Demons 6: De Profundis

I have watched a lot of schlock and I really love 80s horror and the stuff coming out of Italy in the 70s and 80s. However, this film has no redeeming qualities, zilch. Most movies have at least 1 or 2 things going for them, be it the effects, the camera work or the atmosphere, but this movie just feels cheap, cheap, cheap.

Story sucks, the actors suck, the English dub sucks, the effects suck, the atmosphere sucks. Even a guy like Cozzi can do better, what were they thinking?

Luigi Cozzi's The Black Cat is a weird film! And it's not just the film itself, the release and marketing are a little strange too. The film was released as Demons 6 (apparently a fifth sequel to Lamberto Bava's 1985 original) and also as a second sequel to Dario Argento's masterpiece; thus making it Suspiria 3. The film actually does mention Suspiria and Dario Argento by name; but if it's any relation to the 1977 classic; then it can really only be considered a spin off because the film doesn't follow on from either Suspiria or the legitimate sequel Inferno. In style, the film much more closely resembles Lamberto Bava's film; although the 'Demons 6' title was clearly just to help the film sell. Anyway, the plot focuses on a horror movie production; and the film is to be based on a book called Suspiria de Profumis, which Dario Argento's film was also based on (apparently, there's enough material for 100 movies!). The film is to focus on a witch named Levana; but for some reason, the production causes the witch to come alive; and the lead actress is the only one who can stand in her way.

It has to be said, this film is a real mess. Things 'just happen' time and time again and I was left constantly scratching my head. How do you make a film about a witch going around killing people confusing? Well, I guess you'd have to ask Luigi Cozzi. The influence of Lamberto Bava's Demons is clear and obvious throughout; the gore is very similar to that featured in the earlier film and Cozzi has jam packed this film with cheesy eighties hair metal. Actually the atmosphere of the film is one of it's only saving graces; the director utilises a good colour scheme and the feel of The Black Cat is gritty and foreboding at times. The acting is typically weak; but while trying to work out what the hell is going on, most people probably wont notice. The witch featured is surely one of the most ridiculous things in the film. I have no idea how this production ever got to use Argento's name and call itself a sequel to Suspiria; but the fact that it did is surely blasphemy. Overall, this film is entertaining in an odd sort of way; but it's not a good film by any stretch of the imagination.

'Black Cat' (1989) (aka 'Demons 6: De Profundis') I saw this today on Amazon Prime Videos. It's an Italian made horror film. This description intrigued me "Ann Pritcher is a new mother and actress in her husband's film. A film about a terrible witch, Levana, whom Ann is playing. But when Ann starts researching the part of Levana, she is haunted by visions." I like older Italian made horror films like those starring Barbara Steele. Often they had a haunting Gothic look and off beat stories compared to run of the mill American made movies. I cut all foreign films some slack because maybe the English dubbing isn't always the best and the film might be better in its native language. This film even beyond the laughable dubbed English is a total mess. The effects are laughable and the story is dragged out with nothing of real interest to it. Who ever did this seems obsessed with bright neon like lights for a scary effect. They like to have the bright light, especially green, emitting from windows, refrigerators, drinking glasses, eyes...everything but the black cat's butt. And the gore was also laughable. They also seem to like using green goo...just looks like pea soup. I don't like overly gory films, this didn't bother me because it was so phony looking. It seems anyone using the title 'Black Cat' or the like can pretend it's based on a story by Edar Allen Poe to attract viewers. About the only tie in to this is Mr. Poe's name may have been mentioned someplace in the dialog. Frankly this film, and I use the word "film" loosely, was not worth my time. I give it a 0 rating but the IMDb forces me to make 1 the lowest.

Despite the title, Luigi Cozzi's The Black Cat has only the most tenuous connection to Edgar Allen Poe's classic tale: there are a few random black cats thrown in for no real reason, and the lead character, actress Anne Ravenna (Florence Guérin), recently starred in a movie based on Poe's novel.

Anne's next role is to be that of witch Levana, inspired by the ancient occult tome Suspiria de Profundis, the same work that provided the basis for Dario Argento's Three Mothers trilogy. As Anne prepares for the part (to be directed by her husband Marc, played by Urbano Barberini), she is menaced by the ugly old hag, who isn't too happy to be the subject of a horror movie.

The bulk of the film consists of random supernatural events, all lit using coloured filters borrowed from Cozzi's pal Argento: Levana emerges from a mirror to spew green slime over Anne's face, makes the Ravenna's fridge malfunction (how evil!), causes intestines to spill from their TV (she really has it in for home appliances), grabs Anne through a wall, conjures up an otherworldly repairman to fix the fridge (no, really), and in the film's goriest moment, sends a woman's guts flying through the air (an effect borrowed from Cozzi's own Alien rip-off Contamination). Meanwhile, Anne's friend Nora - Caroline Munro, still looking good at 40 - is having an affair with Marc, which adds nothing to the plot (not that there is much of a plot anyway).

It's all incredibly dumb and makes no sense whatsoever, with pointless shots of planets and stars, and a foetus only adding to the confusion, while the bizarre use of sudden bursts of rock music at inopportune moments only adds to the silliness (Bang Tango's Someone Like You is used at least four times, Cozzi getting his money's worth).

2.5/10, generously rounded up to 3 for the erupting stomach (an oldie but a goodie). It says a lot that The Black Cat is even worse than Argento's own, seriously sub-par Mother of Tears.

I've just finished watching the late eighties Italian horror The Spider Labyrinth, which was a film devoid of cheese. This film, however, is like watching a slice of Gouda. But there's a place for films like this too, and I enjoyed it.

Some sort of sequel to Suspira/Inferno, it features some film makers getting together to make a film about Levanna, the Mother of Tears. Actress and new mother Ana is all set for the part, probably because her husband is the director, which makes script writer Dan's wife very jealous (and she's played by Caroline Munro, for the record).

Things start getting immediately weird when Ana starts having visions of a grape faced lady (you heard me) coming out of a mirror and attacking here. Seems that Levanna is real and wants to come back into our world, which involves Ana and her baby and that. You know the drill.

I though it was funny when Levanna started haunting Ana's fridge and then formed a vision of a fake repairman coming to fix it! That's just cruel. Also Bret Halsey's in this because perhaps Lucio Fulci had momentarily lost his phone number.

Anyway, the director guy and the screenwriter get in contact with some medium, who warns them off, and that's when Levanna goes nuts and starts wasting everybody, causing the medium's guts to explode out of her body, just like in Cozzi's Contamination! By this time there's also a little girl contacting Ana via a television to help her, but Levanna makes this TV explode and then spew up intestines (you heard me there too).

Things then start getting pretty unpredictable and VERY eighties, visually, but Cozzi may not be the best fan of reality, but he can sure pour on the madness and crazy set pieces. Whether or not this is a better sequel that Mother of Tears is up to you. Both are very cheesy and the later film was a lot gorier, but it also had Asia Argento in it and didn't really have the tone of Suspiria or Inferno, whereas this one is more similar in look and feel. That's up to you.

Luigi Cozzi sure had a thing for Caroline Munro, eh? In this film, you get to see her take a bath, wear lingerie, put varnish on her nails, have sex and get leggy while getting into a car. For the record, my favourite Munro moment is the musical number she does in Don't Open Til Christmas.