Deathly dull


The good points: good kills, some nice visuals

The bad points: Way too much of the film takes place in one setting, the main character is a dork who can't even see what's right next to him, the killer is pretty obvious, and like my subject line says, a deathly dull movie.

"Worthington, we're being attacked by giant bats!"

reply

I don't mind the house setting or the main character. The house I think is really good because, despite the film spending so much time there, it is a really big, creepy place. Which honestly makes it perfect for horror.

I've seen a few other movies by this director, but this one is probably my personal favorite.


http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/

reply

I really loved the setting. The villa was almost a character in itself.

I think one small thing that irked me was the relatively small cast- it did mean that guessing the killers identity was easier than in most giallo. However, they did manage to sidestep this for the majority of the film by alluding to the mysterious 'Linda'...

But saying that, in some giallo films with a larger cast, it can be really disappointing when the killer turns out to be a character who we've only seen onscreen for a minute or two. Argento's Cat O' Nine Tails springs to my mind. So it may be harder to guess, but it's not satisfying when the reveal is made because there's not enough incentive to invest into the character or their motivation.

Anyway, I really liked this one. A nice straightforward late era giallo entry.

Violence is Italian art and Italian art is beautiful.

reply

There was a reason the film takes place in one setting......budgetary reasons! Same reason for so few characters.

reply

I read the screenplay was written around the villa. Not sure if they had it in mind as another character, or had access to it relatively cheap.

---
We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

reply

Yep, it was owned by Luciano Martino so they were granted access to film there for a few weeks. Also, it was originally meant for Italian TV to be aired in four segments, each episode culminating in a kill. This is the reason the budget was relatively low. Even so, I really like this one. It's one of the best gialli to come out of the '80's in my opinion.

reply