Oasis of Fear AKA Dirty Pictures

Introduction

Young hippies, Ingrid (Ornella Muti) and Dick (Ray Lovelock, George from The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue) are travelling around Europe in their yellow MG, paying their way by whatever means possible. The film starts in Copenhagen where they take advantage of the Danes recent legalisation of pornography by buying a load of smut and smuggling it out of the country to sell at high prices elsewhere. In Italy they make lots of money from their 'dirty pictures' (the original English title) but when the cash runs out Dick poses with Ingrid for some more and then persuades her to take some of herself in a photo booth. When trying to sell these on, they accidentally approach an undercover cop who arrests them and they are given 24 hours to leave the country. Trying to get to the Swiss border, they begin to run out of fuel and, strapped for cash, Dick offers a garage manager some pictures for a tank of petrol but he recognises Ingrid from the paper and they are forced to flee.

The car eventually runs out of fuel outside a mansion and, as it appears empty, they push the vehicle onto the drive and into the open garage. When there is no answer at the door, Dick siphons the petrol from a car stored in the garage but is caught in the act by the lady of the house, Barbara (Irene Papas), who unexpectedly changes her mind about phoning the police and invites them in, seemingly for some three way action.

Once in the house and after a night of fun and frolics, a revelation causes the mood to change and a deadly game of cat and mouse to begin.

Video

Shameless have again gone to lengths to bring the most complete possible cut to DVD, including some scenes that were only available in Italian so they are in that language with English subtitles. It is a mystery why some of them were cut in the first place as they add much to the film without increasing the running time a great deal, though they are of a slightly lower quality than the English dubbed footage. The film is preceded by a disclaimer/explanation of the restoration.

The transfer is good for a film like this with decent contrast levels and vibrant colours. Cinematographer Alphio Contini makes great use of the crash zoom and editor Eugenio Alabiso keeps the tempo high with some quick cutting in the more tense scenes.

Audio

A clear Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack with an English dub for the majority of the film though, as I said earlier, some scenes switch to Italian. This could be annoying and ruin the flow of the film but you appreciate the movie more for the inclusion of the scenes so don't mind the switching. An option of an Italian dub with English subtitles would have been ideal but I imagine the film stock of the right quality wasn't available. We should probably be grateful that a copy of the film with the original English dub has been made available on DVD.

Bruno Lauzi's score is funky when it needs to be and wonderfully manipulates the mood of the film, complementing the camera moves and editing well.

Extra Features

As well as the Theatrical Trailer there is the Shameless trailer reel that starts up when you load the disc and can be skipped through or can be watched from the menu. This comprises:
- Strip Naked For Your Killer
- Baba Yaga: Reloaded
- Watch Me When I Kill!
- Torso: Carnal Violence
- The Frightened Woman
- The Designated Victim

This disc also features a fact track by Kevin and Nicholas Wilson which is fun and informative, pointing out when to pause for good effect and is a light hearted and well researched track.

Conclusion

This was obviously influenced by the Manson family, with the middle act overtly citing their actions, most noticeably when they scrawl 'pigs' on the wall, though the idea of hippies terrorising a middle class woman is pretty Manson-esque. With only three main characters, this is a tight and well constructed thriller which uses genre conventions to good effect when the action expands beyond the house and people come calling.

Irene Papas is a fine actress, unusually one who doesn't consider herself above straight genre work, and has real on screen presence here. Ray Lovelock is very good as Dick, his mood changing with realism and Ornella Muti, who was just about 16 and hence underage for the required sex scenes, gives off the required sense of vulnerability that Ingrid requires. Muti's age meant that a body double was required for the more explicit scenes but Umberto Lenzi has no qualms about showing her bending over in a pair of hot pants!

This is an excellent film by Lenzi, more restrained than the likes of Cannibal Ferox and whether you call it Oasis of Fear, Dirty Pictures or the literal translation of A Good Place To Die (which gives too much away in my opinion), Un posto ideale per uccidere is an excellent piece of Italian cinema and one well worth checking out.