Director: Lucio Fulci
Synopsis: A woman who has had psychic flashes in the past has a jumbled up vision of a dead body buried in the wall of her new husband's country mansion. She tears out the wall and finds the body. From there, she attempts to piece together her vision in order to find the real killer. My take: While this didn't start off that promising (the opening sequence is definitely lacking, see the cheesy image of falling mannequin below), things pick up shortly after. Unlike many of the giallo films from this time period, the plot actually works here, there are several nice twists that keep you interested. The use of the woman's psychic vision provides a strong level of suspense as pieces of what she saw early on start falling into place. There isn't much gore (what? a mostly bloodless giallo?), but there are plenty of thrills in the murder mystery. Feels like a cross between Hitchcock's Vertigo and an Edgar Allan Poe story. Some bits of it could have been scarier but the fault here lies in the dated production techniques, requiring the viewer to look past its age and just enjoy the story. The direction is nice, fairly artistic with a slight hint of Argento's visual style. The ending could have been flashier I suppose - rather than an intense confrontation with the killer, we get a close-up on a piece of furniture. Regardless, I am encouraged to see more of Fulci's work.
3 out of 4 Zombie Faces
No comments:
Post a Comment