The Sister of Ursula

Euro-smut from director Enzo Milioni(..who also wrote this sordid trash) featuring another one of those crazy, naughty plots the Giallo genre is noted for.

The setting is a coastal resort where all kinds of debauchery occurs in rooms throughout the place. Two sisters arrive for a vacation and not long after a series of murders break out, the psychopath using a phallic weapon to heinously penetrate female victims, mostly sexually active women linked to the wife of the resort's proprietor.

Dagmar Beyne(Stefania D'Amario)has a difficult time with her deeply troubled sister Ursula(Barbara Magnolfi). Ursula has never recovered from the suicide of her pianist father(..he killed himself after a nervous breakdown left him impotent, losing his wife because of this was the icing on the cake)and still seems to believe he's alive and well. It also seems that Ursula has a type of supernatural power, in both clairvoyancy and telepathy. Anyway, other sub-plots include Roberto(Vanni Materassi), the resort's proprietor and his attempts to keep a low profile around the murders so that tourism wouldn't be effected, and dealing with his wife, Vanessa(Anna Zinnemann)is even more difficult as she wishes to have a divorce from him(..she has a major stake in the resort, to the shagrin of Roberto who's quite devoted to the place). Filippo(Marc Porel;Seven Notes in Black)is a heroin addict who remains a mainstay around the resort, and a vehemently jealous lover of the star lounge singer, Stella Shining(Yvonne Harlow). Jenny(Antiniska Nemour)is a tramp who sleeps around with Vanessa igniting Roberto's rage.
The killer often arranges(..through payment)for the female victims(..who have no idea what is about to happen to them)to stage sexual acts with others, watching behind a curtain, or in the background.

Breaking the routine, the killer startles a teenage runaway couple(..who couldn't get a room in the resort) in the middle of passionate sex, slicing the young man's throat, before slapping around the girl, finishing her off with the phallic weapon.

The killer likes to deliver a few whacks across the faces of female victims before the grisly vaginal violence, which takes place off-screen. Director Enzo Milioni only acknowledges the eyes of the dildo assassin, while showing maybe a gloved hand or a blurred shadow of the weapon. As far as the violence, director Milioni only shows the aftermath, a glimpse of dead naked bodies bleeding from their vagina, strewn out in an unpleasant fashion.

The movie wallows in sleaze, with plenty of Stefania D'Amario undressing slowly, or using a necklace to fondle her naked flesh. There's a rather decent twist regarding Porel's Filippo, his true identity and how it affects Roberto. There's an emerging sub-plot regarding smuggled heroin and how it ties to the resort. All this extra story merely works as a means to provide potential reason for why the murders are happening, but a Giallo regular should realize who the killer really is. The visual gimmick regarding the eyes(..how Milioni darkens the entire face of the killer, except the eyes)is overused, particularly when he/she is standing in a lighted room facing the victim.

Barbara Magnolfi, I thought, had a fascinating face and her character has quite the volatile personality..you just never know when Ursula might snap. Quite moody and bitchy, and I could understand why sister "Daggie" would tire of her incessant griping. The location is positively stunning and well utilized by Milioni particularly one knock-out scene where he positions the camera afar from the balcony of the resort overlooking the water. To Milioni's credit, he gives us an all-too-brief lesbian sequence as the killer looks on.

As exploitation, I think it works(..again, re-iterating the raunchy antics of many characters who stay at the resort) but I'm pretty sure Giallo fans will be less impressed for the story doesn't yield any amazing developments, and the violence is subpar(..this I understand due to the type of violence used against the victims).