User reviews

There must have been a sharp drop in budgets here as Fernando De Leo goes from huge sweeping Eurocrime epics to...an old house out in the country with four actors in it, complete with recycled music from earlier, and better films.

That's your first warning sign right there. The theme tune for Milano Calibro 9 plays over footage of Joe Dallesandro escaping from prison and killing two farmers. He then heads off to a house in the country he has a special interest in, only to find that it has been bought over by a man and wife combo, complete with evil nymphomania sister who is having an affair with her brother in law.

There's something under the fireplace Joe wants, but maybe Joe wants a little bit of action too. While the man is out hunting, the wife out shopping, and the horny sister out sunbathing while wearing what looks like just a headscarf, Joe knocks her out and brings her into the house while he digs out the fireplace. When the sister wakes up, instead of pouncing on her, Joe makes her do some digging instead.

They do get in on eventually however, but the sister likes it of course. When the wife and the husband return, Joe starts playing them off each other, but to be honest with you this film never really gets going at all, including the predictable ending.

You could never say that Joe Dallesandro was ever going to win an oscar for acting, but here it seems like he just cannot be bothered at all! He just kind of threatens people and bulges his eyes out a bit. The whole thing comes across as being a bit half-arsed, like Fernando De Leo was just going through the motions. There's a bit of nudity to keep you awake a bit, but this is bare bones, plotless crap.

"Madness" or "Holiday Massacre" superficially looks like another umpteenth "Last House on the Left" rip-off, but actually it's not. LHotL and all of its copies revolve on two major themes, namely rape and revenge, whereas this flick doesn't feature any 'actual' rape and certainly not any revenge. This is merely a typical late 70's/early 80's sexploitation effort with a bit of additional violence near the ending. Joe Dallesandro, the handsome but slightly eccentric star of various Andy Warhol movies, stars as a badass fugitive convict in a very remote and rural area. He escapes from a prison that doesn't look like a prison and kills a farmer with a pitchfork. He has to pick up the loot from a previous heist in a countryside cabin, but the place is occupied by three people on a summer holiday weekend. Now, since this is an Italian exploitation thriller, it means that the "victims" are in fact equally sleazy and heinous as the criminal. Sergio is supposedly happily married with his wife Liliana, but has an affair with his nymphomaniac sister- in-law Paola. Paola herself is a genuine bitch on a continuous quest for lust and power. "Madness" is a competent but not highly memorable thriller. The plot is predictable and all too quickly reverts to clichéd situations and detestable conclusions. Women's right activists, in particular, should avoid this movie at all costs, since the script proudly concludes that women provoke being rape victims and end up enjoying it after all. The film does benefice, however, from the isolated cabin filming location. Fernando Di Leo perfectly manages to create an atmosphere of despair and inescapably. You can also almost sense the heat and sexual oppression through the screen. Di Leo is of course a very experienced and visionary director. He wrote and directed multiple downright brilliant crime/gangster movies "Manhunt", "Caliber 9" and "The Boss". Another strongpoint of the film is excellent soundtrack by Louis Bacalov. Recommended, but perhaps only if you're familiar with European – and then particularly Italian -exploitation from the late 70's and early 80's.

Incredible cinema from fernando di leo (one of his last films) : A deserted place-somewhere out of the city, Joe Dallesandro in best prehistoric "caveman" vein lurks around and attacks one man with a big,fat stone. Another man, he throws the stone on him but he doesnt hit, the man sets up a fight with dallesandro and finally loses his life.. then dallesandro drives the car-.The credits and the music of luis bacalov start... the viever notices, its going to be an amazing "event"... The plot continues when a man with his wife and her horny sister paola (performed by Lorraine de selle) are arriving at a small house for the weekend. Dallesandro not far away from here, first spies around the house and watches through the window that lorraine has an affair with her sister´s man dallesandro sees his chance when de selle is alone at home, making outside a sunbath he hits her, brings her into the house and after she wakes up he wants immediately a coffee(!) After some small talk dallesandro rapes de selle who then afterwhile says that she even enjoyed it an ungood surprise awaits the wife and the man..needless to say. one highlight of the film when dallesandro is forcing de selle and the man to have sex, while the whole time he points his riffle at them and gives comands -quote(to de selle): " and you show what we men like.." later it comes to a ultra pathetic pseudo-romance between dallesandro and de selle´s sister, but still the end of film leads to a pure tragedy... Technically the film is obviously very low budget-nearly amateurish, Dallesandro makes a totally over(and under)acting performance but he´s very entertaining, the actress of de selle´s sister is completely unconvincing (probably she never "acted" before) about de selles role i can say just the very best: most of the film she´s completely naked, so this is doubtless her best role! if you see her in this film and her other flicks as the bruno mattei films for example you note that nothing is too low for this actress-and i dont mean this negative! All in one a film that i like a lot, probably its not for everybodys taste..

At the end of the 70s, Fernando di Leo's career was going downhill, avalanche-style. The producers of Madness (a.k.a. Toy) generously provided him with two heaps from the used car dealer next door and a ramshackle hut in the Abruzzo region including posters of Marlon Brando and John Travolta on the wall – conditions that made di Leo so enthusiastic that he churned out a script for the libido thriller kammerspiel of the year, at least in his head. Enter the world champion in eye rolling, ex-Andy Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, as an escaped convict looking exactly like the village plumber ... and ricky-tick he's laying pipe to two low-rent lascivious gals desperate for a nice and thorough rape ("It wasn't bad at all ... Were you so keen due to abstinence? I enjoyed it. Whenever you feel like it, I'm all yours"), refined with some of the most harrowing canzone from the Italo hit parade 1979 (plus Luis Bacalov's score directly nicked from di Leo's by far best work, Milano Calibro 9). Amateur actress Lorraine de Selle is showing her beaver off for most of the ninety endless minutes, but - pardon me - that's not the reason why the word "lousy" might haunt you for a few days. Another sample of Dallesandro's dialogue, per favore? "And now screw. Show us what men like." It's only a short stop to Joe D'Amato from here. His porn flicks, for sure.

Escaping the world's least secure prison through an open window and down a sturdy length of knotted rope, murderer and thief Joe Brezzi (Joe Dallesandro) legs it to a farmhouse where he attacks two men (killing one with a pitchfork) and steals their car. He then drives to a remote cottage to retrieve the 300 million lira buried under its fireplace, but finds that the poky property is now owned by yuppie couple Sergio (Gianni Macchia) and Liliana (Patrizia Behn), who arrive for the weekend in the company of Liliana's sister Paola (Lorraine De Selle ), who we later discover is having an affair with Sergio.

Joe waits until Liliana is out shopping and Sergio is hunting before making his move, surprising Paola while she sunbathes topless (this chick has a serious aversion to clothing, spending 90% of the film completely naked). He forces her to dig before deciding to rape her, receiving compliments from the woman about his lovemaking skills (this is NOT a film with a feminist agenda). Liliana returns to find Paola tied up and soon joins her sister bound and gagged while Joe hacks away at the hearth. Soon enough, Sergio returns and a power play ensues as Joe reveals the truth about Sergio and Paola, and takes a fancy to Liliana.

Obviously inspired by the likes of The Last House On The Left, Hitchhike and The House On The Edge Of The Park, this sleazy, exploitative home-invasion thriller starts off great, as Joe prowls the property preparing to make his move, but loses steam once he begins to terrorise the group. Watching them dig and argue is boring, even with De Selle flashing her big hairy bush all the time. After much tedium (even the scene where Joe forces Sergio and Paola to have sex in front of Liliana is dull), the film picks up for a bloody finale in which the adulterous couple make a crap bid for freedom, and Joe pays the price for leaving his shotgun unattended.

5/10. I might have scored it higher if Behn had joined De Selle in getting nekkid, but she remains fully clothed throughout.

Paula and Sergio are married and own the small house in the mountains where they only travel to at weekends and Lillian is Paula's sister,who just happens to be having an affair with Sergio.Sergio is going hunting,Paula is going shopping and Lillian is staying home to sunbathe naked.Lillian puts on the radio and we hear a news report a thief and murderer who has escaped from jail and is on the loose after murdering farmer with a pitchfork.The criminal named Joe Brezy has stolen the car and is hiding near the house.He has buried 300million lira in the house(from the previous robbery).Joe takes the three of them hostage whilst he digs for his loot.When he finally gets his loot he plays Paula,Lillian and Sergio against each other telling Paula about the affair her husband and sister are having."Vacanze per Uno Massacre" is a cheaply made thriller highly influenced by rape and revenge sub-genre.Lorrainde de Selle provides lots of full-frontal nudity and the climax is violent and memorable.It's a crying shame that this nasty little tale of sexual tension is so obscure.8 out of 10.

A husband and wife (Gianni Macchia and Patrizia Behn) go to their country cottage along with the wife's younger, university-student sister (Lorraine DeSalle) with whom the husband is having a secret affair. They run into an escaped convict (Joe Dallesandro) who has hidden a cache of money in the cottage. The convict gets the upper-hand over the husband and holds the trio hostage, having his way with both of the women. It doesn't really end well for anybody.

Although it was directed by the respected Italian genre director Fernando DiLeo, this is actually an Italian "terror film",a sleazy and disreputable cycle films that involve lower-class cretins brutalizing, raping, and generally terrorizing wealthy bourgeois-type characters. These films were all indirectly influenced by the notorious American film "Last House on the Left", but the more proximate influence was no doubt other Italian films like "Late Night Trains" and "Hitchhike". These films differ somewhat from "Last House" and the American "rape-revenge" films in that they generally have a little less gory violence and trade more in humiliation and softcore sex. The victims in the Italian films are often unsympathetic hypocrites who might be as bad or even worse than their lower-class assailants. Most controversially, the (invariably sexy) female victims in these films almost always manage to develop a case of sexual Stockholm's syndrome either willingly having sex with one or more of their attackers, willingly having sex with one and getting raped by the others (a la "Straw Dogs"), or worst of all getting raped but ending up enjoying the experience.

Lorraine DeSalle plays the sexual Stockholm syndrome victim here. But she's such an amoral, grasping, nymphomaniacal character to begin with, who is willing to betray her sister and manipulate both of the men in any way necessary in order to get her own hands on the money, that her character doesn't come off as particularly offensive (just not very believable). The wife is a good character and the husband is OK (albeit totally unsympathetic). The real weak link is Joe Dallesandro, who plays the lone criminal (usually in "terror" films there's more than one criminal). This would have been FAR more effective if this role had been played by another American, David Hess, who was the villain in "Last House", "Hitchhike", and most notorious and harrowing Italian "terror" film, "House by the Edge of the Park". Former Warhol "superstar" Dallesandro though is much more of a male model than an actor and not very menacing (it's kind of like being held hostage by "Zoolander").

This is better than any of the Italian "terror" films except "Hitchhike" and "Late Night Trains" (but that's not much of a compliment). It's better made, but far less harrowing than "House by the Edge of the Park" (although the gorgeous DeSalle, who was in both films, somehow manages to have even more nude scenes in this one). It's not nearly as good though as any of DiLeo's police thrillers or his better sexy melodramas like "Being Twenty" and "The Seduction". I'd still recommend it I guess, but keep your expectations kind of low.

Escaped convict, Joe Brezzi (Joe Dallesandro) is on the run. Before the opening credits, he's already committed two murders. Brezzi arrives at a villa where a man and two women are staying. He watches, as copious nudity and love scenes take place. Joe takes a nap, awakens, and moves in on the trio.

We soon learn that Brezzi is a bit too familiar with this villa. He knows the place, and seems to be looking for something.

MADNESS is a preposterous crime / thriller, that's mostly an excuse for softcore, simulated sex scenes, interrupted by sudden, rather tame outbursts of violence. In between assaults, Brezzi spends most of his time grimacing and squinting a lot.

Be forewarned, much of the story is taken up by the family troubles of the three victims. In other words, this movie is pretty dull, in a soap opera sort of way. So, don't expect non-stop action or thrills.

The semi-bloody "shock" finale is okay, but hardly makes up for the rest of this nonsense...