While watching this well-paced film in Italian with subtitles (1 hour 33 minutes), I thought more than once, "It's keeping my attention, but unless it's got a strong ending, the whole thing's going to seem pretty pointless." Fortunately, the last five minutes or so are excellent, with at least three twists, two of which I didn't see coming. (I did, very late, guess the third twist, because I'd seen the ending of a certain mid-'70s Peter Fonda movie.)

I also watched part of the American version, which, although 2 minutes shorter, seemed to have significantly more nudity (and actually began with a "This picture has been rated X" card). Of course, today, it would be, at most, a very mild R.

(Some Spoilers) Tepid Europen thriller that's a bit too much to take especially it's overbearing and monotonous theme song"Fate Had Planned It So" thats played over and over in the movie "Orgasmo" like a broken record driving Kathryn West,Carroll Baker, as well as the audience to the point of a nervous breakdown.

The plot of "Orgasmo" is anything but original with this boyish grease monkey Peter Donovan, Lou Castle,working his way into widowed American Kathryn West heart home and finally bank account. Peter does this with the help of his sister or is she his step-sister Eva, Cholette Descomber,who shows up later in the movie.

Eva at first develops a strong liking for Kathryn and gets it on with her in a lesbian relationship with her "brother" Peter later joining them in a weird woman with woman and man manaja trios. Later Kathryn catches Peter and Eva nude and together in bed which makes her finally realize that she being taken by them for a fool and a ride. Kicking the two out of her villa they come back later with a batch of photos of her in bed with both of them to blackmail her.

Kathryn foolishly gives in to their blackmail without as much as a whimper! What could those photos do to her reputation anyway since she's a widow and not cheating on her husband or anyone else? Meanwhile with all this going on Kathryn's lawyer Brion Sanders, Tino Carraro,is trying to tie up all the loose ends in her late husbands holding in probate court which, when finally ironed out, will land her an inheritance of some 200 million dollars.

Peter and Eva slowly isolate Kathryn by getting rid of her two in-house domestics helpers Teresa and Martino,Lilla Brignone & Franco Pesce,leaving her totally at their mercy. Getting Kathryn hooked on sleeping pills and what seems like and endless stream of J&B whiskey bottles where she later is set up for the final coup De grace with a J&B flask spiked with a bottle of extra-strong sleeping pills.

It's then at the end of the movie that fate that's been so tragic for poor abused alcoholic and pill addicted Kathryn and so fortunate for Peter and Eva makes a 180 degree and deadly turn in "Orgasmo's" long awaited surprise but very predictable ending.

For his third film of 1969, Umberto Lenzi goes for the full groovy sixties vibe with the trippy visuals, free living people who you just want to slap, laid back music and all that crap. It's quite good though, kind of! Caroll Baker is a young widow who is rich beyond her wildest dreams, but has ended up in one of the gigantic mansions that occur in about 95% of Italian films of this era. She's hitting the hooch, but things look up a bit when hunky young Peter Sorel turns up, offering Caroll some free loving and free thinking - just like everyone else of his age and generation. The twats.

Caroll falls in love with Peter, who manages to get himself invited to the mansion and moves in proper, as does his sister, who likes to give Caroll pills and looks like David Bowie (what's with these actresses looking like David Bowie?). Caroll feels young again, but is it all too good to be true? When Caroll catches Peter in bed with the sister, the answer is 'probably'.

Yep, it's another low-violence, high suspense giallo with all the trimmings - annoying free love, pills, booze, crap like 'jealousy is all in the mind' - all that stuff. I don't want to reveal what happens mind you but for a film where not much happen it's still quite watchable. Lenzi cranks up the 'trippy' visuals too, some of which don't make sense, but it's probably the best of the three films he made in 1969.

Except the ending is the EXACT ending of Oasis of Fear! You can't fool me Lenzi!