La casa sfuggita

I enjoyed this movie immensely, although the title is a bit misleading. The movie is actually a synthesis of 3 of H.P. Lovecrafts tales (The Shunned House, The Dreams in the Witch House, & The Music of Erich Zann). Very creepy and suspenseful. I new it was going to be a good experience when my wife screamed only a few minutes in. The story stretches across different time periods so if you have trouble following the transitions this might spoil the experience for you.

This film has tons of atmosphere, great sets, and some genuinely creepy moments. Although not a strict adaptation of Lovecraft's story, it does touch on several "Lovecraftian" themes. The acting is so-so, and the story is a bit convoluted, but definitely the best film Brain Damage has released.

The first time I watched this, I had much to drink. See, when I watch the usual low budget crap, I like to be drunk, it is entertaining that way. Well, the story in this film is very complicated and I couldn't follow it. So, I watched it a second time sober, and was most impressed.

What we have here is three stories tied together - this is not an anthology. A novelist and his girlfriend stay in this Shunned House for inspiration for his novel. She isn't too happy to be there, but he finds more than enough inspiration for his work. So, he tells her about the terrible history of the house, and thus we start seeing the other two stories. One is about a woman with a violin who plays beautifully, but has some kind of dark secret - something on the other side of her window. The other story is about a sleepwalker. Then during the second half there is this woman, all bloody, with her eyes covers and her lips sown together. I still can't figure out how she fits in to the rest of the story. However, as the movie goes, all these stories, according the novelist and his girlfriend, start building up, and climax, and of course, there is a twist or two at the end.

The music was brilliantly haunting, the effects were very good for the low budget (it doesn't look like Brain Damage Films usual cheap slasher). This is a serious horror film, not some cheap horny teenagers go smoke dope have sex with each other and get gruesomely murdered one after another. The acting in this film was also very good for the budget range. Hey, better than some of the terrible actors in Hollywood, Sandra Bullock ain't got nothing' on The Shunned House, ROFL. Seriously though, only a total movie snob, obsessed with high tech effects and A-List acting would turn his nose up at this one. I definitely recommend it for all horror fans. 7 out of 10.

The location is adequately creepy and some performances and scenes are haunting and intriguing (the girl with the violin and the young writer storyline especially).

The rest of the movie, however, feels a bit disjointed and the actors who play the "modern" characters cannot act at all. The general vibe is amateurish. Which is a pity because this movie had a lot of potential and could have been a little rural gothic jewel.

Not really sure what exactly it was that writer/director Ivan Zuccon tried to accomplish with "The Shunned House", to be honest. Admittedly the concept of intertwining three separate H.P. Lovecraft stories into one horror anthology, entirely taking place in one and the same house setting, is definitely ambitious and original, but at the same time also hazardous and unrewarding. The wicked and ultra-sinister imagination of H.P. Lovecraft is incredibly difficult to translate into a movie – only gifted directors like Stuart Gordon and Lucio Fulci occasionally succeeded – and his devoted fans are very finicky when it comes to adaptations. The script tackles the wondrously atmospheric and nightmarish tales "Dreams in the Witch House", "The Shunned House" and "The Music of Erich Zahn"; all mingled together through the wraparound story of a young couple investigating the dark history of a house where tragic events occurred spread over three centuries. Beforehand, I was prepared to witness some really bad acting and perhaps some inferior production values, but the absolute last thing I expected from this film was boredom! The story material is great and the ambiance is thoroughly ominous, but Zuccon's narrative structure simply isn't compelling enough. The stories, and thus also the suspense, are too often abruptly cut off to return to the present day main characters and their continuous uninteresting bickering. Ivan Zuccon doesn't achieve to grab the viewer's full attention and hold it, and that is something quite important in Lovecraft adaptations, as his morbid stories are habitually confusing and tangled already. What "The Shunned House" does have to offer are numerous grisly images (like a girl repeatedly banging her head against a wall for reasons unknown) and multiple downright gruesome make-up effects (like a woman biting through her own wrist). Although not the goriest film of its kind, some of the footage here is definitely nightmare inducing. The acting performances are quite bad and, call me shallow if you must, but I was quite disappointed that lead actress Federica Quaglieri didn't have any nude sequences. All through the film, she's parading around in an incredibly sexy yellow top and her beautiful voluptuous boobs are constantly on the point of popping out … yet they never do.