★ 5 / 10
One of the most 'out there' Italian horrors!
Milk_Tray_Guy
Italian gothic-horror starring John Phillip Law (Barbarella), directed by Sergio Bergonzelli.Painter Saint Simon (Law) is commercially successful. He lives in…
Italian gothic-horror starring John Phillip Law (Barbarella), directed by Sergio Bergonzelli.Painter Saint Simon (Law) is commercially successful. He lives in a huge old castle, and exhibits his work to public acclaim. His chief inspiration is his wife, Christine (Brigitte Christensen). However, she dies - leaving 'maestro' without his muse. After struggling for a year to regain his form he decides that to have any chance of further success he needs his wife. So, one night he and nutty butler Hermann (Gordon Mitchell - former star of umpteen sword-and-sandal pics) exhume his wife's skeletal corpse and stick it by the piano in the living room. Then he meets Sybille (also played by Christensen), who bears an uncanny resemblance to Christine, and invites her to his castle. But despite his wife's corpse *and* a living lookalike he is still unable to paint! Fortunately, nutty Hermann has raped a local girl and accidentally killed her. When Saint Simon sees her blood he realises this is the inspiration he has been seeking! He drains the girl's corpse and mixes her blood into his paint. But to resume full-time painting he's going to need more...John Phillip Law looked back on this as a bad film. In fact, his agent blew a gasket when he heard he'd done it. It's made on a shoestring. Law was grateful for a lead role after failing to have the mainstream success he'd hoped, Mitchell was way past his prime (although still imposing) and taking more character parts, and Christensen was a virtual unknown. As for Bergonzelli, he'd been largely a porn director (he certainly makes sure every actress here strips completely). The story is a mishmash, with supernatural communications from the future, reincarnation, necrophilia, rape, and murder. The dialogue is downright awful in places (although some of that may be down to translation). But you have to give Law and Mitchell credit for going all-in; Law is maniacally over-the-top, whilst Mitchell is *skin-crawlingly* disturbing. Some of Law's wide-eyed looks wouldn't look out of place in a b&w silent melodrama, such as when he catches Hermann trying to have sex with the corpse of his beloved Christine - followed by the line "Hermann, you bastard!" (which I can *absolutely* imagine on one of those old full-screen dialogue caption cards!)It's worth a watch for a laugh - 5/10.
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★ 5 / 10
Pretty Wild, 'Out There' latter period Giallo/Horror. Way over the top as fits the time period it which it was made, but definitely with Gusto and somewhat entertaining...
lathe-of-heaven
This is a pretty wild one alright... Towards the end of the great Italian Giallo movement.One thing that can be said about it is that it didn't just completely…
This is a pretty wild one alright... Towards the end of the great Italian Giallo movement.One thing that can be said about it is that it didn't just completely mindlessly go for brutal graphic gore as many did by that time. Although there are some pretty dicey scenes in it, and although quite sleazy at times, still, it is done with a fair amount of true Gothic atmosphere and at times an engaging Surreal mood.Don't get me wrong, there are some rather extreme scenes here, but for me personally there is a difference to a degree as to the intent and the tone of something with that kind of content. In other words, you can have a coldly sadistic, very mean-spirited tone by someone like Eli Roth for example, a man who wouldn't know how to make a genuinely 'Fun' Horror movie to save his life.Or... like in this case, you can have almost the same degree of extremity, but the tone and mood are all quite different. More of a Surreal, Gothic, almost Retro dreamy atmosphere where you still kind of turn away in Horror, but with more of a 'Fun' vibe that doesn't come across as mean-spirited in its intention. So, to me, there is a distinct difference.John Phillip Law is of course very well known by this point for much better and more famous films years before like 'Danger Diabolik', and at this point he is clearly just glad to have the work. But, as Troy Howarth says in the commentary, and I do agree, is that even though his performance is Way the hell over the top, still, he'd rather see an actor fully commit even to a rather Out There role than just go through the motions. And, boy does he give it all he's got!The guy who plays his assistant was also very well known at the time and had made many films. Their interaction during the movie I thought had a special something that made it almost more sympathetic, which is Really stretching the meaning of that word when you see him do some of the things he does. I will say that, without giving away any true spoilers, the one scene where he is continuing to rape the girl after she is clearly dead I found rather disturbing. But, thankfully it is very brief. Extremely Creepy, but brief... : )So, not one I would ever highly recommend as one of the better Giallo films, not even close. But, just for pure wild effort and commitment on the parts of the director and actors, I will give it a '5'...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Particular Way of Rating:5 - Flawed, but perhaps with some entertainment value.6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )
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★ 5 / 10
A real oddity from a time when the most atrocious italian films were made
Andreas_W333
What do I make of this film? Well first, Sergio Bergonzelli did some of the more weird genre films during the seventies, and some of them are good too. How he…
What do I make of this film? Well first, Sergio Bergonzelli did some of the more weird genre films during the seventies, and some of them are good too. How he managed to cast John Phillip Law for this one is beyond me, because this is probably one of the weirdest films I have ever seen. Quite entertaining and unusually gory and sleazy for being a film from 1988 (when the italians really had begun to make less extreme films since some four years back). The dubbing is awful, and the soundtrack sounds like something from a mexican Falcon Crest-ripoff. The end result is just bizarre and some of the scenes has acting and dialogue so bad you will be surprised. A mixed bag worth seeing for fans of italian 80's horror. If you like Fulci's lesser films, then chances are you are going to love this one.
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5.1/10
562
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Do not expect to take this too seriously. This is almost a Monty Python version of a Giallo, so if you start to get frustrated at the illogic of the characters, I have to wonder if it wasn't done on purpose. If you go in with the right frame of mind, you might enjoy this.