For the three hundredth Italian haunted house horror I've watched in a row, Claudio Fragrasso, director of Troll 2 and part time amok killer robot, brings us an Italian haunted house horror with a bit of the Exorcist thrown in, plus a bit of Poltergiest for good measure.
Priest George (David Brandon from Stagefright) loses his faith after attending the execution of a devil worshipping child killer, so you've got your Father Damien there. Later, a family move into what I think was Priest George's house, the father of which is also a priest. This priest is played by the guy out of Metamorphisis and his kid is the kid out of Troll 2! Nice one.
Things start going wrong right away, what with toys moving on their own and a door to nowhere attracting the kid's attention, and before you know it, one of the kids has been pulled into another dimension by some vengeful witches and that chick who got the chair at the beginning of the film.
What bogged this film down for me and made my mind wander awfully was the amount of screen time devoted to all the priests talking about losing their faith and keeping their faith and so on. It kind of goes on endlessly as they all argue with each other. There's also an awful lot of wandering around the house and a certain scene where a wall melts almost had me nodding off.
When the film did decide to do the haunted house bit things were fine, as was some of the make up jobs on the witches and those that get possessed. Some of the acting by the kids was worth a laugh too, but this film is more fog machine heavy than anything Fulci made. You can give this one a miss if you want.
Is it just me or was there exactly one synth in Italy for composers to score soundtracks with? Every single soundtrack on these films sounds the same.
Next: Cat in the Brain!
Priest George (David Brandon from Stagefright) loses his faith after attending the execution of a devil worshipping child killer, so you've got your Father Damien there. Later, a family move into what I think was Priest George's house, the father of which is also a priest. This priest is played by the guy out of Metamorphisis and his kid is the kid out of Troll 2! Nice one.
Things start going wrong right away, what with toys moving on their own and a door to nowhere attracting the kid's attention, and before you know it, one of the kids has been pulled into another dimension by some vengeful witches and that chick who got the chair at the beginning of the film.
What bogged this film down for me and made my mind wander awfully was the amount of screen time devoted to all the priests talking about losing their faith and keeping their faith and so on. It kind of goes on endlessly as they all argue with each other. There's also an awful lot of wandering around the house and a certain scene where a wall melts almost had me nodding off.
When the film did decide to do the haunted house bit things were fine, as was some of the make up jobs on the witches and those that get possessed. Some of the acting by the kids was worth a laugh too, but this film is more fog machine heavy than anything Fulci made. You can give this one a miss if you want.
Is it just me or was there exactly one synth in Italy for composers to score soundtracks with? Every single soundtrack on these films sounds the same.
Next: Cat in the Brain!