Together Forever

A documentarian working on a film about the devil's depictions in artwork finds his life turned upside after the death of his wife, which traumatizes his daughter. Things get worse, though, when his daughter receives a cursed medallion that renders her possessed by a child murderess.

I went into this film with low expectations as it is certainly not a film that has a sturdy reputation-the Code Red DVD release of the film in fact brands it under their "Septic Cinema" series, with the disc menu featuring a porta-potty. This is actually rather misleading, and possibly offensive. Though not a great film, "The Night Child" is a far cry from the utter trash that some may have you believe.

Similar to other European rip-offs of supernatural American horror at the time ("Beyond the Door" and many others come to mind), the film riffs on elements from "The Exorcist" (though is far more understated) and at times looks and even feels like "The Omen," and unabashedly so. Fortunately, this makes for an atmospheric film, boasting lush and wintry London sets that contrast with warm, oppressive interiors. An eerie score underpins the proceedings, which are somewhat slow-going, but they do pick up in the last third.

The film boasts a cast of English-speaking actors, with the English Richard Johnson leading the film, and American Joanna Cassidy playing his producer and sometimes-lover. The dubbing and dialogue are a bit hit-and-miss, but this is mostly expected for a film of the period, and at times it reminds one of some of the Bava or Argento films of the era.

In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by "The Night Child," which seems to have garnered a reputation that I frankly found at odds with what was on screen. The film is a rip-off, but a good one, and it offers a select few well-orchestrated scenes and a chilling atmosphere. For what it is, this is an above-average foray into the "possessed children" subgenre. 7/10.

I have a soft spot in my heart (and maybe my brain pan) for Italian and European "Exorcist" rip-offs, and this is one of the best. It's certainly better than the much more famous "Beyond the Door", which also starred Richard Johnson. Actually,the term "Exorcist" rip-off is a more than a little unfair as these films were all quite different from "The Exorcist" (and each other). This film has a kind of subtle, supernatural atmosphere much more similar to Nicholas Roeg's "Don't Look Now" than to the visceral horror of "The Exorcist". There is also kind of an aura of evil in the film that goes beyond just the possession of the young girl and which anticipates "The Omen" or supernatural Dario Argento films like "Inferno", but with an additional reincarnation element (and, of course, a much more limited budget).

This film actually MOST resembles a LATER American film called "Burnt at the Stake" where the young girl imagines herself as the reincarnation of witch who was burned by grotesque villagers. In this movie, the visions of the girl (Nicoletta Elmi) are connected to her mother's "accidental" death by burning, a bizarre painting her father (Richard Johnson) is investigating in Italy for a BBC documentary on the Devil, and to the titular medallion, which belonged to her mother and may have had something to do with her fiery demise. There are definitely some weird connections that a "Don't Look Now"-type psychic in Italy (Lila Kedovra) reveals, and, of course, the Devil himself seems to be involved. But then there are some decidedly Freudian twists at the end that other reviews alluded to. That's what turns out to be the major flaw of this movie--there is just TOO MUCH going on, and while a lot of it is pretty effective, it gets pretty confusing the end is definitely somewhat disappointing.

The movie is certainly well-directed by Massimo Dallamano ("What Have You Done to Solange?"), who remains one of Italy's most criminally underrated genre directors. The music, as other reviewers said, is good if perhaps not original (I think I've heard the main score in at least one other movie). Johnson does a reasonably good job as the male lead, and American actress Joanne Cassidy ("Blade Runner") makes a welcome appearance(as do her impressive breasts) as Johnson's agent and love interest. This is an especially good vehicle,however, for Nicoletta Elmi. While most underage actresses, then and now, generally fall into the molds of cute and cloying or teenage and sexy, Elmi was kind of a strange-looking, but actually genuinely talented young actress (not unlike "Burnt at the Stake's" Susan Swift). As in some of her other movies like "Footprints on the Moon" or "Flesh for Frankenstein" (her most famous), Elmi is a sympathetic but also effectively sinister presence here. This isn't a perfect movie,but it's definitely worth seeing.

This film is so tame that my kids could have watched it from beginning to end without a problem, if their attention span lasted that long. I think it's rated 15 solely based on the brief appearance of Joanna Cassidy's boob. That said, it's not a total waste of time due to the cast and the man in charge.

Poor Emilia (Nicoletta Elmi). Her mum got all burned in a fire then took a header out of a window and now her dad's dragging her to Italy to make a film about the devil. He's played by grumpy Richard Johnson who works for the BBC and has become fascinated with a photograph of a painting sent to him by a local countess. The picture seems to depict the devil, a group of angry pitchfork wielding locals, a young girl and a burning woman falling from the sky.

Emilia also has a nanny played by Ida Galli, who is in love with Richard, but her hopes are destroyed when Joanna Cassidy turns up to help out Richard. Joanna Cassidy is famous for playing sexy stripper/killer android Zhora in Blade Runner, so you can see why Richard makes a bee-line for her and ignores his daughter's random flashbacks to a previous life. She also has terrible dreams and screaming fits, which is distracting Richard from getting some.

The Countess is also psychic and gets a bad vibe from all this stuff with the painting and some mumbo-jumbo about two medallions, and she herself starts doing a bit of investigating. One 'accidental' death later, things come to a head in an ending I'll admit I didn't see coming, but it takes a while to get there.

Some people love this one, probably due to the complete lack of trash and the way the film looks absolutely gorgeous. It does look great - Dallamano's films always do, regardless of content (Venus in Furs), but he can also be a bit too laid back when it comes to plot, and for me that happens here. Although it's refreshing that there's no actual exorcism scenes in the latter half of the film, there's also not much substituted in its place and very little supernatural shenanigans. There's also some terrible blue screen effects, but that's by the by.

This is one of those OOP flicks that many people were searching but at this writing it finally had it's official release on DVD. The flick is fully uncut watchable in Italian or English spoken. Parts that never had a English translation are left in in Italian with English subs. A thing that has been done before with Italian flicks.

Don't think that this is going to be a classic giallo because it isn't. It even isn't a gory flick. More about possession. But not in the Exorcist (1973) tradition. Although it also centers around a child this has a more arty way of filming.

British reporter Michael Williams (Richard Johnson) has lost his wife in a fire. He's left with his daughter Emily (Nicoletta Elmi). He's gone to Italy together with his daughter and nanny to make a documentary about art but Emily still has weird nightmares due the death of her mother. To make her at ease her father give her a medallion. But things go worse from here.

The medolic score also adds towards the atmosphere, piano and guitar doesn't give it a eerie feeling but still things are happening. The score sometimes do remind you of Morricone. The downfall for a lot of horror fans can lay in the fact that the possession takes a while to enter. It's a slow flick, nothing graphic to see. And it do takes until almost the end before the supernatural enters and even that is low.

Kudos to Nicoletta Elmi as an 11 year old she gives an excellent performance and was a common face back then in horrors. But she decided to quit in her mid 20s to become a doctor.

If you like flicks that are beautifully shot and has a eerie atmosphere then this is your stuff.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

I realize it's a nearly blasphemous thing to write, being a self-acclaimed horror aficionado, but I really think that several of the greatest genre classics (like "The Exorcist", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Omen", "Don't Look Now"…) are somewhat overrated. I definitely reckon their importance and influence, but personally I'm always much more entertained by their copious amounts of (primarily Italian) rip-offs. I can't help it… Trashy titles such as "Beyond the Door", "The Tempter" or "Demon Witch Child" are just a lot more fun to watch because the atmosphere is a lot less demanding while the gore/bloodshed is a lot more outrageous. "The Cursed Medallion", also known as "The Night Child" theoretically also qualifies as such an Italian "The Exorcist" rip-off, but the overall tone of the film balances back and forth between the stern 1973 original and the over-exploitative other rip-offs. This one plays in one league higher thanks to three aspects: a surprisingly intriguing script with likable characters, solid direction by Massimo Dallamano and a downright fantastic – albeit ruminated – musical score by Stelvio Cipriani. Michael Williams and his 11-year-old daughter Emily are still recovering from the devastating loss of their wife/mother, who got trapped in her bedroom when a fire broke out and fell to her death from the window. Little Emily carries her mother's medallion – a gift from her father – everywhere with her. But Michael has to pick up work again and travel to Italy to make a TV-documentary about diabolical art. Following doctor's advice, Emily and the introvert nanny Jill accompany him. When there, Michael and his producer (and brand new love interest) Joanna stumble upon a truly sinister painting in the catacombs of an old castle, and there seems to be a connection between the painting and the medallion around Emily's neck. Fact is that the little girl behaves very strangely and dangerously jealous when it comes to her father. "The Cursed Medallion" deals with a lot more topics than just possession, like for instance reincarnation, the Electra complex and satanic relics. This is actually one of those rare Italian horror movies for which it's regrettable that they are simply just labeled as "rip-off", because it has a lot more to offer. "The Cursed Medallion" is so much better than most of its contemporary Italian companions and it's almost entirely the accomplishment of co-writer/director Massimo Dallamano. This criminally underrated director also made the single best giallo ever made ("What have you done to Solange?") and was a brilliant cinematographer during most of his career. He shot some of Sergio Leone's best western classics, among others, and his talented eye for breath-taking camera compositions are also noticeable in this film; just check out the two separate sequences of ladies falling to their deaths. Dallamano also briefly appears in a funny cameo, as a random man at the airport. Joanna stops him to ask if he's Michael Williams by any chance, to which he looks straight in her lovely eyes and slyly replies: "No, but I wish I was". Dallamano died in a car accident one year after the release of this film, at age 59, which is a crying shame as I'm sure he still had a couple of great movies left in him. One final remark about the awesome soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani, because that is also one of the film's main trumps. Even though you could state that he often recycled his own previous work, Cipriani is definitely one of Italy's greatest composers, next to – of course – Ennio Morricone and Riz Ortolani.