Maya

This Italian horror film delivers a typically stylish atmosphere and thrilling scenes to make it a pleasant experience for every friend of Italian horror films. Director Avallone tells a chilling story about an old Maya curse that breaks loose. Several hapless characters fall victim to it in quite nasty ways. But Avallone focuses more on the uncanny aspects of the plot than on the gore - which doesn't mean that there's no blood flowing here.

Recommended for all horror fans and in my opinion more thrilling than Avallone's better known first horror film "Spettri" (Specters). Rating: 7/10.

More late eighties Italian horror from the director of Spectres! This time, absolute jerk Peter is some American ex-pat slob working in a bar, sleeping with a local gas station attendant, and gambling his money away on some strange finger wrestling matches (where one guy gets his finger torn off!) when his mate Solomon (600 year old William Berger) gets mysteriously murdered at some Mayan temple. Solomon's daughter turns up looking for answers and Peter gives it about five minutes for her to mourn before he starts hitting on her, the douchebag.

Just in case you don't think he's an a**hole, Peter also hits on his bosses wife (the stunning Mirrela D'Angelo) who's having an affair with some guy, and goes deep sea diving while wearing headphones and chewing gum. Two redneck muppets turn up to get drunk and try and rape Peter's girlfriend, which results in some supernatural force turning up and killing both of them in typical twilight era Italian horror film style.

Solomon's daughter's a bit curious as to why these two guys have the same wounds as her Dad, but the local doctor's giving her the brush off. Around this time she finds out the local legend of some spirit who tried to wipe out the local tribe with the help of the God of death, but got thwarted and vowed to come back. Has this demon returned? Peter's girlfriend catches Peter (the fud) getting lovey-dubby with Solomon's daughter and goes a bit mental, trashing Peter's apartment but then getting herself killed rather graphically in her bath. The local police don't seem to be too bothered though as Peter isn't even a suspect and just goes about his daily business. Oh – I forgot to mention the creepy kid that turns up to frighten the crap out of people, and that looking in a mirror in this film means death. And that guy that pukes up snakes.

It takes about an hour of the film before anybody starts trying to unravel the mystery, but you won't be bored as the demon works it's way through the cast, where people are pierced through the mouth with steel poles, have their faces torn to shreds, have their nose split open (eww), get lifted of the ground by hooks and generally meet fates that anyone appearing in a late eighties Italian film generally meet. There's also plenty of female flesh on display, but I could have done without the two attempted rapes, thanks.

So, yet another late eighties gore/boobs film that's pretty good. Nice, non-sensical ending too, as per the norm for this kind of film.

Horror veteran William Berger stars as Dr. Slivak,who is murdered while undertaking a study of a Mayan pyramid.A number of bizarre supernatural murders follow,while Slivak's daughter and old friend attempt to solve the mystery."Maya" by Marcello Avallone is actually an international production that was filmed in Venezuela.The film offers plenty of sex and blood and several truly atmospheric moments.There's even a cockfight and an exorcism which concludes with the victim vomiting live snakes.Marcello Avallone has to be one of the most underrated Italian horror directors."Maya" is his crowning achievement-a masterful and highly innovative horror flick somewhat reminiscent to Lucio Fulci's masterpiece "The Beyond".It is also very well made,with beautiful photography and plenty of good actors to match.Give this overlooked Italian horror a look.8 out of 10.

I recently watched the Italian film 🇮🇹 Maya (1989) on Tubi. The story follows an American living in Mexico whose best friend dies in a Mayan temple. As bodies begin to pile up around the temple, he decides to take a break from his womanizing ways to investigate the mystery behind the deaths.

Directed by Marcello Avallone (Spectres), the film stars Peter Phelps (Point Break), Mirella D'Angelo (Tenebrae), Antonella Antinori (Facing Windows), and Antonello Fassari (Valentina).

I enjoyed this movie more than I expected. While the plot is straightforward and nothing extraordinary, the settings are well chosen, featuring numerous gorgeous ladies and plenty of nudity. The horror effects are top-notch and blew my mind with their intense gore. There's a particularly memorable finger scene and some hook imagery reminiscent of Hellraiser. The kills are astonishing. Unfortunately, the ending felt a bit like a copout, reminiscent of Poltergeist, but it didn't detract from the excellent journey to get there.

In conclusion, Maya is a worthwhile watch for horror fans who appreciate the gory, non-cannibal Italian horror films of that era. I'd score it 6.5/10.

Of the nine films directed by Marcello Avallone, only two were horrors: the first was an unremarkable demonic movie by the name of Specters, which not only suffered from a dull and utterly nonsensical plot, but offered little in the way of genuine scares, and even failed to compensate with that staple of 80s Italian horror, OTT gore. That film was followed two years later by Maya, which was just as incomprehensible, if not more-so (that ending! WTF?), but at least presented viewers with a unique setting, a reasonable amount of atmosphere, and more than enough nasty violence to satisfy the gore-hounds (along with plenty of gratuitous female nudity for thems that like it).

Mariella Valentini plays Lisa Slivak, who travels to Venezuela to identify the body of her father, who has died in mysterious circumstances. As Lisa investigates, with the help of rather unlikeable local lothario Peter (Peter Phelps), numerous people begin to die in unusual and gruesome ways. Quite who or what is behind these bizarre deaths is beyond me—the plot is kinda hard to fathom out—but the killings are both creative and sadistic: a would-be rapist has his leg crushed by a truck before getting his head impaled by a metal pole, a naked Latino hottie gets her face bashed in by unseen forces while in the bath (her nose splitting open as it hits the edge of the tub), and another victim is suspended by fishing hooks in her neck. To add to the nastiness, there's also a stomach churning scene where a 'finger-wrestler' has his fighting digit snapped in two (blood spurting from the messy wound), and a strange ritual that sees a man vomiting up live snakes (similar to those weird Hong Kong black magic movies of the early 80s).

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.