Vice Squad (1978) User Reviews (2)

Delivers On What One Would Expect, But Very Familiar

[jrd_73 · 4/10 · 7 November 2019]

I saw this film under dubbed into the English under the title Victims of Vice. It is a sleazy thriller that delivers on the naked flesh, but it is also unsurprising in every way.

The film opens with a blonde woman, naked under a coat, being shotgunned to death by a killer in leather and a biker's helmet. Two policemen are searching for the killer. The clues are the drugs in the dead woman's body and reports of a boyfriend that drove a white convertible. The film then switches to this boyfriend as he has a new pickup, also young and blond. It soon becomes clear that he is grooming her for a rich older man with kinky tastes.

Victims of Vice has hottie French blondes in various stages of undress, an 80's synth score by Cerrone, and that is about all. I don't want to suggest that the film is unwatchable, for with the female cast, it is not. Instead, Victims of Vice is just overly familiar. There are the mismatched cops, the druggie snitch, the politically connected bad man, and even the girlfriend-used-as-bait climax. The film's script offers no surprises.

Victims of Vice reminds me a little of another 1980's low budget French crime film, also directed by a filmmaker more known for sex than action. That film was Death Brigade from Max Pecas. That film, while no classic, was better than Victims of Vice.

Better then expected

[tonic965 · 7/10 · 12 November 2013]

I don't understand why Brigade Mondaine got a so low rating on the IMDb. Bearing in mind that fact, I had approched this sleazy cop flick with no great hopes and, maybe for the same reason, had a better result and enjoyed the movie much more than expected. Of course, we're not talking of a masterpiece of the polar subgenre, no Melville or Jacques Deray here, this one appeals more to B-movie aficionados, and could be well inserted between some of the trashiest Italian gialli like Nude per l'Assassino and Trhauma for the bizarre atmosphere and sleaziness and some polizieschi like La Polizia chiede Aiuto or …a tutte le auto della Polizia for the topic. At the very beginning we have a beautiful girl shot with a gun by a leather-masked killer in a dreamy sequence underlined by the disco score by the master of the genre himself, Cerrone. And the police investigation immediately begins. The game is played by the Vice Squad (as the girl killed was a prostitute) versus a long haired, handsome and brash playboy who lure, with his charm (and drugs), beautiful young girls to his pleasure. But he is only the arm, not the brain. A rich, mysterious, old man oversees all operations as the girls have to become objects for his own desire, doped or not. But is not so easy 'cause the Vice Squad is behind his back, the leather- masked kills and kills again and some girls are difficult to treat, even if it excites him much more. The movie never loses rhythm and you can feel, maybe for some haircuts and for the soundtrack, that the '80 are coming somewhere, but this is not necessarily a defect. Also, there's enough uncovered skin to satisfy most sleazehounds, homicides are quite bloody, do you want more? The final orgy at the manor, interrupted at the beginning by the police (cavalry has never been so punctual…), anticipates Eyes Wide Shut by twenty years. Once again, the space-disco score by Cerrone is perfect to me and gives an original touch emphasizing sensually the sex scenes. Recommended for crime/giallo B- lovers.