Nothing Underneath (1985) User Reviews

Average giallo

[jangu · 5/10 · 8 February 2002]

This one tries oh-so-hard to be a stylish giallo in the Argento-manner, combined with some erotica, and almost succeeds. Of course, you get all the pros and cons of the giallo-genre. Inventive cinematography, nice settings, elaborate murders, good score (by dePalma regular Pino Donaggio) and a plot with more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at, are bonus points plus a walk-on by Donald Pleasance who gives the picture a touch of class.

We also get silly dialogue to howl at, so-called actors/actresses who read their lines in incredibly stilted fashion (my 'fave' is the girl who says 'a maniac is trying to kill us all' with a tone of voice that suggests indigestion more than fright) and a motive for the killer that is far-fetched to say the least. Renee Simonsen is adequate in her part, as is Schanley. Because of the setting, the fashion industry in Milan, the array of beautiful women is neverending (but many of them are made up to look like hookers, not models), but almost none of them are presented in a positive way, rather as money-hungry bitches, ready to do everything for fame and/or money.

For the true giallo-fan there may be one thing that disappoints: the murders. If you are familiar with the works of Argento/Soavi/Fulci, you know that the murders should be vicious and yet beautiful almost. "Nothing Underneath" builds these set-pieces with some flair, but the payoffs (i.e murders) are usually (with one exception) pretty lame. However, the last ten minutes are quite suspenseful and competently put together, and Vanzina manages to pull off some neat set-pieces. Give it a try, but don't expect too much.

Fashion Models All Serial Killers Love 'em

[Coventry · 7/10 · 28 October 2009]

When it comes to horror cinema, I love the Italian Giallo and I love the 80's, but a combination of both usually isn't worth the effort. The Giallo is irreversibly linked to the 70's and unfortunately only a handful of gratifying titles came out during the 80's, mostly either directed by Dario Argento ("Tenebre", "Opera") or Lamberto Bava ("Midnight Ripper", "Delirium"). Therefore it was an extra pleasant surprise to discover that "Nothing Underneath", directed by the relatively unknown Carlo Vanzina, is an overlooked gem in the sub genre. The scenario often doesn't make a lick of sense and the plot twists are implausible and absurd, but that doesn't matter and actually even makes it cooler in terms of Giallo-cinema. The setting, premise and character drawings are as rudimentary as it gets in this type of film. In the glossy and competitive fashion business of Milan, there's a crazed psychopath killing models with a gigantic pair of shiny scissors. The fatigue old police commissioner, who's only two weeks away from his retirement, doesn't have a clue where to begin his investigation, but luckily he receives the help of a young Wyoming park ranger. For you see, the kid witnessed the attack against his twin sister through a telepathic connection between them, and now he traveled to Milan to look for her. Whilst he's messing around with gorgeous models, the killer cheerfully continues to cut up more beauty queens.

Although entirely irrelevant to the plot, this film at least has a title that actually makes sense. Gialli often have lovely sounding but nonsensical titles, but this one is totally accurate as several of these models are wearing nothing underneath their dresses and mini-skirts. In spite of the nudity and a remarkably stylish presentation, the first half hour is rather slow-paced and on the verge of boring. "Nothing Underneath" is then luckily rescued by a few highly inventive and delightfully far-fetched plot twists; making the rest of the film satisfyingly exciting and even suspenseful. The last ten minutes are downright fantastic and almost on par with the quality level of the 80's films by the aforementioned directors Argento and Bava. As said already, director Carlo Vanzina even manages to demonstrate style and flair, like through the use slow-motion images and colorful fashion show glimpses. The murders, on the other hand, are a bit disappointing, as there should have been more of them and especially bloodier. There's one impressively nasty kill involving a backstabbing, but the concept offered so much more opportunities to depict gore and bloodshed. The screenplay greedily processes all the typical Italian fashion industry clichés and stereotypes into the film, including the voyeuristic hotel clerks, the wild drug parties and the harsh competition between the women. The soundtrack contains some wondrous 80's tunes like "One Night in Bangkok", which always puts a smile on my face. Donald Pleasance stars as the aging commissioner who desperately – but in vain - tries to look and sound Italian. Pleasance's role isn't that important, but he definitely brings some name fame to the overlooked production.

The sequel, entitled "Too Beautiful To Die" is a pretty worthwhile film as well. The stories of both films have no plot aspects or characters in common but are nevertheless considered sequels because they were both released in the second half of the 80's and take place in the Italian fashion universe.

The giallo goes commando.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 3 February 2014]

Yellowstone Park ranger Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) shares a psychic connection with his sister Jessica (Nicola Perring), a top model working in Milan. After he 'sees' Jessica being attacked in a vision, Bob flies to Italy where he discovers that she has mysteriously vanished. Local police commissioner Danesi (Donald Pleasence) is unconvinced by Bob's bizarre story, at least until another model is murdered in the same hotel from which Jessica disappeared.

'A little bit of make-up, a beautiful dress, and nothing underneath'—so says a fashion photographer about the models he photographs in this glossy but unexceptional giallo from director Carlo Vanzina. Although the lens-man is talking figuratively, he might as well be speaking literally, for the girls in this film seem to have little call for underwear, revealing their hot bods in several sexy scenes (including one particularly gratuitous moment in which a model walks over a street grate to reveal her bare ass to the camera below!).

If only the violence had been as unrestrained as the nudity...

Although the hilarious 80s fashion and music, and the regular display of female flesh guarantee a reasonable time, Nothing Underneath is crying out for a few Argento-style moments of bloody excess; however, despite the film's killer brandishing a wickedly sharp pair of scissors, this is a frustratingly 'dry' giallo, a fact that will most likely disappoint the majority of the genre's fans (for whom a few really juicy kills are usually considered a must).

5.5 out of 10, happily rounded up to 6 for the use of a power drill in the fun finale and the hilarious scene in which Bob spies a woman in the building opposite indulging in a spot of masturbation, but rather than stand there gawping like most blokes would, he pulls the curtains and proceeds to fondle a pair of his dead sister's skimpy knickers!

Solid giallo with style

[SchmollywoodBabylon · 13 November 2002]

Okay, I admit: the eighties is a guilty pleasure for me and most of of the horror movies I watch are from those years.

I´m very fond of giallos from the eightes and this is one of my guilty pleasures. Not as good and stylish as You´ll die at midnight, but good entertainment and quite a good story.

Someone is killing models in Milano and the brother to one of them comes to town to find out what happened to his sister. He get´s help from the soon-to-retired police Donald Pleasence. Because he and his sister are twins, he can sense things that happened to her and that helps him a lot during the investigation.

Carlo Vanzinas direction is simple and very effective and he makes the movie work. I enjoyed his work before, the strange espionage-giallo Mystère (with Janet Ågren, Carol Bouchet and John Steiner).

Blood? Yes, a small amount is shed with happiness and those scenes look really good. But most of the stuff is off screen or just not-so-graphic.

The ending is fabulous, I love the use of slowmo there.

Recommended for the die hard giallo-fans :)

a late entry in the giallo genre but not in the Argento style

[trashgang · 6/10 · 15 October 2012]

Sotto Il Vestito Niente or Nothing Underneath is one of those releases that never had an official uncut release on DVD. Even the US DVD clocks in at 90 minutes. To find it uncut you will have to search the Japanese VHS release on the obscure 'Suncrown' label. It clocks in at 94 minutes and 14 seconds. 4 minutes more then all DVD releases worldwide. The VHS is very hard to find but still is it all worth searching?

If you are a giallo buff you will need this version and also the Donald Pleasance fans should search for it. He has a weird Italian accent. You can easily spot the extra 4 minutes throughout this flick, they have more drops and scratches. It's indeed a pure giallo with the black gloves and scissors but it's low on red stuff. Don't expect to see a Argento styled giallo.

The story is also rather simple. When Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) hears that his sister is in danger he immediately goes to Milan, Italy to find Jessica (Nicola Perring). Of course nobody believes Bob and detective Danesi (Pleasance) doesn't want to help until other models do disappear. Together they go hunt the maniacal killer as it's Danesi's last case.

When the killings happen it's all done off-camera except with the brown girl. And that doesn't help the giallo to become a classic. But it's full of gratuitous nudity and Pleasance with his worth voice is worth watching. A late entry in the giallo genre and not that good for the red stuff but the story flows smoothly, somehow you keep watching.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 2,5/5 Effects 1/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

title turns out to be rather delightfully appropriate

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 3 June 2012]

Not a top notch giallo but colourful and stylish enough and if the kills are not particularly stunning, the build ups are good and there is enough momentum to keep the film moving on. Very much a latter day entry to the genre, Mr Vazina happily includes many of the much loved elements from earlier gems, so much so that a lot of the time I found myself smiling as the good to see cinematic clichés appeared every now and again like money shots. The provocative title turns out to be rather delightfully appropriate, even if, of course, irrelevant to the story. Donald Pleasance just about keeps his end up, Tom Schanley is fine and the girls all lovely. Most enjoyable.

Not as good as the sequel

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 19 June 2020]

I really like 1988's Too Beautiful to Die, a movie that was sold as a sequel to this movie. Perhaps it's better that I watched that first, because while I like the premise of this movie, the execution leaves something to be desired. That's a shame, because it really sets up something great.

A serial killer roams the city of Milan, dispatching gorgeous models with the flash of his scissors. Meanwhile, Yellowstone Park ranger Bob Crane senses that his sister needs him, so he flies across the world to interact with the rich and famous. Can he save her? Will he be targeted by the killer? Will Donald Pleasence ever say no to a movie?

As I set up before, this didn't live up to my hopes. The mid-80's are a wasteland for giallo, with so many movies being set in the fashion industry yet having no real feel for the fashion or any pretension to art.

"Fashions are seasonal, murder isn't."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 18 May 2018]

Despite being one of the first Gialli titles that I heard of,I somehow have never got round to seeing this mid-80's Giallo fashion show. Finally getting round to watching the very good Spaghetti Western Don't Turn the Other Cheek on video last night,it felt like the perfect time to find out what is underneath.

View on the film:

One of only a few Gialli to have most of the soundtrack be recorded on set instead of looped, Carlo and Enrico Vanzina's team up with Franco Ferrini in (to quote the credits) "freely adapting" Marco Parma's novel is helped by the mix of real and snippets of looped dialogue giving Crane's telekinetic ability the impression of there not being one lone voice in his head. Dressing Crane with a deep telekinetic connection to his sister in the opening, the writers take an oddly casual approach to Crane's desire to find the killer, as his liaisons in the drug & sex fuelled fashion industry cool the mystery down,until a a fading flashback and a shattering final gets underneath the identity of the murderer.

Dicing away from from the traditional,extended first person tracking shots of the killer, co-writer/director Carlo Vanzina & cinematographer Giuseppe Maccari find the ultra-stylised atmosphere of the Giallo in pristine match cuts by editor Raimondo Crociani,who makes the impact from well done (non-rubbery) practical effects strike with clean cuts unveiling the aftermath from each murder scene. Using Commissioner Danesi (played with a very good edge of suspicion of Donald Pleasence) and Pino Donaggio's moody synch score to cast uncertainty over the killer identity, Vanzina threads the mystery of the Giallo with the pristine glamour of the Erotic Thriller, via Crane joining models in glossy sex scenes,which get wonderfully broken by Vanzina in a reflecting final revealing nothing underneath.

Glossy Production, but flatly executed

[acidburn-10 · 5/10 · 30 November 2022]

'Nothing Underneath' is a stylish 80's Giallo thriller with glossy production with an interesting premise and a well-executed mystery. I have heard good things about this after reading several reviews, but after watching I was a bit disappointed as while the premise was good, the execution was a little flat with a very sluggish pace and not enough kills to keep me interested.

The plot = A park ranger from Wyoming Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) has a psychic connection to his twin sister Jessica (Nicola Perring) who is a fashion model in Milan. He senses that his sister is in trouble, so Bob rushes straight to Milan to investigate, but once he arrives, he discovers that she has disappeared and soon other models start getting killed, could these events be connected.

Once you get past the compelling set-up the movie quickly becomes mundane, apart from the stylish sequences where the killer strikes, but there's not enough of it to keep things moving, which is a shame as from a production standpoint this movie looks fantastic with excellent camera work and effective set pieces, but somehow everything falls flat up until the climax which could almost save this glossy bore-fest. I mean come on fashion models, psychic connections and a scissor welding maniac, this should have been much better.

The performances are decent enough with Tom Schanley giving a decent performance as the leading man and Renee Simonsen giving a memorable turn as Barbara. Plus it's always great to see Donald Pleasence in any role and here he gives a more subdued performance and yet still manages to steal the show as usual.

Overall 'Nothing Underneath' has the correct title as apart from all the glossy production, the movie itself is highly derivative thriller.

Donald Pleasence's Italian Period

[johnnyhbtvs27 · 6/10 · 7 April 2022]

Donald Pleasence doing his best italian accent! Nothing Underneath is a decent giallo with all the trademarks you'd expect from the genre including a nice soundtrack, great suspenseful moments & a ludicrous but entertaining ending.

spaghetti at a Wendy's in Italy?

[FieCrier · 4/10 · 30 August 2023]

I'd seen the movie well over a decade ago, perhaps on VHS, and had at that time rated it a 4/10 but not reviewed it. Having now rewatched it online via Fandor's good quality 94 minute print, I was astonished to find that not a single scene was even slightly familiar but nonetheless think the rating I gave it still sounds about right. It's hard to understand how the movie could have been such a hit in Italy or why it generated two (thematic) sequels.

The Yellowstone National Park is underutilized as a location in the early part of the movie. Some strange visions and feelings are misleading. Much of the movie drags. Donald Pleasence doesn't have much to do.

That said, a scene set at a Wendy's that has a peculiar little salad bar island, and the sight of Pleasence eating plain, apparently sauceless, spaghetti that he evidently was served there(?!) was somewhat amusing. I guess maybe Pleasence wanted to be able to engage in the action of eating but not in a way that would cause him to have to eat too much over multiple takes or cause continuity problems.

Credit for a rather bizarre ending, though!

Murder is in fashion

[andrabem-1 · 8/10 · 14 October 2009]

"Sotto il vestito niente" (Nothing underneath) is what one could call a "standard " giallo. The film tells a straightforward story and is directed to the general audience, as it becomes clear by a more "conventional" soundtrack, but all the same – "Nothing underneath" is still a stylish and inventive film.

The plot , derivative as it may seem, is also interesting. A model in Milan is about to be killed. Her twin brother in Wyoming, Bob Crane (Tom Schanley) feels that something is about to happen. He tries to warn her. Too late. He flies in a hurry to Milan but his sister is missing. What happened to her? He warns the detective inspector, Comissioner Danesi (Donald Pleasance), that his sister may have been killed. But, as they say, "no body, no crime". Another model is murdered and this is just the beginning. Now Comissioner Danesi and Bob Crane join forces to investigate the murders...

As I said before, "Nothing underneath" is, like many other gialli, stylishly filmed, with good murder scenes, beautiful actresses etc., in other words, it has all the ingredients that make gialli so attractive. One can feel in "Nothing underneath" the love of Vanzina for the giallo genre, and for Hitchcock too.

"Nothing underneath" may not be a groundbreaking film, but it's quite an enjoyable one.

Nothing Underneath is a worthwhile 80s giallo, not exceptional but boasting redeeming elements

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 2 February 2024]

I recently viewed the Italian giallo 🇮🇹 Nothing Underneath (1985) on Tubi. The plot revolves around a Wyoming park ranger whose model twin sister in Milan faces an unknown tragedy. Driven by a sense of unease, he flies to Italy to find her, uncovering a ruthless man exploiting models.

Directed by Carlo Vanzina (The Gamble), the film features Donald Pleasence (Halloween), Tom Schanley (Get the Gringo), Renee Simonsen, Anna Galiena (Black Angel), and Bruce McGuire (From Beyond).

Released towards the end of the giallo era, the film captures the essence of 80s models through their fun lifestyles, hairstyles, attire, and makeup. It embraces classic giallo elements, blending psychological and slasher genres. While the kill scenes are generally average, there's a standout backstab moment that caught me off guard. The ending reveal is good, albeit somewhat abrupt.

In summary, Nothing Underneath is a worthwhile 80s giallo, not exceptional but boasting redeeming elements. I'd give it a 5.5-6/10 and recommend watching it at least once.

80s giallo and a very good one

[gorytus-20672 · 10/10 · 17 April 2021]

April 2021

Top notch 80s giallo, featuring Donald Pleasence, and apart from a couple others, i have to say the cast is largely unknown.

This film probably has the oddest opening to a giallo you will ever see, but it is very good indeed, i have watched it loads and will continue to do so.

Set in the world of fashion in Milan, which is a perfect fit for a giallo.

Watch it.

10 out of 10.

A pleasant surprise

[paulredwine · 8/10 · 3 December 2021]

After slogging through various 80s Italian films this one comes as a pleasant surprise. My expectations were low going in as I didn't know most of the cast and this was Donald Pleasance's phoning it in for a paycheck Era, but it was enjoyable. The performances are fine, the soundtrack is good, the filmmaking is competent. Does the story get a tad predictable? Sure, but it's fun so I give it a 7.6/10.

Scissors, drills and fashion models!

[The_Void · 8/10 · 20 July 2006]

I went into this film with my expectations set to 'low' as most of the best Giallo's were made during the seventies, and the majority of reviews that I've read on this film haven't exactly been full of praise; but to my delight, Nothing Underneath is actually a surprisingly good thriller! The plot, direction and acting are all rather mundane; but the film is elevated by a number of good twists, and a great sense of style emanating from both the modelling theme and the good ideas that have gone into putting the plot together. The film, naturally, focuses on murder; and we've got familiar Giallo elements such as a killer wielding a certain implement (in this case, scissors) and a plot deep enough for it to never completely make sense. The film's story centres on Bob Crane; a young man that experiences a vision of his twin sister's murder. His sister is a model in Milan, and after the premonition; he travels to Italy where he contacts Commissioner Danesi, who naturally doesn't believe him; until another dead model turns up, and then he has a case...

This film has a lot of ideas entwined within the plot, but not all of them are original. The fact that it's the Commissioner's last case is far too clichéd, while the idea of fashion models being brutalised is a common Giallo theme. However, the idea of a 'psychic link' between twins hasn't been seen in Giallo often, and even though it's not very well explored; it does provide an interesting basis for the story. One thing that is important to many Giallo fans (yours truly included) is stylish and bloody murders, and unfortunately this film doesn't have a great deal of them. Scissors are a prime weapon for a nasty murder; but not much blood is shown, and there is only one real nasty scene in the movie; which involves a young woman being stabbed in the back. The cast only contains one real name, belonging to Donald Pleasance. Pleasance is OK in his role, but he fails miserably at trying to be Italian. It all boils down to a well done exciting climax that sees the culprit revealed, along with a huge drill! Overall, Nothing Underneath is not exactly a prime slice of Giallo, and I am perhaps overrating it a little; but it's a well done film with a lot of plus points, and I'd recommend it to Giallo fans.