Spettri

Well, what do you know, they do make horror movies in Italy that do not appeal to me after all. The Italians were the undeniable masters when it comes to horror, especially during the seventies and eighties, but obviously not all films can be winners. Just like "Manhattan Baby" and "Zeder", which more or less revolve on similar themes, "Specters" is an incredibly incoherent and painfully tedious film.

The basic premise holds a lot of potential, for sure, but director Marcello Avallone - as well as his three (!) fellow writers - couldn't turn it into a compelling script. Several of the story lines are underdeveloped, the film wastes far too much time on irrelevant sub plots and insignificant supportive characters, the evil's true nature remains a mystery even after the film has ended, the lead roles aren't convincing, and the production incomprehensibly doesn't take full usage of the marvelous filming locations and scenery! Here they are shooting a film in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, below ground as well as on the surface, but all we get to see are pitiable images of some lame ruins.

There's something evil lurking under the city of Rome... The acclaimed archaeologist Prof. Lasky and his crew have been searching for a 19 centuries old tomb for many months now, but it seems that the nearby subway construction works have finally exposed the entry. The discovery might not be such a triumph after all, since the occupant of the sarcophagus - a bizarre type of feline monster - is awakened and promptly goes on a rampage. Well, at least I think it goes on a rampage, because that's the point where the "Specters" really stops making sense.

Many sequences, like the "Nightmare on Elm Street" similar suck-into-the-bed death scene, are played like they are hallucinations whereas other ones, like the head crushing sequence, are reality? There clearly is some sort of (spiritual?) link between the monster and one of the archaeologist's girlfriend (played by the former Miss Denmark Trine Michelsen who recently passed away as a result of bone cancer) but that story aspect is never at one point clarified. You get used to that, though. What's the deal with the blind tour guide in the catacombs? What inflicted the veto between Prof. Lasky and the exaggeratedly gay-behaving elderly antique dealer? Why does literally everybody in this film insist on having extended conversations with themselves? Why isn't the couple from the beginning of the film mentioned anymore?

Never mind all that, it's a silly and lackluster film; - let's jut keep it at that. As usual with the productions he was involved in, special effects wizard Sergio Stivaletti delivers the finest piece of work. The budget was clearly minimal, but he nevertheless still managed to provide some pretty cool and engrossing effects. The always reliable Donald Pleasance, who regularly appeared in Spaghetti horror at that time ("Phantom of Death", "Nothing Underneath", "Nosferatu in Venice", "Phenomena"...) is on auto-pilot, but he always remains a joy to behold.

This cruddy, late-80s, Italian supernatural/demonic horror sees horror icon Donald Pleasance slumming it as archaeologist Professor Lasky, who, as the result of tremors caused by subway drilling under Rome, discovers a pre-Christian tomb full of pagan carvings, including an inscription which warns that "evil will come". And come it most certainly does, in the form of an ancient demon that proceeds to attack those involved in the excavation.

Italian horror films of the 80s often displayed little regard for logic, but made up for their general incoherence with a sense of style, enthusiastic gore, and—if possible—some nudity from a good looking babe or two. This one tries on all three counts, but fails spectacularly on the first two, director Marcello Avallone's overuse of his smoke and wind machines hardly qualifying as stylish, while the splatter, most of which is saved for the film's closing moments, is frustratingly brief (blink and you'll miss it). Thankfully, Trine Michelsen as Alice, sexy girlfriend of archaeologist Marcus, is on hand for the gratuitous T&A, obligingly stripping off a couple of times in order to keep the viewer awake.

The bulk of Specters, however, consists of lots of dreary dialogue and numerous supposedly scary scenes that rarely amount to much (with the best moment being blatantly ripped off from A Nightmare on Elm Street); as such, the film proves extremely tedious and delivers little in the way of genuine frights. The demon (created by Italian FX expert Sergio Stivaletti) remains hidden until the final moments, and, to be honest, isn't really worth the wait.

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for the hilariously bad computer graphics used to track Marcus as he explores the tomb, and Alice's hub-cap sized earrings.

There is never any mention of a "specter" in this film. The creature we finally do see (other than Universal's Gill Man) is an ugly beast not unlike the She Creature. If it weren't for the ridiculous horror clichées, this film might have worked, as the set design is fascinating and some scenes are actually suspenseful, and the archaelogical dig is exciting. Unfortunately, a lot of it deals with stupid teenagers, gratuitous pop songs, sex, and topless scenes, and predictable junk make much of the film annoying. When wine bottles start spraying and catacombs are collapsing, it's interesting, but it has the cliché horror it's not really ending, no one survives by the main fornicating couple, and girls panicking from little mice. The blind man's beating heart getting ripped out is the ultimate in gratuity, since it lacks all the significance of Evan pulling out his own heart in Michele Soavi's _La Chiesa_. It could have been better than _Demoni_, but at least it's not worse, nor as disgusting.

Poor Donald Pleasence! He's been in a lot of really awful films, and this is one of the worst. He was known for putting in good performances even when handed a bad script, but in this disaster, he doesn't even try. In addition to the apathy of the cast, the scriptwriter obviously didn't care too much since this film makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. There are fissures bursting open at random, men running around in Creature from the Black Lagoon costumes, a gratuitous song, a mysterious dagger, lots of tunnels, but no logic.

First of all I enjoyed Marcello Avallone's masterpiece "Maya" from 1989, because it was stylish,well-produced and gruesome."Specters" is his first acclaimed horror film. While a team of archaeologists lead by Donald Pleasence are digging through some ancient ruins the subway being built above causes some cave ins and new catacombs are found.This leads to the burial ground of a legendary demon who then rises to the occasion and starts dispatching his victims in gruesome ways."Specters" is obviously influenced by Lamberto Bava's "Demons".The plot is silly and offers many annoying sub-plots which lead absolutely nowhere.The photography is beautiful,but the action is slow and there is almost no gore.Only for Italian horror completists.A very generous 6 out of 10.