La casa de las almas malditas

Well, I'm an Italian horror big fan and I love movies from directors such Argento, Fulci, Bava Sr and Bava Jr, only to quote the most famous. "La villa delle anime maledette" is one of the most unknown movie of this genre, shot when this kind of cinema began its crisis that continues still today, and director Carlo Ausino sounds totally new to my ears (althoug he directed six movies... this is the price Italian directors have to pay to not work in Rome...) . But the film is not so bad. And it's absolutely not correct to talk about "trash". OK, the plot is not so original; it reminds me stuff like the Amytville series (the year is the same of "Amityville Possession" by Damiano Damiani) or "Shock", the last work of Mario Bava. But you have to think that this is the movie of a cinematographer (like Mario Bava movies); so the most important thing is the atmosphere, not the story or the characters; atmosphere very well created by the use of light and by the camera movement. The rest remain in the background. I think the movie works; not so good, but works; it's surely better than a lot of Hollywoodian production like "the Haunting" which have a bigger budget, but not bigger ideas...

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Don't Look In The Attic; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story - 0.25 Direction - 0.50 Pace - 0.25 Acting - 0.75 Enjoyment - 0.75

TOTAL - 2.50 out of 10

Oh my God, this movie is so bad that I kinda loved it. Though, I was irked by the story's possibility. There is enough scope within to scribe a classic horror tale.

I once read in a review that writer/director films are better as they allow for their vision of the story to reach the screen. That only works if the writer/director is talented. Unfortunately, with Don't Look In The Attic, they're not. There are so many holes in the story, be it structural or narrative, that I wouldn't be able to start to critique them - so I won't.

As for the direction side, I can easily comment on that. For one, the pace meanders along slower than the story. And, I will say this for the director; he must have known because he did try to alleviate the monotony in pre-production. There's a particularly lovely ginger pussy that appears during a bout of exposition. There's a conversation between three people, and it's shot at a dreadful angle and too-close a range. It feels and looks awkward. Enter the inserted shots of the pussycat reclining on the leather cushion of an armchair. There's no need for them, apart from breaking up the nastiness, and they're filmed on a different stock. If anything, the cat shots are crisper than the rest of the movie. But I can't knock it too much I'm a pussy lover, not a dog man. Though, the mishap that had me smiling the most was the soundtrack. The mansion they are staying in is in Turin and miles from anywhere. Imagine my surprise hearing the sounds of the jungle in the background, complete with screeching monkeys. Not satisfied with using it once they use the same sound segment throughout the film. It always brought a smile, and I expected to see Tarzan, Cheeta, and Jane swing in on a vine. It would have made for a better picture - he meant to get the most for his budget! There are more, many more, but they were my faves.

The cast isn't too bad. Though, what can you expect(?) It must have been evident reading the script how bad the film would be, so why put too much effort into it? Just turn up, have fun, get paid - I hope they got paid.

If you love bad movies, check out Don't Look In The Attic. Otherwise, stay the hell away. I don't want to be responsible for upsetting somebody; life's too short - Especially to watch this flick.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chiller lists to see where I ranked Don't Look In The Attic. Better yet, you can search for better viewing.

Take Care & Stay Well.

I usually have a high level of tolerance for inept and cheaply made horror movies from the early 80s, especially if they come out of Italy, but I honestly had to drag myself towards the end of "Don't Look in the Attic", and constantly had to battle the urge not to press the fast-forward button. What an incredible dud of a film!

The plot is senseless, incomprehensible, and - worst of all - utterly boring. Three people that are related but don't know each other inherit a mansion in which their parents died in 1955. The mansion is supposedly in Turin, but I'm guessing it's in the middle of the zoo of Turin judging by the exotic animal sounds coming from outside. The mansion also comes with an ageing butler that pops up out of nowhere. There's a whole lot of whining about ancient family curses and conversations with tombstones, but zero action. The body count is low, and the couple of death sequences are ruined by miserable editing and lousy effects (like the woman who gets run over by a car). Terrible.

Writer/director Carlo Ausino previously made "Torino Violenta", which is one of the worst Poliziotesschi flicks from the 70s but still vastly superior over this nonsense.

Also known as House of the Damned, Don't Look in the Attic is one of those horror films the title of which explicitly warns somebody not to do something, but they do it anyway. During a seance, a disembodied voice also warns Elisa (Annarita Grapputo) 'Don't go to Turin!', so she books a flight to Turin. After taking her obligatory horror movie shower, Elisa notices words written in the condensation on her bathroom mirror: Don't go to the villa! The property in question is the one that she has inherited along with her cousins Tony (Antonio Campa) and Bruno (Fausto Lombardi), a supposedly accursed villa with a history of mysterious deaths. She moves in. She deserves everything that's coming to her!

While living at the villa (which, judging by the noises that can be heard outside, is in the middle of a jungle), brothers Tony and Bruno come to blows, Elisa unable to prevent them from fighting. Spooky stuff starts to happen, including strange otherworldly lights and a bed sheet that draws back by itself (an amazing special effect achieved by attaching a string to the sheet). After Bruno's wife is hit by a car, he proposes to Elisa so that she can bear him a son (hmm... cousins!). Meanwhile, the family lawyer Ugo (Jean-Pierre Aumont) investigates his business partner Casati (George Ardisson), encouraged by his ex-lover Martha (Beba Loncar), who suspects that all is not right. Other stuff happens, but it's all so incredibly dull and none of it makes much sense. Director Carlo Ausino achieves zero suspense, delivers no scares, and no gore, and the whole affair really drags. A total dud.

Horror movie about a cursed house in Turin and the three relatives who inherit it.

Two brothers and their cousin Elisa (who haven't seen each other since childhood) are brought together after their mother's death.

They inherit her house under the condition that they live there together and never divide or sell the property.

It's haunted and after many ghostly nightmares and some murders, Elisa finds a diary in the attic, learning that she is the sole survivor of "the seventh damned generation."

Yikes. That's quite a yard to swallow.

The movie really stinks.

Extraordinarily poor production standards. Bad amateurish music.

Just horrible.