O Clube dos Prazeres

A Giallo in it's purest form. I came across a lot of advertising for this flick and finally found it at a convention and I don't regret it picking it up. The way it was shot and the score used is typical giallo and the black clothed killer with his hidden face and gloves makes it all perfect.

The story is rather simple but that doesn't affect the flick itself because it contains some nasty killings with extremely good effects and even gory and nasty shots. And naturally it also contains a lot of nudity, never full frontal.

if you are into giallo's and are afraid to pick one up after the disastrous Giallo (2009) of the master himself, Dario Argento don't doubt it if you come across this one. Worth seeing.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 3,5/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Some great cinematography early on, the score is consistently nice and the creative/gory deaths are enjoyable to watch. Sadly, that's about it.

The acting in 'Tulpa - Demon of Desire' isn't the best, though I don't actually blame the cast - rather the filmmakers, who chose to shoot the majority of the film in English, despite having a mostly - if not entirely - Italian cast. The language choice makes it feel clunky and cheap.

I liked watching Claudia Gerini in the lead role, she does a solid enough job. There aren't any others I'd pick out, though. There are a few that play a big part, one in particular with the twist at the end - which is poorly executed. I do, meanwhile, give the film credit for how it mixes the sexual stuff into the story.

A bigger budget and cleverer writing could've made this great, instead it's a disappointment in my opinion.

The film has a good plot but the nasty violence is unnecessary. Less violence and more graphic sex would boost the ratings.

I saw it at Sitges this year and i was impressed by the quality of this crazy and bloody Italian flick. Zampaglione clearly knows his stuff and with this new film he shows all his love for the genre. . Tulpa visually looks fantastic,and it's a well performed addition to Italian cinema, most importantly it does what it intends to do, it remains faithful to the Giallo mentality, and breathes life back into a dead area of the horror/thriller genres.

Zampaglione even goes as far to bring back the traditional Giallo killer, a dark shadowy figure, with face covered, black hat, and those leather gloves . There are also some incredible and elaborated murders you will never forget. Giallo fans will love this one.

It might be a strange to criticise this modern day giallo film for looking a little cheap; in their heyday in the early 70s, such genre films were never hugely budgeted.

This does have the look of an Indie film though, which is absolutely no problem in itself, but it robs the production of the stylish values usually attributed to the gialli.

The acting is fine, although Italian actors speaking English when it is not their first language damages it a bit. It also makes it difficult to care about the characters, which is unfortunate as many of them spend quite a few scenes in jeopardy.

I don't mean to be too damning here though. Any half-respectable reinvention of the gialli style is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, and there are some nicely filmed set pieces and some weird and fascinating red herrings - and a fair bit of sex too. My score is 6 out of 10.