Revenge of the Dead

Avati once again demonstrates his complete ease in the horror genre, and once again the subject is filtered through a rather personal perspective that’s light years away from the stylistic features of his contemporary, Dario Argento. The film starts in the midst of a dull, everyday life, then flows to the darkest nightmare. Along the way we find an express elevator to hell in the progressive crumbling away of the protagonist’s convictions. Headstrong to the point of obstinacy in conducting his research, he ends up slashing through – the hard way – the veil of appearances in a society populated with sinister figures and strewn with arcane mysteries.

The screenplay here, as opposed to the earlier “The House of the Laughing Windows“, certainly appears a bit forced in places (the attempt to make every character a potential suspect tends to make certain scenes ring false), and at times causes some confusion. At any rate, it’s undeniable that the film’s non-stop magnetic appeal suffices to make it highly engrossing.

There are countless parallels with his 1976 masterpiece, both in overall plot (both films feature a protagonist eager to shed light on inexplicable events linked to a dark character from the past), as well as in plot devices used to heighten the viewer’s sense of anxiety and unease (mysterious phone calls, cottages inhabited by sinister crones, unconventional priests, sunny Emilia-Romagna locations concealing terrifying realities, etc.).

Cast: Gabriele Lavia offers a convincing performance in the role of an ordinary man who sets out to open Pandora’s box. He is supported by an invaluable Anne Canovas (as Alessandra), who, with her simple beauty and genuine common sense, ends up representing Stefano’s last link to the reassuring reality of his prior life. Consequently, once her beneficial influence is gone, the unfortunate man faces nothing but the inevitable abyss opening up before him.