The Possessed (1965) by Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini

Director: Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini

Year: 1965

Country: Italy

Alternate Titles: La donna del lago; The Lady of the Lake; Love, Hate, and Dishonor

Genre: Giallo

Plot:

Arriving in a small lakeside village, a writer desperately looking for a former flame to help rekindle his passion learns that she has died under mysterious circumstances and is unsatisfied with the outcome, probing him to look deeper into what happened in the area leading to severe danger.

Review:

Generally, this was a massively disappointing and underwhelming genre effort without much going on for it. It’s rather unfortunate that’s the case with the majority of this one operating under an immensely intriguing mystery that might not hit the highs of the traditional giallo established later on with it more of a disappearance of a woman he was immensely infatuated with than a series of bizarre murders no one knows anything about. Setting up more of a psychological unraveling with the whole experience offering more of a fracture of his sanity than anything else with the way everything comes about the more he digs into the strange behavior of the villagers and the unraveling mystery about everything the more he stays keeps this one intriguing with the clues continuing to add up. Focusing on these factors with the kind of central mystery here is a great touch with it all being enhanced by moody flashbacks detailing the supposed events or the more artistically leaning production that conjures up a wholly engrossing setup in the first half.

After that, there’s not much to this one overall. The whole thing quickly becomes obvious that it’s all designed more as a mood piece than a body-count stylized stalk-and-slash feature which means everything that happens here is geared more toward introspective analysis than actual genre material. Spending an immense amount of time generating endless conversations about the incident that spelled her fate, what each of the clues ended up meaning, and how the pieces fit together with his hazy memory of the situation all brought together leaving this one more of a sluggish affair than anything else. It doesn’t help much that the repeating process of the dream sequence to help figure out the pattern of what’s going on as the constant interaction occurring only to find out it was all a dream with him being startled awake doesn't always come off that interesting for everything going on, especially when it keeps happening. It’s the main factor holding it down.

Overview: **.5/5

Far more intriguing mystery/thriller than an outright giallo, there’s enough to like here if you’re a fan of the style while most others out there might be turned off by these factors if you’re expecting more traditional genre fare. Those who are fine with those factors or intrigued by these kinds of Eurohorror/thrillers will be the big target for it while most others out there should heed caution with it.