Nothing Underneath (1985)

Director: Carlo Vanzina

Screenplay: Carlo Vanzina, Enrico Vanzina and Franco Ferrini

Cast: Renée Simonsen as Barbara, Tom Schanley as Bob Crane, Donald Pleasence as Inspector Danesi, Cyrus Elias as Giorgio Zanoni, Nicola Perring as Jessica Crane, Maria McDonald as Margot Wilson Catherine Noyes as Carrie, Anna Galiena as Diana, Sonia Raule as Cristina

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies)

An obscurer giallo, Nothing Underneath is a throwback to classic giallo in structure but for the mid-eighties cocaine era, and definitely is as mad as a box of frogs. It begins in Yellow Stone Park, Wyoming, following a male park ranger Bob Crane, whose twin sister Jessica Crane was the Wyoming girl who made it big as a fashion model in Italy. As twins, they have a psychic link, first witnessed when she is nearly assaulted by a guy in a bathroom who starts to try to shove cocaine up her nose, but escalates when he has a vision of a scissor welding, black gloved maniac.

The later vision forces him to go to Italy, and her location at Hotel Scala, to see if she is okay or not. Not expecting him to be there as a viewer, but delighted for his Halloween series aura to get him these types of roles, Donald Pleasance plays an Italian policeman, one who not surprisingly sees it weird that her twin brother claims to have seen the events by telepathy, but shows enough concern as Jessica is still missing. Nothing Underneath is a film offering moments of the sublime and bizarre, but flip-flops all over the place. When it is focused, it is stylish as hell, providing stark images for what is a ridiculous film, one until the final act less interested in overt violence over sex, such as the image of scissors being cleaned of freshly spilled blood in a full bath of water. A bit of this is in mind of its context, as eighties as possible in costumes and Jessica Crane's Billy Idol inspired stark white blonde short hair. Some of the musical cuts just in a single catwalk scene gives us even One Night in Bangkok for a strange pop cultural exchange; a single off Chess (1984), a musical about Cold War tensions played out through an international chess tournament, which became an album, the lyrics were written by ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus alongside Tim Rice, making the least expected individuals to end up in a giallo. The original music, with its luscious synth, at one point nearly sounds like a prominent cut from Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), and it comes with note that the composer is a big hitter, Pino Donaggio, a regular collaborator with De Palma.

There is a sense that this film is riffing on De Palma, and as much Dario Argento too, which is apt as a screenwriting collaborator for the later during the eighties from 1985's Phenomena onwards, Franco Ferrini, is involved. As a piece of silliness, Nothing Underneath does scratch an itch in trash, lurid giallo with nudity for the sake of nudity, a plot involving diamonds, and an ill-advised game of Russian Roulette as a party warmer. Hell, this even has a clue gained from helping with a pet hamster's anxieties, which is a first for me. You cannot help but wonder what Dario Argento or Brian De Palma could have done with this, but the kitsch does help. Donald Pleasance is a huge virtue for this, charming as an old genre guard, even when befuddled by plastic forks at a very peculiar fast food restaurant with an insane amount of salad (pasta?) at a self service counter. His performance, even post-dubbed, is that of a solid actor, which also emphasises that the later Halloween films that came after this, where Dr. Loomis seemingly lost his mind from 1988 onwards, was what was written for him in the role, which he at least committed to the role. Your taste for this is entirely going to be based on your taste for cheesy giallo. It is also bungled by its ending which has badly aged and makes no sense for the pacing, [Spoiler] that of a lesbian character who follows the stereotype of the vindictive jilted lover [Spoilers End], especially as it makes little sense to include the twist when the hilarious weirdness of the Russian Roulette scene is the obvious way to go in terms of suggesting this is a revenge plot, or follow the diamonds scattered throughout each of the murders. It still goes up to eleven, including an electric drill assault, but this is definitely a messy, peculiar entry which can work as much as stumble.