L'arcano incantatore

An excellent horror movie, in my opinion, thanks to a lesson that appears to have been forgotten by Hollywood. There's no blood, no gore, and preciously few special effects.

There's just a tight plot and three people in front of that deep mystery which is death. Obscure forces are at work around the main characters, but are they real or just in the characters' minds? Even in the final climax the viewer is left with this unanswered question for the viewer to ponder - as a good movie should do.

This lesser-known Avati wade into the fantastical is nonetheless highly accomplished, even if you handle that the supernatural elements don't really kick in until halfway through, and then not in a terribly flamboyant way. A disgraced young seminary student is dispatched to the remote castle of an aristocratic hermit rumored to be dabbling in occult matters. (And some locals have disappeared, adding fuel to the rumors.) Needless to say, the new helpmate eventually discovers this is true.

It's a slow but genuinely sinister tale that is very well put across by the two lead actors and Avati's great care with the visual presentation--this is hardly an extravagant production, but the modestly scaled period production design, the compositions and camera movement convey much more atmosphere than many a more expensive, FX-laden enterprise. There's probably not enough "payoff" for those who want conventional horror content in terms of kills and gore, but this is an admirably restrained exercise in supernatural creepiness that never goes slack.

The only film I'd seen from Pupi Avati prior to seeing this one was his excellent Giallo 'The House With the Windows that Laugh' and naturally, I had hoped that The Arcane Enchanter may be similar in quality to the earlier Giallo masterpiece. While by no means a bad film, The Arcane Enchanter doesn't portray the mystery and imagination nearly as well as the earlier film did. However, based on the strength of the two films I've seen from him; it's clear that Pupi Avati is a more than capable director, and The Arcane Enchanter is another (in terms of production values) high quality Italian horror film. The plot focuses on religion and black magic and the central character is Giacomo Vigetti. Giacomo is convicted of apparently trying to rape a young girl by the Papal State and is forced to flee. He takes refuge at the home of Arcano Incantatore; an ex-communicated priest. During his stay with the former priest, Giacomo soon realises the reason why he as thrown out of the church; the priest was practicing black magic...

The film exudes a scintillatingly Gothic atmosphere that carries the film even when the plot takes a turn for the less interesting. The Arcane Enchanter is very much a slow burn film, and while sometimes there is enough mystery created to make the audience want to see what is going to happen next; sometimes there isn't, and the film unfortunately falls flat at those points. The themes of horror shown in the movie largely revolve around death and the mystery springs from the ambiguous way that the plot is presented to the viewer. There isn't much in the way of character building on show, and this can sometimes make it hard to really care about the mystery at hand, however. The way that Pupi Avati presents the scares without special effects is well done, although sometimes it feels like a little more was needed. The ending pretty much flows with the rest of the film in that it doesn't end with a bang, and neither does it really tie everything up. Overall, this is certainly a decent film; but unfortunately, unlike The House with the Windows that Laugh, it's not a great one.

From the opening credits of the movie, Avati clearly uses all of his skills to make sure that "L'arcano incantatore" or "Arcane Sorcerer" or "The Mysterious Enchanter" looks and feels like an old, classic horror movie and he completely succeeds. The movie is beautifully shot with maximum care for it's atmosphere. It is a very slow movie that takes it's time to tell you a story. While not a lot of things happen, the movie still manages to be interesting and I think that the fact it doesn't show a lot is it's biggest strength and when it tries to show something, it often fails to produce the effect it wanted to. While I personally think the movie could have had a lot more satisfying conclusion and approached it's own "showing something scary" parts better, it's still an effective and entertaining horror movie made with passion and care, clearly providing an example what good style can do for a movie. Avati really tried to make a good horror movie and it payed off. I give it 7/10! I recommend it everyone. Just keep in mind that you won't find a fast thriller here. This one is a slow burner.

Beautifully filmed and well-acted. But it feels unfinished.

The highlights here are the wonderful cinematography and spooky atmosphere and the acting. Stefano Dionisi is really great as the young, likeable protagonist who tries to do right but is in over his head.

I was also impressed with the score. It was reminiscent of Richard Band's scores from the 1980s. Creepy stuff.

However, I was disappointed by the story. It had a good build and good tension, but it felt like it never really arrives anywhere. There are too many unresolved strands that end in darkness. I'm not someone that needs to be spoon-fed, but this felt unfinished to me.