Delirium, Super Model Carnage

She is gang raped by the Nazis. She is violently raped with a flashlight by a pervert in a wheelchair. She runs through a torrential rain storm in a see-through negligee. She has passionate sexual intercourse with a male porn star in a hot tub. She's chased through an abandoned mall while wearing high heels and a smart, semi-tight leather skirt. She is felt up by the aforementioned porn star in a tanning booth. I know what you're thinking...Edwige Fenech in an Italian horror film. Half right. Today we look at 1987's "Delirium," starring the sultry Serena Grandi and directed by Lamberto Bava.

As our story opens, nude model Kim (Trine Michelson) is being felt up by two African women in a swimming pool. Yep, a photo shoot for Pussycat Magazine. This magazine is owned by former nude model Gloria (Grandi), who took over operations after the untimely death of her race-car driving husband. Uh oh...Kim will be pitchforked in the gut when leaving Gloria's dinner party. This crime is witnessed by a pervert in a wheelchair who gets off on spying on Gloria with binoculars. Kim's corpse is taken by the killer and posed in front of a mural of a nude Gloria. Pussycat hits the newsstands the same day Kim's body is found in a dumpster...sales skyrocket...after all, Pussycat has some great recipes.

New model needed...enter Sabrina (Sabrina Salerno). Her death will be humiliating as the killer chases her nude around her apartment before...well...you'll see. Same deal...the fiend takes her body, poses it in front of a nude mural of Gloria and sends Gloria the photos the same day Pussycat hits the streets. Serena is getting scared, believing she is next. Enter Flora. Flora (who enjoys watching films of Nazis raping Gloria) desires passionate lesbian sex with Gloria and for Gloria to sell her the magazine. Gloria will have none of it, so Flora will have to settle for the young blonde lingerie model that fawns all over her...enough of that. Uh oh, the victims are getting closer to Gloria as some of her direct employees assume room temperature before their photo sessions. Double uh oh...the pervert in the wheelchair just might be able to walk.

Serena Grandi is quite captivating, whether nude, in a smart leather business outfit, in a see-through negligee, or all wet in a hot tub. As everyone, male and female desires sexual relations with our damsel, she must run from a very perverted and twisted killer. Was Edwige Fenech threatened by the voluptuous Ms. Grandi's success? Is it a historical oversight by Italian cinema not to include a cat-fight between these two actresses? Even in the context of this sick and twisted film, just what sick and twisted conclusion will Mr. Bava deliver to his aroused audience? I have left so much out of this plot as there is a lot here including the monster super-model plot device. For some prurient Italian fun, see "Delirium."