Sister of Ursula (1978)

After the death of their father, Ursula (Barbara Magnolfi) and her sister travel down to a small Italian hotel to try and get some rest - Dagmar starts to flirt with the rather unkempt Filipio (Marc Porel) but her sister disproves and resents even being touched. Meanwhile a woman is brutally murdered by an unknown killer. Ursula wakes up in shock after this happens and seems to have a Psychic connection with the killer. As the kill count rises no-one is sure just who is behind the murders...

Lesser known Italian director Enzo Milioni wrote and directed this curious but surprisingly effective Giallo entry. Despite very quickly presenting a gratiuitous nude scene and having a number of quite lengthy sex scenes throughout the film, Sister of Ursula does not fall into the trap of many of the more sleazy giallo films - sacrificing plot and logic for sleaze - instead it manages to work these elements into an impressively well written plot that will certainly keep you guessing right until the end, with a nice selection of red herrings, avoiding the rather dull police proceedurals that bog down many genre entries. Milioni's theatrical roots are certainly evident in the impressive dialogue in several scenes, particularly Ursula's cry for help in the church. Pacing is solid and although there is no comedy, the film never becomes particularly grim - mostly due to the frequent nudity.

As a director, Enzo Milioni serves the film well making the sex scenes sexy and the murder scenes quite tense, although some viewers will be disappointed that he goes quite easy on the gore - quite a lot of blood but no guts. Some beautiful Italian seaside locations give the film nice backdrop and are well used. The soundtrack credited to Mimi Uva is very strong, ranging from raunchy sex themes to some dramatic orchestral music during the giallo scenes - it really gives the film a boost.

Gothic beauty Barbara Magnolfi (recognisable to most Euro-cult fans for her brief role in Suspiria (1977)) plays the haunted lead particularly well, while genre favourite Marc Porel pleases the ladies even more than usual with a shaggy haircut and an effectively enigmatic performance. There are no big names in the rest of the cast but the performances are generally good and importantly the women all look good naked.

A well crafted mix of sex and mystery, this late giallo film is hardly the genre's best, but is certainly one of the more entertaining and rewatchable entries and genre fans could do a lot worse than to check this one out. Sleaze fans might be disappointed at the relative lack of gore - but the frequent sex scenes and the rather unique choice of murder weapon should do well to appease most viewers. A solid bit of Euro-cult cinema and generally recommended.

Anyone famous in it?	Marc Porel - made his name with a duo of Lucio Fulci Gialli, including Seven Notes in Black (1977)
Directed by anyone interesting?	Enzo Milioni - a very little known Italian director who's only other credit of note was second unit work on the grim crime film La Belva col Mitra (1977).
Any gore/violence?	Several very bloody scenes
Any sex?	Frequent female and some brief male nude scenes - several sex scenes bordering on hardcore in places.
Who is it for?	Fans of Giallo and Eurocult cinema should enjoy this.

Visuals	Original Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colour. Print quality and the transfer are very good with strong detail, minimal print damage and only very light grain. The opening and closing titles are rather more grainy.
Audio	Italian mono, sounds good and the music comes through very well.
Subtitles	English (optional)
Extras	The disc includes: A newly shot interview with writer and director Enzo Milioni. He talks in good detail about the reason for the film being made, the casting and the experience of shooting. Very interesting and well edited. Italian with optional English subs. (30m) Original theatrical trailer - Italian with English subtitles.
Released	Due for release on the 25th March 2008.
Region	Region 1 (US, North America) - NTSC
Other regions?	Not available elsewhere.
Cuts?	Believed to be fully uncut as per the original print. A hardcore version of the film was later created by the producer using insert scenes - the director had this version of the film removed.The print used on this DVD is Italian.

The Film

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The DVD

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