enjoyable elements featured through the use of its appealing and frequent amount of nudity or sexual situations from those well-qualified to deliver it. Considering the participants, this one gets plenty of mileage out of not just the nude couplings or just casually lounging around which is played for such a fiery, erotic tone. Given that everything is designed for sexual manipulation and is part of a game at some point with the trip being an effort to make the son lose his awkwardness around women, there's plenty on display here to enhance the eroticism featured with a generally raw sexuality based on getting them into these positions as often as possible. Moreover, with the sexiness on display, there's a lot to like with the gradually darker turn this makes. As the main focus of the trip is to bring the son into adulthood by using their feminine wiles, there's already a perverse tone apparent from the start where sexual games are par for the course and seduction plays a huge role in the outcome of everything. When this is turned around with their own thrills involving the island girl brought into their circle, the innocence she displays is in stark contrast to their free-spirited ways even after the attempt to introduce her into their lifestyle. That it turns into a veritable bloodbath at the end with some unexpected bodies showing up and the rather risky nature of trying to get away with it all offers a fun series of thrills on top of the somewhat shocking action featured. These here all make for a highly enjoyable and impressive genre effort with a lot to like about it. There are some minor issues on display here. The main problem is that there's very little about the son that actually endears us to want to see him succeed in his quest. A shy, quiet introvert who stays by himself, tends to get into trouble due to a curiously unexplained child-like view of the world and just seems completely bland compared to everyone else, this one has very little interest in getting his sexual experience. The scenes of him on the boat playing with the island girl are just excruciating as they have no chemistry at all and the whole affair tends to go ignored for such long stretches it can easily be forgotten. The other issue here is the odd and unsatisfying motivations in the finale which are highly underwritten and don't seem genuine to what's come before in their characterization which creates wildly inconsistent characterizations in this section. Otherwise, there isn't much to dislike here.
Rated Unrated/R: Nudity, sexual scenes, Violence, Language and mild drug use.
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