PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*
The bloom was pretty much off the gialli rose when CRAZY DESIRES was filmed in 1975, and perhaps its total lack of marketable foreign stars indicates that its producers had little hope for anything but some quickie profit.
A wheelchair-bound old man refuses to allow his young niece Ileana (Isabella Marshal) to invite her hip friends to a party at the uncle's Gothic castle, but she does so anyway. The party-goers are all a bunch of wealthy eccentrics, and two or three of them are involved in drug-smuggling. However, the castle boasts more secrets, such as Ileana's demented half-brother, who's watched over by a maid who controls him with sex. Not long after the unwanted visitors show up, a mad killer begins murdering people, starting with a sexy blonde, by cutting out their eyeballs. When the cops are called in to question the castle's occupants, can the clever inspector manage to figure out the identity of the Eyeball Killer?
Though production values are relatively good and the female stars are sexy, the narrative's rambling plot builds nearly no suspense. Director Fillipo Ratti, whose credits in that department are underwhelming, is at least partly responsible for the languid pace. However, the dull characters, all defined by their pointless eccentricities, are surely the responsibility of writer Ambroglio Molteni, who had racked up some minor but enjoyable Laura Gemser erotica and a couple of above-average sword-and-sandal (VULCAN SON OF JUPITER, GIANT OF METROPOLIS).
Aside from a closeup on an eyeball's removal, there's not much gore, and it's a long slog between the nude scenes. It takes little detective ability to guess that the perilous psycho in the film is not the real architect of the killings, though he's at least a possible source of danger at times. The original Italian title, "Morbid Habits of the Governess," has more to do with the actual story than does the English title, but it also kind of gives the game away.
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