Nostalgia Kinky

A scintillatingly seductive and bloody valentine to the cinema of Brian De Palma, Italian director Carlo Vanzina’s Sotto il vestito niente (1985) has been recently restored by Italy’s Rustblade for a new splendid special edition Blu-ray/DVD. Known to English language audiences as Nothing Underneath, Vanzina’s film is a real cineaste’s dream and incredibly entertaining work to boot. Rustblade’s new special edition offers up a superb transfer of the film along with a tantalizing batch of extras.

De Palma’s Body Double (1984) had only been out a year or so before Nothing Underneath and yet the film is deliberately haunted by the earlier uber-controversial thriller. While other De Palma films are alluded to throughout Vanzina’s work, notably The Fury, it is Body Double that absolutely dominates the film. Make no mistake though, this isn’t just a case of another director building a career out of recreating scenes from past films, only owning up to the ones they get called out on. No, as a primary reason for Nothing Underneath’s existence is specifically to pay tribute to Brian De Palma. Vanzina isn’t trying to be sneaky here, he made a genuine open love letter to another filmmaker and delivered a great film in the process.

Vanzina had been directing since the seventies, mostly in comedies, and had become quite successful and well-known in Italy. His first thriller arrived in 1983, Mystère. Nothing Underneath represents a huge jump in quality from his first forray into the genre. While Mystère is only sporadically successful, and often frustrating, Nothing Underneath completely nails the style and tone it is going for. It is almost as though Vanzina had utilized Mystère as a bit of a trial run and learned from his mistakes on that film correcting all of them here.

Brian De Palma was an ideal filmmaker for Vanzina to pay tribute to. After all, De Palma had been highly influenced by Italian cinema throughout his early career. Hell, I’m not sure a late period masterpiece like Femme Fatale (2002) exists specifically without Nothing Underneath so the influence has continued. In fact, I thought as much about De Palma’s thrillers since Nothing Underneath as I did the ones that went before, a huge credit to the genius of Vanzina’s direction and spirit here.

Nothing Underneath’s plot is as simple and nonsensical as it comes. After psychically sensing his model sister is in danger overseas in Italy, a young American named Bob Crane (I know) comes to her aid only to find her missing. Meanwhile, a series of random killings begin happening all directly related to Crane’s sister. Vanzina’s script was co-written partially along with famed Argento collaborator Franco Ferrini and it shows. It’s fun, risky and even a bit goofy. Much like something like The Fury, the script takes a back seat to the direction, look and sound of the film and deliberately so.

The pre-production meetings for Nothing Underneath were no doubt a blast. From getting De Palma favorite Pino Donnagio to do the score to finding Melanie Griffith lookalike Nicola Perring to co-star. The dedication to De Palma here is really something. Inevitably, especially with Ferrini co-scripting, Argento’s considerable legacy also comes up in Nothing Underneath, specifically Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Considering Argento and De Palma have constantly borrowed from each other it is not surprising that they are both referenced here.

For film fans overly familiar with De Palma’s filmography, specifically Body Double, Nothing Underneath is kind of bewildering at first. Everything from Pino’s score to Giuseppe Maccari’s evocative photography to the beautiful female ensemble screams De Palma. Donnagio’s score is so overwhelmingly similar at times that you wonder if he ever considered suing himself. But it all works so wonderfully well and it is hard to imagine anyone who loves film not having a smile on their face through this.

While Nothing Underneath is very much a director’s film, the cast is quite wonderful as well. American actor Tom Schanley makes for a terrifically pensive and sensitive lead and legendary Brit Donald Pleasence looks like he is having a swell time giving another memorable supporting turn. Considering the film is set in the Italian fashion world, it is no surprise to find not a small amount models in the film’s ensemble. It is in fact one of those models who completely steals the film, giving an unforgettable star making turn.

Renée Simonsen was working in a Danish supermarket just around five years before her dazzling appearance in Nothing Underneath. She’d been discovered in the early part of the eighties and by the time she made Nothing Underneath she was one of the most in demand and respected models in the world. She was also a Roxy Music cover girl, so RESPECT. Simonsen has become an accomplished journalist, novelist, screenwriter and scholar in the years since her modeling and sadly very brief film career. She’d make this and one other film with Vanzina before basically peacing out of the film world. She is fantastic in Nothing Underneath, specifically in the film’s jaw-dropping closing section.

It is Nothing Underneath’s final section that remains the most astonishing aspect of the film. The final fifteen minutes or so really represent Vanzina’s ‘go for it’ moment and he knocks it out of the park, especially in the film’s stunning closing shot which is a triumph of performance, direction and special effects. It is riveting and so audacious. From the first frame on, Nothing Underneath feels as though it is building up to something extraordinary and the payoff is immensely satisfying.

Unlike their recent Blu-ray special-edition of Luigi Cozzi’s The Killer Must Kill Again, which I found a bit too cleaned up for my taste, this restoration of Nothing Underneath is fabulous, with wonderful film grain present throughout. This disc is also region free, English language friendly and contains both English and Italian audio options. English subtitles are offered across the board as well.

The Rustblade DVD and Blu-rays both feature fairly extensive supplements. First and foremost is a fascinating and lengthy interview with Enrico Vanzini who discusses the film’s influences, its making, creator and his career. It’s a great chat as is the much briefer but still super informative talk with Pino Donnagio. Also included is a fine tribute to the film by historian Francesco Lomuscio. Rounding out the extras are the English language titles, a nice behind the scenes photo gallery and trailers. This is an excellent release from Rustblade, who are also offering up some additional Nothing Underneath goodies, including Pino’s soundtrack (I need that vinyl!), a Blu-ray DVD combo with booklet and, best of all a huge bundle where you can get everything plus some added items.

American cinema in the last few decades has run the idea of the homage into the ground of out and out plagiarism, which is a shame as there is a loving and skilled way to do it. Nothing Underneath is not only a great homage work but a great film in its own right. It is a real highlight of mid-eighties Italian genre cinema.

For state bound residents like myself, copies of this can be ordered over at MVD. MVD is also offering all of the Nothing Underneath assorted extras as well, like the soundtrack and bundles.

-Jeremy Richey, October 2025-