The Sister of Ursula (1978)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Sick Product of a Sick System

Great Film overall

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Barbara Magnolfi plays Ursula,who along with her sister Dagmar checks into a beautiful hotel by the sea in sunny Italy.Soon the guests start to be murdered by an unseen assailant with a dildo.Ursula,being a touch neurotic due to the trauma of her fathers recent death has a bad feeling about the hotel and some of the guests,especially the shady Fillipo,drug addict boyfriend of the hotels resident cabaret star Stella Shining.I must admit that I'm a fan of super sleazy Italian giallos from 70's like "Giallo a Venezia" or "Play Motel",however "La Sorella di Ursula" is the worst of the bunch.The soft-core sex scenes are quite steamy,each one followed by a murder.Still the film is poorly acted and made.Give it a look,only if you are a fan of Italian sleaze.Enzo Millioni went on to direct only two more films after "La Sorella di Ursula" the most notable being "Fuga Dalla Morte"(1989),one of the five films that Lucio Fulci supervised and used the footage from it in "Cat in a Brain".

Two Austrian sisters Dagmar and Ursula Beyne go on holiday along the Amalfi coast in Italy, in the hope of finding their mother, who deserted them when they were young, they have recently inherited some money after the death of their father and want to share some of it with their mother. Ursula is quite a fragile girl though and on medication ever since the loss of her father. She also is somewhat telepathic and can foresee bad events in an instant. They book into a local hotel where Ursula's visions continue, she tells Dagmar her sister to stay clear of Filippo, a man who hangs out in the hotel bar as she says he will cause her death. Filippo is a heroin addict whose lover "Stella Shining" is the night club singer at the hotel, but that relationship is soon in trouble and Filippo makes his move on Dagmar. Meanwhile a masked and leather gloved man hires a local hooker, he wants to be a voyeur while she makes love to another man, she agrees and he hides behind the curtains in her room to watch the proceedings. When the deed is done the stranger savagely kills the hooker. Ursula wakes from her sleep with a scream, as she has felt that something bad has happened, she pleads with Dagmar that they should leave this place before its too late, but they disagree and stay. A young amorous teenage couple are turned away from the hotel and make their bed in a deserted part of the hotel, mid coitus they are interrupted by the killer, who slashes the boys throat before doing heinous acts on the girl. The shocking murders continue in abundance as the frantic search for the killer continues…….. Well what can I say about this little seen Giallo, it is positively the filthiest Giallo I have ever seen, the film is positively verging on hardcore porn, its full of sleazy sex, there is plenty of full frontal nudity, beautiful women in varying degrees of degradation, oral sex, masturbation, including one scene where a gold chain is used, so that the the girl can feel closer to man who gave the gift, lesbian sex, arse licking, I mean this hotel is so full of deviants, that I'm thinking of booking a room myself, not least the killer who uses a large dildo to kill his prey…I'm not kidding. The film itself was made at the end of the end of the great Giallo era and as such was trying to keep the genre fresh by making it more titillating and it that respect it succeeds in bucket loads, but the film is not without its more esteemed merits, Vittorio Bernini's cinematography is excellent and captures the wonderful and stunning vistas of the area perfectly, the hotel and its surrounding buildings were well chosen and give a real feel for the area and add immensely to the atmosphere. The killer's face is never seen, we only see his eyes captured in a beam of light before he kills, it's a cliché but it works really well when accompanied by the sinister score associated with the killer. All in all a much better film that its IMDb rating would suggest and an intriguing entry in the genre, certainly not for everyone though and a caution should be taken by anyone with a sensitive nature. What also intrigues me is that there is supposed to be a mythical hardcore version of this film and if this isn't it, the real one must be off the scale for sleaze.

Well, it's safe to say that The Curse of Ursula isn't the greatest Giallo ever made, but there's plenty of sex and sleaze, and the whole thing is at least enjoyable. The Curse of Ursula came rather late on in the Giallo cycle - in fact, it had pretty much dried up by the time this film came along, and as such; it would seem that writer-director Enzo Milioni was extremely keen to put as much sex and nudity into the film as possible to ensure that people would watch it; and while this sort of stuff isn't really what I watch Giallo for, it doesn't go amiss in a film such as this, which has little in the way of a plot. As the title suggests, the film focuses on a woman called Ursula. Along with her sister Dagmar, she finds herself at a hotel, where the sisters are looking for their mother, believing she has a right to some inheritance left by their father. However, a vicious psychopath, who uses a dildo to murder his (female) victims has also taken up residence at the hotel, and begins dispatching of everyone who has sex...I had heard that this film was particularly sordid, and while I can certainly see why that is said, I have to say I was expecting more from it...though admittedly, I probably do watch a bit too much of this stuff! Sex fuelled Giallo's got more common towards the end of the cycle, which is unfortunate as the style of the earlier films was lost. As well as the sex, this film also features some pretty gruesome death scenes, which is nice but it does seem like director Enzo Milioni (with his first feature) is trying to force the film down the audiences throats a little bit as everything is completely over the top. The plot takes a backseat to the sex and gore, and typically it is a rather dull affair. There isn't much to it after the foundations are laid down, and while the twist ending isn't too bad; I have to say I didn't really care about it. There is some style in the film, the way we only see the killer's eyes, for example, shows some attempt to build atmosphere, but overall; if you're looking for a great Giallo, you really shouldn't track this one down!

Last Gasp of the Giallo genre by the end of the 70's, "Ursula's sister" will be on top of the list of european trash & sleaze fans. But boy this one was tragically bad & boring.It's an utterly lacklustre attempt to mix sex & violence. From an uninteresting story (two sisters going on vacation by the sea are fighting over their father & mother relationship while a maniac kills young girls with a huge dildo (!!!!) right after they made love), Enzo Milioni's effort has a reminiscence of Jess Franco's early 70's works (The Bare Breasted Countess or Lady dracula) but with no talent shown. I rarely use my fast forward option on my remote but here I found a pure gem. Neverending dialogues by the sea, uneffective editing killing most of the suspense, cars chases at 50m/h that last at least 4 minutes (even with the beautiful sights of the Amalfi coast)are really too much for me. Bad acting, bad dubbing... only Barbara Magnolfi seems out of this world, her eyes lost as if she didn't actually realize what she was doing. Even handsome Marc Porel at his worst is in this huge pile of crap.Except the hotel location and the deep blue sea, it seems obvious that the budget was low, so were the expectations of the producers, I guess. But the TV-like cinematography doesn't help at all.The only different thing are the sex scenes : they're all on the verge of an hardcore movie. Which is strange for an italian thriller of 1978. But besides the excitement for male straight viewers, it doesn't bring anything to this flick. It's not even titillating as the actresses & actors don't seem to believe in what they do. It's pure Sexploitation and totally useless...and not even fun!On the top of all this nonsense, the score is simply atrocious. Horrible 70's italian muzak : mix of bad funk and Morriconesque women vocalizing surrounded. The murders scenes (no gore at all, by the way -not enough budget) are mixed with a tremendously funny violin that tones down all the thrill you might get. Oh, and there's the song sung by Yvonne Harlow (what a pseudo!) with the worst lipsync in all movie history. Gotta be seen to be believed.Sexist stuff & simply trash...Just plain boring & insulting for the viewer.Superwonderscope says 2