Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Written by Lucia Drudi Demby, Antonio Altoviti and Umberto Lenzi
Starring:
- Irene Papas as Barbara Slesar
- Ray Lovelock as Dick Butler
- Ornella Muti as Ingrid Sjoman
- Michel Bardinet as Baratti
- Calisto Calisti as Police Inspector
Rating: 
Deadly and sizzling stuff. Hippie debauchery meets reactionary politics and the hypocrisy of bourgeois morality in this typical Giallo-style sex romp of triangular passions directed by Umberto Lenzi, the man who favored psychosexual pornography over the psychosexual violence of Argento and Bava. And this is another flabbergasting, yet common paradigm of that psychosexual carnality laid out in passionate maneuvers that permeated Lenzi’s gialli during the hottest and nastiest period of the Italian exploitation subgenre, made smack dab in the middle of his collaborations with American actress Carroll Baker. Curiously enough, the American blonde who sensationalized the baroque canvas of the gialli was supposed to be one of the stars of Oasis of Fear, aka An Ideal Place to Kill. But in the end, due to casting discrepancies between the director and the producer, the Greek actress Irene Papas took the leading role. Lenzi was never satisfied with this final casting choice, nor did he have a congenial professional relationship with the actress – she never did nude scenes; perhaps the actress’s decorum collided with the explicit indecorousness of Lenzi’s filmmaking. Moreover, even Lenzi himself stated that he disliked the final result; he loathed his own work.
I still can’t figure out what exactly Lenzi detested about his directorial duties on this film. Or perhaps, it is conceivable, that his aversion to this Giallo was simply for personal reasons and not merely creative ones. I thought it was an exemplary political satire within the genre. Despite the presence of stereotypical writing and the dynamics of a thriller that aligns with the typical features of another of Lenzi’s Gialli, namely Orgasmo, the film is a humorously subversive contribution to the genre. Ray Lovelock and Ornella Muti look gorgeous playing the laid-back hippie couple wandering around Europe peddling pornographic material to deluded old lechers. The pair run into a succession of mishaps that eventually lead them to a bourgeois oasis in the midst of all the local police tracking down the two young libertines. This oasis of middle-class amenities is a grand mansion owned by Barbara (Irene Papas), a woman whom the runaway Hippies encounter in a very puzzling state of hysteria. After this ominous but suggestively sensuous encounter, Barbara and this youthful twosome enter into a threatening interplay of irrepressible sexiness leaving ample room for us, as spectators, to be suspicious of every provocative move of this inescapable erotic interactivity. This is how the mechanics of this glossy giallo flesh out a whole gamut of satirical conceptualizations about the psychosexual politics of the genre.
A distinguishing feature of Oasis of Fear is its departure from the customary narrative patterns observed in similar contexts, particularly with regard to the discernment exhibited by its characters in terms of politics and society. Lenzi’s approach is twofold: he clarifies the characters’ naivete as hippies and accentuates their aesthetic. They both drive a silly colorful car, their slang and mannerisms are hip and cool, and the music they listen to is the hottest stuff out there. And along the way they face puritanical reactions and conservative prejudices. A notable aspect of the film’s thematic contrasts is the pervasive presence of hypocrisy among the characters. The professed philosophies of free love and peace by the two young central figures stand in stark juxtaposition with their actions, while the composed demeanor of Barbara, a middle-class woman, stands in stark contrast to her own hidden desires and transgressions. The narrative’s evolution, marked by unexpected plot developments, contributes to its contemporary pertinence. While these plot elements may lack complete authenticity and coherence, they nevertheless constitute an integral component of the giallo genre’s distinctive mythology, characterized by its meticulous and intricate depictions of malevolence. In such circumstances, Lenzi habitually exhibits his penchant for pessimism and satire, a tendency that is exemplified in this instance. The denouement functions as an effective satire, devoid of taste, in which he employs his moral tale qualities within an environment of such immorality, thereby creating yet another contradiction of profound beauty.
