Tenebrae (1982)

Italian giallo legend/father of Asia Argento, Dario Argento turns in one of his most inspired and gory works with Tenebrae (1982), the tale of stalked horror novelist Peter Neal (Tony Franciosa). Peter's on a book tour in Italy, and gets a letter from his biggest fan telling him he's been murdering women using Franciosa’s work as inspiration--or sometimes as a weapon by stuffing pages into their mouths. When TV journalist Christiano Berti (John Steiner) becomes obsessed with the story, Peter tracks him down and watches him get hacked to death by an unknown assailant. Now, Peter's super confused because he was convinced Berti was the one killing everyone. After all, Berti was the only one who knew as much about Peter's novels as Peter. And these murders appear to be done by someone who has an almost insider knowledge of his books. You might not know this flick, but you'll probably recognize a bunch of scenes since Brian De Palma essentially ripped one off in The Untouchables (1987) and another in Raising Cane (1992). Mr. Skin wishes De Palma copied the palm-worthy nudity from this one, instead! This bizarre mystery also throws in plenty of fun fetishes and classic eroticism. A pursued Lara Wendel provides a thrill in her skimpy, short skirt as she hops a fence and let's us see her undies, while Mirella Banti throws off the towel as a lovely (and doomed) lesbian. If only Miss Banti would have taken off the panties! You’ll be feeling as kinky as the killer when you enjoy his flashback of being turned on and tortured by gorgeous trans babe Eva Robins. Talk about ahead of its time! Those are all perfect tens in Tenebrae!