Obsessão Assassina

I would take some of the other reviews about this film with a pinch of salt - it's not that amazing and it's not that gory, at least in the version I saw under the title "The Wailing". I also suspect a bit of cheating must have occurred to get it the 5.8 rating.

On to the film... It starts with some brilliant music, the sort you used to get in the early 80's horror films. This made me excited for what was to come, but sadly it seemed to go downhill from there. The problem with The Wailing is that it is confusing and the plot meanders too much. There's some dream sequences that go on for so long you forget they are actually dream sequences. Random scenes seem to be thrown together with no connection. There's also a serious lack of lighting, making it even harder to understand what is happening. It reminded me slightly of Lucio Fulci's "The Beyond" because of the meandering plot.

It does have some good points though. As mentioned, the music is great and gives it a real horror 'feel'. However they used it too much; it almost plays through the entire film and gets tiresome after a while. The atmosphere is quite good, and had the plot been more coherent this could have been a really atmospheric horror flick.

This really isn't worth seeking out unless you're a fan of Italian horror, even then you can still do much better. The UK VHS cover is cool though - I'll give it that.

A group of filmmakers travel to the family home of the lead actor to scout locations. They are greeted by his disturbed mother and her sinister servant.

Maestro Freda's last feature is a baroque masterwork which indeed forms a kind of review of the entire Italian horror tradition from BLACK SUNDAY on. BLACK SUNDAY lead actor John Richardson appears as the servant in a possible nod to former Freda collaborator Mario Bava.

The story contains many elements from other horror films: PSYCHO, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, DEEP RED, but Freda tells the tale in an ornate style referencing classical art and music in his imagery and on the soundtrack. The acting is mediocre, but the carefully composed imagery makes up for it. Such hallucinatory visions as a clutch of bleeding skulls, a giant spider and black mass which resembles both a Dali painting and a Michaelangelo sculpture are indelible. Highly recommended for Italian horror and Freda fans. A very underrated film which shows the director still at the apex of his creative powers.

Michael, a successful actor with a secret in his past, returns to his family estate after a long absence.He arrives with his girlfriend in tow and he greeted by his mother who seems a bit too attentive to her son and distancing to the girlfriend. It isn't long before some more friends arrive for both business and pleasure. However ghosts of the past are reawakened and it isn't long before strange things begin happening and people begin dying.

This is Italian horror at its most silly. The film starts off interesting enough with Michael going home to a house full of eerie people and occurrences. There is a nice tension to the proceedings, however things begin to sputter a bit when the girlfriend has one of the funniest "scary" dreams ever put on film after 1965. It comes complete with fake spider web and rubber spider and is impossible to take seriously. From there things begin to move unevenly as bodies begin to pile up and the number of suspects begin to diminish. The film completely falls apart as it tries to explain and re-explain whats really going on and who these people are. Its a mess and I found myself giggling through the final 20 minutes or so.

I was disappointed. The early scenes created a nice tension that was lost when things started to become silly and illogical (I know one should not always look for reason and logic in Italian horror). It gets points for keeping me watching to the end, but that was because I kept hoping it would shift gears into reverse and go back to being the decent little thriller at the start.

4 out of 10. Disappointing thriller is probably worth watching if you stumble across it late at night and find there is nothing better on. Those who like Italian horror and giallo films can probably add a couple of points.

My review was written in June 1986 after watching the movie on Wizard video cassette.

Riccardo Freda, doyen of Italian horror film directors, attempts to moderate his approach (with mixed results) in "Fear". Reviewed here for the record, feature was made in 1980 with various alternate titles including "Unconscious" and "Murder Syndrome"; it is now available domestically on video cassette.

Stefano Patrizi portrays a film actor who is haunted by nightmares and daydreams relating to having witnessed in childhood the murder of his dad. When he and a film crew visit his mother's home in the country as part of a location-hunting trip a series of grisly murders occurs.

Freda includes hints of various fantasy elements here, ranging from black magic to an invisible kirlian-effect killer, but essentially this is a gothic murder mystery dressed up with modern sex & violence. Key plot element emphasizes the too-close relationship of Patrizi and his mother, played by former sex symbol Anita Strindberg. More recent sex stars Laura Gemser and Silvia Dionisio are on hand in various stages of undress as Patrizi's leading lady and girlfriend, respectively.

Tech credits other than the subpar dubbing are fine and Franco Mannino provides a pleasant musical score emphasizing classical themes. Even for the horror genre, Freda's gloomy ending is a bit much.

Michael is a successful actor,but he has a scandal in his past:it seems that at a tender age he knifed his father to death.He and his girlfriend Deborah go to his mother's for the weekend and are joined by the director and others from a recent film project,who are given a rather unwelcome reception by the superstitious housekeeper Oliver.Soon ghastly things begin happening to some of the guests and Michael fears a repeat of his nightmare past is in progress.The vicious black gloved killer is preying on its victims."Murder Obsession" is perhaps the sleaziest offering of Riccardo Freda to date.It features plenty of nudity provided by Silvia Dionisio,Laura Gemser and Anita Strindberg.This often confusing giallo provides some gruesome killings including death by chainsaw and laughably fake spider attack.There is also a Black Mass,a live chicken beheading,a grubby rape scene and some random gore.7 out of 10.