This is just nasty. Micky Hargity plays a psychologist who is helping the police investigate a spate of killings of young woman, only they don't know that he is the killer! We first get to see Hargity endear himself to us by bludgeoning a young woman to death under a waterfall. Which quickly sets the tone for this nasty film. This is after he failed to rape her, mind. Hargity is a killer, sure, but what do his closest kin think? His wife is sexually frustrated and regularly imagines bizarre lesbo/sado-mach trysts between herself and her hubby, but then Hargity's maid gets all hot about it all and starts feeling herself up (including some shoulder licking for some reason!). There's also someone that gets so worked up they start killing folk, which alarms Hargity as he's also a killer, like.It was hard enough to keep track of things without the aid of coherent subtitles, but then again the general tone of the film isn't hard to grasp either. This is a giallo with some very nasty deaths thrown in. You know what: I'm beginning to think that folks watching these films might think they are, just a little bit, sexist. Just a wee bit.

Our good friends over at the Wikipedia website define the term "Delirium" as follows: an acute and relatively sudden decline in attention-focus, perception, and cognition. It is commonly associated with a disturbance of consciousness. Fair enough! That appropriately describes both the main characters' behavior in this film and the spontaneous reactions of us, the viewers! The least you can say about "Delirium" is that it is one strange movie. Not just the plot lines and character drawings are demented and - oh yeah - delirious), but even the cut, edit and release treatment it received back in the early 70's was highly unusual and peculiar. There exist two principal version of this film, which both feature on the fancy Anchor Bay release, namely the original Italian "Director's Cut" and the heavily altered American version. Most of the reviews and user-comments I encountered avidly discourage people to watch the American version, but I on the other hand, feel that BOTH versions are essential viewing. If possible, you should even watch one straight after the other, filter different aspects & sub plots of both versions together and mentally edit them back together in order to make up your very own final cut! Granted, the American version opens and finishes with a completely goofy and irrelevant Vietnam-trauma sub plot (illustrated through ancient recovered footage with Dutch subtitles!), but it also contains at least one supplementary and highly engrossing killing sequence and – in my humble opinion – the grand finale twists make much more sense here than in the original version. The director's cut is far gloomier and digs deeper into the main characters mental background, but it only just becomes a true Giallo highlight when mixed with elements of the American cut.Now, don't immediately fear that "Delirium" is an overly complex and inaccessible Giallo because of all this driveling about versions, because it's not! It's your basic and wondrously demented early 70's Giallo, rich on perverted themes, nudity & sleaze, sadistic killings and far-fetched red herrings. The story opens promising with a hunky middle-aged guy (real-life body building champ Mickey Hargitay) picking up a teenage girl in a bar and savagely murdering her in the middle of a mudflat river. Usually the purpose of a Giallo is to keep the killer's identity secret until the climax, but Renato Polselli clearly doesn't bother to do this. The first and highly ingenious twist promptly comes after the intro, however, as the same guy who we just witnessed committing a murder turns out to be a criminology psychologist. He, Herbert Lyutak, cooperates with the police regarding the series of disturbing murders, which naturally puts him above all suspicion. We also meet his wife Marcia, who loves him to death, and his horny housemaid who not so secretly craves for his body. We also learn a bit about Herbert's sexual-related issues that clarify his murderous tendencies. More gruesome murders of sexy young coeds follow; only now Herbert always has indisputable alibis. Is there suddenly a copycat killer? Does Herbert have an evil twin brother? The outcome of this riddle is fairly logic and easy to predict, but Polselli nevertheless maintains an admirably high level of tension and involvement. He inserts inventive sub plots (like vivid hallucinations of lesbian-laughter orgies and the innocent prime suspect's private investigation) and you undeniably look forward to each next gory murder that waits just around the corner. The soundtrack in this particular Giallo is slightly below average, but the photography is beautiful and surprisingly artsy considering the low budget, with an imaginative use of colors and POV shots. Even after starring in numerous low-keyed Italian smut movies (including the decadent "Bloody Pit of Horror"), Hargitay remains a horrible actor, but at least "Delirium" stars a series of indescribably hot wenches, and they all willingly takes their clothes of in front of the camera. This is a fabulously sensational piece of Italian cult cinema and comes highly recommended to fans with a healthy sense for adventure.

Renato Polselli's "Delirio Caldo"/"Delirium" is a sleazy giallo made in 1972.Of course the film isn't as good as Dario Argento's masterpieces but if offers plenty of sleaze to satisfy fans of Italian smut.The acting is pretty bad(really,this time it's horribly over-the-top,not even amusing!),but some killings are pretty nasty.According to my reliable friend the original edit of the film(the true "director's cut")is the Italian version that is on Anchor Bay's DVD release.The French video version under the title "Au Dela Du Desir" is the most explicit version available.This version,which is not the director's intended original cut has extra footage shot for a European market that demanded more X-factor in content.There are at times extra seconds to the violence and some much stronger sexual content(such as the bath murder where the victim enjoys the assault,even allowing herself to be masturbated with the end of a whip and sucking it before being lashed savagely to her death!).The re-arranging of the order of some sequences as well as the usage of alternate edits and new footage does create a different tale to an extent...Anyway,give this one a look.Oh,and Rita Calderoni is very cute.

Extreme, maybe, but after seeing so many average 'slasher' flicks', you will not be dissapointed.The use of the 'victim' being strangled and masturbated at the same time may arouse a few, and humor others, with major hints of dark comedy thrown in for good measure-Beware of the stateside 'CUT/VERSION', of this movie-the euro-version-is the one to watch to really appreciate this 'masterpiece'thriller'.