Arabella: Black Angel

THe trouble about this film is to get a good quality uncut copy.When you do you will see one of the great[not the greatest]over the top italian sleaze thriller films.Hollywood[here i bless myself] would never make anything like this.See it and enjoy but dont tell your maiden auntie.

(1989) Arabella- Black Angel/ Arabella l'angelo nero DUBBED HORROR/ THRILLER The set up is nonsense, but it is the result of Giallo making so many of these slasher movies before, basically rehashing and recycling the same material over using different actresses. It has Tinì Cansino as the title character, "Arabella" arriving at a strange "bordello" with a photographer following her tail for the intentions of taking snapshots of her. There's an admission to get in or participate in these somewhat bizarre make out sessions, and it's at random. And the photog follows her for her make out session with two other guys, until it was interrupted by the Italian police. Capturing most people with Arabella attempting to escape by getting into her car and drive away. Except that a police captain not in uniform stops her. She tells him she is not like those other girls, but he slaps the handcuffs on her anyway, and takes the liberty to assault her as he appears to be the only guy around, except for the photog hidden in the bushes who continues to snap pictures of her. The sleazy police captain then decides to let her go and drive away after he finishes his way with her. Already gone, he picks up her purse she dropped to the ground which is an indication he intends to see her again. It is not long before the sleazy police captain becomes our first victim, as soon as he returns her purse, and he is astonished by the expensive house she lives in. And before his arrival we find out that Arabella lives with a renown novelist, Francesco (Francesco Casale) confined to a wheelchair, living with them is his mother, Martha (Evelyn Stewart) And he was put in that position because after he married Arabella, she gave him a * while he was driving and it was at this point he took his eyes off the road, with the accident leaving him to be impotent. Which explains the reason Arabella goes off searching for other means to get laid. Anyways, as the sleazy police captain returns her purse right at the gate, he yet again makes attempts to go back to his old ways and seduce her, and she gives in telling and dragging him to a backyard shed. When Francisco notices this, he follows her while in a wheelchair, and as soon as she starts notices her impotent husband watching her through a slightly opened door, she hits and kills the sleazy captain with a tool. And at that point, Francesco becomes even more impressed with her, which can make viewers to speculate perhaps that is how it may sparkle up their marriage. One of the inconsistencies is that although, the first victim was killed by Arabella with her husband being the accessory/ accomplice for the murder by buried by him. Viewers are never shown who did the murders after that one, making viewers speculate that it must be Anabella when it was the novelist's mother, Martha all along. Which the reason it was done that way is so that the viewing public can be caught off guard. And if viewers ever wondered whether or she was ever punished for that one murder of that sleazeball police captain then the answer is "no". At this point at the year of 1989, viewers should be able to determine that majority of those * scenes as of late is nothing more but silicone. And if anyone had not guessed it yet, it was the mother who's been doing all the killings this time, in which the last person she had killed was her only son she had no idea it was him as he had his back toward her.

No pun intended and totally different heat that you may think of. Or maybe exactly the right one. If you do not think of the movie with that title, but more of sexual exploitation .. mixed with giallo elements. If you are a fan of giallo, maybe you will rate this a bit higher too. It starts off - well it makes no secret what this is. Including a forced sexual encounter our main character has to endure. Or does she enjoy it anyway? I would beg to differ in that instance, but the movie does not really seem to care. Depending on your moral stance and if you are able to watch for the movies sake (after all it is a movie and not reality), you may be able to forget ... well how cliche some portrayals are. And I am putting it mildly I know - it is because naming things make them bad for review purposes. Or rather people get offended. Well if you are easily offended this movie is not for you - nudity, blood and madness ... and all not really well done. Dialog and script and acting go hand in hand ... towards the abyss ... not in a good way.

The plot to this is very fever dreamish so just know what you're watching before hitting play. It begins with a woman driving to an underground orgy being tailed by someone who only gets more and more creepy. Basically, the film is about a book being written by the main character's invalid husband and you're never sure what's the novel and what's real however, every story element of the movie has raunch, or something lurid going on. The production design, costumes, and camera work are impressive for a movie with this budget and subject matter while maintaining a consistent pace scene to scene. It's sexy and somewhat tasteful exploitation that you never take too seriously.

Arabella is a beautiful and sexy housewife with a clear goal: to fulfill all her darkest sexual urges. Her husband, a writer who sits in a wheelchair after a car accident, takes inspiration in Arabella to give life to his new book charachter called Black Angel. But Arabella, on her quest for pleasure, will soon find herself in a cruel, dangerous world, where the innocence of lust cannot fight envy, corruption, nor a serial killer with a pair of sharp scissors following her high-heel steps through the night. Promising aesthethics in a giallo influenced erotic thriller.

After being caught at a whorehouse, a woman finds her hidden nymphomaniac desires brought to the surface which not only has the benefit of helping her husband write a new book but causes a vicious killer to target her victims putting them in danger of being next on the list. This is one of the more engaging and fun trashy gialli. What really gives this one a large part of the fun here is the fact that there's such a sleazy and trashy feel to this one which really helps to make it more enjoyable. In dealing with her nymphomaniac manner, it includes not only the dealings with the continuous sex scenes and her sleeping around with everyone but also the opening shots at the whorehouse which manage to include all manner of kinky sexual thrills being enacted upon which really sets this off on a rather nice note which is always nicely realized and incredibly welcome considering the quality provided. By remaining an integral part of the film as a whole and staying quite relevant due to the various kinky sex she engages in for the sake of getting the novel written, there's a copious amount of nudity that she provides here with the lengthy sequences giving plenty of opportunities for that particular brand of sexual thrill which is nicely enhanced by the severity of these scenes. Once the storyline moves into more rational giallo tropes with the victims being killed off in exceptionally grisly methods, things pick up and it begins getting even better with the film allowing for all manner of fun to be had with the ability to switch from the stalking scenes showing the traditional black-gloved killer prowling the area with weapon in hand and dishing out the brutal kills such that the initial death with the blackmailing police inspector which launches everything into motion causes some great stalking scenes to occur here with the motel ambush on the first victim or the later scene involving the killer striking the woman down rather than the usual male victims targeted before. Likewise, the finale out in the woods after she manages to pick up her last john and features not only the big revelation about his secret life but also the nice twist involving the killer's identity which is rather shocking and nicely handled. As well, the way in which these are intercut alongside the concurrent police investigations managed with the crazed lesbian inspector trying to fit everything together only to have her own troubled past ending up causing the investigation to stumble slightly, it maintains a highly engaging mixture of sleazy thrills alongside the strong familiar giallo tropes present which manage to fully embrace the elements quite comfortably and easily which all makes for a great time here. There is a minor issue to be had here, which does manage to hold it down slightly in that the film really doesn't seem to offer up much in terms of coherence or logical plot-devices which concerns the relationship between everyone which is so twisted and confusing it really makes no sense. As a couple, they make no sense and the motives for why they agree to undergo the whole affair is a strange one which goes hand-in-hand with the killer's motive as well since that makes no sense either. Still, the troubled logic is all that really holds it down. Rated Unrated/NC-17: Male and Continuous Full Female Nudity, Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and strong sex scenes.

They often say the greatest Gialli (excessively violent Italian murder mysteries) were only produced during the early 70s. Well, they are probably right. You can hardly refer to the late-80s "Arabella the Black Angel" as a good giallo, but boy is it ever entertaining!!! In fact, the whole giallo sub-plot is nothing but a mere footnote, since the film is primarily a semi-pornographic thriller full of demented characters with perverted fetishes and kinky after-dark habits. Beautiful and voluptuous nymph Arabella, or Deborah, roams the streets at night and visits secluded bondage/orgy clubs because her beloved husband Francesco is paralyzed and can't physically please her. The reason why he's in a wheelchair is actually quite hilarious and, moreover, Arabella's own stupid fault! During a raid at the orgy club, she's raped by a filthy copper who subsequently lets her go, but only to show up at her front gate the next day for a second portion of joyful sex! Arabella knocks him dead with a hammer, because she knows Francesco is watching, and apparently this vile act sparks up their sex life again! Francesco encourages his wife to pick up random strangers for sex, while he writes her adventures down in a new erotic novel, but meanwhile there's also an unseen killer with shiny black gloves butchering Arabella's bed partners with a pair of scissors. The plot continues to make utterly bonkers twists and turns, since the traumatized police inspector Gina (with massively oversized glasses to illustrate just how feminist she is) gets put on the scissor-murders case and her lesbian lover promptly backstabs her, but it's all too to insane and useless to write down. The only thing you need to know is that "Arabella the Black Angel" is purely unhinged Italian exploitation trash! The obvious giallo trademarks (black gloves, ominous music, vicious gore, etc) are definitely there, but quintessential things like suspense and surprise denouements are sorely missing. The identity of the scissor-killer is easy to guess, but it doesn't matter all that much, because the beauty of Tiní Cansino's continuous nakedness compensates for all the shortcomings. Director Stelvio Massi was a prolific Poliziotesschi director during the seventies, but during the 80s he had to revert to making sleazy flicks like this one.

Whole intention of the movie seems to be showing Tinì Cansino's flesh. That's a pity, because this could have been a good Giallo. Lot of loopholes in plot - which by itself is not a big issue, because movies of this genre are not known for immaculate plots - but total focus on sex/sleaze & nudity has diluted the actual suspense part. Tini is not a good actress but she is hot & has given few very bold scenes.

I was able to put in my collection the full uncut version, that means English spoken with Japanese subtitles. Japanese means that private parts are forbidden, so the erotic parts of the movie are blurred. And there are a lot of them in the movie. For me it's a typical giallo with changing plots. The gore is surprisingly low for a giallo. i think that's one of the reasons that it never had a major label to promote it. if you're in giallo's be sure to collect this OOP and hard to get full uncut version. as many giallo's don't be annoyed about the music and bad acting. Collect your peanuts and a beer, sit down and watch a underrated giallo.

An attractive woman (the VERY voluptuous Tini Cansino) visits a bizarre brothel. The police raid the place and in very kinky scene (which violates both political correctness and, one would hope, standard police operating procedures in Italy) a male cop handcuffs her, bends her over the hood of his squad car, and rapes her. The next day she returns to her respectable middle-class home where she lives with her husband, who is in a wheelchair (the result of an unfortunate session of oral sex while driving), and his domineering mother (Ida Galli). The same cop shows up wanting more sex. She accommodates him but then hits him over the head with a mallet, killing him. Later a journalist who was at the raid and videotaped the rape tries to blackmail her, but he is killed with a pair of scissors. The "scissor murderer" then kills another of the unfaithful wife's lovers. Then the action inexplicably shifts to the lesbian police inspector investigating the murders and her conniving assistant/lover (Rena Niehaus). This latter-day Italian giallo suffers from a lot of the same problems as the American "erotic thrillers" of that same era. The acting is absolutely terrible (with the exception of genre veterans Galli and Niehaus), and overlong softcore sex scenes set to horrid sub-Kenny G. jazz music periodically bring the action to a screeching halt. Fortunately though, it's much more sleazy and entertaining than it's American cousins. It has several ridiculous plot twists, each more a little ridiculous than the last. Unfortunately, some of these really distract from the initial perversity of the plot (potential spoiler ahead). For instance, it's revealed that the crippled husband is actually ENCOURAGING his wife's infidelities as part of a book he's writing called "The Dark Angel". While this is an unexpected twist, it really takes away from the whole "guilt ridden suburban wife with a secret life" plot that gives the movie a lot of its early kink (end of spoilers). The sudden shift away from the couple to the lesbian police inspector is also pretty awkward, but not entirely unwelcome since Cansino is a really lousy actress, and even the thrill of seeing her naked eventually wears thin. The ending/revelation of the killer is pretty good, but there's a bizarre coda after that I didn't know quite what to make of. If you consider this an "erotic thriller", it's top notch, but as a giallo it's much more mediocre.