Qualcosa striscia nel buio

Strom rages and there is flooding.A group of strangers is stranded in a creepy looking house in the middle of nowhere.Among them are homicidal maniac Spike played by Farley Granger,beautiful and heavily drinking wife Sylvia(stunning Lucia Bose)and her husband Donald,two police inspectors plus professor,doctor and his nerdy assistant.The house is owned by mysterious butler Joe.During the séance the spirit of former owner Sheila Marlowe is summoned and people begin to die possessed in the dark...Mario Colucci's "Something Creeping in the Dark" is an obscure Italian horror flick with several truly weird and eerie sequences.I loved all the clocks running in the house.The score by Francesco Lavagnino is superbly moody and there is plenty of violence but almost no nudity.The plot is disjointed and hard to follow,but if you are in the mood for some rare Italian chiller give Mario Colucci's slow-burner a look.7 séances out of 10.

I first became aware of this (and its equally obscure director) via the *** star rating on the "Giallo" section of the "Cult Filmz" website; incidentally, I also did not know that Farley Granger had worked so extensively in Italy – in that Luchino Visconti's SENSO (1954) was no fluke (I recently watched him in a hybrid poliziottesco/giallo, and another good one it was, Massimo Dallamano's WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? [1974])! Having mentioned the latter, this too is as much a horror piece as a giallo since it involves a manifestation brought about by a séance conducted at dead-of-night. The cast is quite interesting – not only mixing familiar/international names (including, apart from the afore-mentioned American actor, Italians Lucia Bose' and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) with unknown faces, but there are even a couple of behind-the-camera personnel (producer Dino Fazio and renowned composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, who also supplies a fine moody score) in the significant roles of Police Inspector and Professor/Occultist respectively! The plot is the typical 'old dark house' routine throwing myriad characters together, stranded by bad weather in a remote and forbidding environment (adding plenty of atmosphere to the already dour brew); harking back to Agatha Christie's much-filmed "And Then There Were None" prototype rather than the traditional stalk'n'slash formula, it is something of a quintessential offering (thus undeservedly overlooked) in this regard. By the way, the notion of having the spirit at large possessing members of the household in turn to commit mayhem would be adopted by Hollywood much later for the not-too-bad IDENTITY (2003)! The still attractive (and former Miss Italy) Bose' was on something of a latter-day roll during this period – since, among others, she made two similarly notable (and likewise strange) efforts i.e. Romolo Guerrieri's THE DOUBLE (1971) and Giulio Questi's extremely-rare ARCANA (1972); unfortunately, her character is made to expire halfway through, but the actress nonetheless makes a lasting impression. Ditto Granger, uncharacteristically cast here as a hardened criminal, pretty much retains the youthful looks that had served the Hollywood veteran so well in his heyday; the film's marvelous – if somewhat abrupt – finale has him as the ghost's latest 'fall guy', to adopt a noir phrase (a genre which tended to elicit the best from the actor).

Well, I'm a massive fan of Italian horror; particularly Giallo and Gothic horror, so I was looking forward to this given that it's meant to be a sort of cross-over between the two. However, my hopes were dashed as Something is Creeping in the Dark is one boring and poorly made film! I spent an hour and a half watching this film, and yet I really have very little to say about it. The plot is wafer thin and simply focuses on the idea of a bunch of strangers being holed up in a spooky old house for the night. However, they're not the only ones there are some ghostly presence is there too! That's it really. The attempts to build up the characters and their relationships all fall flat, and all that is left to admire is the atmosphere; which isn't exactly anything to write home about as it's a carbon copy of the atmosphere in any number of similar films and director Mario Colucci fails to bring anything new to the table. The film was obviously made on a low budget and there certainly is worse films out there - but I seriously can see no reason to bother tracking this oddity down as there's many, many better films out there too!

Arriving at a countryside mansion, several strangers and police detectives holding a criminal are forced to stay with the eccentric hosts of the house and find themselves playing deadly games with each other than expected and makes for a far more dangerous stay as the guests turn up dead.

This one wasn't all that bad of an effort. One of the more engaging aspects of this one is the rather enjoyable atmosphere created throughout this one which gives this quite a lot to like. Employing the Gothic standouts in the atmospheric location and setup of the house, from the elaborate decorations, furnishings and general old-school air featured with the layout of the house structured up on a remote hilltop filled with the flair featured here. From the cloth drapings, candlelit rooms and raging thunderstorm in the background, they give this the same type of atmosphere and suspenseful air that continually appears in the older Gothic horror fare just before this one was released and eases the film into the eccentric behavior from the hosts rather well. As the first initial meeting between everyone is to offer up an orgy between them all signals, their rather bizarre behavior and straightforwardness showcasing all manner of sexual shenanigans give this a generally depraved ambiance that matches the Gothic trappings rather nicely. This also ties in nicely with the idea of the paranoia and sexual frustration that plays out here with the general air of sleaziness usually featured that manages quite a lot to like with how all the jealousies lead to pent-up rage and murder. Even as the events in the night continue, from the constant enforcement of the supernatural presences in the house which causes everyone to go crazy or the various murder guises that occur which merely add to the paranoid already featured throughout here and readily enhances this one significantly that gives it enough to hold itself out over it's few minor issues. The main problem here is the film's somewhat staid and glacial pacing that really does lower this one quite a bit. Barely anything happens at all for large portions of time as this one tends to remain wallowing in Gothic tropes for the vast majority of the time and doesn't really bring anything out of the incredibly fun atmosphere presented. This one is generally much too interested in its paranoia amongst the cast to really lift itself out of the doldrums as it moves along at a somewhat steady pace that might be considered way too slow for some to really enjoy all that much. As well, the other problem here is the rushed and nonsensical finale that brings everything to a head in a much too rushed manner as a result of the pacing setting up atmosphere over it's pacing so the film just ambles along throughout the main storyline then blazes through the final five minutes to pay it all off which leads to a truly bland effect. These are all that hold it back, though.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence, Full Nudity and Language.

This rather obscure film is one of those giallo-like chillers with supernatural attitudes. This time, the threatened people are gathered in a house that seems to be haunted by a ghost.

It's a strange and fairly low-budget film that manages to keep one interested and thrilled thanks to some haunting atmosphere and creepy moments, yet it doesn't quite leave one gasping for breath. The only disappointing thing is that its finish comes too abruptly. Nevertheless surely worth to watch.