Format: Streaming video from Tubi TV on Fire!
You know you’re in for a treat when a movie has a half dozen or so release titles. That’s the case with The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, released as Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh in its native giallo-friendly Italian and as Blade of the Ripper, Next!, and The Next Victim in the U.S. Honestly, the first title is probably the best one, because it’s going to call up all of the prurient joys of Italian horror films, which rarely skimp on the nudity or the blood.
And, not to drop a spoiler above the fold, but that strange vice in the title is, in fact, blood. This vice—she is both repelled by and excited by blood—doesn’t really figure into the plot at all. Essentially, it’s there as a way for director Sergio Martino to show sex and nudity. If your title character has a blood fetish and it’s hinted at in the name of the film, you’d better show it. I’m bringing this up as a minor spoiler because the only way to talk about The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is to dive head-first into spoilers. Consider the rest of this review under a spoiler tag—you’ve been warned.
Like a lot of movies, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is a combination of other films. The biggest chunk of this movie’s plot is, more or less, Strangers on a Train. In fact, I would say that the elevator pitch of this movie is Strangers on a Train as a giallo. There’s also a large percentage of this film that can be traced to Don’t Look Now. Ponder that for a second and I’ll show you how it all fits together.
In Vienna, there is a homicidal maniac plaguing the town. This killer is attacking women with a straight razor, hence the alternative title to the film. Into this city arrive Julie (Edwige Fenech) and her husband Neil (Alberto de Mendoza). The couple has arrived from New York, where Neil has been working as a diplomat. The marriage is one of convenience more than anything else. On Julie’s end, the marriage is specifically to get out of an abusive relationship with Jean (Ivan Rassimov). The problem is that while Jean is abusive, he’s also someone willing to engage in her blood fetish.
Naturally, now that she is back in Vienna, Julie is once again the target of Jean. At a party hosted by her friend Carol, Julie is introduced to George, Carol’s cousin. It turns out that Carol and George are the only heirs to their wealthy uncle who has just died. Julie and George begin an affair, and she is immediately blackmailed, she suspects by Jean. Carol goes to deal with the blackmailer instead, and she is killed by the razor killer (remember him?).
Now, Julie is convinced that Jean is the razor killer—he’s certainly been game to hurt her and he clearly has sadomasochistic tendencies. When Julie is attacked, she decides to leave the country (and leave Neil) to go to Spain with George.
I said up top that this is a combination of Strangers on a Train and Don’t Look Now. The connection to Strangers on a Train should be obvious—the cause of Carol’s death won’t be a mystery with a few seconds worth of thought. How this is intended to deal with Julie is actually a bit more inventive, and it’s one of the better plot moments of the film. The connection to Don’t Look Now comes from the fact that the razor killer—someone who is evidently important enough to be the focus of one of the alternate titles of the movie—is kind of a red herring that happens in the background of the film, much like the killer in Don’t Look Now.
The truth is that I don’t love giallo films because they always feel like style over substance to me. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is no different in that respect. It looks pretty and there’s a substantial amount of nudity because it’s an Italian horror film from the early 1970s. And, honestly, in the film’s favor, there’s a lot more of a coherent plot to this movie than there is to a lot of other films of this subgenre.
In truth, the film works well enough. I don’t like the style enough to want to watch it a second time, but in a lot of ways it transcends the normal problems of the subgenre.
Why to watch The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh: It’s more coherent than most gialli.
Why not to watch: If you don’t like the style, it’s not going to change your mind.
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