A Diary of a Murderess (1975)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Amateur movie with Big budget

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This seems to have a kind of cult following due to Marisa Mell being in it, but to me the whole thing was kind of a drag that we've all seen before. I did read on the IMDB that it's missing a lot of nudity and such like, so that would have held my attention a bit better if that was included. You have Richard Conte as the old millionaire who shares a huge manor with his crazy son, who has turned mute ever since finding his mother's body following her suicide. This kid had a rather unhealthy fixation on his mother, which riled Conte, as he can only see people as objects to be bought and owned. The son, Mark, is a bit of a handful for his carers and after the last one quits, mysterious strange Marisa Mell volunteers to help, while giving Conte the glad eye. Of course, all is not what it seems as Marisa is a gold digging thief with designs on all that groovy jewellery that Conte has collected over the years (including one that he's nicked from a local nunnery that looks like the holy grail and comes with a Raiders of The Lost Ark-type crescendo on the soundtrack - what's happening?). Marisa also has a husband (Anthony Steffen) who is even more twisted and crooked than her. Can Marisa play everyone off each other and get the goodies? Once she finds Conte's dead wife's diary, she starts to formulate a plan...Maybe it would have worked better with the sleaze added in, although it's bad enough watching sixty-five year old Conte snog Mell, so I'm not speculating on what I'm missing. I don't know, I just didn't engage with it all, at least until the last fifteen minutes where a few twists finally enter the plot. I'll give it one thing - the ending was appropriately sick.

Reciving a tremendous small bundle of movies from a very kind IMDber,my first reaction when seeing the name of this title,was that the film was probably some kind of Emanuelle spin-off!.Deciding to dig a bit deeper for info,I was shocked to discovering that the film was actually a rather strange Crime Drama starring Marisa Mell.Having heard a lot about Mell's work with director Mario Bava,I decided that I would use this film to see the "Diabolik" beauty of Marisa Mell.The plot:Struggling to cope with the restless,violent behaviour of his now mute son,and also sharing the pain with his son (Richard),of his wife/Richard's mum sudden death,Alexander decides to go on the hunt for a new maid,who along with helping to keep his castle-like mansion in order,will also hopefully bring a much needed "woman's touch" to the place.Checking through all of the job ads,Alexander cant believe his eyes,when he sees an ad for a woman (Gina) who wants to be a maid and offers all the services that Alexander could ever imagine!.Arriving to the mansion with ravishing clothes and her head held high,Alexander instantly starts attempting to do some "moves" on Gina,due to her looking like a very liberated woman.Despite his best attempts,Gina firmly puts her hand down on Alexander,and tells him that she is here to work and nothing more.Feeling uneasy about having Alexander and Richard desiring to get a "piece of her",Gina soon begins to plan on "taking the mask off",when she learns the shocking secret that the mansion contains The Holy Grail…View on the film:Initially starting out with strong hints of going in the "reincarnation" route that Brian De Palma would go a year later with his brilliant Obsession,the four screenwriters, (deep breath!:Emilio Martinez Lazaro,Rafael Moreno Alba,Mario Siciliano and Manuel Mur Oti) smartly use The Holy Grail as a tantalising Maguffin,to smoothly change genres from a possible reincarnation,haunted house movie,to becoming a psychological Crime film,filled with terrificly dark backstabbing (not literally) murders.For what would be one of his last three performances,Richard Conte gives a great stubborn performance as "elder of the mansion" Alexander,who originally appearing much more sane than his son Richard, (played by a wonderfully nerving Anthony Steffen) actually turns out to be on almost the same page as him,from trying to force himself onto Gina,to deciding that the only way to "cure" his increasingly insane son,is to treat him like a dog and lock him up in a self-made cell.Backed by Conte,Steffen and co-writer/director Manuel Mur Oti obsessive focus on her beauty,Marisa Mell shines from the moment she walks up the mansion stairs,to the agonised,freeze-frame ending.Despite 8 minutes worth of racy footage being sadly cut due to the Spanish censorship of the Franco era,Mell still gives an extremely charismatic performance as the conniving and cunning Gina,who whist being seen as kind and caring on the outside,is very well shown by Mell to be someone who is always hiding a dark ulterior motive behind her beautiful,delicately chiselled face.

Normally I'd have given this movie 5 out of 10, but Miss Mell does so fabulously in this solid Euro-thriller that I had to add three more..."Diary of an Erotic Murderess" is a sexy mystery drama about a woman who murders a millionaire (Conte) to marry his mentally retarded son (lovely but mute: Juan Ribó). Mur Oti, the director, chose a slow-moving climax which might be considered a little boring by most viewers, but I liked it quite a lot. The interestingly atmospheric score was a great plus for me as well.Whether you like the plot, the direction, the music etc., or not, after all, this is Marisa Mell's film, and she is just wonderful in it! She steals the movie and is prettier than ever.Marisa was born Marlies Moitzi in Graz, Austria, went to the renowned Max Reinhard Seminar in Vienna and did a couple of less-than-memorable appearances in German and Austrian movies before, in 1963, she went abroad to star in movies like "French Dressing" (by Ken Russell) or "Masquerade", but her career never quite took off. The multi-lingual (fluent in French, English, Spanish, Italian, and German) Mell did excellent in Bava's pop art extravaganza "Danger: Diabolik" and Fulci's "One on Top of the Other" before, in the 1970s, her movies became more and more obscure. The died of cancer in 1992. She was only 53 and had spent her last few years in poverty. She died as she had lived: alone.Unfortunately, the American distributor cut about 15 minutes from the film, so that the film lacks both, gore and nudity. The dubbing is also quite poor.P.S.: If you look closely, you can see Carmen Maura, Almodóvar's leading lady of the 1980s, in one of her first movie appearances.

Despite its seen-it-a-million-times plot concerning a sexy con artist (Marisa Mell) who inveigles herself into a wealthy old man's morbid household, this Euro psycho-thriller is just creepy enough to be absorbing for most of its running time. The old guy (played by the moribund Richard Conte, whose huge earlobes dominate his scenes) has a mute son prone to violent fits whenever reminded of his deceased mama (whom the crook, naturally, resembles). To complicate matters, there's a bastard son and an ex-husband looking for a piece of the action. Most outrageous, though, is that fact that the mansion's most valuable asset is the Holy Grail itself -- a point which is stated so matter-of-factly that one wonders about the accuracy of the translation. The plot features a few neat twists, including a final sting in its tail that will revive you if you've given up on the picture. Of course, the main reason for watching is the dissolute but utterly luscious Mell (best known for her role in Bava's Diabolik), who dominates proceedings with her intelligent grace, knockout looks and subtle ruthlessness. Unfortunately, several nude scenes have obviously been shown from the American print with equal ruthlessness.