(1980)
Overall: MEH
The solo debut from Mario Bava's son Lamberto, (after having co-directed with his father and others on a number of films), was 1980's Macabre, (Macabro). Compared to some of the director's later, atrociously schlocky work, this one is heavily lethargic at least in tone. Because of its slow, relatively boring nature, the truly bizarre and outrageous details are pretty clashing. The post-dubbing veers close to ruining everything as it routinely does in Euro horror with the southern accents coming off as especially silly here. British-born Bernice Stegers' ridiculous performance is a hoot, but her daughter also being a bratty maniac and then disappearing from large chunks of the movie without exploring what the hell anything she does is about further adds to the turbulence. Same goes for the soundtrack which is either humorously romantic, (sexy sax and all), or totally barren, creating the appropriate mood in one case and not in the other. It basically comes down to being an uneven effort where Bava cannot decide how serious or not at all serious to take the entire ordeal. It is interesting in spots, but clearly not the work of a filmmaker at one with his craft.
(1983)
Overall: MEH
Originally filmed to be a television series with four separate stories, Lamberto Bava's A Blade in the Dark, (La casa con la scala nel buio, The House with a Dark Staircase), was instead re-edited to be released in its final form. Scripted by the husband and wife team of Dardano Sacchetti and Elisa Briganti, (both of whom have a solid handful of other Italian horror screenplays under their belts), the story sounds like a typical harebrained giallo, but the presentation is detrimentally slow and lacking in visual flare. Dubbing wise, of course it is terrible all around, but some of the line readings are more acceptable than others which go straight into unintended comedy. Both the lackluster script and possibly Bava himself provide some strange details like the killer having a silly voice, tennis balls inexplicably laying on the floor during an escape, bodies being found in steel drums and then underneath piles of audio tape for no reason, and a woman getting stabbed with a retractable blade through chicken wire. Yet they all come off as laughable instead of creepy. It seems that Bava was going for the latter sensation, but he once again fails to provide the proper mood and loads the film with tedious scenes of characters looking around, occasionally arguing, and then looking around some more. The fact that the ending is also given away about an hour early and then even features the classic and lazy "Psycho explanation" tag makes it all the more forgettable.
(1986)
Overall: GOOD
While it is still a typical, logic-defying Italian horror vehicle like countless others that regularly ignores or fails to set up its own rules to follow or break in the first place, Demons 2 is rather enjoyable. This is specifically baffling as it is a sequel to one of the worst movies ever made. The original garnished a devoted following and probably still remains Lamberto Bava's most famous work, but it is also insulting stupid. For Demons 2, (made the following year and featuring the same "creative" team behind it including Dario Argento), the film follows a near identical plot yet somehow manages to bypass many of the flaws of the previous entry by simply not beating you over the head with them. There is bad dialog, bad dubbing, characters being idiots, some characters being literally politeness, (another biker gang that is only shown driving around), and no rhyme or reason for anything that is transpiring. Yet all of the demon-possessing mayhem comes off more frightening and fun in its new, lush apartment complex setting here. Furthermore, it is very rare for a sequel to actually be scaled back, but it is pretty difficult to one-up the pure, wretched idiocy of the original Demons anyway. So throwing that in a blender with David Cronenberg's Shivers and adding a stupid gremlin baby, some far more atmospheric scenery, and not having a random helicopter show up to baffle you further, all proves a good move.
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