The Dead Are Alive

This movie was so obscure, and the picture on the video box was so lame, that I didn't expect much. It was a nice surprise to have it turn out to be suspenseful, complex, even scary. Many weird characters, weird settings, and plot twists got me involved and created a creepy feeling. It appears to be a routine film in the first ten minutes, but things keep developing, strange characters and subplots appear, flashbacks, etc. It was worth it.

The reason this being one of the more obscure Giallos (or as purist would say: Gialli), can be blamed on "clever" promoters, who had hoped to cover more bases than were available. In the US they tried to market this off as a Living Dead flick. Needless to say that those expecting zombies were none too happy when no walking corpses appeared in the film. In Germany on the other hand, the film was marketed under the Titel "Das Geheimnis des Gelben Grabes" ("Secret of the Yellow Grave") as a Edgar Wallace movie. True, this novel was written by AN Edgar Wallace but not THE Edgar Wallace, and similarly, the fans of "Kraut Krimis" were disappointed, even though the film counts as final Edgar Wallace flick that was produced by veteran Artur Brauner.

So we better stick with the alternative English-title, "Etruscan lives again", and yes, the film has all the hallmarks of a Giallo: a mix of Psycho-Thriller, Who-dunnit, mix with gratuitous nudity, sex and violence.

The story itself is rather simple: An archaeologist Jason Porter discovers an ancient Etruscan grave in Tuscany. The grave features frightening wall-painting to Tuchulcha, an Etruscan demon of death and destruction. The excavation-sight happens to be under the property of the despotic musical-director Samarakis. This creates a great deal of tension, since Samarakis is married to Porters Ex-wife Myra. But jealousy and sexual tension takes a back-step, when a mysterious killer stalks the area, killing couples whom he catches in the process of love-making and disposes his victims with an Etruscan mallet. Soon everybody finds himself on the list of suspects and everyone seems to have their own skeletons in the closet: Jason, who still battles with the demons of alcoholism and having been confined to a mental-ward, the shady Samarakis, the gay Theatre-director Stephen and many other, all who seem to share some seedy background.

Like with most Gialli, "seedy" is one of the keywords. The Gialli was always considered the dirty cousin of the squeaky clean Kraut-Krimi, laden with lurid psycho-sexual images and sadistic violence, that's constantly pending between art and Slasher. "Etruscan lives again" makes no exception. The cast is well picked, all do a fine job and, as suitable, the viewer is never quiet sure if and which figure deserves any sympathy at all. That includes protagonist Alex Cord, whom the American audience will likely best remember for his role as one-eyed Michael in "Airwolf". Horst Frank, although only having a relatively minor role, steals the show as we had often done in this type of movie. Despite his character being a homosexual, Frank with his burning glare comes across as menacing and threatening as ever. Wonderful soundtrack, as is to be expected from veteran Riz Ortolani (though his sometimes schmaltzy sound isn't everybody's cup of Chianti) and Crispino does an admirable job, despite not counting among the big Giallo-directors like Bava or Argento. Crispino utilizes the wonderful landscape of Tuscany almost like a second actor, making the best of the locations (again, another trademark of any good Giallo).

Within the confines of it's genre, I'd give it a well-meaning 7/10, as a pure Psycho-Thriller perhaps a little less, since not everybody is comfortable with the Giallo-style, lurid storytelling and choppy structure. Again, I'd like to point out to whoever added the line "The first zombie movie to be filmed in anamorphic wide screen" in the trivia-section, I assure you: there are no Undead to be seen and those who get killed in "Etruscan lives again", stay as dead as a corpse can be.

let's start to say that this movie is not available in Italy (neither DVD or even VHS). It's incredible if you think that this is an Italian movie and in Italy you can find all the sort of American z movies! (even the Americans realize z movies).

By the way this is a nice giallo, well directed and well acted, I like very much Alex Cord (he looks like the young Chuck Norris, but Cord seems much more athletic and stunning then Chuck). I think this one has a lot in common with Friday the 13th (the plot, some murders, motivation of the killer...) but it came out almost 10 years before Jason.

If you like slashers and gialli , you will like this one

In Italy, a series of murders occur at a newly discovered Etruscan burial ground and when a tomb is opened, wall murals of sacrificial killings depict the current deaths ...but how could that possibly be? An American on the site, Professor Jason Porter (Alex Cord) -a violent alcoholic who also suffers blackouts- finds himself not only in the midst of a mystery, but a suspect as well. Was an ancient demon god unleashed when the burial grounds were disturbed -or are the murders the work of a mere (maniacal) mortal?

Armando Crispino's clever and classy entry from the Golden Age of the Giallo (1968-75) has nearly all the conventions one expects from the genre: an innocent (?) American abroad somehow connected to a string of violent crimes, ineffectual police detectives, quirky suspects, nubile victims, red herrings, brutal bludgeonings, suicides, and an insane killer that may come as a surprise. There's also a shoe fetish, a homosexual, a bottle of J&B Whiskey, a wild car chase, and Riz Ortolani's score to hold viewer interest. One of my favorite gialli plot devices is used here to good effect: the protagonist had a clue to the killer's identity all along if only he had interpreted a certain event correctly. All that's missing are the ever-present black gloves -but you won't miss them. This colorful, well-made thriller, based on a short story by Bryan Edgar Wallace, was released in the U.S. as THE DEAD ARE ALIVE. Rounding out the cast are Samantha Eggar, John "Death Dream" Marley, and guest-star Nadja Tiller.

Jason Porter (Alex Cord) is an alcoholic photographer working on an archaeological dig in an Etruscan tomb from the 5th century bc, he has a history of mental illness and violence which seen him locked up in a New York mental hospital, but now he's trying to get some normality back in his life, so when after a rainstorm at the dig he discovers the mutilated bodies of an amorous couple, the police naturally regard him as the main suspect. Some articles recently stolen from the site are found beside the bodies of the victims the only clue to who might be the killer. Porter has his suspicions as to who that might be, but the police interference is hampering his own investigation, added to that, Porter is also distracted by the fact that his former lover Myra Shelton (Samantha Eggar)is now married to a sadistic older man, Nikos, a sadistic old man and music conductor for a local theatre, where there are a number of suspicious characters.

Right from the start this plays like a horror film, we the viewer are led to believe that the killings are being done as an act of vengeance from a recently disturbed demon god with breathing difficulties, There is some great location work within the Etruscan tombs that adds to the atmosphere, the murals on the walls of the tombs showing the depictions of the actual murders before they happened, but Giallo experts will soon see that there are no supernatural forces behind these atrocities. The film also plays like a classic slasher in that sexual liaisons seem to herald the death of those involved, this is an unusual plot point for a giallo but then this is an unusual film. Riz ortolani provides a decent operatic score, the dubbing on the film is a real low point though, not the actual voices but the editing of them is beyond abysmal, this is still a film I believe would benefit immensely from an official release, considering the settings within the film a glossy new print would certainly bring this to a new audience