I could never objectively review DELIRIO CALDO, as I am so crazy about it. This film is something else! Story is giallo, execution - over-the-top melodrama.
Some may say that framing is TV-like. Predominance of "talking heads", fairly static shots. I wish all television films were like this one - full of outrageous violence and perversion.
It is impossible not to fall in love with Rita Calderoni, who delivers her most memorable performance in DELIRIO CALDO, playing a woman who loses her sanity to passion.
Like certain other genre classics (Jess Franco's EXORCISM, for example), DELIRIO CALDO exists in at least three very different cuts. Both versions available on the BU DVD have lots of incredible fun to offer. The U.S. cut boasts grainy Vietnam stock footage, extra 2 murders and a totally different ending. The Italian cut has fantastic opening and closing credits sequences and a bigger part for Tano Cimarosa.
Often, police procedural scenes in gialli are totally dull padding. In DELIRIO CALDO they're fun due to an odd way in which they're staged and due to cops being dressed more like pimps than policemen.
There's earnestness in Mickey Hargitay's performance, even though it frequently slips into wild overacting. But that's the steamy universe of Polselli. A lot of my admiration for DELIRIO CALDO stems from the fact that it's a little movie. Many times cheaper than gialli of Martino or Lenzi.
I am so glad that DELIRIO CALDO didn't become a 'lost' film, like Polselli's MANIA. There really is something in the story and lead performances that is moving, even on repeat viewings. Plus the polyester shirts, the music...Aah, I'm smitten. This is delicious delirium - superior to Lamberto Bava's namesake DELIRIUM in every respect.
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