So, the story starts with Lisa Gray (Lauren LaVera), a talented young American art restorer, heading for the remote, quaint Italian village of Sambuci. Whilst on the bus, she hooks up with three hitchhikers/tourists who are heading for the eerie, misty woods nearby, tents ready for camping. They part company and agree to meet up in a few days, though Lisa warns them that she has her work cut out, so no promises.
Lisa then bumps into a local Italian chap who flirts with her, offers to carry her bags to her destination and tells her that he runs a pub in the town. They agree to meet up for a drink when she has time away from her task. Lisa has been commissioned by the wealthy Duchess Emma Malvisi (Claudia Gerini) to restore a heavily damaged medieval painting that was recently charred in a fire at the family’s grand, decaying manor. Her controlling dad was the greater expert, but couldn't come, so he sent her instead.
Lisa notices that the villagers are deeply paranoid, cold and secretive. She gets to the grand and sprawling manor house, moves in, and begins work on the painting after meeting Emma. The painting turns out to depict a terrifying, monstrous demon surrounded by fire and suffering. As Lisa meticulously cleans away layers of grime and soot, the restoration process unleashes a strange, dark influence over her, plaguing her with vivid nightmares and hallucinations. Emma's daughter, Giulia, behaves strangely and Emma tells her that she has a 'personality disorder'. Incidentally, the actress playing this part is Linda Zampaglione, the director's real-life daughter.
We switch back to the camping group and, as soon as they get set up, they are one-by-one abducted by a strange, as-yet unknown to us, man. We see his hands in one shot, so we know he's human! They are taken to the damp, stone dungeons deep beneath the house and thrown into an eerie stone well - a clear nod to the iconic 'pit' setup in The Silence of the Lambs, I reckon! Down in the dark, the prisoners discover they aren't alone. Lurking at the bottom of the well is a grotesquely deformed, flesh-bound ancient creature (whose scarred, skinless, swollen facial features carry an uncanny resemblance to Mason Verger from Hannibal, by the way)! There's also a gatekeeper figure, almost as grotesque, wonderfully imagined - a huge man who reminded me of The Incredible Hulk (only not green), ensuring that the prisoners do what they are told!
It turns out that the Duchess and her servants are keeping the creature alive by feeding it human flesh and blood. In exchange, the creature bestows supernatural health, longevity and power on the Duchess's family lineage. As Lisa gets closer to finishing the restoration, having previously ignored Giulia's warnings, she unravels the horrifying truth that the painting isn't just a depiction of a myth, but a binding ritual and cursed historical record of the monster trapped below!
What goes on in the dungeon by the gatekeeper and creature leaves nothing to the imagination! Brutal, practical special effects fly. The captives are systematically tortured, butchered and fed to the creature in excruciating detail - featuring disembowelment, severed limbs and raw flesh-tearing - all executed with tactile, rubber-and-blood practical gore rather than digital CGI. Apparently, director Zampaglione deliberately hired Italian FX artists to ensure every throat-slitting, gut-spill and monster transformation was handled with physical props, prosthetics and fake blood!
So, Lisa attempts to save the remaining survivors, leading to a bloody showdown in the catacombs against the Duchess, her sadistic helpers and the ravenous beast itself! The question is whether or not she can do it, but also what chaos will ensue on the way, whether or not under threat of death she can finish restoring the painting by midnight (to ensure that the curse survives for a new and fresh 500 years) and of course, who and what survives and doesn't!
It really is a good fun horror, which, as usual, I chuckle my way through while others hide behind the sofa! I do find it all very funny rather than scary, but that's just me. No imagination, they tell me! The acting is alright, not brilliant; the script is not the best; and it often feels a bit like a low-budget outing - but they've certainly spent money on the gore and physical effects. As well as that dungeon set! That's really nicely imagined and created! You'll find it kicking about on loads of streaming services now - and it's almost all in English by the way, with just a few Italian lines, supported by subtitles.
No comments:
Post a Comment