Director: Mario Caiano (as Allen Grunewald)
Year: 1965
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Amanti d'oltretomba; The Night of the Doomed; The Faceless Monster; Lovers from Beyond the Tomb
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After catching his wife in an affair, her husband chains the two up in the basement of his castle and forgets about them by marrying her exact double and setting about a plot to drive her insane over time, but all matter of complications halt the plans to do so when human and supernatural forces intervene.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this Gothic horror effort. One of the strongest elements featured here is the enjoyable setup and presentation that generates quite a lot to like about it. From the discovery of their tryst and removal of the two to the dungeon where they’re chained and tortured provides a spectacular start to this one and settles on a fantastic note to come. Knowing that he’s out to get the money left in the new will and his sudden plans for the new girl in the house through devious means starts to make for a fantastically suspenseful time here with the plans to torment them inside the opulent castle serving rather nicely overall.
Those torture tactics are quite impressive as well and generate a lot to like. The idea of deliberately setting her on edge from the very beginning is quite enjoyable, with the sideways glances, eerie voices calling out in the distance or the hallucinations she has looking at back on past events as well as the gaslighting nature of their relationship telling her that everything’s fine giving this a dark edge. Although she’s clearly right in the matter with her visions and beliefs, the longer she’s there it paints a spectacular picture of mental instability rather than her struggling pleas for sanity and helps to add even more to the potentially unstable plot around her.
This all leads to the glorious Gothic showdown in the finale where all the build-up about her mental state and the ghostly visions come together in a fantastic setup. When the murder attempt fails and the plan comes to fruition, the charge into the chilling finale happens rather nicely when the actual figures thought to be a dream emerge and play into the action rather nicely. With fantastic reveals and some chilling moments brought about by the reversal of fortunes as the old stand-by of the burning-down-the-house finale is worked over incredibly well for the revenge to be complete, this one gets a lot to like about it as one of the finer genre efforts.
There are a few issues to be had here. The main issue is the absolutely dreadful pacing in the mid-section that drags the film down to a crawl as they attempt to dupe her out of her sanity. This is overly talky and exposition-heavy as they conspire amongst themselves to drive her out of her mind and as a result, nothing much happens. This melodramatic Gothic soap opera isn’t driven by scares or action and ends up leaving the film drained of life with the gaslighting plot being put into effect for the most part. As well, this is somewhat hampered by its low-budget when the ghosts emerge and their cheesy look, but it’s more the pace that holds this down.
Overview: ***/5
While the atmosphere of this one works incredibly well once it finally gets to the action, there’s not a lot elsewhere going on here which can make for a trying time with the dullness of the film. Only those who really pride themselves on the genre or fans of the creative crew, while those put off by the tendency to leave a lot of the action to the wayside should exercise trepidation with this one.
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