dopefishie

Probably a 6.5 that I rounded up to 7 out of 10.

The star of the film is the script by Giovanni Simonelli. He throws in so many ideas. I was impressed with how many of them work! There's a gothic castle with a giallo-type murder mystery, a vampire legend running in the family, and a touch of Rue Morgue for good measure.

The next highlight of the film is the acting.

Jane Birkin and Hiram Keller are the gorgeous leads who may develop a love interest. They are both wonderful to watch. In supporting roles, you will find Venantino Venantini, Anton Diffring, and Doris Kunstmann. They all did a fine job here. I don't think there were any bad actors in the bunch.

The atmosphere was a mixed bag. The lighting and colors used were a nice mix of gothic and giallo styles. However, some of the locations looked like sets. There were some editing mistakes that stuck out. The stalking/kills were boring, and there was not much in the way of special effects, save for the body from the opening scene. And I was disappointed with the directing here.

At the end of the day, I'm a sucker for an interesting script filled with misdirection that keeps you guessing. So, I say give this one a try!

Slow and uneven start. The directing is uninspired. Some of the music choices are downright silly. At points, I wasn't sure if they were going for a comedic effect or not. I almost turned it off.

However, the middle section picks up in quality. The plot becomes a bit more interesting. Barbara Steele appears. Her performance is one of the best in the film, but that's not saying much. This is a far cry from her best work.

Toward the end of the film, the quality began to deteriorate again. The climax will be disappointing for those of you going into the film expecting to see Terror-Creatures. What was the point of it all?

At the end of the day, you can skip this one. Even the director, Massimo Pupillo, refused to put his name on the finished product... ouch!

A highlight of the film is that star, Wings Hauser, sings the opening (and closing) song, "Neon Slime." It's a whole lot of 80s fun!

Wings Hauser also plays the villain and appears to have a lot of fun with the role. His menacing and over-the-top performance brings energy to the film.

Season Hubley does well as a sex worker/undercover sex worker. I didn't care for Gary Swanson as the hero/cop on the case. He didn't have the acting range needed for some of these scenes. The rest of the cast was hit or miss. Some of them were pretty bad.

I also had a problem with the pacing of the film. It started out fairly strong. The whole middle section was a snoozefest. Poor Season Hubley was not given much to do, but they still filmed her anyway - wandering around the city, meeting with clients, and not doing much to advance the plot. Finally, in the last 10 minutes or so, the main characters reunite for the climatic fight which was mostly kind of dumb.

The film feels mostly nihilist, misogynistic, and cringe. At the end of the day, you can safely skip this one.