Oasis of Fear (1971)

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Young people are often portrayed so gleefully negatively in horror films, it is always a relief to find appealing 'teen leads'. As unlikely as it sounds, the two exploitative hippies featured here, Ingrid and Dick (Ornella Muti and Ray Lovelock) are a truly cute couple. Selling softcore pictures of Ingrid, the two gad about Italy spending their money on brief periods of excessive living before they are eventually asked to move on by the law.They become even more endearing when, now on the run, they accept an offer from the mysterious Barbara Slesar (Irene Papas) to stay the night at her opulent home – naively unsuspicious that anything could be amiss. It soon becomes apparent that the nervous, vulnerable Mrs Slesar could teach the young tearaways a thing or two about subterfuge.This is a giallo that stretches the rules. There's no black-clad killer, no huge revelation or great unmasking at the end, but it works very well and the finale packs a punch even though it isn't entirely unexpected. It seems things could either have gone one way or the other. They go the other! Ornella Muti is new to me, but has had (and continues to have) a prolific career. Precocious and wilful, it is Ingrid's credulousness (entirely in keeping with her free-living, unconstrained character) that lands herself and Dick in the climactic situation they find themselves in, but because she is so child-like and appealing, she never loses our goodwill.Variations of the very catchy theme music 'How Can You Live Your Life', sung by Lovelock, are threaded throughout - it should have been released commercially.'An Ideal Place to Kill' is also sometimes known as 'Oasis of Fear', 'Dirty Pictures' and 'Deadly Trap'.

With having watched Umberto Lenzis fantastic paranoia film,the sadly under-rated Giallo Spasmo,I was extremely keen on seeing more films from this very intriguing genre.After picking up a good batch of Giallo DVDs,I started to anticipate all the (hopefully) great films that I would soon get the chance to view. A few days ago I was making breakfast in the morning,and I realised that I needed to get some Jam from one of our shelves.To my surprise when I went for the jam,I noticed some DVDs that had started to gather dust,which my dad had been passed a few months ago from a friend.Not being able to stop my curiosity,I looked at the now dusty titles and to my complete amazement,I discovered that one of the DVDs was a Giallo by Umberto Lenzi!The plot:A young,free-spirited Hippie couple (Ingrid and Richard) are trying to go on holiday to southern Italy,the only problem for the couple?-is that they hardly have any money at all.To try dealing with there cash problem,the couple pick up a bunch of cheap "adult" magazines,which they sell at an inflated price,so that they will be able to get over the boarder.When they at last get over the boarder,the couple now realise that they need cash to buy oil for their car!.With desperation starting to sink in,Dick and Ingrid decide to be more "adventaus" with there funding ideas by,selling naked pictures of Ingrid!.Whilst the plan seems to be working,things start to go off track for the couple,when a police officer gets hold of Ingrids pictures.Due to not being that impressed with what they have been selling,the officer tells Dick and Ingrid that if they do not leave southern Italy in 24 hours,he will arrest them for indecent exposure.After hearing this,the couple make the daring decision that they should rebel against the police orders,and instead keep travailing around the city.After having driven to the out skirts of the city,the couple again face the trouble of getting fuel for the car.With the area being filled with huge villas,Dick and Ingrid are thrilled when they find (what looks like) an empty villa,that has a car filled with fuel.But just as Dick is about to finish stealing the fuel from the car,a woman (Barbara) suddenly walks in on them stealing fuel from her car!.Due to all the pleads that the couple make to her,Barbara decides to accept there full apologies.Just as Dick and Ingrid are about to leave,Barbara suddenly says that instead of them sleeping in there car,they can stay with her,and spend as long as they want in her villa.View on the film: For the screenplay,writers Lucia Drudi Demby and Antonio Altoviti (with the story by director Umbero Lenzi) have written a surprisingly "bloodless" Giallo,which is able to give a great feeling of increased threat,as the relationship between the couple and Barbara starts to disintegrate into a battle of dominance,with the writers excellently showing the couple slowly change from being fun loving to becoming very sadistic. Although Umbero Lenzis directing is not as weird and wonderful as it was with his underrated film Spasmo,he is still able to do some amazing things with this pretty original (no sign of any black gloves at all!) Giallo.During the section of the film, where Dick and Ingrid are trying to sell there amateur pictures at sight seeing spots,Lenzi shows with stunning fast-cuts the sightseers disgust of the naked photos,whilst they are standing around looking at accent stature's of naked men.Umbero also smartly changes the lighting of the whole film,with the first half being mostly very brightly lit,to match Dick and Ingrids care-free life,and the second half (especially the bird sanctuary scene) being very dark and grim,with Umbero revealing what the couple have gotten themselves into. Final view on the film:A very different Giallo,with a terrific tension-building screenplay and excellent dream-decaying directing from Lenzi.

Another from the Shameless stable of exploitation films. They go on about how they've tracked down missing scenes, remastered it all and redone the soundtrack... it's like a kid telling you how they've done an amazing drawing and you then look at it... Oasis of Fear is a bit, well, rubbish.It's about a young couple who travel around Europe in a zippy yellow open top sports car flogging porn mags to locals (that dates it). But once the movie settles down it hits you that it's just not very good, a bit amateurish. The trailer is the best thing about it.It starts off okay with a George Beatle type track, but soon becomes irritating. The bloke, all 29in waist and big hair, is from the Cliff Richard school of acting. Actually Cliff was a bit more charming than this. The girl is alright in a Kate Middleton kind of way. It belongs to an age where you had to make your own entertainment, when you only had Dixon of Dock Green on the black and white telly, while going to the movies to see a big colour film - and a woman get her kit off - was a real treat, real decadence.You rent these films for a bit of sauce and unPC fun - you don't really expect to be so bored by it all. It picks up for the last half hour, but really drags until then.

Danish student Ingrid (Ornella Muti) and her English boyfriend Dick (Ray Lovelock) decide to sell pornography illegally in Italy, and at the beginning, they make a lot of money and spend a great holiday time there. Then they are arrested by the police, and their rebellious attitude (especially if you remember, this was 1970) doesn't help much. They end up on the street without a Lira in their pockets, and when a rich lady (Irene Papas) offers help, it seems a stroke of luck and they are not suspicious at all...La bella Ornella in one of her earliest movies is very playful and looks best in a kind of Indian temple dancer costume here. All in all, "Un posto ideale per uccidere" is not a particularly dark or violent film, but with enough suspense. The rapid cut by Eugenio Alabiso - who also had his hands on genre classics like "Tutti i colori del buio" and "Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh" - helps to speed it up a bit. Note: My Italian DVD is said to be transferred from the original negative with a running time of 83:49 min.