ing similarity with Giovanni Simonelli’s Hansel e
hiding behind a seemingly innocent façade),
Gretel, in the “I maestri del thriller” series), adding
and the idea of a marriage crisis paving the way
that “the story devised by Mannino and Battaglini
for a man’s irrational obsession is an interesting
for La casa della bambola con i capelli che crescono
starting point. A line of dialogue even mentions
centered on abortion.”2
Marco Bellocchio’s film La visione del sabba,
The four films were shot on 6mm, outside
where witchcraft is openly linked with sexual
Rome (in order to be able to work six days a
repression. The plot has its share of inconsisten-
week, which wouldn’t have been possible oth-
cies (not to mention a ridiculous car accident
erwise), with a filming schedule of four weeks
near the beginning) but compared with Lenzi’s
each, starting with the ones directed by Lenzi,
horror films of the late 0s the direction is less
which were made between October and Decem-
ham- fisted, with some oddly surreal moments,
ber . The budget was around 00 million
such as the scene of the snowfall in the cellar.
lire each. La casa del sortilegio3 (a.k.a. The House
La casa delle anime erranti (a.k.a. The
of Witchcraft) is the story of a man, Luca (Andy
House of Lost Souls) fares much worse. It is the
J. Forest), who suffers from a recurring night-
story of six students on vacation who stop by an
mare in which he is persecuted and decapitated
old abandoned hotel in the Alps, where a mas-
by a witch who puts his severed head in a caul-
sacre happened many years earlier. The ghosts
dron. As a way of relief from the stress, he and
of the victims still haunt the place and seek re-
his estranged, occult- obsessed wife Marta (Sonia
venge on the teenagers, who find out they
Petrovna) move to a country house inhabited by
cannot leave the building… . Despite the attempt
a blind pianist (Paul Muller) and his niece
at making a ghost story in an Italian setting,
Sharon (Maria Giulia Cavalli), which turns out
Lenzi bluntly described the result as “downright
to be the same as in Luca’s nightmare. Soon hor-
crap” and complained he hadn’t found the right
rific events ensue, and Luca begins to suspect
setting for the movie, which was shot in the re-
that Marta is actually the witch of his dreams…
gion of Marche, in Central Italy, with a Fascist
Shot in the Tuscan countryside, in a villa
summer camp made to pass as an old hotel.
owned by Daria Nicolodi’s uncle and surrounded
Moreover, there were issues during filming—
by a beautiful park, the film benefits from an in-
such as the art director abandoning the set after
teresting and typically Italian atmosphere and
an argument with the production manager, and
turns out as another variation on a Gothic staple,
the cast and crew having to shoot amid cold
the theme of seduction and repulsion. Despite
weather and snow.
psychiatrist Elsa (Susanna Martinková) claiming
The story soon turns into a series of gory
that witches are only “the outside projection of
deaths, with plenty of decapitations (including
our secret obsessions,” the witch in the film is
one by washing machine), severed limbs, bodies
very much real. As with Argento’s Suspiria and
hung in cold cells and spiders crawling into their
Inferno, La casa del sortilegio conveys a dark
victims’ mouths (yet another nod to L’aldilà).
fairy- tale like mood: the initial appearance of
The debts to The Shining are blatant to the point
the ugly hag, cooking a gruesome meal in a boil-
of plagiarism: one character, Carla (Stefania Or-
ing cauldron in the villa’s kitchen, is an image
sola Garello), is a psychic who “sees” the grue-
reminiscent of the Grimm Brothers’ fables, and
some events in the past. As with Lamberto Bava’s
the sorceress can even turn into a black cat. The
“Brivido giallo” films, the story revolving around
script makes use of the genre’s tropes (the return
a group of teenagers is further evidence of the
of the past, the mysterious portrait and the in-
genre’s adherence to the standards of 0s
eluctability of fate) and plays on the ambiguity
American horror films. The cast of unknowns—
of the witch’s identity in a way akin to what Mas-
save for a couple of familiar faces in Italian genre
trocinque’s La cripta e l’incubo did with its
cinema, such as Haruhiko “Hal” Yamanouchi
female vampire, amassing clues that lead to the
and Charles Borromel, while Licia Colò, soon
Made-for-TV Films
207
to become a noted TV presenter, has a small role
Hintz)—sneak into the villa to steal their jewels,
as a reporter—doesn’t help either. Both films
but they end up killing the owners and the gar-
were scored by Claudio Simonetti, hiding
dener. Immediately all the clocks stop and start
behind the a.k.a. Claude King and recycling
going backwards: as time regresses, the dead re-
themes from Dèmoni and Opera.
turn to life and act their revenge upon their
Lucio Fulci talked about the experience
murderers.
with “Le case maledette” in very positive terms:
Fulci was very proud of the result, but even
“Fantastic! Excellent filmmaking! Nino Celeste
at a little over 0 minutes the plot seems overly
is a splendid cameraman. They’re two of the best
stretched, with lengthy introductory sequences
films I’ve made. I wrote both the stories for La
(including one in which the trio goes shoplifting
casa nel tempo and La dolce casa degli orrori and
at a local store) that take up almost half of the
I’m very pleased with them.”4 Indeed the two
running time. Moreover, the destination for the
movies revolved around more personal themes
small screen explains some rushed scenes, while
than the ones he had helmed for Nannerini and
the gore effects are rather crude and the acting
Lucidi, and the director worked on the projects
ranges from passable to awful, with the trio of
carefully. La casa nel tempo—shot with the
young protagonists faring the worst. But this
working title La casa degli orologi, the literal
time, unlike in Sodoma’s Ghost and Quando Alice
translation of the international title The House
ruppe lo specchio, the director’s visual style is re-
of Clocks—was filmed in a villa in Torgiano, near
markable, with ample use of tracking shots and
Perugia, between January 3 and February 25,
dollies, turning the titular �
�house of clocks” into
5; immediately after Fulci set out to work on
a fascinating haunted mansion, amid eerie light
La dolce casa degli orrori, wrapping it in March.
and shadow games.
His daughter Camilla was the a.d. on both films.
The main themes, typical of the last phase
According to those on the set, the director was
of Fulci’s filmography—the persistence of guilt,
much more energetic and motivated than on
his latest works, a sign that Fulci believed in
the projects, especially La casa nel tempo.
“I hate time: it’s our slavery,” Fulci once
claimed. “We are crushed by time; it can’t be
stopped. I hate the idea that tomorrow will
come, and what the fuck do I care about to-
morrow… If I could, I would master time and
move it at my will. Stop it when I feel like it,
go on, go back… . ”6 The film marks the di-
rector’s most explicit reflection on the theme.
Opening with a quote by Honoré de Balzac
(“If time turned back, our sins would also
have to start anew”), La casa nel tempo intro-
duces us to an elderly couple, Paolo and Sara
Corsini (Paolo Paoloni and Bettine Milne),
who live in a luxurious villa with a house-
keeper (Carla Cassola) and a sinister- looking
one- eyed gardener (Al Cliver), surrounded
by a multitude of clocks of all sizes and
shapes. The Corsinis are in fact homicidal
maniacs who have killed their nephews and
keep their rotten bodies in the family chapel,
and when the housekeeper discovers it, she
too is dispatched by Sara by way of a spiked
pole in the groin, in a scene that openly
quotes the climax of Paura nella città dei
morti viventi. A trio of young thugs—Tony
(Keith Van Hoven), his girlfriend Sandra
Karina Huff and Paolo Paoloni in a scene from Lucio
(Karina Huff ) and their friend Paul (Peter
Fulci’s made-for-TV film La casa nel tempo (1989).
20 Appendix 2
the damnation of sin, the obsession of death—
ders took place with their aunt and uncle; the
are also more lucidly developed than in his other
building is still haunted by the souls of the de-
works of the period. On top of that, La casa nel
parted, and Sarah and Marco (who are able to
tempo sports a chilling, nihilistic vision of hu-
see their dead parents, like Marco did in Shock)
manity, that makes it one of Fulci’s darkest films.
become the instruments of their revenge.
In his gallery of human monsters, the Corsinis
Fulci’s idea was to meditate on death from
are among the most unpleasant and horrible
the children’s innocent point of view. Horror
ever, as amiable on the surface as they are vi-
takes the form of a child’s game—as shown by
ciously violent and selfish, but the other char-
Sarah and Marco’s laughter at the adults, after
acters are no better, even though, as in Sodoma’s
the latter fall victim to gruesome accidents and
Ghost, the depiction of the younger generation
deaths, and their total lack of surprise before su-
is far from convincing. The appearance of a
pernatural events (as Tommy’s in Manhattan
black cat, in what at first looks like a gratuitous
Baby). But there’s more: the scenes of the happy
depiction of (simulated) cruelty upon animals,
family virtually reunited, the children playing
seems just a passing reference to the director’s
with the ghost of their parents (and the dog!) in
film. But in the denouement—which blends
the villa’s garden, shot in slow motion and in
together a circular “dream” ending borrowed
soft- focus as if they belonged to some 70s tear-
straight from Dead of Night (45) and a sneering
jerker, convey a sense of regret and loss that
sting in the tail that vaguely recalls Le salaire de
turns these mawkish and potentially ridiculous
la peur (a.k.a. The Wages of Fear, 53, Henri-
bits into some of the most personal and open-
Georges Clouzot)—the feline becomes an agent
hearted material in Fulci’s late career.
of arbitrary justice and moral retribution, in a
The mixture of horror, grotesque and sen-
world dominated by cruelty and madness. In
timent is often uneasy, in an attempt at creating
fact, the only ones who benefit from an enig-
a harsh fairytale where innocence and cruelty
matic happy ending are the original victims of
are inextricably blended. In a way, La dolce casa
the Corsinis, who are seen having breakfast to-
degli orrori is the opposite of Quella villa accanto
gether in the villa, in an image of new- found fa-
al cimitero, which featured a monster who fed
miliar serenity. But once again, this idyllic sight
on childish fears and cried like a baby; here the
hides a dark, horrible truth: the situation has re-
ghosts are benevolent presences who protect
versed, and now it’s the revived nephews who
children against adults who are either stupid,
keep their aunt and uncle’s dead bodies as tro-
cruel, or just plain ugly. Interestingly, keeping a
phies. Obviously, they are just as mad as their
child’s point of view, unappealing or ugly char-
predecessors.
acters are also mean, such as the fat real estate
Shot in Ponte Pattoli, near Perugia, with a
dealer (Franco Diogene) who is nicknamed “the
small cast that included Cinzia Monreale, Franco
infamous Sausage.” The same can be said about
Diogene, Lino Salemme, Pascal Persiano, and
the exorcist, Teufel (Alexander Vernon Dobtch-
Alexander Vernon Dobtcheff (a last- minute re-
eff), who claims he is not afraid of ghosts but
placement for Cosimo Cinieri), La dolce casa
despises them. His characterization—thin,
degli orrori opens with yet another quote (this
black- dressed, with a ridiculous red beard—is
time by Nathaniel Hawthorne: “…when I try to
like that of a stern and obtuse teacher who takes
imagine the impossible, I would like to return
a perverted pleasure in punishing weaker crea-
to childhood. Only children can reach the im-
tures, such as children and ghosts.
possible”). The film focuses on one of Fulci’s fa-
La dolce casa degli orrori shows that Fulci
vorite themes, the inner violence of childhood,
was still willing to experiment. He had his d.o.p.
which imbued the last part of his work as well,
use a very bright, soft- focus photography, with
as proven by several of the short stories included
blinding whites and fog filters, to create a
in the collection Le lune nere as well as by his
dreamy mood which would enhance the story’s
second- to-last work, Voci dal profondo (0).
absurdist twists. Several sequences, such as the
Here, the script borrows from Bava as well as
long take in the cemetery during the funeral,
from Poltergeist, and pits two orphan siblings,
portraying Sarah and Marco’s point- of-view (as
Sarah and Marco,7 against the world of adults.
if they were one entity, thus enhancing their dis-
After their parents have been horribly killed by
tance from adulthood), or the children’s magic
a thief (who turns out to be the caretaker), the
rite, are indeed worthy of his best material. But
children keep living in the villa where the mur-
ultimately the clashing mixture of extreme
Made-for-TV Films
20
graphic violence and fairy tale falters, and some
“I must say that back then I was very inexperienced
scenes—such as the ending featuring a bulldozer
regarding television… . My colleagues and I were not
going on a rampage, which is played for laughs
the only ones though, but even the producers were,
like some sort of a silent movie gag—just don’t
and they completely messed up the series. They
work. Moreover, the gore is unconvincing and
didn’t consider that the horror genre couldn’t be ac-
cepted by TV sponsors… . I wasn’t an expert and I
crude, and the score by Vince Tempera is best
made those films as I would have made them for a
forgotten.
theatrical release. I didn’t realize that this way I was
Eventually, “Le case maledette” suffered a
precluding myself from a career on television… . It
sad fate in its home country, resulting in the se-
was the wrong project: we’d have had to make
ries being shelved, possibly because of the gory
thrillers, whereas the stories that were proposed to
content, which was likely to have put off TV
us were all centered on witches, enchanted forests
execs: in the opening scenes of La dolce casa
and so on.”
degli orrori, a man has his head repeatedly
bashed against a column and an eye gouged out,
In Italy, the four films were eventually re-
and a woman has her face reduced to a gory
leased directly on VHS only in 2000, thanks to
mess with a meat grinder. It was too much, con-
the efforts of the magazine Nocturno Cinema,
sidering the protests that Dario Argento’s silly
and surfaced on Italian satellite TV in 2006,
short films in the TV program Giallo had caused
Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989) Page 63