Another H.P. Lovecraft adaptation film treads out of the Brain Damage Headquarters to breath down our necks and taunt us with gripping intensity and surreal mind fucks.
A curious writer played by actor Giuseppe Lopruso and his overly hot nipple piercing girlfriend Frederica Cerman who gets dragged to the house arrive upon the grounds where many deaths and mysterious happenings ensue this Shunned House. I would safely assume that all who ever enter the house of dilapidated souls die a gruesome and acid induced demise since the opening sequence quickly disposes of a boy retrieving his ball only to get a hand come out behind him and pull him into the haunted palace of terror. The instant they arrive strange occurrences begin to take place. She envisions a massive cult praying to the almighty with black robes, a hole in the floor where he drops a rock and hears nothing, and so on and so on.
First night and as she falls asleep she hurriedly begins translations from beyond the grave. He seems to be pretty calm about the whole situation as he begins his research of plentiful horrors. He talks of the past and the inhabitants who were once living flesh then we are treated to flashbacks of which many take place and confuse to a degree. I honestly try to follow but I guess it’s just a matter of who was greeted by the dead and not why where they there, that sort of thing ya know! His investigation is about a certain feel, a writer also who seemed to have went the most traumatic of the experiences.
This movie is a grueling exercise in extreme fright on a low budget. I found this to be referred to all that was once strong in the euro scene back in the day, all the atmosphere and low on the story. It jumps around from room to room and back to one part of the past, then shifts to another room where another part of the past happened and so on. All seem to connect in some way since we are grappled with insane and disturbing THE SHINING type mood along with upbeat camera work like the new version of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. This movie really touches me in a lot of ways meaning how unapologetic it can be. If you can’t freak me out in some way whether it be a bloody gross out or ghostly apparitions inflicting as much trauma a la AMITYVILLE 2:The Possession then out the door you go. Hanging bodies, The slicing of many wrists and the playing of arteries which excellently enables a deaf mute violin player to continue to play her instrument since all her strings broke, sewn mouths and staked eyes familiar to Argento‘s OPERA, dead children, tilted point of views, bloody mad surgeons, and massive amounts of killer editing. The editing is probably part of the star quality of this directorial debut. Flash here, jiggle jiggle jiggle there, in and out in and out here, man the camera doesn’t stop. Even when they are just sitting there talking amongst each other the camera is doing something. I don’t find it to be to over the top, more a compliment to the ever increasing suspense the flick gives off. This music is of almost a SESSION 9/ Aphex Twins delectability but tends to monopolize on the only chanting riff amongst the whole movie again and again and again.
Not much in terms of special feature but a movie of this caliber, I think is pretty good on it’s own.
-Cannibal Cam
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
