80's Italian Horror Part Three

THE HOUSE OF BLUE SHADOWS

(1986)

Dir - Beppe Cino

Overall: MEH

 

An obscure, incoherent, small-scale, and meandering effort from writer/director Beppe Cino, The House of Blue Shadows, (La Casa del Buon Ritorno, The House of Good Returns, Haus der Blauen Schatten, The House with Blue Shutters), is high on atmosphere with nowhere to go story wise.  The cast is small and the entire thing was shot in only twelve days, almost entirely at a single location where it is persistently unclear what is even going on.  Two timelines are bounced back and forth between, (or so it would seem), which adds even more confusion to a dormant plot involving a couple staying in an old house because reasons, who are occasionally visited by a smirking woman from one of their pasts.  Also, there is a masked maybe ghost/maybe killer with an Onibaba mask on and something about a kid that was murdered fifteen years earlier.  It is all conveyed in a murky fashion, deliberately so by Cino who tries to create a spooky, surreal atmosphere that becomes laborious to sit through.  As the man in the relationship, Stefano Gabriniis' performance is hilariously awful as he yells almost all of his lines when not staring into mirrors with no expression on his face whatsoever.  We certainly feel his frustration in watching the finished product.

VAMPIRE IN VENICE
(1988)
Dir - Augusto Caminito/Klaus Kinski
Overall: GOOD

Tales of Klaus Kinski's barbaric difficulty on and off set are legendary and have served as the basis for more than one documentary even.  His resulting shenanigans during the filming of Vampire in Venice, (Nosferatu a Venezia, Prince of the Night), are no exception and included sexually assaulting his female actors, locking himself in his trailer, ignoring rehearsals and staging which forced the cinematographer to rearrange everything last minute, and demanding re-writes and cast changes.  So in other words, just another Klaus Kinski production.  To further complicate matters, the budget doubled, producer Augusto Caminito ended up directing along with an uncredited Kinksi after two other directors were either fired or dropped out for various reasons, and only two thirds of the movie were ultimately shot before everything inevitably collapsed.  It is therefor amazing that such an insufferably troubled production ended up not being a total disaster in its completed form.  While the plotting has absolutely no choice but to become incomprehensible, the thick, densely macabre atmosphere goes a very long way.  Respectable performances from Christopher Plummer, Barbara De Rossi, and a bit over the top Donald Pleasence also help.  Ultimately it is Kinski who remains as mesmerizingly disturbing as ever though.  Of course one cannot condone his atrocious methods, (even after he was forced to apologize on set allegedly), but it undoubtedly comes through as he pulls off one of cinema's most sadistic undead.

THE RED MONKS
(1989)
Dir - Gianni Martucci
Overall: MEH

Oddly out of time for the end of 1989, Gianni Martucci's final directorial effort The Red Monks, (I frati rossi), specifically evokes 60s and 70s Gothic Euro-horror.  It went so far as to attach Lucio Fulci's name to the project as special effects supervisor even though in reality the Italian filmmaker had nothing to do with any part of the movie.  The pacing is a little tighter at times and from a production standpoint it is much more professionally put together than the films it styles itself so closely after.  Though it fixes these all too common hick-ups with its more contemporary presentation, it is still a bit flat in other areas.  What turns out to be a flash-forward opening, (which was tagged on after the final cut by Martucci proved too short), serves no other purpose and the mystery is simple enough, but the payoff nothing to really write home about.  It is also low on gore though liberal with nudity and women getting raped of course.  The evil, Satan praising monks of the title can be directly linked to Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead series, but while their vividly crimson get ups are indeed striking, naturally they pale in comparison to the highly effective and decrepit walking corpse skeletons of the Knights Templar.  It could be worth seeking out for fans of such material or those looking to scrape the barrel a bit with more obscure and singular stuff from its era, but it is still ultimately mediocre.