Malocchio (1975) Reviews

• Especially bizarre, supernatural giallo

  lazarillo2007-10-21

  Although this movie is categorized by some as a giallo, it goes beyond having a plot that is merely delightfully absurd, like most films in the genre, to one that is almost completely non-sensical, including even several possibly supernatural nods to "The Exorcist". The plot involves a wealthy playboy and swinger who begins to have strange dreams where he murders people (one of whom actually calls him up at the beginning of the movie and tells him SHE had a dream that he was going to murder her!). When the same people actually end up dead, he begins to think he is going crazy or is being controlled by a satanic cult (or something), so he checks himself into a psychiatric clinic under the care of a doctor (Richard Conte) who bears more than a little resemblance to Dr. Caligari. But then he runs off with a pretty nurse to her isolated villa. . . There is all manner of other weirdness happening, including things moving by themselves a la a low-grade version of "The Exorcist". There's also a cop (Anthony Steffens) investigating, but he seems to be in a completely different movie. I don't want to spoil the ending (although it spoils itself pretty well), but it's both a cliché and a cop-out. The lead actor (Jorge Rivero) is a good-looking guy, which ALMOST explains why every woman he meets immediately throws herself at him, even if they are married, they have just had a dream he murdered them, or he just checked into their clinic as a potentially homicidal schizophrenic. As typical for the genre there are a lot of pretty women on display including former Miss Italy Daniela Giordana, who's virtually unrecognizable (and spends all her screen time NOT quite getting naked), and Lone Fleming, a fixture in Amando Ossorio "Blind Dead" and Paul Naschy horror films. I'm not really sure whether or not I'd recommend this. Oh well, I've reported, you decide.

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• Bizarre borderline Giallo

  The_Void2009-08-09

  This film is often said to be a Giallo; I would say it just about qualifies, but it's really very much on the borderline. Eroticofollia is just as strange and surreal as its nonsense title suggests it is; and generally makes just about as much sense too! The film could be described as a psychological horror film, and it's clear that director Mario Siciliano wanted to put more focus on the imagery than the storyline, and as such the film is very thin in terms of plot. Luckily, the imagery is rather good and the director creates a good atmosphere for the film. The plot focuses on a playboy named Peter Crane. He is plagued by terrible nightmares, and this leads him to murder - his first victim being a girl that has dreams of him murdering her! As his grip on sanity slips further, Peter decides to seek help from his doctor; however, the murders continue. Peter's problems increase when he receives an anonymous phone call from someone saying they've seen him committing the crimes... This film reminded me somewhat of the classic Giallo The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave in terms of style, characters and content. However, this one is nowhere near as good as the earlier film. Eroticofollia gets off to a good start that promises it might lead somewhere worthwhile, but it then gets overloaded with its own bizarreness and things soon get rather tedious. The way that it delves into supernatural territory certainly doesn't help proceedings either, and it's an ill-advised twist. The film could have been quite decent if it tried harder to stay on the straight and narrow. To the film's credit, lead actor Jorge Rivero is rather good in the lead role and always holds the audience's interest well. He gets good back-up from Richard Conte and the beautiful Daniela Giordano; though Anthony Steffen does not get an opportunity to deliver his best performance. Despite its shortcomings, the film does stay just about decent for most of the duration; but then completely spoils itself with a very ill-advised twist at the end.

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• A compellingly offbeat and unsettling European horror thriller oddity

  Woodyanders2007-07-08

  Hunky, blithely decadent wealthy swinging playboy Peter Crane (an engaging performance by handsome and brawny Mexican super star and sex symbol Jorge Rivero) has horrific visions of killing folks and freaky naked shrieking people. Kindly psychiatrist Dr. Stone (veteran character actor Richard Conte; mob capo Emilio Barzini in "The Godfather") places Paul in a hospital for observation. But the ghastly murders and disturbing visions continue. Is Paul responsible for the brutal mayhem? Or is something more sinister going on? Director Mario Siciliano, who also helmed a bunch of spaghetti Westerns and hardcore porno pictures, starts this intriguingly bizarre Spanish/Italian/Mexican horror thriller opus on a slow and spooky note, gradually developing an eerie and mysterious nightmarish oddball atmosphere that reaches a really intense and harrowing fever pitch in the gloriously off the wall final third. Stelvio Capriani's groovy score neatly alternates between smooth funky lounge music and wonky flesh-crawling creepiness. Vicente Minaya's crude, unpolished cinematography likewise adds considerably to the overall outré tone. Nice supporting performances by the lovely Pilar Velasquez as sweet, charming, fetching shrink Dr. Sarah Turner, Anthony Steffen as a hard-nosed police detective, Luis Latorre as Paul's fellow party hearty rich pal Robert, and Daniela Giordano as beautiful blonde babe Tanya. An engrossing and often unsettling fright flick oddity.

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• weird curiosity

  movieman_kev2007-10-26

  Peter Crane (Jorge Rivero, star of the later "Conquest") is a rich womanizing playboy who suffers from a string of vivid nightmares. Peter may or may not also be a murderer in this strange, off-beat, and wildly disjointed Grindhouse curiosity. While a tad hard to follow simply for the logic (or rather lack of), the movie is strangely compelling none the less and is probably best viewed as a product of a bygone era. It more than made up for the sheer tedium that I had experienced when I sat through the previous "Black Candles" skin-flick fiasco. My Grade: B- Region 1 DVD Extras: Trailers for "Pick Up", "Legend of Eight Samurai", "Don't Answer the Phone", "Prime Evil", & "Sister Street Fighter" (also the same DVD holds a second feature movie "Black Candles")

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• Evil Eye

  Scarecrow-882009-03-29

  Confusing, incoherent mess about a wealthy swinging Italian hunk whose having weird nightmares involving a naked Satanic cult. It seems this cult has a command over him, forcing him to murder several folks who were responsible for killing relatives for inheritance or property. The Italian Lothario is Peter Crane(Jorge Rivero), the kind of handsome stud who wears his shirt collars open revealing his hairy muscular chest causing the female populace to swoon. After Crane strangles his victims, he awakens as if they were unpleasant nightmares, but it's enough for him to visit a psychiatrist, Dr. Stone(Richard Conte)regarding them. Soon Stone's assistant Sarah(Pilar Velázquez)and Crane become lovers, with her life in potential danger. The film shows the sex-heavy atmosphere of this period in Italy as a collection of men and women join together at either Crane's sprawling luxuriously posh mansion or his decadent party pal Robert's(Luis La Torre) sizable abode, getting wasted, kissing, swimming, making out, removing their clothes, and just whatever unpredictable lurid activities that come to mind, embracing sin and immorality, basking in excess. Some familiar faces pop up such as Eduardo Fajardo as Crane's corrupt butler, Walter and Luciano Pigozzi as a victim who kindly offers to help repair Crane's mysteriously immobile vehicle which went kaput while driving on the road. Director Mario Siciliano seems to have control of the film, until the supernatural phenomena increases with objects moving on their own and a detective(Anthony Steffen), whose wife places a charm to ward off evil in his pocket, begins hearing strange noises as he pursues the killer. Gorgeous women in the film such as leggy Daniela Giordano as Crane's mistreated sex kitten Tanya, and Pilar Velázquez, who could shrink my head anytime she wants. Amusing is the fact that Crane can seduce any female he so chooses as they just fall head-over-heels. Before Crane murders his victims, director Siciliano moves the camera into his menacing eyes, hands clinching tight, objects turning towards the target, the women slow to realize(..and seem frozen as he draws near)that they are to be strangled.. all this accompanied by a pulse-pounding score that steadily builds as the killer approaches the victim, reaching it's zenith when the hands grasp the woman's(..or man's)throat. A certain victim's death, after he had murdered an accomplace who feared for her safety, is a laugher..after puking a frog from his bloody, puss-ozing mouth, a shot gun falls from a shelf shooting him in the temple. Specters with white faces also visit Crane and the detective pursuing him. A REALLY bonkers scene shows Sarah the victim of a train accident, while also displaying her and Crane going over a cliff while driving haphazardly..random sequences like this leave one scratching their heads wondering what the hell Siciliano was attempting to accomplish. MAJOR SPOILER:The ending, when Crane and Sarah get away at her cabin in the mountains, is particularly a groaner as Siciliano just lets everything go berserk as they are bombarded by demonic supernatural terror with the irksome "it's all a dream" conclusion dropped right in our lap. It's a shame when a film leads you down such a bizarre path, hurling crazy events that make little sense at you, only to take the easy route by claiming it's all a dream.

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