TORSO (1973)
- the wood stalking scene

     ...in this scene (which appears twice in the US R-rated version- once over the opening credits; and then in its 'entirety' later on in the film), an unlucky co-ed- who has just left a hippy drugs orgy (!), stumbles through the woods- unaware that she is being followed. When she does spot the killer she is immediately aware that she is in grave danger; the killer's mask is signal enough of that. Stoned and unco-ordinated she quickly slips in the mud as she tries to escape. The killer purposefully strides after her...

     Even with just a cursory glance at these stills it is easy to spot similarities between this scene and countless others in later American slasher movies. Although the presence of a significant flashback (the child's hand approaching the dolls face), before the killer pokes the (now dead) girl's eyes out, is pure giallo. As is the blatantly sexualised motive for the murder...

  
  
  
  
  
 

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