The Washing Machine

1993
5.3| 1h30m| en
Details

Three sisters - voluptuous Vida, Maria (nicknamed "Sissy"), and Ludmilla - live together in a run-down apartment building in Budapest. The sisters all vie for the attentions of Yuri Petkov, a dubious middle-aged pimp who plays them off against each other. One evening, Ludmilla claims to have found Yuri's body stuffed into their washing machine, but when Inspector Stacev arrives to investigate the body has disappeared. The good-looking young inspector attempts to discover the truth but in doing so becomes drawn into the sisters' bizarre sex games...

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Also starring Barbara Ricci

Reviews

Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good
ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre
John Nail (ascheland) In first few minutes of "The Washing Machine," Vida (busty Katarzyna Figura) has make up sex with her gangster boyfriend/pimp Yuri (Yorgo Voyagis) in front of an open refrigerator. Watching from the stairs is one of Vida's two sisters she shares the apartment with, Ludmilla (Barbara Ricci). Ludmilla hikes up her nightgown and spreads her legs to give us a perfect view of her white panties. Then she starts playing a triangle (no, that isn't a euphemism), Vida and Yuri seemingly oblivious to her musical accompaniment, until Vida looks over her shoulder to give her sister a knowing smile.Things get weirder later that night when Ludmilla discovers Yuri's body hacked to pieces and stuffed inside the washing machine (hence the awful English title). Or did she? By the time the police arrive the next morning there is no body, because what's a giallo without a mysteriously disappearing corpse? But Ludmilla and her sisters Vida and Sissy report a murder anyway. Inspector Stacev (Philippe Caroit) dismisses the women as cranks, only to be drawn into conducting an investigation when the sisters contact him separately, alternately trying to seduce him (or flat out forcing themselves on him like Vida does) and tease him with information that might prove Yuri was murdered.The plot of "The Washing Machine" doesn't withstand close scrutiny and often revelations are made as if screenwriter Luigi Spagnol just thought of them the day of filming (e.g., Ludmilla having a drinking problem, Stacev being into S/M). But with such crazy set pieces as Sissy (Ilaria Borrelli) having sex with Stacev in the middle of a museum while blind students wander around them, who cares? "The Washing Machine" promises a sleazy good time and almost delivers. Where it disappoints is how it handles its numerous trashy elements. It's not that it goes too far; it often doesn't go far enough. Given that the movie is directed by Ruggero Deodato, the man who gave us "Cannibal Holocaust," it's downright tame. Breasts are exposed every 10 minutes or so, but the numerous sex scenes aren't terribly creative or explicit. The women seldom get totally naked (only Borrelli does full frontal) and the men all have sex completely clothed. There are Shannon Tweed vehicles that push the envelope further than this movie does. Deodato is less restrained with the gory moments, but there are few of those. For me, "The Washing Machine" is summed up in its opening scene: kinky and weird but refusing to take off its underwear.
morrison-dylan-fan Taking a look online at the credits for director Ruggero Deodato 2 years ago,after I had "discovered" him thanks to his excellent 1977 film Jungle Holocaust,I noticed that he had made,what sounded to be a very intriguing Erotic-Thriller influenced Giallo right at the very start of the 90's,just as the third,and final wave of the Giallo sub-genre was about to end.Originally expecting to find the movie pretty easily due to a number of his films having been given pretty big DVD/Blu-Ray release over the last 10 years,I was shocked to find,that unlike his titles for the Cannibal genre,Deodato's late Giallo sadly looked to have been lost in the wash for a number of years.Keeping an eye out for the movie,I decided after at last tracking this "missing" Giallo down,that I would head straight for the laundrette,in the hope of finding a special washing machine waiting to be opened.The plot:Arriving to a house that is occupied by three sisters called Maria,Vida and Ludmilla Kolba, due to Ludmilla having rung the police over discovering the body of Vida's boyfriend (who is also her pimp) Yuri Petkov's inside the washing machine,Inspector Alexander Stacev slowly opens the washing machine's door expecting to find a bloody body inside,only to discover that the machine contains nothing.Talking to each of the siren-like sisters,Stacev quickly uncovers that Ludmilla seems to have a bit of a drinking problem,which leads to Alexander quickly declaring the case closed,and ignoring Ludmilla's pleas for him to continue the investigating,by telling Ludmilla that he was strongly the she had seen a drink related hallucination.Setting out on leaving the case behind and starting on the mounting new police work,Stacev finds himself getting drawn to meeting the off-centre sisters again,with Alexander's mind also becoming focused on uncovering the sister's true desire's.View on the film:Despite being a bit "Mr.Grumpy" about the film now in recent interviews saying that he, "Just made it to get a quick bit of cash,and didn't care at all about the results" director Ruggero Deodato shows a real skill and focus in making sure that the movie stays balanced between dream- logic Giallo and an icy Eroticness that never falls into any sleaze dead-ends,which also helps to give a real elegance to his 3 gorgeous leading ladies: Ilaria Borrelli,Katarzyna Figura and Barbara Ricci.Shooting the film in eastern Europe shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain,Deodato covers the movie in an atmospheric mist,that helps to give the moments when Deodato shows each of the terrificly performed sister's version's of events a wonderful nightmarish,dream like quality (with a particular highlight in the movie being an ultra stylised scene that revels that dreams that Alexander is having over his obsession with the strange sisters.Matching the mysterious atmosphere that Deodato builds in his directing,the screenplay by Luigi Spagnol shows a real daring nature in putting the sisters criss-crossing versions of events out there without ever giving signal's to the viewer to which ( if any) is the real version of events,to instead allow the viewer to decide on what they believe to be real and fake.Whilst the screenplay does show real ambition,Spagnol gives a real haziness to the Giallo mystery element of the film,that leads to Alexander's attempt at uncovering the truth and lies that the sisters are telling him,one that feels detached from the viewer and lacking the vice-like grip that the plot line,and actress's seemed to offer,which leads to this being a very interesting Giallo Erotic Thriller that sadly cant wash all of the stains away.
Coventry Utterly demented thriller (giallo?) about three twisted sisters that fall for the same type of men and use their washing machine as a killer device. Police inspector Alexander Stacev is bound to go nuts as all three sisters turn out professional liars and dedicated to get him in bed. It's hard to believe that this light-headed, almost comical horror cheapie was directed by Ruggero Deodato, creator of notorious Italian gut-munchers like "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Last Cannibal World". Judging by the ludicrous premise and absurd story-twists, Deodato must have been suffering from an identity crisis, or something! There's more gratuitous sex and nudity in "The Washing Machine" than in the average Shannon Tweed TV-thriller, but the actresses are bustier (especially the Polish Kashia Figura) AND there's splatter, too! What more could you possibly wish for? A terrific musical score, perhaps? There's that too!
HumanoidOfFlesh I wasn't expecting too much from this movie-this is surely no "Cannibal Holocaust",but a decent erotic thriller from infamous Ruggero Deodato.It's very well-made,atmospheric and it has some really sensual sex scenes.The acting is pretty good(Polish actress Katarzyna Figura shines here as one of three sisters)and there's an unexpected and rather gross dismemberment scene which reminds me brilliant "Cannibal Holocaust".My evaluation:7 out of 10.Recommended!