La stanza accanto

THE BITTER CHAMBER is considered a remake of Pupi Avati's masterly HOUSE WITH WINDOWS THAT LAUGHED, however it bears only a superficial resemblance to the earlier film, and it doesn't begin to approach its creepy effectiveness.

"The Bitter Chamber" is an exercise in style with little behind it and few chills. It is well produced, with consistently dark, solemn atmospherics, but the screenplay's austerity and plodding familiarity (we've seen variations of this plot many times before) don't support the aesthetics, and fail to hold one's interest for very long.

The lead actor has few expressions beyond a doe-eyed, open-mouthed observational perplexity. His blandness soon makes him an enervating, not to mention slight, presence.

The film deserves some praise for its technical aptitude, but the memory of it is as evanescent and wispy as a fleeting encounter with someone unremarkable.

This rarely seen mystery Giallo from Fabrizio Laurenti, better known as Martin Newlin of "La Casa 4" aka "Witchery" aka "Witchcraft" and "Contamination Point 7" aka "The Crawlers" (in)fame, is a very atmospheric film about a man on the search of his past.

The year is 1940: After 15 years, Martin returns from Chicago to his Iowa village where he grew up. He left the village after a triple murder had occurred and he had testified against the main suspect, which condemned the latter to the electric chair. Martin has problems remembering what he had exactly witnessed that long time ago. The facts that he hears strange noises from the room next door (which is used as a storage room) at the hotel where he is staying, and that almost everyone in the village is now convinced that the convicted was innocent, make Martin investigate to find out the buried truth.

Co-written by Laurenti and fellow director Pupi Avati, "La Stanza Accanto" has often been called as somewhat of an inofficial sequel to Avati's own brilliant "La Casa Dalle Finestre Che Ridono" (1976). There are, without a doubt, striking similarities, but Laurenti's film is still undeniably original and a movie with a thoroughly own spirit. Laurenti develops a constantly creepy atmosphere, in which also seemingly unimportant details can become threatening. The longer the film gets on, the more is the past catching up with its protagonist (another parallel to Avati's "La Casa..." and the also Avati scripted and highly recommended "Dove Comincia la Notte" by Maurizio Zaccaro), and melancholy starts to almost "consume" the main character.

Together with the two other above mentioned films, "La Stanza Accanto", certainly Laurenti's best film to date, makes a unique loose mystery Giallo trilogy that deserves broader recognition among moviegoers. Rating: 8 out of 10.

"La Stanza Accanto"/"The Room Next Door" is a very dark drama written by Pupi Avati("House with the Windows That Laugh")and directed by Fabrizio Laurenti("Witchery","The Crawlers").It is filled with truly eerie and brooding atmosphere with lashings of grisly violence.The climax is truly horrifying and unnerving with some nasty scenes of razor carnage.The acting is surprisingly convincing and the camera work by Cesare Bastelli is uniquely brilliant.The film is pretty hard to find,but if you're a fan of Italian cult cinema give this one a look.My rating:8 out of 10.