The Well

It's like lemonade. Little substance.

Were it not for the annoying sickening gore, it would be something to leave on in the background and occasionally glance up at.

With the gore you can't even do that.

Not once does it make you feel horrified, terrified, or thrilled in any way, and it doesn't grip you with intrigue, characters, or plot. You feel calm and occasionally disgusted. If the genre was called "disgust" instead of "horror" it would make sense. This way however, it's just not well made. If you want to watch gore go look at a slaughterhouse.

The cinematography is basic, the acting ok, the audio between irritating and incomprehensible. At one point a character repeatedly calls out for "tony". And i could have sworn it was "charlie"

It got 4 stars, because while it is nauseating and pointless, it isn't actively evil and damaging, and the plot is actually somewhat interesting.

The well was better than the sum of its parts brought together would have you seen. Lauren lavera coming off her terrifier fame has ventured into a new horror this time playing a character called lisa. Shes on her way to italy to restore a painting in a big mansion on behalf of her father who could not be there. It seems routin at first but the woman she is doing it for seems to have an altier motive. These some gore here and there and the makeup of the creatures we see is very good. There are other characters a group lisa meets that get caught up so its interesting watching the action unfold from their perspective also. Overall the well was well good in fact and I enjoyed for what it was even if some elements fell flat when it was brought all together.

"The Well", is where "Hostel" meets "A Picture of Dorian Grey", and indeed with some old school Italian gore direction, a la Umberto Lenzi. I've been waiting for this one since Stieges 2023 and Zampaglione (Tulpa)'s direction did not disappoint. La Vera (Terrifier 2) carried her "final girl" crown well, though obviously in a more demure manner. The acting by the four prisoners was excellent and the cinematography was top notch. The story was a bit thin but the gore and other visual effects made up for it in spades. Zampaglione truly got right that which Rob Zombie usually buggers up. He even had a family member who could kinda act in the film.

When I read the synopsis, I thought:" great, finally a horror that isn't about some group of friends getting killed, or a family moving into a haunted house etc.". Well, sadly it doesn't deliver what it could have been.

The story starts with the main character, a painting restorator, travels to Italy for a (duh!) painting restoration job. Along te way she meets some guys, who are traveling to a different destination but end as prisoners in the same mansion.

Here it already starts to go wrong. The movie immediately descends into torture p0rn the moment those prisoners are shown, which distracts from the supernatural theme and add little to the story. And who is that fat inbred motherf'er walking down below ? Why is he wearing that goofy face paint ? He adds little to the story other than just being the person who carries out some mundane torture scenes.

The so-called well, that the movie is named after, actually plays a little negligible role in the whole scheme of things, and maybe a different title would be appropriate. The ending is a total letdown and anti-climax, with lackluster acting of nearly every character involved except maybe Lauren LaVera, who somewhat manages to carry the whole thing and make the best of it.

It's a shame, because this movie really had potential. Oh well, I'm sure all those low IQ gore hounds that infest the horror fan base will get some enjoyment out of this.

As an Italian I am really happy for this film, finally an Italian horror shot well and with extraordinary special effects thanks to my friend Carlo Diamantini, national pride, one of the best make-up artists ever and my fellow countryman who invited me to the preview of this film and also introduced me to the director Federico Zampaglione (who confirms that he has a certain talent when it comes to horror) and a couple of cast members, including Lorenzo Renzi who I had already appreciated in the Amazing TV series "Romanzo Criminale".

About The Well, I can say that we are faced with an exquisitely old school product, with monsters and blood and a very suggestive final scene, Zampaglione has great mastery with the camera and knows the old Italian horror classics, especially Argento and Fulci. As an Italian, horror lover and friend of Diamantini I tell everyone to run to the theater and enjoy this little jewel full of gore and violence!!!