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Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2011For me, most of the time in any case, Italian horror promises a lot but delivers much less. So I didn't have huge expectations on this, although I had wanted to see it for many years (remembering the drawn, crudely coloured video cassette box from the 80's in my local rental library but never being brave enough to rent it!).
OK, so the bits that I wasn't keen on first. It is supposed to be set in New Orleans, but for the most part, certainly wasn't filmed there (inserted footage of black kids wearing hats playing in the street and the white river-boats chugging down the Mississippi look out of place to the rest of the film).
The ending is confusing - to be honest I didn't really understand it.... There is a nod towards the supernatural, but this doesn't really fit with the tone of the rest of the picture.
The good bits. Take it out of the typical "Italian Horror" mould, and it's a reasonably well made, interesting picture. It's very original, and I certainly have never seen anything like it. If I was pro Hollywood Remakes (which I certainly am not!), this would be a prime contender, as it shows that it doesn't take a mountain of blood, guts and gristle to make a suspenseful picture.
There are some genuinely creepy moments - very clever move was to make the person who senses something is "amiss" upstairs, blind. You do need to suspend disbelief at some points, but when he discovers "something" in the freezer (ok, it's a head - but you can see this from the picture on here!), it is a genuinely creepy moment, especially since he is about to be found out.
The acting is just fine (again, unlike some Italian horror pictures!). Questionably "Deep Saaath" accents and drawl, but who cares! It's not what is important here.
For me, one of the best parts of the film is the music - imagine 70's/80's laid back smooth, and really inverts the horror, to make the viewer feel at once laid back and relaxed, and secondly recoil and put their hands in front of their faces!
I would certainly recommend this film to viewers who haven't seen it before. It's reasonably fast paced (and if not, it isn't too long!), and I don't think you will have ever seen anything like it. I certainly told at least half a dozen friends about it the day after I had watched it, which I haven't done since I saw The Blair Witch Project (before the hype and before anyone else had seen it!).
