Specters

This cruddy, late-80s, Italian supernatural/demonic horror sees horror icon Donald Pleasance slumming it as archaeologist Professor Lasky, who, as the result of tremors caused by subway drilling under Rome, discovers a pre-Christian tomb full of pagan carvings, including an inscription which warns that "evil will come". And come it most certainly does, in the form of an ancient demon that proceeds to attack those involved in the excavation.

Italian horror films of the 80s often displayed little regard for logic, but made up for their general incoherence with a sense of style, enthusiastic gore, and—if possible—some nudity from a good looking babe or two. This one tries on all three counts, but fails spectacularly on the first two, director Marcello Avallone's overuse of his smoke and wind machines hardly qualifying as stylish, while the splatter, most of which is saved for the film's closing moments, is frustratingly brief (blink and you'll miss it). Thankfully, Trine Michelsen as Alice, sexy girlfriend of archaeologist Marcus, is on hand for the gratuitous T&A, obligingly stripping off a couple of times in order to keep the viewer awake.

The bulk of Specters, however, consists of lots of dreary dialogue and numerous supposedly scary scenes that rarely amount to much (with the best moment being blatantly ripped off from A Nightmare on Elm Street); as such, the film proves extremely tedious and delivers little in the way of genuine frights. The demon (created by Italian FX expert Sergio Stivaletti) remains hidden until the final moments, and, to be honest, isn't really worth the wait.

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for the hilariously bad computer graphics used to track Marcus as he explores the tomb, and Alice's hub-cap sized earrings.

This disastrous Italian horror brings the late great Donald Pleasence along for the ride and surely didn't do his career any favours.

With not only a low rating but barely 250 ratings on IMDB this clearly fell into obscurity and I can see why.

Italian horror during the 80's was generally fantastic, this was a rare miss and quite a big one at that.

It tells the story of a crew investigating unexplored catacombs and the ancient demonic evil that they unleash.

With a messy plot, shoddy audio and camera work and a forgettable cast this is pretty bad stuff saved to a degree thanks to Pleasence and an interesting setting.

If you seek Italian horror look elsewhere.

The Good:

Donald Pleasence

Neat setting

The Bad:

Poor sound editing

Donald Pleasence looks like a big fish in a small pond here

Awful ending

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Donald Pleasence must have been short on cash

There is never any mention of a "specter" in this film. The creature we finally do see (other than Universal's Gill Man) is an ugly beast not unlike the She Creature. If it weren't for the ridiculous horror clichées, this film might have worked, as the set design is fascinating and some scenes are actually suspenseful, and the archaelogical dig is exciting. Unfortunately, a lot of it deals with stupid teenagers, gratuitous pop songs, sex, and topless scenes, and predictable junk make much of the film annoying. When wine bottles start spraying and catacombs are collapsing, it's interesting, but it has the cliché horror it's not really ending, no one survives by the main fornicating couple, and girls panicking from little mice. The blind man's beating heart getting ripped out is the ultimate in gratuity, since it lacks all the significance of Evan pulling out his own heart in Michele Soavi's _La Chiesa_. It could have been better than _Demoni_, but at least it's not worse, nor as disgusting.

I'm guessing you've got like late-era Italian films to enjoy this, but I liked this film a lot more than anyone that's reviewed this film here.

Why? For all the reasons listed as negatives elsewhere, that's why! Sure, the plot doesn't make much sense, and barely exists. Sure, there's bad eighties hair, bad eighties music, and bad eighties everything else, but come on, these are good points! I had a good laugh with this one. I loved the way the first guy they sent down the tomb had to crawl for ages to get to it, but by the time Donald Pleasance et al got down there, it was as easy as walking into your back garden! Brilliant.

It's suspenseful in places, with a good atmosphere and setting. I've been down to the catacombs in Rome and they really do warn you not to wander off. I thought that was because they were so large, but after watching this film, I guess it was to stop me falling foul of a demon.

Good stuff, if you know what to expect.

I wonder if, back when he was wowing audiences with great performances in films such as Cul-de-sac and The Flesh and the Fiends, Donald Pleasance ever thought he'd be starring in dross like this? Anyway, I have to say that I wasn't surprised to find that Specters is basically the film I thought it would be; namely, a poor Demons-style trashy eighties horror flick with little in the way of redeeming features. The plot is just common horror fare and features a bunch of researchers digging into places they shouldn't be digging and revealing a load of ancient catacombs that warn of impending doom. Naturally, the evil is unleashed. At the very least from this, I was expecting some decent gore; but all we actually get is cheesy crap which is matched by the trashy atmosphere and typically cheesy eighties soundtrack. The plot is a complete mess and I found it very easy to get bored. Donald Pleasance was obviously bored too, and that's not surprising considering the talent of the people he's working with; naturally, Specters features some awesomely terrible acting. It all boils down to a typically pointless ending and overall, this is one of the few films that is bettered by the lamentable 'Demons 2'!