The Shunned House

Ivan Zuccon, without a doubt the most exciting young genre director in Italy, has stuck with the works of HP Lovecraft for this, his third feature. But whereas The Darkness Beyond and Unknown Beyond were generically Lovecraftian, La Casa Sfuggita (co-scripted with Unknown Beyond writer Enrico Saletti) adapts three specific HPL short stories.

Rather than a straightforward anthology, however, Zuccon and Saletti have set all three tales in the same building, interweaving them to achieve a dreamlike sense of horror. So in the present day we have paranormal journalist Alex (Giuseppe Lorusso) and his sceptic girlfriend Rita (Federica Quaglieri) in an adaptation of 'The Shunned House' itself. Alex is investigating an old inn which has seen scores of mysterious, often violent deaths over the previous three centuries. Much to Rita's displeasure, they are going to camp out in the derelict building until Alex has finished his research.

In the same building, 50-60 years earlier, Luigi Montella (Emanuele Cerman) is a young mathematician, who is investigating the non-Euclidean geometry of the inn's plans and playing chess against his neighbour Nora (Silvia Ferreri). This part of the film is based on 'Dreams in the Witch House.' Finally, right back in the 1920s, a writer name Marco del Vespro (Michael Segal - not the British actor who was in I Claudius etc) becomes bewitched by the haunting violin music emanating from the next room, where lives the beautiful but mute Carlotta Zann (Cristiana Vaccaro). That's 'The Music of Eric Zann.' With three stories set in different times - perhaps more: who/what/when is that mysterious masked figure? - The Shunned House is not an easy film to follow, which is entirely in keeping with the complexities of Lovecraft's work. Zuccon (who also edited the film) doesn't just mix smoothly between stories; the whole point of the film is that these three tales interact, as characters from one time see/hallucinate those from another. It would be pointless for me to be specific; the film must be seen as a whole.

And there's blood. And dead people. And people get killed in awful ways. This is a horror film in the grand tradition and confirms Zuccon's place as the natural successor to Lucio Fulci. Luigi may be a somnambulist child-killer; Rita sees dead people; there's a mysterious girl repeatedly hitting her bleeding forehead against a wall; and when Carlotta's last violin string breaks... Christ, it's horrible! It all comes together in a bloody, scary conclusion.

Zuccon's camera, often roaming around a room, brings the audience right into the world(s) of these people. There is nothing workmanlike here. Every shot is just right: the angle, the movement, the lighting, the cutting. It's just a shame that this was shot on video and not film. Please, someone give Ivan Zuccon the budget to shoot in 35mm! The cast all cope well with the English dialogue. Particularly notable are Cerman (also in both Beyond films, as was Segal) whose boyish good looks and sensitive-yet-unnerving performance reminded me of Brendan Fraser in The Passion of Darkly Noon, and Vaccaro, who overcomes (in fact, uses) her lack of dialogue to bring exceptional depth to her role as the troubled violinist. Massimo Storari's make-up effects are as gruesome as ever, and kudos also to costume designer Donatella Ravagnini and set designer Roberta Romagnoli, and indeed everyone involved with this marvellous film.

Ultimately, what does it all mean? I'm not 100 per cent certain (and I've read the script!) but frankly the film wouldn't be true to the Lovecraftian source material if I was. It is all (I think) connected with the mathematics of the inn's design, thus putting The Shunned House into the tiny sub-genre of mathematical fantasy horror, along with the brilliant Pi, the disappointing Solid Geometry, and a handful of other titles. I think that ultimately the building itself is 'the monster', much like The Fall of the House of Usher or The Shining. But I strongly suggest that you take any opportunity to see this film and decide for yourself.

MJS rating: A www.mjsimpson.co.UK

I love the literary work of Lovecraft, the man was the master of the macabre but every time someone makes a movie based on his works they have the habit of being really quite bad.

The Shunned House is the worst one yet, and that is really saying something.

Italian made (So they should really have known better) but every kind of amateurish. The writing is so poor I can confidently say I didn't entirely follow quite what in the blue hell was going on.

The story was baffling the delivery was cringe inducingly boring and as much as I looked I can confidently say the movie does not have one single redeeming feature.

I don't give 1 star very often, but this is so very very deserving.

The Good:

Not a sausage

The Bad:

Every square inch of the film

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I can't take a character seriously if they're named Luigi

The location is adequately creepy and some performances and scenes are haunting and intriguing (the girl with the violin and the young writer storyline especially).

The rest of the movie, however, feels a bit disjointed and the actors who play the "modern" characters cannot act at all. The general vibe is amateurish. Which is a pity because this movie had a lot of potential and could have been a little rural gothic jewel.

Not really sure what exactly it was that writer/director Ivan Zuccon tried to accomplish with "The Shunned House", to be honest. Admittedly the concept of intertwining three separate H.P. Lovecraft stories into one horror anthology, entirely taking place in one and the same house setting, is definitely ambitious and original, but at the same time also hazardous and unrewarding. The wicked and ultra-sinister imagination of H.P. Lovecraft is incredibly difficult to translate into a movie – only gifted directors like Stuart Gordon and Lucio Fulci occasionally succeeded – and his devoted fans are very finicky when it comes to adaptations. The script tackles the wondrously atmospheric and nightmarish tales "Dreams in the Witch House", "The Shunned House" and "The Music of Erich Zahn"; all mingled together through the wraparound story of a young couple investigating the dark history of a house where tragic events occurred spread over three centuries. Beforehand, I was prepared to witness some really bad acting and perhaps some inferior production values, but the absolute last thing I expected from this film was boredom! The story material is great and the ambiance is thoroughly ominous, but Zuccon's narrative structure simply isn't compelling enough. The stories, and thus also the suspense, are too often abruptly cut off to return to the present day main characters and their continuous uninteresting bickering. Ivan Zuccon doesn't achieve to grab the viewer's full attention and hold it, and that is something quite important in Lovecraft adaptations, as his morbid stories are habitually confusing and tangled already. What "The Shunned House" does have to offer are numerous grisly images (like a girl repeatedly banging her head against a wall for reasons unknown) and multiple downright gruesome make-up effects (like a woman biting through her own wrist). Although not the goriest film of its kind, some of the footage here is definitely nightmare inducing. The acting performances are quite bad and, call me shallow if you must, but I was quite disappointed that lead actress Federica Quaglieri didn't have any nude sequences. All through the film, she's parading around in an incredibly sexy yellow top and her beautiful voluptuous boobs are constantly on the point of popping out … yet they never do.

I enjoyed this movie immensely, although the title is a bit misleading. The movie is actually a synthesis of 3 of H.P. Lovecrafts tales (The Shunned House, The Dreams in the Witch House, & The Music of Erich Zann). Very creepy and suspenseful. I new it was going to be a good experience when my wife screamed only a few minutes in. The story stretches across different time periods so if you have trouble following the transitions this might spoil the experience for you.