Movie

Nothing Underneath (1985)

A scissor killer targets fashion models in this Italian giallo, also known as Sotto il vestito niente. It’s another movie where the ending is the best part, and the super creepy villainess shines in the denouement. Bob Crane is a Wyoming park ranger, and his twin sister Jessica has travelled overseas to become a model. The siblings have a psychic connection, and Bob can sense whenever Jessica’s in danger.

When he “sees” a black-gloved, scissor-wielding psycho head towards his sister’s hotel room, he panics. Despite Bob’s best efforts, he fails to warn Jessica and so travels to Milan to investigate. The psychic device is messy because it’s never explained why Bob sees things from the killer’s perspective when his mental link is with Jessica. Obviously, the filmmakers need to hide the assailant’s identity, but this could have been handled better .

With no body, Bob has trouble convincing Commissioner Danesi (Donald Pleasance taking a hiatus from the Halloween series) that his sister is dead. Until the scissor attacker offs a second model in her hotel bathroom. The suspects include an abusive lover who knew the models, and a weird photographer employed in the fashion world. But any mystery fan knows the answer is rarely so obvious.

Villainess

Barbara (Renee Simonsen)

The real killer is another fashion model, whose earlier gym workout established her as physically capable. Barbara is clever and resourceful, seducing Bob to discover what he’s learned. And there’s a “bluff” where the supposed victim gets nervous when someone loiters outside her room. Savvy viewers won’t be so easily deceived, especially those who notice a long-haired feminine figure hiding behind a clothes rack during the third murder scene.

The gloved killer stole diamonds from the second victim’s room, apparently the connection as the latest dead model also has a valuable gem stash. These are revealed to be payoffs to cover up an ill-advised game of Russian roulette, which went horribly wrong. With an increasing chance of death every time a suicidal woman pulls the trigger and five “players”, it was likely somebody would bite the dust. Guess these fashion models are greedy and stupid.

The stolen gemstones are a red herring, however. Barbara’s actual motive is that Jessica became distant after the fatal shooting, and now the psychotic woman wants revenge on the models and host responsible. Barbara copies Jessica’s handwriting and sends a fake telegram while disguised as her dead lover. This fools Bob for a while, and he’s about to fly back to America when he experiences psychic visions of an apartment building.

Shortly after Bob locates the killer’s lair, Barbara returns and reveals herself as the murderer. The creepy villainess has kept Jessica’s corpse nailed to a chair and even talks to the body. But it’s not long before the psycho model discovers Bob and attempts to kill him off. In the final sequence, Barbara exchanges her scissors for a power drill. The DIY tool becomes a deadly weapon in her hands, especially since Bob injured himself on the way in.

The wounded Bob evades Barbara’s attacks by dodging and throwing items, fending the strong woman off until she pins him down. As she’s about to drill a hole in his face, Danesi arrives and disconnects the power. With Barbara disarmed and outnumbered, she decides tragic suicide is the only way out and pushes Jessica’s chair-nailed corpse through a window. Music plays in the background as events conclude in slow motion, and surely Barbara deserved a better ending than this.

Honourable Mentions: Model Serial Killers

Evil Obsession (1996) – Liz (Stacie Randall)

This direct-to-video thriller features prominent B-movie actors, including Brion James as a tyrannical acting coach who might just be a psychopath. Corey Feldman stars as crazy fan Homer, who sends love letters in crayon to actress Margo (Kimberly Stevens). Worried for her safety – justifiable when twelve models have been slain in Los Angeles – she hires a private detective.

The murderer binds their victims with medical rubber tubing, removes their underwear with a scalpel, and dissects them on an operating table. So, when receptionist Liz tells the PI her father was a doctor, it’s a major clue. The male stalker has a creepy shrine to Margo, but no reason to slay the other victims. In the end, he’s revealed to be a harmless nutcase, and the detective races to save Margo from the killer’s blade.

The climax is uninspired, since we see Margo lured to the acting studio, and in her next scene, she’s being prepped for invasive surgery. No real confrontation, just a single fatal gunshot from the detective. Then the “surgeon” is unmasked as Liz. Lack of a confessed motive makes for a refreshingly different resolution, and viewers are provided with enough details to infer Liz was jealous of successful actresses and models.

Murder in Miami (2014) – Rachael (Caroline Gutierrez)

More model slayings in this low-budget thriller, and oddball photographer James Romero (Joseph Myers) is the suspect. The pre-credits murder, where a black-cloaked intruder bludgeons a woman with a baton and tosses her off a high-rise balcony, is the best part of the film. Before the half-way point, there’s a shower attack homage to Hitchcock’s Psycho, and a lesbian bondage session that ends with a double murder. The topless host is strangled and her tied-up subject gets a kitchen knife through her vagina (!).

All the death scenes are heavy on nudity but light on gore, with cutaway shots and implied violence. The second half is a padded-out snoozefest. Naked women galore, and overlong stock footage transitions that must waste ten minutes in total. Watching trees and buildings is mind-numbing, and the murder storyline gets forgotten for a silly subplot involving drug dealers who supplied the victims.

When James teams up with a woman called Rachael, there are no more killings. Figured it out yet? Rachael plays the helpful assistant and sidekick to James’ amateur sleuth, only to get kidnapped late on. Next up is a “comedy” scene where a chain of people shoot each other, only to get a bullet themselves. When the juvenile stuff is over, Rachael unmasks herself and provides a weak motive that suddenly makes a minor character important. James takes down the villainess with a single gunshot, the last action before the credits roll.