The best Italian horror movie in a while and a good Lovecraft adaptation
written by ColonelKong November 20, 2003 - 8:48 AM PST
I have no idea who director Ivan Zuccon is, but I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future, and I hope that he can get financing to make something really great. His debut film, The Shunned House is a very effective and spooky horror movie made on what must have been a pretty low budget. I think it's right up there with Session 9 and 28 Days Later in the recent wave of shot-on-video horror films that aren't cheapo Romero or Fulci knockoffs.
It's a fairly loose adaptation of three stories by Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The Shunned House, The Music of Erich Zann (with the title character changed to a woman) and Dreams in the Witch House with the title story as sort of a modern-day framing sequence and the other two stories providing events from the past (the title story provides some of the past events too). The film plays around with time a lot, and we get the feeling that the characters in the past and present are literally right around the corner from each other. There are some good "shock" scenes, and the film doesn't shy away from gore, but you get the feeling that the feeling that Zuccon is most interested in creating is one of creeping dread.
This is one of the best-looking shot-on-video horror movies I've ever seen, I've held a predjudice against video in the past, but I think that films like this one and 28 Days Later have chipped away at it. There's nothing "cheap"-looking about the visual style of this film, and I think that, in a way, having been shot on video works in it's favor and makes it just that much spookier somehow.
If you want proof that the Italian horror movie is alive and well and a demonstration of how you don't need a big-budget to make an effective HP Lovecraft adaption, you could do worse than to watch The Shunned House.
written by ColonelKong November 20, 2003 - 8:48 AM PST
I have no idea who director Ivan Zuccon is, but I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future, and I hope that he can get financing to make something really great. His debut film, The Shunned House is a very effective and spooky horror movie made on what must have been a pretty low budget. I think it's right up there with Session 9 and 28 Days Later in the recent wave of shot-on-video horror films that aren't cheapo Romero or Fulci knockoffs.
It's a fairly loose adaptation of three stories by Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The Shunned House, The Music of Erich Zann (with the title character changed to a woman) and Dreams in the Witch House with the title story as sort of a modern-day framing sequence and the other two stories providing events from the past (the title story provides some of the past events too). The film plays around with time a lot, and we get the feeling that the characters in the past and present are literally right around the corner from each other. There are some good "shock" scenes, and the film doesn't shy away from gore, but you get the feeling that the feeling that Zuccon is most interested in creating is one of creeping dread.
This is one of the best-looking shot-on-video horror movies I've ever seen, I've held a predjudice against video in the past, but I think that films like this one and 28 Days Later have chipped away at it. There's nothing "cheap"-looking about the visual style of this film, and I think that, in a way, having been shot on video works in it's favor and makes it just that much spookier somehow.
If you want proof that the Italian horror movie is alive and well and a demonstration of how you don't need a big-budget to make an effective HP Lovecraft adaption, you could do worse than to watch The Shunned House.