Devil's Sunday (1979)

(Original Title: La Domenica del Diavolo) Damn, who knew there were so many home invasion movies in the late seventies/early eighties?  They all follow the same basic template of having a few blue-collar psychopaths hold a group of ladies hostage in their home until the men are ultimately taken down in violent fashion.  One of the best known examples is House by the Edge of the Park, but we've seen it in Escape from Women's Prison (1978), Last House on the Beach (1978), Violência na Carne (1981), Naked Massacre (1976) and a ton of others. So, let's have a look at one from Italy to add to the list.

La Domenica del Diavolo translates to "Devil's Sunday" - which is what they should have called it in America.  Instead they went with the meaningless Midnight Blue.

Our three main characters (from left): Elena (Elisabetta Valgiusti), Francesca (Monica Como) and Rita (Christiana Borghi). 

The three girls are athletes on a bus trip.  For the weekend, they stay at a relative's beach house.

They sunbathe topless and frolic in the ocean.

Along come these guys. The leader is the mustachioed Pier Luigi (Antonio Cantafora), his buddy Bruno (Giancarlo Prete) and the goofy Mario (Vincenzo Crocitti).

The meet up with the girls at the beach, and they hit it off.  The girls invite them to their place.

Francesca and Rita play the piano, while Bruno and Maria idle around. 

Meanwhile, Pier has hopped in the shower with Elena.

More putzing around the house.  Damn this movie takes a long time to get going.

Rita and Francesca announce they're going to bed. The guys are allowed to stay the night here, but not in their rooms.

Believe it or not, we're approaching the halfway point in this movie and not a damn thing has happened.

Whoa. Monica Como provides quite the nude scene here.  This was her only film credit.  

Pier bangs Elena in the other room.

The next morning, they enjoy some fun in the sun.

Pier shows Francesca how to throw a spear.  Yeah, I wonder if that will play into the story again later.

Pier and Francesca go into to town for groceries.

Uh oh.  Francesca picks up a paper and finds the three guys on the front page.  They're escaped criminals!

Okay, fun's over.  Now the girls are hostages.  Mario rips open Elena's blouse while the other girls cower in fear.

Francesca takes a shower and Bruno has to monitor it.

Another third of the movie passes.  Nothing much happens - the girls are abused, the guys discuss their plans, yada yada yada.

Francesca and Rita escape.  Rita shoots them, but saves the best for Pier...

You guessed it.  Francesca lands a spear in Pier's gut.

The girls bury the bodies on the beach.  Just when you think they've gotten away with it, they're surrounded by a bunch of gross looking guys - obviously going to do them harm as payback for killing their criminal brethren.  THE END

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As far as home invasion films go, this is pretty terrible.  As mentioned, it takes absolutely forever for the home invasion to even begin.  You're almost halfway through the film before the guys suddenly turn hostile.. up till then, it's all just goofy nonsense.  Aside from a couple of stellar nude scenes from one-time actress Monica Como, there's just not much going on here.

★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆