Verdict
Summary
Severin has just released a deluxe five-disc box set called High Tension that contains these four intended-for-Italian TV films in a sturdy slipcover box, but at the time they were produced, the films were rejected and not aired on TV for being too violent and shocking for at-home audiences. They are very hard boiled, violent, sexy, gory, and filled with mature content, but discovering them now as if they’re brand new, the movies are like lost (close to being gems) films, very welcome for fans of Italian horror and crime thrillers. Lamberto Bava directed all four movies, and he was able to explore different genres here with these titles, though each one varies in quality and enjoyment. The late ’80s were a very busy time for Bava, as he did tons of these types of lower budgeted genre exercises for a TV audience. Severin did a great job in restoring these four films and they’ve also included a CD soundtrack that has tracks by composer Simon Boswell who did the scores for these titles. Eye Witness was my favorite of the four here, no contest.
Eye Witness (1989) Plot:
A blind witness to a murder becomes targeted by the killer.
Review:
Shopping at an indoor shopping mall late one evening, blind Elisa (Barbara Cupisti) and her intimidating looking companion Karl (Giuseppe Pianviti) are given a “final call” to clear out when the mall is about to shut down for the night, and Karl leaves to retrieve their car in the parking lot so that it’s easier for Elisa to simply hop in after she collects her items, pays, and is ready to go. Unfortunately for her, the place is cleared out and vacated, locked down, and she’s basically shut in, leaving Karl to try to figure out how to break into the mall to help her get out. While left alone for a little bit, Elisa hears and “witnesses” a violent sexual assault and murder of a mall employee, and she “feels the vibrations” of the killer, who happens to be the manager of the mall. Not realizing he was “witnessed” during his crime, he’s left a loose end in the blind and very beautiful Elisa. When Karl breaks into the mall, a security guard detains him, and suddenly he’s blamed for the sexual assault and slaying. The blowhard commissioner on the case (Stefano Davanzati) has no patience or faith in Elisa’s testimony (which she keeps calling “vibrations”), and when the killer learns that there was a witness, he targets the wrong woman, and rapes and kills her next. That’s when the commissioner realizes that Elisa might be onto something and that Karl might not be the killer, but by then the killer has figured out who his target actually is, but getting to her will be tricky because the commissioner takes special care to protect (and fall in love with) her while a killer is on the loose.
A very solid giallo thriller with a very creepy killer who has a particular kink for rape, strangulation, and then self-flagellation after he does his deeds, Eye Witness delivers on the thrills and the frustration of a handicapped female protagonist who eventually must use herself as bait to outsmart and outmatch the killer. A climax in a commune full of disabled characters that rally around her is memorable. Lead actress Cupisti is very attractive and has multiple nude scenes (in fact, the first time we see her, she’s nude), giving the film a leery, sleazy gaze, but that’s also part of the movie’s exploitive appeal. Director Lamerto Bava treats the subject matter very seriously and it almost feels like the template for a later giallo-esque kinky thriller called Mute Witness, which is also recommended. Not necessarily an erotic thriller, per se, but certainly for the same audience as those, this one hits all its marks just right.
The Prince of Terror (1989) Plot:
A famous horror filmmaker is terrorized by a disgruntled screenwriter.
Review:
While making his latest horror film, filmmaker Vincent Omen (Tomas Arana) walks off the set mid-take, declaring that the script he’s working from is complete garbage. The script is by Paul Hillary (David Brandon), and Hillary insists that the script is perfect and that it’s Omen’s take on the material that is off. Later that evening, Omen hosts a dinner party with his wife and teenaged daughter, along with a producer friend of his and his date, and when dinner is over, his guests leave, but then some horrible things start happening around the house: First, the family dog is skinned alive, then even worse things. A home invader wearing a horror mask disguise shows up, tortures Omen’s wife and daughter (let’s call it what it is: sexual assault), straps his wife to a Saw-style device, and ties up his screaming daughter, and walls her in … and the worst of all is that it drives Omen to near-madness. When Hillary reveals himself to be behind the home invasion (which involves another cretin who clearly enjoys himself doing all the dastardly things to Omen’s wife and daughter), Omen fights back in the most unexpected way … by becoming the “prince of terror.”
An early home invasion horror film in the style of Last House on the Left but with the twist being that the invader and the invaded both use horror movies and their knowledge of how movies are made to get the upper hand. The climax has some truly “eye-opening” gore gags (literally) that had me dropping my jaw in delighted shock. It’s the only movie I can think of where golf balls are used as weapons, and it’s great. With the icky sexual assault sub-themes aside, this one is pretty solid, and director Lamberto Bava’s style as a filmmaker is strong and vividly displayed here.
School of Fear (1989) Plot:
A teacher takes a job at a school, not realizing that her class is full of very mischievous, dangerous kids.
Review:
Beautiful, fashionable Diana (Alessandra Acciai) takes a teaching gig mid-term at a prestigious academy for rich, privileged kids, not quite getting the story of the how and why her predecessor disappeared one day, never to be seen again. Upon arrival, Diana is told by the administrators to tone down her sexy appearance (it’s one of those places where uniforms are required), and so she heeds the mandate and goes to work. Her class of kids is full of handsome, pretty children, but they have a mischievous bent, constantly challenging her at her job, sometimes even refusing to do simple homework or tests on the principle that it will drive her up a wall in frustration. Like, seriously: What is she gonna do about it? She even tries befriending the class leader, a clever girl whom she invites over to her home for French fries, thinking that it will create some kind of bond between them, but it’s for naught: The girl is a bad seed, and Diana is in way over her head with this bunch of future Children of the Corn cultists. We learn that there’s a mutant kid lurking in the shadows of the school like some kind of Phantom of the Opera freak; who is this kid? We figure out that there was a horrible accident on the school grounds (but was it really an accident, or some kind of evil prank?), and when Diana starts to figure out that these kids are up to some sort of elaborate, sinister “game,” she has to be on her guard … because there’s a field trip coming up to an ancient castle that she’s going to be chaperoning, and what she discovers there will be the clue to the horrible things these evil kids have been up to.
An “evil kids” horror film from Lamberto Bava that moves too slowly to ever be completely compelling or scary, School of Fear does, however, have an intriguing overall aura to it that makes it of interest to Italian horror fans. It’s mostly a frustrating buildup, though, with a less than satisfactory conclusion if you allow yourself to become invested in its twisty, if improbable, plot. Part of the problem is how the film presents and deals with its aloof, annoying children and the evil “game” they orchestrate on innocent characters just to have fun. The evil kid subgenre of horror has never been one of my favorites (in fact, it’s one of my least favs), and this one, while having some potential to be clever and cool, is sunk by its too-mysterious and underdeveloped plot.
The Man Who Wouldn’t Die (1989) Plot:
A thief and a rapist is left for dead by his gang, and when he recovers, he wants revenge.
Review:
A gang is hired to rob a mansion full of priceless works of art and furniture, and they pose as piano movers with a huge truck to take everything in one haul. While in the middle of the robbery, one member of the gang – Giannetto (Gino Concari) – gets way carried away and tries to set himself up with a painting for himself, essentially robbing the robbers. He secretly strips one of the paintings and hides it in the garage, and his behavior becomes more erratic when he decides to rape a woman they’d earlier tied up along with her husband. In the middle of the rape, the husband manages to kick him in the head, giving him brain damage and nearly kills him. The rest of the gang sees that Giannetto is almost dead, and they have to clean up the mess he’s made so that there’s no loose ends; they kill the woman and her husband and dump Giannetto in a field somewhere, naked and clinging to life. His body – still alive – is found by some kids, and he’s taken to the hospital. Unable to communicate, he’s in a coma for days while the doctors keep him alive. Meanwhile, cops deal with the aftermath of the robbery and murders, and they have no clues. Eventually, Giannetto comes around and regains consciousness, and the only thing he cares about is getting revenge on his gang who left him for dead … and recovering the painting he hid, which means coming up with some kind of plan. But Giannetto isn’t exactly a smart criminal (he’s more or less a caveman with pure instinct and desires), and so accomplishing his task is going to be messy.
The Man Who Wouldn’t Die is an incredibly unpleasant crime film with no heroes, just bad guys and worse guys, and Lamberto Bava seems to have been inspired by a Last House on the Left aesthetic, starting with a gruesome home invasion that only gets worse, and then we’re left to “root” for the rapist / killer because that’s who the film focuses on. Based on a short story and intended to be made as a film in the ’70s but delayed until the late ’80s when films and stories such as these weren’t exactly in vogue, the film’s appeal depends on your threshold for unpleasantness and a willingness to dwell in the mind of a nasty villain. There’s no comfort here, so be warned.
Severin has just released a deluxe five-disc box set called High Tension that contains these four intended-for-Italian TV films in a sturdy slipcover box, but at the time they were produced, the films were rejected and not aired on TV for being too violent and shocking for at-home audiences. They are very hard boiled, violent, sexy, gory, and filled with mature content, but discovering them now as if they’re brand new, the movies are like lost (close to being gems) films, very welcome for fans of Italian horror and crime thrillers. Lamberto Bava directed all four movies, and he was able to explore different genres here with these titles, though each one varies in quality and enjoyment. The late ’80s were a very busy time for Bava, as he did tons of these types of lower budgeted genre exercises for a TV audience. Severin did a great job in restoring these four films and they’ve also included a CD soundtrack that has tracks by composer Simon Boswell who did the scores for these titles. Eye Witness was my favorite of the four here, no contest.
Bonus Materials
- Audio Commentary For THE PRINCE OF TERROR With Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson And Troy Howarth, Author Of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years Of Italian Giallo Films
- The Adventure Of Anfri – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava On High Tension
- We Call Him Maestro – Lamberto Bava On THE PRINCE OF TERROR
- The Scerbanenco Touch – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava On THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE
- Stephen King Italian Style – Interview With Screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti
- The Tale Of Evil Children – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava On SCHOOL OF FEAR
- Play The Game – Interview With SCHOOL OF FEAR Screenwriter Roberto Gandus
- When Bava Met Boswell – Interview With Composer Simon Boswell
- Boswell/Bava Compilation CD
- Audio Commentary For EYE WITNESS With Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson And Troy Howarth, Author Of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years Of Italian Giallo Films
- The Last Giallo – Interview With Director Lamberto Bava On EYE WITNESS
- Love Is Blind – Interview With Actress Barbara Cupisti On EYE WITNESS
