The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh: Shameless Fan Edition

During my gradual descent into full on film obsession, I came across many different aspects of horror films and sub genres and the one that got its hooks into me the most was giallo. Part of this process of buying, collecting and watching as many gialli as I could was compiling a list of those films that I hadn't seen but wanted to die, watch and add to my DVD and BD collection. Unfortunately, some of those titles were out of print and were being sold on Amazon Marketplace and eBay for huge sums of money. One of them was the Sergio Martino film The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (another of his, Your Vice is a Locked Room and I Have the Key is still OOP and I hope it will be re-released by someone soon). Anyway, when Shameless announced that they were going to release this highly regarded giallo, I was extremely happy but tried to stay away for as much information as I could so I could watch it with no preconceptions.

From the very first scene, you know you're in giallo territory as a man drives his car through the red light district before picking the girl he wants, inviting her into his car and then, having driven somewhere suitably secluded, brings out a straight razor and kills her. You then have a fairly abrupt cut to the airport at Vienna where Neil Wardh and his wife, Julie, have just arrived back in Austria because Neil, a diplomat, has been away for some time. Neil is soon whisked away to an official engagement so Julie has to take a taxi to their apartment. On the way, the car is stopped by a police patrol which is examining everyone's passport and official papers because the sex killer has struck again and every effort is being made to apprehend him.

When she arrives home, Julie is preparing for a relaxing bath when someone repeatedly pushes the buzzer and, understandably apprehensive, it takes a while for her to pluck up the courage to answer the door. The man on the other side isn't a killer, but a delivery driver with a bouquet of flowers which come with an anonymous note. Later that evening, Julie goes to a party arranged by a friend of hers and, just as things are going well, an ex-lover of hers, Jean, shows up with clear intentions of picking up where they left off. Julie wants nothing to do with him and, besides, another man, George, has attracted her attention. You immediately get the impression that Julie is not a woman who believes in a monogamous marital relationship.

With her husband spending a lot of time at work, Julie spends her time alternating between George and Jean but also catching up with old friends. However with the knife wielding maniacal killer on the loose, one can never be too careful and it isn't long before Julie finds herself being terrorised by the leather clad killer and his straight razor. She suspects that the killer is Jean, the more aggressive of her lovers, but he has pretty ironclad alibis for the murders so the police aren't interested in her assertions. Meanwhile, someone continues to kill women and it seems as if they have turned their attention to Julie and her friends, killing one in a park in a spectacularly suspenseful scene. Wanting to get away from Jean, Julie decides to take a vacation with George and heads off to sunny Spain with him but, as news reaches Iberia that the murderer was killed whilst attacking and intended victim, Julie is far from safe.


Although she is perhaps most famous for the sex comedies she made, I always associate Edwige Fenech with the horror movies she made, especially the gialli from All the Colours of the Dark to The Case of the Bloody Iris and Strip Nude for Your Killer. Similarly, George Hilton, who imaginatively plays George, is a bit of a genre favourite due to his appearances in The Case of the Bloody Iris, My Dear Killer and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail. If you know these films, then you'll see that this isn't the first time that either Fenech or Hilton have been directed by Sergio Martino or have appeared together in one of his films.

Although I like pretty much every horror film that Sergio Martino has made (including the fourth Shameless release, Torso), this is undoubtedly the finest film of his that I have seen. I didn't give too much thought to the title, as 'Vice' could have different meanings but this seems to fully embrace psychoanalysis with a central character who would have made a perfect case study for Sigmund Freud! I watched this twice in one evening and took much more from the experience the second time and was surprised (and pleased) to find many of my observations backed up by Justin Harries on his fact track.


In your traditional giallo, you will normally find a masked or otherwise anonymous killer, a central character who is either the target of the killer, tries to do some amateur detective work to find out who the murderer is, or both and plenty of stylish and bloodsoaked murder scenes. The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh delivers in just about every front but has much more to it in terms of subtext so there is something there to challenge you intellectually if you don't just want to watch people being pursued, hacked up and otherwise terrorised by an anonymous killer. It begins with an important quote from Sigmund Freud's 1918 book Reflections on War and Death which argues that, because the first of the 10 Commandments is 'thou shalt not kill', all humans and their ancestors were capable of killing, something that exists to this day.

Whenever discussion turns to the finest giallo ever made, you will generally find Deep Red (Profondo Rosso, Dario Argento, 1975) at the top of the list and other films by the likes of Mario Bava (The Girl Who Knew Too Much, 1963) and Lucio Fulci (Lizard in a Woman's Skin, 1971 and Don't Torture a Duckling, 1972) being seriously considered. I had never come across this being mentioned in such esteemed company and have no idea why as it is superbly crafted, extremely well written and has a couple of astonishingly well made scenes that escalate the tension before delivering the shock ending.

I'm extremely glad that Shameless have released this film so a new audience (those who missed the first lot of DVDs and have been waiting for a new release) can see and appreciate Sergio Martino's genre classic and one of the finest gialli ever made.

The Disc

Extra Features
Before you get to the main menu, there are skippable trailers for the New York Ripper Blu-ray release, Almost Human and Don't Torture a Duckling which are worth watching at least once. When you select 'Play', there is a brief introduction by Sergio Martino, welcoming you to this new release of this film.

Perhaps the main extra feature is the fact track which isn't written by the Wilson Bros this time, but by Justin Harries who seems to be an extremely knowledgeable and well read guy and knows how to compile one of these with enough information and humour, saying he is 'distracted' and 'still distracted' when Ms Fenech is in a state of undress! There is plenty of information about this film, Edwige Fenech, Sergio Martino and other cast and crew members so it is worth putting this on for your second or third viewing.

Thrills, Chills & Cleavage: Interview with director Sergio Martino (21:37) is a well delivered and extremely interesting interview as he talks about his inspirations, how he became involved in the film industry and what he thinks about The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh. Perhaps the most interesting piece of information was that he basically inserted the sex scenes so the censors would have something to remove and planned the film accordingly so the version you see on this disc isn't the director's cut!

Edwige Fenech & The Genesis of Mrs Wardh (6:54) begins with a warning not to watch this before you've seen the film as it contain spoilers and it's a text based piece separated into three sections (and an epilogue) telling you how she began in the business, gained her first starting role and became a genre icon. If you're not completely au fait with her career then this is well worth a look.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer for this plus the Shameless Trailer Park which contains trailers for everything Shameless have released from New York Ripper and Phantom of Death right the way through to the present day. As is increasingly the case with Shameless releases, this has a reversible sleeve with different artwork and the British release title Next! on the reverse. I still haven't made my mind up which side to display!


The Picture
The opening scene is suitably grimy with nothing particularly crystal clear, which is just how it should be. However, once you are past that, things become a great deal sharper with excellent colours, contrast and definition. Colours are strong and vibrant and, thanks to the black levels, low light scenes don't suffer from any loss of detail. Also, when it comes to skin tones, there are plenty of scenes to test these out and they pass with flying colours!

The wardrobe, costume design and hair and make-up aspects are all excellent, as are the set designs with some terrific décor. The two principal filming locations (Vienna, Austria and Sitges, Spain) gives the film extremely different looks with the grey urban landscape of Vienna with its grand architecture in stark contrast to the seaside town of the Catalan town which seems much more relaxed.

This isn't a film, unlike Martino's Torso, that dwells on violence and the after-effects of a frenzied attack, so you have fairly realistic knife attacks but, as it doesn't show close-up knife wounds, there isn't really much in the way of SFX make-up that is needed.

It is well worth noting this is the Italian print of the film so you have Italian opening and closing credits, plus notes and newspaper headlines are in Italian but there are optional English subtitles which translate these.


The Sound
Thankfully, this disc has both the English and Italian audio options, both presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono and they are both very clear with excellent English subtitles available although these suit the Italian track more than the English.

One of the main features of the film is the splendid score by Nora Orlandi, which effortlessly moves from scene to scene and from suspense to horror, from romance to adventure. It is a remarkable piece of music that doesn't really demand attention but, if you spend your time just listening to the soundtrack, you'll understand why it is such an important feature.


Final Thoughts
The thing with horror films and film in general, is the more you know, the more you realise you don't know and, although I was aware that there was a giallo called The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (aka Next!, Blade of the Ripper and Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh), I was unaware of just how good a film it is. I wouldn't hesitate to compare it with Profondo Rosso and put it up there with the finest gialli ever made.

This is a very good release from Shameless which has been given the full Shameless Fan Edition treatment with a lengthy interview with Sergio Martino, who also introduces the film, and a fact track. This release is a godsend for those of you who, like me have been waiting for such a DVD for ages but, if you already own a version of this, then this is well worth adding to your collection.