The Young, the Evil and the Savage
The Young, the Evil and the Savage
| 14 August 1968 (USA)
The Young, the Evil and the Savage Trailers

A woman is strangled in the bath by a black-gloved killer who disposes of her body in a large trunk. The trunk is delivered to St. Hilda College, an exclusive finishing school. Betty-Anne, one of the female students, is strangled in the school cellar. The police, led by Inspector Durand, are called in to investigate. Suspects include La Floret, the voyeuristic gardener; Di Brazzi, the new swimming instructor; Mrs. Clay, the summer school French mistress; an old professor who collects birds; and a philandering young teacher called Richard. The murders continue but Jill, a keen amateur detective, helps the police identify the unlikely killer...

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Reviews
christopher-underwood

One of the earlier gialli and originally helmed by Mario Bava. Some signs of this remain with the interior colours and particularly a couple of brief fantasy light exteriors but on the whole this does not have the mark of the great man. His tendency for humour is here but does not work well because of the way it has been handled. So, we have a select school for girls and because most girls are away with their parents, we only get about six of them and a similar number of teachers and ground staff. There is much murderous action from the very start but although this is kept up well throughout, it is rather sexless and bloodless. Not entirely though and there is enough varied and colourful action to amuse and entertain. Much and many are the twists and red herrings and gladly the eventual revealing is well done and relevant, probably providing one of the film's best sequences.

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BA_Harrison

Next to 'Strip Nude For Your Killer', 'Naked You Die' is my favourite title for a giallo: none of that baffling 'Seven Eyeballs for a Lizard's Belly' nonsense, just the promise of some good old fashioned gratuitous nudity and murder. Unfortunately, unlike 'Strip Nude...', this one doesn't manage to live up to its lurid title, offering only fleeting glimpses of bare female skin and mostly bloodless kills; in addition to the disappointing lack of sleaze and gore, it also manages to fall flat in the narrative department, with a humdrum plot and a twist ending that can be seen a mile off.Pretty redhead Eleonora Brown stars as Lucille, one of a group of sexy young students stalked by a leather-gloved killer at an exclusive girl's school. As the bodies pile up, and the list of possible murderers grows longer, Lucille decides to leave the school in the company of her lover, riding teacher Richard Barrett (Mark Damon)—but even he, it seems, is not above suspicion. However, quite how anyone fails to work out who the killer is from the outset is beyond me: Ms. Clay (Ludmila Lvova), with her weird, androgynous features and masculine voice is so freaky that she might as well wear a T-shirt with 'Murderous Psycho' emblazoned on it, and it comes as no surprise when it is finally revealed that 'she' is actually a 'he', and 'he' is the one who has been bumping off the girls.On a more positive note, director Antonio Margheriti does his best to please the eyes and ears with his beautiful and stylish photography, a bevy of lovely young ladies, and a wonderfully kitschy 60s soundtrack (which includes a rather cool Bond-style theme song), but in the end, the eye candy and jazzy score are simply not enough to compensate for the uninspired storytelling, absence of intrigue, and of course, the woeful lack of nudity.

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MARIO GAUCI

While this is quite a popular giallo – thanks largely to its sensationalistic title and the fact that the film was originally conceived, as CRY NIGHTMARE, by Mario Bava – its reputation is rather mixed and, having watched the thing for myself, with good reason! Not only is there barely any nudity (with the violence being similarly tame!) but the plot itself – despite the much-used girl-college setting (among the picture's myriad alternate titles are SCHOOLGIRL KILLER and THE MINISKIRT MURDERS!) – is fairly weak…references to Alfred Hithcock's PSYCHO [1960] and Bava's own THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH [1963] notwithstanding or, for that matter, its own affinity with another far superior effort from Margheriti himself, SEVEN DEATHS IN THE CAT'S EYE [1973], and Dario Argento's PHENOMENA [1984])! Besides, the whole giallo atmosphere is further nipped in the bud with an overwhelming light touch courtesy of a vivacious girl student who fancies herself a sleuth! Of course, the script supplies plenty of red herrings – with at least three characters made out to be the possible killer – but the revelation at the climax brings little surprise (while admittedly effectively handled); the attempted murder at the pool, however, is simply ludicrous. The film is nevertheless good-looking, features a kitschy score by Carlo Savina (shamelessly borrowing the instantly-recognizable riff from Neal Hefti's "Batman" theme!) and a reasonable cast – including ex-Hollywood leading-men Mark Damon and a rapidly-aged Michael Rennie (as the Police Inspector on the case), Luciano Pigozzi (the Italian Peter Lorre as the school's peeping-tom caretaker i.e. the type of role he could play in his sleep) and, it goes without saying, a bevy of attractive females, on both the student and teacher fronts – a lesbian undertone is even implied in the relationship between the middle-aged headmistress and her young assistant and a newly-arrived teacher sports androgynous features! – but especially put-upon heroine Eleonora Brown (who had actually been Sophia Loren's victimized daughter in Vittorio De Sica's award-winning TWO WOMEN [1960]!).

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Michael O'Keefe

Italian horror flick. Feels and looks like 60s American drive-in fare. Maybe racy in 1968, but viewing now...the thrill is gone. This macabre tail of murder is set at St. Hilda's School for Girls; and it seems being very good looking was ranked high on the entrance exam. Inspector Durand(Michael Rennie)has his suspects: a peeping tom(Luciano Pigozzi), a handsome playboy riding instructor(Mark Damon); and a swim teacher(Giovanni Di Benedetto). Is Durand on the right track; or will the school girl killer be the least expected? Photography is vivid and crisp. Other players include: Eleonora Brown, Sally Smith, Patrizia Valturri and Vivian Stapleton.

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