Decadent De Masi

In 1977, Italian exploitation cinema was in the grip of numerous peculiar obsessions -- namely, nunsploitation and Nazisploitation, among others. One of the classier entries in the latter category was Mario Caiano's La Svastica nel ventre ("The Swastika in the Stomach"), the story of a Jewish girl (Sirpa Lane) and Aryan boy (Giancarlo Sisti) whose love affair is torn apart at the beginning of World War II. In some English-speaking markets it was called Living Nightmare, but of course more people know it under the more commerical but utterly ridiculous retitling of Nazi Love Camp 27. The melodic score is by the prolific Francesco De Masi, best known at the time for a number of spaghetti westerns; he later went on to groove his way into the hearts of horror fans everywhere with the immortal New York Ripper. The score was briefly released on vinyl in Italy paired up with De Masi's score for La battaglia d'Inghilterra (Eagles over London), which was later issued as an expanded CD while its less reputable album-mate fell by the wayside. The poster art (seen on the cover) was later reused many, many times for other Nazi-sex titles well into the 1980s.