Nero veneziano

Other than for the Venice scenarios, this late Rosemary's baby clone is almost dismissable without any comment, with its story of a blind young man trying to battle against the evil spawn of his sister short relation (in fact, she was virgin, as Satan want to mock Jesus life and death for his son)with a dark stranger, probably Satan himself. Bad acting, bad story, bad special effects, gratuitous nudity. A real B-movie, but not as good as it should be

I have to admit, I LOVE these Italian "rip-offs" of "The Exorcist"/"The Omen"/"Rosemary's Baby" that were big in the 1970's, even the bad ones. But this one is actually pretty good. I'd rank it ahead of Ovidio Assontis' "Beyond the Door", Alberto DeMartino's "The Antichrist" and Pier Carpi's "Ring of Darkness". It's difficult to compare it to "The Eerie Midnight Horror Show" or "Malabimba" because those were more straight-out sex romps. It's about on par with DeMartino's second attempt "Holocaust 2000", but it is more scary and less over-the-top silly. It was probably influenced to some extent by Nicholas Roeg's "Don't Look Now", what with its Venice setting and its young blind protagonist who keeps having apocalyptic visions. The protagonist is pooh-poohed by his sighted older sister (Rena Niehais), but she doesn't seem to find it strange when everyone around them starts dying--first their guardian, then the couple who own the pension they come to stay at (which somehow results in them inheriting the place). Then a sinister man from the boy's visions shows up at the pension and seduces the sister, impregnating her by a not-so-immaculate conception (she only gives him oral sex!). After the baby is born, the blind brother makes several attempts to kill it (the most memorable scenes in the movie), but he may be playing right into Satan's hands. . .

These Italian "rip-offs" are almost all a lot more original than they're given credit for. The low-budget Italian industry simply lacked the money to imitate big-budget Hollywood spectacles like "The Exorcist" or "The Omen" too much(and they lacked the sensibilities to imitate the subtle paranoia of a film like "Rosemary's Baby"), so they were forced to be inventive. This one has some especially effective scenes such as when the boy goes to drink out of a holy well in an effort to cure his blindness only unbeknownst to him, it is apparently full of rats and slimy black snakes!

The cast is also impressive, especially the female cast. German Playboy Playmate Neihaus turns in a surprisingly good performance (and not-so-surprisingly gets naked several times). And speaking of getting naked, the perpetually unclothed Ely Galeani and Angela Covello also show up as part of the sister's strange but very sexy babysitting coven. And Greek actress Olga Karlatos, who would later appear in several Lucio Fulci movies and as Prince's mom (!) in "Purple Rain" also appears as an especially ambiguous and mysterious character. Of course, it greatly helps everyone's performance that the English dubbing is pretty competent for a change . Good movie. Check it out

A blind kid starts getting horrible visions about the birth of the Antichrist when he and his sister moves in a rundown pension in Venice with their guardian relatives. I liked this Italian horror flick a lot! It's heavily influenced by Rosemary's Baby & The Omen but its got a personality of its own. Pretty slow pace but great surreal atmosphere there's a constant feeling of dread and uncertainty, good photography and an surprisingly clever script. And the Venice setting is always appreciated, that city is almost provocatively beautiful! Not much violence, but the few violent scenes were highly effective. Especially one scene really raised my eyebrow, those of you who have seen it probably know which one i'm thinking about... The bad dubbing is about the only really negative aspect I can think of right now, although I can imagine that some find it slow on action and maybe even a little boring. Not me though, I love slow, atmospheric films!

Mark is a blind boy living with his sister Christine in Venice.During a funeral Mark has another in a series of recent visions of a man with a cane,only this time the man is with a woman and a dog that is eating a decayed arm.Christine is openly unsympathetic to these visions and resents having to look after her brother.Mark and Christine are orphans and are staying with their grandmother,but when grandmother is killed in a bizarre fire accident their mother's family,the mysterious Winters become their guardians and Mark and Christine go to stay at their house."Damned in Venice" is a neglected gem.It offers some genuine shocks and a nice amount of female nudity.The Venetian location sets are gloomy,decayed and oppressive and there is a bit of gore including pretty nasty scene of child murder.It's great to see Lorraine DeSelle and Olga Karlatos of "Zombi 2" fame in the small roles.8 out of 10.

The Christine character is the most repulsive and loathsome beast I've seen in a long while in a film. She is entitled, narcissistic, rude, icy, smug, and her every word to anyone is replete with insults and demeaning little flourishes. To her blind brother she says "Now you're deaf as well as blind" when he forgets something, and when he has a vision and takes a few steps she scolds him mercilessly "Why are you always wandering off? You know you only get lost." She has not a single kind word for him. He would be better off ditching her and finding a human being to take care of him! Sadly, that's not going to happen, not in this film. I like the Venetian scenery, and the hair and clothes are what you want from a 70s giallo/horror mishmash. I like this film, and I like it all the more for how much I hate Christine.