Oasis of Fear (1971) User Reviews

OASIS OF FEAR (Umberto Lenzi, 1971) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 31 August 2008]

It's ironic sometimes how a film doesn't turn out quite like its director intended, but the end result still outshines much of his other work; Lenzi reportedly wanted to make something akin to EASY RIDER (1969) but producer Carlo Ponti requested "the usual giallo" – besides, the drug-trafficking angle was changed to an even more lurid (and commercial) one involving pornographic material (hence, the alternate title DIRTY PICTURES)! Anyway, this is an atypical {sic} – thus interesting – effort from the genre's heyday: for once, too, the tone isn't overly glum (Bruno Lauzi's score, in fact, is infectiously upbeat most of the time) while being, as ever, a very stylish film.

The plot concerns two English kids (Ray Lovelock and under-aged Ornella Muti) traveling through Catholic Italy selling uncommon 'brochures' (Muti is perhaps too Mediterranean-looking to convince as an English girl, but she's sexy and generally delightful all the same). Being reckless, they never save what little money they make – when it's not stolen by those who 'befriend' them along the way (including a real-life motor-cycle dare-devil, dubbed "Crazy Tony", popular at the time!) – so the couple are forced to keep up the act…until they're betrayed to the Police by a potential customer who run them out of town. However, on the way, their car (stolen, of course) runs out of gas and the only nearby 'oasis' is a secluded villa they at first believe to be uninhabited; it transpires that rich American(!) Irene Papas (a curious presence in this type of film which, to my mind, definitely works in its favor) is inside and she catches them in the garage just as they're transferring petrol from one of the cars within into their own vehicle.

The woman's first reaction is to send the kids away, but she soon changes her mind and they're invited to feed and even stay the night. The couple's freewheeling antics seem to liberate the stiff lady of the house, too, and before the night is out, the trio are having themselves a party (cue some crazy zooms on the dancing participants – something I forgot to mention, by the way, in my review of Lenzi's A QUIET PLACE TO KILL [1970]) for which Muti also contrives to dress up in exotic fashion. Papas and Lovelock spend the night together but not before she's sent him to the garage to fetch her some cigarettes: looking in the glove compartment of her car, he finds a gun and instinctively picks it up. This, as it turns out, was a deliberate move on her part as the young man now has his fingerprints on the weapon – when the kids first arrived, Papas had been acting strangely and we soon discover why: her husband's body (whom she herself shot, being in cahoots with a lawyer who's intermittently seen trying to make contact with her) is stashed in the boot of the car! To add more conviction to her fabricated story – that the kids assaulted the household – Papas feigns an attempted rape…

Typically, the picture is filled with solid suspense touches and clever narrative twists: when the Police finally arrive, as Papas had predicted, it's her they believe; the kids, thinking otherwise (having drugged the woman and 'planted' the gun in her hands) take it easy as they're reaching the border, even deciding to go for an impromptu swim. However, as they're departing once again, the Police bars their way and, as was the case in the afore-mentioned Lenzi film (which I watched on the very same day as this one), it all ends with the kids running the car off the road and tumbling to their death – still, the director gives the whole a cynical conclusion this time around (accentuated by the reprise of the jaunty theme tune) as there's no redeeming last-minute stroke of irony here!

By the way, this too emerged to have the dual audio syndrome I encountered during my recent viewing of some of the "Euro-Cult" titles I've been going through. At first, I was disappointed that the Italian-language track was missing from this copy but, actually, it makes perfect sense here – since all three protagonists are foreigners anyway; then again, many of the Italian supporting characters do speak in their native tongue. Even so, some of the dubbing is unintelligible (particularly Umberto Raho's Police Inspector, who only appears towards the end) while, for about five straight minutes around the one-hour mark, the dialogue reverts completely to Italian for a scene which presumably was cut from the U.S. version of the film!

AKA Dirty Pictures

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 28 February 2022]

I watched this for the first time on DVD last night, at 84:34 minutes it is apparently the longest available version. The picture quality was pretty weak at times and occasionally the language switched from English to Italian but hey, this is all part of the joys of being a fan of Euro sex, sleaze, thriller and horror movies. Directed by Umberto Lenzi, the man who started the notorious cycle of gory Italian cannibal movies, Oasis of Fear is a much different genre, it does contain one or two suspenseful moments (the one in the bird aviary is good) but I would not call this a proper Giallo movie. More of a sexy and fun thriller. Ray Lovelock and his gorgeous girlfriend Ornella Muti play a very young couple (I make her a mere 16 when she filmed this) travelling across Italy, selling pornographic photos of themselves but when their delightful little British MG sports car runs out of fuel they seek refuge at a large villa, owned by the strange Irene Papas. This is where things start to get interesting. The movie is sexy, groovy, fun and at times suspenseful, I wouldn't call it a classic by any means but for anybody who enjoys Euro movies from this period then it is worth seeing. The sex and nudity aspect is quite tame. Watch out for the crazy guy on a motorbike who speaks an curious and amusing mix of English and Italian!

Never trust a stranger

[unbrokenmetal · 7/10 · 6 July 2008]

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.

Excellent character driven giallo

[Prof-Hieronymos-Grost · 7/10 · 2 August 2007]

Posto ideale per uccidere, Un (1971) aka Oasis of fear aka Dirty pictures 7/10

A young free loving hippy couple Dick (Ray Lovelock) and Ingrid (Ornella Muti) buy a car load of porn in Copenhagen to help fund their holiday in Italy. Once in Italy they find plenty of takers for their product and soon find themselves very flush with cash which they spend like there's no tomorrow, soon they find they are broke again and Dick has the idea to take porno photos of themselves and flog them, but they approach the wrong person and are soon in the custody of the local police who confiscate the pics and give them 24 hours to leave the country. On their way home, their car runs out of petrol and so they knock into a nearby large house, where having received no reply decide to siphon off petrol from a car in the garage. They are confronted by Barbara, the apparently flustered lady of the house who threatens them with the police, but then on hearing their story changes her mind and invites them in for some food and to stay the night. It turns out she is the lonely wife of a NATO colonel and soon all three are involved in some flirtatious sex games, but who is taking advantage of who? Next morning we find out……

Another fine early Giallo from the diverse Lenzi, a rather bloodless and character driven film that doesn't really follow the Giallo tradition or for that matter let on where its going until the end, Lovelock and Muti are very good as the young sexually charged couple, who never hesitate to get naked, although Muti's nude scenes do seem to have been taken by a body double, Irene Papas as the very hospitable host takes most of the acting plaudits and portrays her characters vulnerability to perfection in a role that also requires her to show a sense of sexual frustration in a multi layered character and despite the fact not a lot happens in the first half of the film, there is a nice tension built up between the three leads. Lenzi also captures a fun frivolous swinging sixties full of flower power hippies, gypsies, sitars, swinging clubs which is defined by a very funky score with some horribly catchy songs by Bruno Lauzi. Although there is more than a slight overuse of the zoom lens throughout the film, Lenzi again proves to me he was a fine film maker. There's also a sting in the tale, in what is a rather muted and downbeat ending as Lenzi finally reveals his hand. Recommended

A superlative effort from Lenzi and Papas

[lazarillo · 8 March 2006]

A young Scandinavian couple are rousted by the Italian police for selling nude photos of themselves. After, some strange misadventures with some gypsies (who rob them) they try to steal some petrol from the villa of a wealthy NATO colonel and are caught in the act by his wife. They charm their way into her house and seduce and victimize the older woman, but she has a surprising agenda of her own and soon the young couple find themselves embroiled in a murder and on the run from the law.

This is one of a string of superlative gialli directed by the enigmatic Umberto Lenzi starting with "Paranoia" in 1968 and ending with "Seven Bloodstained Orchids" in 1972. After that, Lenzi seemed to lose interest in the genre directing much lamer entries like "Spasmo" and "Eyeball" before moving into violent police thrillers and eventually stomach-turning third-world cannibal films. The plot of this movie somewhat resembles Lenzi's first giallo "Paranoia" with a young, free-spirited couple victimizing a wealthy, repressed older woman, but the older woman is much more than a victim here, the couple is much more sympathetic, and the story is told from a very different point of view. The ending is also similar to the ridiculous deus ex machina ending of the earlier film, but is much more believable (albeit much more cynical).

As the young couple, the movie features two of the most attractive actors of 70's European exploitation films in Ray Lovelock and Ornella Muti. But Lovelock, unfortunately, is dubbed and not speaking in his usual Scottish brogue and Muti was obviously too young to do the copious nude scenes that are, for once, necessary to the plot, so an obvious body double is used and every cinematic trick in the book employed (of course, this doesn't stop Lenzi from making like Jess Franco with the zoom lens every time the real actress bends over in her short-shorts). Both actors are pretty good though despite these liabilities. Special mention must go to Irene Papas though, who almost outdoes Caroll Baker herself in the Carroll Baker role.

I hate too admit it, but I kind of liked to pop music soundtrack too.

An early crime thriller from Umberto Lenzi

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 7 August 2011]

A couple of young hippies decide to make a quick buck selling pornography in Italy. They soon get into bother and eventually go on the run. They wind up in a villa inhabited by a friendly if somewhat odd older woman. Their problems are only just about to begin.

This film is labelled as a giallo by many, although I'm not sure I necessarily agree that it is. It's more of a crime-thriller than anything else. It basically boils down to a cat and mouse game between three people. It feels relatively restrained for an Umberto Lenzi picture. It isn't very violent at all, although it does have some quite frank sexual scenes. While it is a thriller, it does feel very much more a product of the end of the counter-culture, with it's pessimistic ending recalling the nihilistic finales of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Easy Rider (1969). It's hippies gone bad idea is very much in line with the then hugely topical post Manson Family massacres. At one point a character even writes the word 'PIGS' in large letters on a mirror for no discernible reason other than that was precisely what the Manson girls did in the houses where they committed their infamous homicides; although admittedly, in reality these words were written in the blood of their victims, rather than in ketchup, as was the case in this movie!

It's all-in-all a good enough genre picture, although not a great one. Like most other Lenzi flicks it is unashamedly salacious stuff, with enough unpretentious sleaze to ensure it's entertaining stuff on the whole.

Good Italian exploitation...

[MovieGuy01 · 6/10 · 20 September 2009]

I found Oasis Of Fear to be a good movie. It is about a young hippie couple that are trying to sell illegal pornography whilst they are in Italy. There is not too much nudity in the film, They drive around in a yellow open top sports car. they manage to break into the garage of this womens villa, and try to steal petrol from her car. she agrees to let them stay in her villa for the evening she then gets tortured by the young couple and they get involved in a murder case. I noticed that during some parts of the film. some sences were done with Italian subtitles, where there was no dubbed English. i thought that it was a good made exploitation film.

Psychological giallo is a real three-hander

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 6 September 2016]

Normally, I would dismiss OASIS OF FEAR as a sub-par movie due to the slow pacing and total lack of gore and violence, ingredients which are usually central to the Italian giallo movie. There's no masked or mystery killer here, no female victims being stalked, and instead the movie is a low-budget three-hander about a man and two women, trapped in an isolated location, and the sex and power games that they play which eventually lead to death and ultimate destruction. However, in the hands of genre specialist Umberto Lenzi (already a veteran of the genre by 1971!), OASIS OF FEAR becomes a suspenseful, tense and supremely watchable little film with interesting characters and fine scripting which always keeps you guessing. Although the plot is very simplistic, an air of mystery hangs over the production and facts are never handed to the viewer on to a plate; you don't really find out what's happened until the very end of the film and Lenzi keeps you guessing - and therefore interested - throughout.

The first half hour of the movie, right up until the introduction of Irene Papas, is by far the weakest part. Basically it serves as an introduction to the two main characters, a young free-living couple who travel Italy making pornography, stealing, and generally causing a nuisance of themselves with the police. Unfortunately scenes of the pair wreaking havoc at a restaurant as a cry out for anarchy and falling in with a group of dubious gypsies serve only to stall the plot, and combined with the cheesy music and fashions these moments come across as very dated. It's only when the action moves to the country mansion and mysterious characters keep popping up, an undercurrent of sexual intrigue develops (even sexual torture is threatened at one point), with one character revealed to be a murderer, that things become really interesting.

Playing the young, idealistic lead is Ray Lovelock, better known as 'George', the hero in THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE. Lovelock plays much the same character here as in his zombie epic but far less heroic, and in fact his character is rather unlikeable and irritating. The same can be said for Ornella Muti's character, Ingrid. However the two leads are realistic - in a world where 'teenage characters' on television are played by thirty-three year olds, the actual age of the actors involved is the same as that of the characters - and Lovelock and Muti fit the parts very well. The respected actress Irene Papas has the role of the repressed middle-aged housewife, Barbara, and is excellent in the part, especially when she flies off the handle and becomes disturbed, as in the aviary sequence. The acting, combined with the twisting plot and very watchable power games that occur, make OASIS OF FEAR an unusual and often successful movie that ranks as another solid entry from cult fave Lenzi.

The 70s... it wasn't all fun

[clivey6 · 2/10 · 8 June 2009]

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.

Trying to Roll With It.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 14 March 2011]

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!

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 Lenzi's 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.

Relatively dull minor exploitation thriller.

[barnabyrudge · 4/10 · 21 September 2009]

Un Posto Ideale Per Uccidere is an exploitation thriller which mixes the laid-back hippie attitudes of the 60s with the permissive approach to cinematic sex and violence of the 70s. It comes from Italian director Umberto Lenzi, at the junction where his career was steering away from adventure and thriller movies and sailing into gorier, more controversial waters. Ultimately Lenzi would offend the world with films like Mangiati Vivi! (a.k.a Eaten Alive), and the notoriously sickening Cannibal Ferox. At least Un Posto Ideale Per Uccidere isn't particularly offensive or nasty – it's just a routine thriller with a splash of sex and nudity, obvious plot developments, a fashionably downbeat ending, and a toe-tapping soundtrack that is blissfully unrelated to the events on screen!

Dick (Ray Lovelock) and Ingrid (Ornella Muti) are a young Scandinavian couple travelling around Europe. They pay their way by selling pornographic photos of themselves. Unfortunately for them, their scheme is uncovered by the somewhat unforgiving Italian police and they are instructed to leave Italy at once. On their way to the border, their car runs out of petrol and they are forced to seek help at a large, secluded villa. Here they meet Barbara Slater (Irene Papas), wife of the NATO colonel who owns the villa. Barbara seems edgy and nervous, especially when she finds them attempting to steal her husband's petrol, but nevertheless invites the couple to stay. It becomes increasingly apparent that Barbara is not to be trusted. Her behaviour seems erratic and at one point she seduces Dick. The young couple slowly come to learn that Barbara has an ulterior motive for having them in her home. Seems she recently murdered her husband and has his body stashed in the trunk of his car…. now she plans to frame Dick and Ingrid for her ruthless crime.

The film has a few interesting elements and is comparatively subtle by Lenzi's later standards. There is some attempt to set aside time for proper character development, so that the eventual misadventures which befall the protagonists carry a little more weight. The problem is that the characters are rather dull, and the actors aren't really charismatic enough to overcome this. Eugenio Alabiso edits the film quite well, using a variety of flashy techniques to create a sense of atmosphere in several scenes. But again, the central story is too weak and uninvolving – in the end, no amount of flashy editing can overcome the film's pervasive air of dreariness. Once Un Posto Ideale Per Uccidere reaches its glumly depressing climax, one realises that very little has really happened. It is a slow-burning film which doesn't build to anything of note. Collectors of these old Italian exploitation-era movies might find something to hold their interest, as will fans of the stars, but for wider audiences there's not a great deal in the film worth getting excited about.

fine piece of exploitation cinema

[christopher-underwood · 9/10 · 1 December 2008]

Most enjoyable outing from Mr Lenzi and whilst giallo-esquire is really quite a mixed bag. Starting off as a bit of a hippy drippy affair with a young uninhibited couple using their bodies and their guile to get a free holiday, this turns into something much darker. There is real suspense including a splendid Hitchcockian scene in an aviary, lots of nudity and some pretty nasty moments. Irene Papas ( 'Zorba the Greek' and 'Don't Torture a Duckling') lends considerable gravitas with her impressive performance as the mature woman with something of a problem to sort out. Ray Lovelock is appealing as the handsome young man who likes fast cars and faster women but it is the lovely 16 year old Ornella Muti who is always catching the eye. Apparently the almost too perfect nude shots are of a body double but we still get plenty of up the shorts shots as she bends obligingly forward. All three are a great asset and with a decent script and Lenzi's constant inventiveness, this is a fine piece of exploitation cinema.

Fun Lenzi giallo

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 17 June 2020]

Dick Butler (Ray Lovelock, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue) and Ingrid Sjorman (Ornella Muti, Flash Gordon) are trying to enjoy their own summer of love, traveling through Italy and paying for it with porn magazines and nudes of Ingrid. Then they get busted by the cops. Then they get robbed by a biker gang. Then they get mistaken for crooks. They're on the run, out of gas and running out of options.

Also known as Oasis of Fear, Deadly Trap, Dirty Pictures and Love Stress in Japan, this Umberto Lenzi giallo is all about what happens next.

Soon, our hapless couple has found their way to the home of bored middle-class housewife Barbara Slater (Irene Papas, Don't Torture a Duckling). She's up for some sexual shenanigans, potentially with both of them, but she's also way smarter than either of our teenagers realize.

In the book Blood and Black Lace: The Definitive Guide to Italian Sex and Horror Movies, Lenzi claimed that he had trouble getting Papas to participate in the threesome scene. What he had no trouble with was getting Lovelock's help in capturing the free spirit of 1971, as he sings the theme "How Can You Live Your Life?" and rocks out some amazing clothes, including the Union Jack jacket that appears on the poster for the Oasis of Fear release of this movie.

Beyond a brand new 2k restoration in English and Italian, the new Mondo Macabro release of this film features roy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson commentary, an archival interview with Umberto Lenzi, deleted x-rated scenes (they're basically photos inside the magazines that Dick and Ingrid sell) and the original Italian trailer.

This movie was shot in the same home as Fulci's Perversion Story and Argento's The Cat O'Nine Tails. I have no idea where they got the matching white bellbottom outfits or the yellow old school car that they covered in flower stickers.

While not a top tier giallo, this is still a quick watch packed with plenty of twists. Don't get it confused with A Quiet Place to Kill. We'll be getting to that one soon enough.

Fashionably cynical crime tale

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 17 February 2011]

At age around 16, and playing one half of a fun-loving and free-loving couple of petty criminals, Ornella Muti was already dreamily beautiful, but the real revelation of this movie is Irene Papas: already past 40 at that time, and mostly known for appearing in "high art" fare, she is not afraid to get down and dirty - and dare I say, even sensual - in this medium-budget Italian exploitation flick. Made in the 1970s, one of the most (cinematically, at least) pessimistic decades, this film doesn't really have anyone to root for, and leads to a predictably cynical ending. Director Umberto Lenzi definitely overuses the "zoom" functions of his camera, especially in the first 15 minutes or so; other than that, this film is watchable. ** out of 4.

Lenzi's "beautiful-lovers-on-the-run" thriller/giallo

[Coventry · 6/10 · 11 November 2016]

In my personal quest to track down and watch every single Italian giallo ever made, I encountered Umberto Lenzi's "An Ideal Place to Kill" (a.k.a. "Oasis of Fear") many times already, but for some inexplicable reason I always deliberately postponed my viewing of this film. I don't know why, but it always felt to me as if this wasn't a 100% genuine and full-blooded giallo, or at least that Lenzi never intended for it to be one. Along with handful of other prolific Italian genre directors, Lenzi undoubtedly was one of the masters of the giallo-sub genre and he contributed some excellent titles ("Seven Blood-Stained Orchids", "Knife of Ice", "Spasmo"…) but I'm personally persuaded that he wanted to do something more and different with this film. Rather than a giallo, I'd say this is more of a "lovers-on-the-run" thriller inspired by the huge success of Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde"; yet predating several other tremendously popular films in this theme, like "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry", "Badlands" and "The Getaway". Also, this "An Ideal Place to Kill" is reminiscent to Lenzi's own previous "Orgasmo" although that latter one qualifies as giallo a lot more.

Well, I perhaps refer to the two protagonists as "lovers on the run" but admittedly they aren't dangerous criminals at all. The handsome Dick and the more than ravishing Ingrid form a wayward and indecent hippie couple from England that are traveling through prudish Italy. They try to make some extra money by selling nude pictures of the gorgeous Ingrid and committing a couple of other petty crimes, which naturally leads to a confrontation with the local police and the command to leave the country immediately. They ignore this mandate, head further south and stop at a secluded mansion to break into the garage and steal petrol. They are caught by the middle-aged lady of the house, but instead of informing the police the woman – Barbara – invites them to the house. She claims to be nervous because her husband didn't come home, but she also shows a love-interest for the much younger couple and arranges a wild night. The next morning, however, Dick and Ingrid begin to suspect that Barbara hides a few sinister secrets and that she might even try to frame them for something they haven't done. Lenzi's semi-giallo principally thrives on style, lurid atmosphere and the downright fantastic performances of the three lead players. You'd expect Caroll Baker in the role of the mysterious Barbara, but the slightly older Irene Papas does a terrific job as well. The casting of both Ray Lovelock and Ornella Muti was a great idea, since they are incredibly beautiful kids that live fast and careless and absolutely don't have any moral or traditional values. There are a few intense sequences, notably the one in the birdhouse, but the overall tone of the film is lush and free-spirited (also steered by the unusually joyous pop-soundtrack). The climax, on the other hand, is cynically harsh and relentless, and it once more states clear that the "love & peace" sixties are over and gone!

Oasis of Fear AKA: An Ideal Place to Kill AKA: Deadly Trap AKA: Dirty Pictures

[dopefishie · 7/10 · 28 May 2022]

Oasis of Fear AKA: An Ideal Place to Kill AKA: Deadly Trap AKA: Dirty Pictures.

The highlight here is the two leads. These are probably the two most likeable people to appear in an Umberto Lenzi film. They are well-written and well acted and have good chemistry together. It's also a film with largely a lighter tone and with more humor than you would expect for a thriller. Overall, it's a pretty well rounded film.

However, it takes awhile for the main plot to kick in, and I did not like the ending. You can't win them all.

Stylish Giallo Thriller

[acidburn-10 · 7/10 · 30 January 2023]

'Oasis of Fear' also known as 'An Ideal Place to Kill' or 'Dirty Pictures' is an interesting psychological Giallo thriller that focuses more on the mystery thriller aspects of the genre with very little on screen violence, but more than makes up for it with plenty of suspense, plot twists and stylish visuals.

The plot follows a young couple Dick Butler (Ray Lovelock) and Ingrid Sjoman (Ornella Muti) who travel to Italy to sell pornographic pictures and soon end up on the run from the law. After being mistaken for a couple of bank robbers they end up at a nearby mansion owned by Barbara Slater (Irene Papas) who might have sinister intentions of her own.

The movie's set up is entertaining for the first half, but the pacing does sag a little during the middle, thankfully things pick up during the final act when the plot takes a few unexpected turns, especially during the very downbeat climax which makes everything a satisfying viewing experience. The direction by Umberto Lenzi is solid with enough effective sequences, some erotic sleaze and strong production values that makes this pleasing to the eye.

The cast here are great with strong performances from the three main leads. Ray Lovelock and Ornella Muti have great chemistry together and are both convincing as young free spirited hippies and comes across as very likeable and charismatic. Irene Papas also provides a strong performance with plenty of intrigue to her character and becomes more entertaining once her true intentions are revealed.

Overall 'Oasis of Fear' is an interesting and solid little flick with great performances, sure it could have done with a bit more thrilling moments, but its still worth a look in.

Solid entry in the giallo canon and Umberto Lenzi's filmography.

[movie_enjoyer2046 · 7/10 · 3 August 2023]

Ray Lovelock and a young (very young) Ornella Muti are two freewheeling flower children who support themselves by reselling pornography across Europe. If this movie was made today they'd be running an OnlyFans! They're having a fun time of it at first but their luck starts to run out and they soon find themselves on the run. Out of desperation they take refuge in a villa (the 'oasis' of the title) and encounter Barbara (Irene Papas). After an awkward introduction they seem to get along great, even throwing a groovy party. And then the plot thickens...

Even though most people would consider this a giallo and I called it one in the title, this really feels more like a psychological thriller to me. Chalk it up to most of the plot happening in one confined location and a lack of masked killers or a large ensemble of characters to suspect. No matter how you categorize this, it's a well made effort, thanks to the chemistry between the principals, sharp cinematography, and legitimately surprising twists. Other points in this movie's favor include a somewhat higher budget (for this kind of movie, at least) and a few instances of upbeat, finger-snapping music. I typically prefer the instrumental arrangements of Morricone et. Al but the sunny opening title track by a band called I Leoni is especially worth checking out.

Tedious gialli sexploitation

[waldog2006 · 3/10 · 21 August 2009]

This is one of those films that plays out exactly as you might expect, almost by-the-numbers. A young couple get arrested for selling 'dirty pictures' (one of the titles for this release) although the pictures sometimes show nothing more than Ornella Muti naked in a photo-me-booth. They end up in the mansion of a rich lady (Irene Pappas giving a performance less lively than some of the furniture and obviously wishing she were elsewhere) because they run out of gasoline, and when she finds them in her garage syphoning off some fuel she realises she has a use for them. Anybody who doesn't realise what she is up to in about five minutes could only have seen ten movies in their lifetime. It plays out like an old episode of the TV show 'Thriller' with some nudity added (though Pappas obviously has a body double) and some hippy/flower-power shtick thrown in replete with cheesy music which is probably the best thing in this predictable yawn of a movie. Only of interest to Ornella Muti fans if they're not above barely-legal leering.

Standout Giallo from Umberto Lenzi

[The_Void · 8/10 · 24 August 2006]

Umberto Lenzi, undoubtedly one of Italy's most diverse directors, directed a handful of Giallo's in his career, which ranged in quality from absolutely superb (Seven Blood-Stained Orchids) to rather silly (Eyeball), but Oasis of Fear was made while Lenzi still had a lot of respect for the genre, and as such it stands tall as one of his very best films. The first thing that struck me about the film was the happy pop soundtrack, and this ends up offsetting the nihilistic tone of the film beautifully once the first big twist hits. The film starts out by introducing us to two amiable British hippies, who travel to a foreign country to buy pornography. After spending all their money, the pair decides to begin making their own pornography, and it's not long before they find themselves on the run from the local coppers. After breaking down outside a lavish manor house, they decide to enter and steal some petrol. However, the lady of the house catches them and after initially wanting them to leave, she changes her mind and invites the pair in for a little three-way party...

This film doesn't adhere to the usual Giallo rules and traditions, and at first it's difficult to see where it's going. Lenzi does a good job with creating his characters, however, and although the first half of the movie is all about setting up the second half, it's interesting thanks to the handling and decent performances from all concerned. When the twist in the tale comes about, it's amazingly shocking because it appears to come out of nowhere, although Lenzi does a good job of ensuring that it doesn't feel superfluous to the plot, and the change of direction certainly suits the film. Oasis of Fear benefits from a good cast, which includes prolific Italian cult film star Ray Lovelock and future Italian beauty Ornella Muti. The pair interacts well, and provide good impressions of their characters; even though they're clearly not British. The real standout, however, is Irene Papas who is handed the meatiest role in the film (the one usually given to Carol Baker), and gets to have fun with a character who is anything but what she seems. The standout sequence of the film takes place in an aviary full of owls, and the nihilistic conclusion manages to be sad despite the lightweight nature of the movie, and overall; this is a Giallo definitely worth tracking down.

Lenzi strikes again

[Bezenby · 8/10 · 20 April 2011]

Man, there's something about seventies Umberto Lenzi films.

This one, which he made either right before or right after Deep River Savages, concerns two smug hippies running (literally - they run everywhere!) around Italy being annoying, having a great sex life (annoying, I've got two small kids who are the best contraceptives ever), being free spirits (wish I had the time but I'm too busy earning money to buy nappies), and stealing stuff (also annoying). They end up being mistaken for another equally annoying couple and therefore do a runner or something...or maybe it was something to do with selling pervy pictures...

Anyway - they end up at this house and that's where the mystery and intrigue start, I ain't one for spoiling a good Italian movie. Lenzi is very smart with this film...not even particularly bothered about whether or not the audience understands where the film is heading until about the one hour mark. If you don't have two small kids then you could possibly have enough time to actually sit down and watch this one - It's another beauty from the man whose mental health would give us 'Ghosthouse' and 'House of the Damn it Can't Even Remember the title of this one due to lack of sleep (two small kids)...

Shameless, bless them, have given us a good copy...my only beef with Shameless is the photographic archiving of every dirty bit from the film on the back of the DVD - Cheers for making me feel like a dirty old man!

Spoilers follow ...

[parry_na · 8/10 · 3 November 2017]

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'.

entertaining & very Early Seventies

[wvisser-leusden · 8/10 · 25 April 2013]

The title 'Oasis of fear' may be a bit exaggerated to today's taste, for this film is more like any crime-release you may watch on television nowadays.

And yes, some knowledge about society from 1971 comes in handy as well. With a prominent issue like the youth revolution, turning away from all stiff morals adapted by the elder generations. Seeking freedom, leisure and sex, released & relieved by the then new anti-conceptive. Starting for it right down in Copenhagen, because in those days Scandinavia was leading the way.

Although this issue is demonstrated abundantly by the young couple, one cannot miss that 'Oasis of fear' is really carried by the then 45-year old Irene Pappas -- adding at least 20% to this film's worth.

Another name worth mentioning is that of producer Carlo Ponti. I have seen better films from him, but I suppose it's his influence that makes 'Oasis of fear' worth watching up to this day.

An overall fun and enjoyable genre effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 30 November 2023]

While traveling through Italy, a vacationing couple gets in trouble with the law and tries to escape only to break down by a remote house in the countryside where an enigmatic woman takes them in and lets them stay, but after the fun and games are over they begin to realize they've stumbled onto something more dangerous.

This proved to be a solid and worthwhile giallo effort. One of the better elements here is the rather fun starting point that presents itself as a worthwhile starting point for what's going on. The initial half here works rather nicely as a brief introduction to the couple on their journey through the country, having the kind of hippie lifestyle of causing trouble for the fun of it and engaging in unrestrained sexual freedom that comes from being who they are. That leads into how the main couple comes together at the house where their conflicting lifestyles mesh together somewhat messily where they need a place to hide out and take over the house while she tries to initially get them to leave but then later grows comfortable enough to let them stay which is a fine enough storyline here to get to know everyone and create an uneasy air. This early setup allows the film to move quite comfortably into the thriller genre the longer the three stay together. Figuring the couple to be more about sexually liberating games with everyone being open and liberal with how they all sleep around with each other, this first half serves as a great building block for the later scenes where the distrust between each other grows into burgeoning violence. As there's a nice bit of intrigue here regarding what the actual truth about everyone's intentions when things finally spiral out of control going headlong into the murder revelation that occurred just before the couple arrived, this incredibly solid back and forth suspense-filled series of encounters looking to gain the upper hand in the situation which is logically built and intriguing to play out for a lot to really like about it. There are some minor issues here holding the film down. One of the main factors here is the somewhat underwhelming finish here where this one ends on quite a whimper compared to the work that came before it. The whole idea of the couple having the upper hand at that point where they downgrade the abduction technique after knowing she's gotten away from worse before, so they seem even stupider and the whole final encounter away from the house is entirely satisfying in nearly every regard. The other flaw to be had here is the useless and random subplot about them being harassed by a biker gang while in the city which gets dropped really quickly since the couple never stays in the city nor do they pursue the couple and the whole thing is unnecessary on many levels. These are what hold this one back.

Rated R: Nudity, Violence, Language, and sex scenes.