DVD Review: The Sister of Ursula
The Sister of Ursula (1978)
Studio: Severin
DVD Release Date: March 25, 2008
Directed By: Enzo Milioni
Cast: Barbara Magnolfi, Stefania D’Amario, Vanni Materassi, Marc Porel
Review By: Marc Patterson
Ursula (Barbara Magnolfi) and her sister Dagmar (Stefania D’Amario) are on a trip to find their long estranged mother and give her a portion of their inheritance check, due to the recent passing on of their father. They check into a luxurious seaside hotel from where they intend to further their search. Meanwhile in the hotel, a masked killer is paying women to have sex with other guys/girls and requesting to watch quietly, while hidden. Whoever the killer is, the girls know him, and aren’t intimidated or afraid. Too bad for them, because once done the killer moves from the shadows and commits to murdering everyone!
What a snooze-fest of a giallo. Sure it was sleazy as hell, but the story wasn’t that brilliant, or entertaining. The best murder-set-piece comes early on, deflating the remainder of the film with hokey violence that is implied, rather than seen. Unlike other quality giallo’s this film takes a rather boring and repetitive pattern. Elicit sex scene, murder sequence, and repeat, with very little filler in between. The acting is dull, and lifeless, and the characters unbelievably dry.
Clearly this is pure sexploitation with the “horror” aspect injected as a secondary thought. As opposed to building climatic suspense surrounding our shrouded black gloved killer, the camera instead lingers on the supple curves of the vivacious women as they perform various sexual acts to please the killer before he does in both them and their unsuspecting partners. To credit, the women are appropriately gorgeous, and there’s a bountiful amount of vintage 70’s bush to be had, but even for a bit of a sleaze hound like myself it wasn’t enough to keep my interest. I’d rather have had a bit more balance between the sleaze and the story.
The extras are rather sparse, with not much to report. So why would Severin choose to dig this from the annals of lost films and re-release on DVD? Who really knows? The Sister of Ursula comes recommended only for hardcore fans of the giallo genre. All others can feel free to pass this one by.
Brutal As Hell Rating: 2 out of 5
