The Bloodstained Shadow (1978)

The term giallo refers to an Italian cinematic hybrid of intense, usually heavily gore-soaked horror and classic murder mystery elements, most often chronicling killings carried out by a masked assailant, and almost always drenched in sex. The Blood Stained Shadow (1978) presents a fine example of the giallo genre. The movie opens with the body of a schoolgirl found in a field in Sicily, and we learn that no one was ever apprehended for the crime. Years later, Lino Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) returns to the island to visit his brother, who is a parish priest. Along the way, Stefano meets Sandra (Stefania Casini) and looks forward to an erotically reinvigorating vacation. Alas, on the night he arrives, a woman is strangled outside his brother's church. From there, the body count, and suspense, builds, turning The Blood Stained Shadow into a nerve-rattling shriek show, sweetened powerfully by some fluffy full frontal courtesy of Stefania.