Director: Domiziano Cristopharo
Year: 2023
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological; Exploitation
Plot:
Trying to care for his mother, a man slowly starts to lose his way after she tragically commits suicide and forces him to deal with a life beyond caring for her for the first time, and when this starts to push him over the edge he finds himself gravitating to extreme measures to silence the madness
Review:
This one turned out to be a rather solid outing with a lot to like about it. Among the better features here is the highly enjoyable setup here that provides an effective means into his damaged psychological mindset. The beginning here, focusing strictly on his day-to-day lifestyle caring for his mother and trying to make sure she’s comfortable despite her worsening condition which includes everything from helping her bathe, ensuring that she’s able to get to sleep comfortably, or trying to protect her from her violent and abusive father, sets the stage for what’s going on quite well. Showing his meek and submissive side against the violence his father continually inflicts and doles out offers up the kind of start to his journey that ends up contrasting nicely with the sorrow of her loss.
To counteract this first half, the arrival of the mistress and her daughter almost immediately after appears more as a rebirth than anything else. Introduced to a life outside of caring for his mother for the first time and exposed to heavy metal, drug use, and other vices, there’s a decided and obvious change in his personality and behavior which is incredibly distinct. While there are hints of his newfound change, the fact that the past continually creeps up on him is the main focus including the combative relationship with his dad that eventually becomes sexually abusive so that regardless of what relationship he tries to form, everything comes back to the central relationship he suffers from surrounding his mother.
It’s the realization of all this build-up that the final half manages to come together incredibly well. As the genesis of all of the teachings has resulted in him being initiated into a bizarre cult that practices self-mutilation for the appeasement of an Egyptian demon, the fiery and frantic sequences here include plenty of chances to showcase how he’s changed under the influence that has some brutal brawling, a frenetic chase through a public park while nude and a resolution that ties together not only what goes on here but sets the stage for the demented craziness of the sequel with all the motivation needed to make it make sense. It suffers a little with the inability to have the daughter be around to properly instruct everything with the social media posts being a clumsy cheat but it’s not that big of an issue.
Overview: ****/5
A highly effective outing that sets the stage for the follow-up film o take place, this brutal slice of psychological and exploitation measures emerges as a wholly satisfying piece on its own or as a tie-in to the sequel released several years ago. Those who enjoy this modern style of Italian exploitation cinema, are fans of the creative crew, or just exploitation fans in general are going to have a lot to like with this one while those that aren’t into these factors should heed caution.
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