Il bosco 1

This movie would would be totally lame and would never receive a 9 star rating if it didn't have such rad gore. sure it's nowhere near as sweet as EVIL DEAD but what is? plus what do you expect from the French? Italy can often make up for it's lame attempts at ripping off American films by offering lots and lots of gore but i've never heard of the French doing the same. anyway that's what happened with EVIL CLUTCH... the movie itself totally sucks but there the gore is so rad that it doesn't matter. basically if you love gore and can get past the goofy French accents then this baby is not to be missed; but if you're looking for a well thought out original plot than run for it. hey it's got cool zombies and lots of splatter and that always rates good in my book.

A vacationing couple (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni and Diego Ribon) head up into the Alps and end up running into a lady who begs them for help from some attacker. They drive her to a small village, she runs away, they meet a local crazy with a voicebox who warns of witches, they go camping, run into the woman again and get attacked by her. Oh, and this femme fatale has a large claw that extends from her groin and tries to kill people. This Italian film is heavily influenced by THE EVIL DEAD, but you can see director Andreas Marfori just doesn't have the talent to pull it off. It is like he watched Raimi's film with no translation. It is a shame as the film has many things going for it (nice camera work, great locations, tons of gore), but Marfori just can't get it to gel thanks to his incredibly wonky staging. He also overdoses on the use of the steadicam. The final scene with Coralina walking away from the carnage while followed by the steadicam goes on so long that it becomes a joke. Just when you get tired of it, the director then cuts to her continuing to walk with the camera in front of her for another minute or so. Jeez, such a shame.

I like analyzing films like this because they're simple in style, but challenging to separate the faults and things the filmmakers did right from one another. The good things first: "Evil Clutch" tries to take itself seriously and does okay at it MOST of the time, has some good gore, gets pretty weird and imaginative at times (even if it is in that school of "Evil Dead" rip-offs, that being a film that ripped off the 1971 "Equinox" itself), and has almost non-stop scenes that are fun to watch when you're in a very anti-yuppie mood (which I always am). Leave it up to yuppies to not listen to the only likeable character when he warns them about the demonic happenings abounding in the woods, including one of the greatest lines of dialogue: "Do you really think that you're so far from horror?" Now for the not-so-good things: What would have been a good, dark splatter film is spoiled by some very laughable creature effects that are on par with Ed Wood's octopus from "Bride of the Monster", the stupid idea that we're supposed to believe that the wussed-out yuppie heroine can make a bunch of torches before a zombie walking toward her can come about seven inches closer to her, and a slow pace that would have been more interesting if the viewer were only given some people to root for other than the sadly under-used weird guy who warned those yuppie jerks not to go out into the woods in the first place. A fair movie, not terrible, but not even close to great by any means. Out of curiosity, I would like to check out the uncut version, but I've got to wonder if a bloodier version would elevate the quality of the film in any way other than a higher gore quotient.

Weird and dark. Dark and weird. Weird and dark. Weird film. Dark lighting. I usually fall asleep while watching it. But it's pretty cool. Just weird and dark.

Have you ever wondered what the most blatant and shamelessly uninspired horror rip-off in history looks like? In that case, you are warmly invited to seek out the low-budgeted and amateurish Italian trash flick "Evil Clutch". This crazy thing so badly and so desperately wants to be "The Evil Dead" that it almost becomes pitiable. Fans of brainless and straightforward 80s splatter are still likely to have fun with it, but make no mistake, it is terrible.

Two young lovers on a trip through the Alps encounter a couple of demon creatures that first try to mislead them, but then rapidly turn out to be pure evil. There's a woman, who early in the film already clawed off the family jewels of a random guy, and an oddball motorist with a voice-box. When there's gore and bloodshed on screen, "Evil Clutch" is amusing enough, but most of the time it's dull and uneventful.

Should you choose to watch "Il Bosco1", make sure it's together with friends and turn it into a drinking game! A shot every time the film flagrantly imitates Sam Raimi's horror landmark, for instance. During the moments when the "evil" roams through the woods at high speed and just above ground is guaranteed to get you drunk!