FORMAT: BLU-RAY
A call girl is found murdered in her apartment stabbed with a pair of scissors. To add insult to injury, all her hair was cut off too. While the police search for the madman, we meet a pretty, young, and naive model who gets lured into posing for a seedy photographer. The photographer has the hots for a surly burlesque dancer who sometimes models for him. Meanwhile, a recently released sex offender begins following her around. Could he be the depraved killer?
Violated is an early example of a sex maniac movie. Its chief asset is the great New York location work which gives you a nice glimpse of the city that’s not usually found in low budget potboilers of the era. Sure, it might seem pretty tame by today’s standards, but it was likely shocking to moviegoers back in the early ‘50s. In fact, even though the film is uneven for the most part, it does feel a little ahead of its time. The finale that gratuitously over explains the killer’s motive is sort of a forerunner to Psycho too.
Most of the time in these kinds of things, the police investigation sequences bring the pace to a crashing halt. That’s not the case with Violated as some of the detective scenes work rather well, especially when they bring in the usual suspects of perverts and creeps and work them over. Sadly, the exploitation bits feel rushed and/or glossed over. The burlesque numbers, bubble baths, and catfights also seem to end before they can really begin. I know this is 1953 we’re talking about, but I’m sure they could’ve tried to be a little more down n’ dirty. Fortunately, the film does have a nice sense of atmosphere. which somewhat makes up for the lack of skin. The proto-surf rock guitar score is also pretty good.
Screenwriter William Mishkin later went on to produce many Andy Milligan movies.
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