L'arcano incantatore

A splendid pledge about the ambiguity of sin. Lesson about fundamental values and the nimbus of books. About illusions and chimeric truth, about search and secrets like means of life. And, very important, about the price of dreams.

A beautiful film like result light and subtle acting. A horror or thriller, a exploration of mystery and magical story, another Jacob wrestling with same Angel.

Story of a student out of law who discovers a special world with master and servants, a impressive library and restless whispers, an intangible corpse and a malefic shadow.

Blak magic and subtle art of Dionisi. And slices of seductive Utopian time with powerful flavor.

Beautifully filmed and well-acted. But it feels unfinished.

The highlights here are the wonderful cinematography and spooky atmosphere and the acting. Stefano Dionisi is really great as the young, likeable protagonist who tries to do right but is in over his head.

I was also impressed with the score. It was reminiscent of Richard Band's scores from the 1980s. Creepy stuff.

However, I was disappointed by the story. It had a good build and good tension, but it felt like it never really arrives anywhere. There are too many unresolved strands that end in darkness. I'm not someone that needs to be spoon-fed, but this felt unfinished to me.

The Arcane Sorcerer is the third Pupi Avati film which I have seen. While it may not be my favorite (though it's at least as good as the other two), it is the best made. The film has a disgraced seminary student agreeing to serve as secretary for a defrocked priest. So odious is this former priest's reputation that villagers have been forbidden to look on him or speak to him directly. Appartently, it was an unhealthy interest in forbidden books about conquering death that forced the isolation of this former priest now known as the arcane sorcerer. The catch for the seminary student is that he must never reveal what goes on at the arcane sorcerer's villa. There will be severe consequences in this world and the next should he break his oath.

The film has much to recommend it, good acting, cinematography, and set designs. I especially liked the library, candle lit hallways crammed floor to ceiling with ancient tomes. The plot also holds together better than in some of Avati's other films. The only problem is that pace is extremely slow. Most of the running time serves as build-up. The climax is intense! Then, the film ends. I did like The Arcane Sorcerer more than I did Avati's much loved (by others) The House with the Windows that Laughed.

From the opening credits of the movie, Avati clearly uses all of his skills to make sure that "L'arcano incantatore" or "Arcane Sorcerer" or "The Mysterious Enchanter" looks and feels like an old, classic horror movie and he completely succeeds. The movie is beautifully shot with maximum care for it's atmosphere. It is a very slow movie that takes it's time to tell you a story. While not a lot of things happen, the movie still manages to be interesting and I think that the fact it doesn't show a lot is it's biggest strength and when it tries to show something, it often fails to produce the effect it wanted to. While I personally think the movie could have had a lot more satisfying conclusion and approached it's own "showing something scary" parts better, it's still an effective and entertaining horror movie made with passion and care, clearly providing an example what good style can do for a movie. Avati really tried to make a good horror movie and it payed off. I give it 7/10! I recommend it everyone. Just keep in mind that you won't find a fast thriller here. This one is a slow burner.

An excellent horror movie, in my opinion, thanks to a lesson that appears to have been forgotten by Hollywood. There's no blood, no gore, and preciously few special effects.

There's just a tight plot and three people in front of that deep mystery which is death. Obscure forces are at work around the main characters, but are they real or just in the characters' minds? Even in the final climax the viewer is left with this unanswered question for the viewer to ponder - as a good movie should do.