Naked Violence is yet another well made and effective offering from Fernando Di Leo; a director that often doesn't receive the praise he deserves. Di Leo would go on to make some of the best Italian crime films in the early to mid seventies, but he also made some interesting stuff in other genres; such as this film. The film is based on a novel by Ulkranian writer Giorgio Scerbanenco, who also wrote books that inspired other Di Leo films. The film is very concise and the director is keen to focus on the important elements of the plot, which helps the film to keep focus and in turn makes it more interesting. The film begins with a scene that sees a young schoolteacher raped and murdered by her class; which just happens to be full of delinquents high on alcohol. Police Inspector Liberti gets on the case and begins by interrogating the kids in the class, but as he continues his investigation; he realises that it's becoming less and less likely that the kids acted on their own accord, and his suspicions are confirmed when his best witness is found dead.

The film is essentially a character study and we mainly focus on the Police Inspector and a handful of the boys at the centre of the crime. The locations used are not particularly diverse; especially not during the first third when almost everything takes place inside a room in the police station. The film does have a very minimalist approach, but it's all done very professionally and the film is of a higher quality than a lot of the output from Italy in the late sixties and early seventies. The film is bolstered by a handful of good acting performances; Pier Paolo Capponi is absolutely great as the police inspector and receives good support from Giallo heroine Susan Scott (who in truth doesn't have a whole lot to do) and Giuliano Manetti as the main character of the school class. The majority of the film is build-up as we try to work out the reasons behind the heinous crime at the start of the film; and the brutal climax doesn't disappoint. The motive for the killings might not go down too well in some circles; but it's inventive enough and ensures that the film finishes well. Overall, this is an excellent thriller and comes highly recommended!

Fernando De Leo at first seems to usher in the no holds barred approach to gialli during the credits of this film by having a teacher pounced upon, raped and killed by her entire class of teenage deliquents. Further still, it looks like we're up for a tense police interrogation of the entire class one by one which will involve a lot of screaming, police brutality, and double-crossing.

And that's the way it plays out, for about half an hour, and it's a good half an hour. Nearly every single one of these lads is a soulless monster, a product of their environment, and they all maintain their innocence. Our policeman hero has been ordered not to beat any of the prisoners, but he still screams in their face and makes them sit in a pool of super strength booze (which is partly blamed for the attack - but who gave them it?).

At this point someone must have pointed out to De Leo that the plot wasn't 'giallo' enough, and therefore all the tension that's built up over the course of the first third of the film dissipates as our cop (with a social worker sidekick) go off looking for some mysterious woman that one of the prisoners mentioned. So that's all our suspects, that we're introduced to one by one, dumped in a favour of the usual giallo person.

There's also another plot diversion when our police guy decides the best way to get the truth is to take one of the teenagers home and treat him like he's a normal person - eventually this does lead somewhere, but where it leads to is the unmasking of someone as the main instigator of the attack, and it took me a few seconds to actually recognise who it was.

I can't help but feel that if De Leo concentrated only on the pupils in the class we may have ended up with a better film. Who knows? De Leo's next film was The Beast Killed In Cold Blood - a straight forward giallo with over the top gore and nudie bits, and that most terrifying thing of all - Klaus Kinski!

The teacher of an evening school for youngsters with social problems is brutally raped and murdered right in her classroom. The only suspects are on the kids of course and the police is surprised to find them all quietly in their homes instead of having escaped. There is a reason. Each kid declares that he did not participate in the brutality but was forced to watch. The police officer Lamberti has reasons to believe that someone, an adult, has orchestrated the kids which are afraid to even mention this person. It will not be an easy case.

Fernando Di Leo takes us for this incredible trip among juvenile delinquency. Although the movie was made in 1969, Di Leo talks about drugs, veneral diseases, prostitution, transvestism, teenagers having sex with old women, homosexuality and incest much in advance compared to what still had to come in our society.

Fernando Di Leo delivers us a very interesting movie technically superb. The interrogation of the youngsters is done in a very sharp style. The rape scene, although very impressive, is simply done with a camera movement. The suspense is well built. Pier Paolo Capponi offers us an excellent interpretation. With him we have Livia Ussaro more interested in the social aspects of the youngsters: "The police doesn't care about the kids, who they are, what they wanted to be, what they do and why they do it, if they have feelings. They are considered criminals and that's all..." But for inspector Lamberti these words will not remain unheard. To solve the case he will also have to consider these aspects.

Fernando Di Leo. One of Italy's most interesting directors.