Fatal Frames - Okkulte Morde

Stefania Stella, a bizarre choice for a female lead, is horrible; she looks unattractive and mannish, has an unattractive speaking voice, and can't act or perform. The male leads are Fabio clones who can't act either. Terrible acting all around! Donald Pleasance's role is so small as to be an unnecessary cameo (I understand he died during production?). He is badly dubbed; his real voice, as good as ever, can be heard in some of the rawer footage included in the "deleted scenes" on the DVD. Terrible directing, scripting, dialogue. Even the cover art for the movie is poor; it looks like a puppet, and guess what - when that scene comes around we discover that it is indeed a dummy, no surprise. Lighting is boring: all cool blues and warm oranges, like in an unimaginative music video. A waste of time; not even a single scene to recommend it.

This movie is utterly boring and tedious to sit through, but there is one good moment, and it's the last scene of the movie. Donald Pleasance is talking on a phone with another detective. He tells him he's heading back to the United States, but he has to be there before Halloween because "it looks like an old case has been re-opened." And then he walks off to catch his train with a cane. In the background, we hear John Carpenter's "Halloween Theme" playing. It's another case of a great ending in search of a better movie to be attached to.

Fatal Frames hasn't got a very high IMDb rating and reviews are mostly scathing, and that's understandable: it's an utterly inept attempt to recreate the style and visceral horror of prime Argento or Fulci. However, in doing so, music video director Al Festa has given fans of the genre a film so poorly executed and so laden with '90s cheeze that it should prove entertaining for all the prove wrong reasons - when viewed as a parody (which it almost certainly isn't), it can be a lot of fun.

The film opens with a young boy walking in on an old man watching snuff movies. The geriatric sicko grabs the boy and forces him to look at the violent images on the screen, which no doubt does irreparable damage to the lad's psyche.

The action then cuts to a woman being pursued by a typical giallo-style maniac (presumably the boy all growed up): wearing mask and hat and armed with a machete, the killer slices at the woman several times before chopping her neck, her head almost coming off. It's a suitably mean-spirited and gory start to the film (special effects courtesy of Steve Johnson), but things soon go pear shaped...

Festa introduces us to his movie's main character, music video director Alex Ritt (Rick Gianasi), who sports a magnificent Fabio-style mane of hair (as do several of the other men in the film). Ritt is hired to make a new promo video for Italian pop sensation Stefania Stella (Stefania Stella) which will help to make her a star in the States. Good luck with that, faux Fabio: Stefania looks like an ageing drag queen and cannot sing.

Soon after Alex's arrival in Rome for the video shoot, the masked killer begins to hack up women with his machete, filming the mutilated victims with a camcorder. Ritt is witness to the first murder and when the police discover that the director's own wife was killed in a similar fashion a couple of years before, he becomes a suspect.

As things progress, Festa chucks in every hokey giallo cliche he can think of, both audio and visual: strong coloured lighting, smoke machines, a synth soundtrack, a gratuitous sex scene, more gory attacks, some truly awful music videos starring Stefania (Festa's wife in real life) and plenty of red herrings. All of this is done with zero finesse, the result being giallo turned up to eleven. Genre regulars David Warbeck and Donald Pleasence are drafted into lend some class to proceedings, but there's little they can do when starring alongside the likes of Gianasi and Stella. Also look out for Angus 'The Tall Man' Scrimm ('...and kill and kill and kill and KILL!") and scream queen Linnea Quigley (ex-wife of FX man Johnson).

In a plot twist that even current-day Argento would be ashamed to use, it is revealed that all of the murders that have taken place in Rome were faked, a ploy to flush out the psycho who killed Ritt's wife. It's utterly preposterous, made all the worse by Festa's use of some really naff visual effects (including some rudimentary morphing) as the killer breaks down and confesses.

So 'yes', in many ways this film is utter dross, but at the same time, it's a real hoot.

4.5, generously rounded up to 5 for the gory murders, even if they turn out to be staged in the end.

Brought to Rome to film a music video, a famous director is attached to the project for an up-and-coming artist, but after witnessing a murder on one of the costars and being blamed for the crime he sets out to solve the crime spree as more deaths occur around the shoot that point to him as the culprit.

This was an underwhelming if still somewhat decent enough modernized giallo. One of the better elements here comes from the seemingly old-school setup that allows for the film to appear as a fine homage to the classic era of the genre. With the affair starting in the performing arts as a music video director on holiday in Rome to shoot a new project who gets entangled in the crime spree the longer it goes on, the main launching point for what's going on is a generally serviceable enough feature. That is suitably enhanced with the advent of the killer removing the bodies from the scene of the crime but leaving a videotape behind to showcase what's going on, and with the implication of him as the culprit through some ingenious connections to another crime spree all gives this a workable story. As well, there's also quite a lot to enjoy with the better-than-imagined stalking and chasing scenes. Starting with the opening murder in the alleyway that comes off with the explicit aping of old-school aesthetics, there's a rather enjoyable dynamic incorporating television commercial stylings into the genre. That creates a wholly unnerving dream-like atmosphere during later scenes such as the brutal encounter in the park following a foot chase through the city or another victim sliced up at a tourist attraction which are both further enhanced with some graphic effects-work. A dream sequence stalking at a fountain makes for a strikingly red-lit stalking scene, while the thrilling final half provides quite a lot to like in terms of keeping the mystery going with some fine action which is enough to make this likable. There are some issues with this one. The major drawback to this one is the most obvious and straightforward feature in the overwhelmingly unnecessary running time that never needs to be this long. The inclusion of so much unrequired filler, with setpieces and meetings to discuss the video's production going on far too long for their own good, while other scenes could've been trimmed down or removed entirely while serving little purpose here. The photoshoots trying to amp up her sex appeal are nothing more than teases in the grandest sense, while performances that are captured in slow-motion or a visit to a medium's bizarre mansion just seem to drag out the running time are simply useless filler that could've been taken out without disrupting anything. The other factor on display here comes from the films' rather ham-fisted production that draws out several obvious flaws. The fact that so many of the major advertised cameos are just useless throwaways with a one-and-done sequence all feels like a waste, much like the strange profiler character introduced into the film. The character is somewhat unnecessary due to other characters on the police force doing much of the same work and proves so unworthwhile that he gets replaced shortly after being brought on board through an incredibly clumsy body double that's present due to real-world factors that are quite obvious to those who know their history. Such laziness is present through numerous other factors here that keep this one on the lower side of the genre.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, and a Clothed Sex Scene.

With Fatal Frames, Italian music video director Festa turns out a sub-par schlockfest that has little entertainment value. Even as a flawed modern tribute to the 80's Italian horror genre, viewing this film is recommended for completists and genre fans only.

The choice of Stefania Stella as leading lady is nothing short of bizarre. At her age, and with her mannish looks (despite considerable enhancement in the chest department), she lacks any credibility as a pop singer or sex symbol. Her credit as producer is probably the only way to explain her acting role in this film, because on her talents and looks she fails miserably.

The small cameos by Pleasence (in his second last film), Scrimm and Quigley are almost completely incidental to the plot. Warbeck's performance is totally over the top. With classic Italian horror film logic, several plot points are only explained in deleted scenes included on the DVD. In short, Fatal Frames is a confusing and unsatisfying viewing experience.

Although the film exhibits some visual flair, Festa's heavy hand on the zoom lens, poor dubbing and the overbearing 80's soundtrack detract from the overall film. A substandard transfer to DVD doesn't help either.

According to IMDB neither Festa nor Stella has worked again in film since Fatal Frames was filmed in '93. Many of the other cast either died within a few years of this films release (Pleasence, Warbeck, Brazzi) or are working sporadically in B grade movies. Frankly, after viewing this film, it isn't any great surprise that none appear to have gone on to greater success.

Rating 3/10