Director: Claudio Guerin (completed by Juan Antonio Bardem after Guerin died on set on the last day of shooting)
Year: 1973
Country: Spain/France
Alternate Titles: La campana del infierno
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Released from an insane asylum, a troubled man goes back to his home intent on getting revenge on his aunt and her daughters for originally locking him away to get his inheritance, only to find his true psychosis might be preventing him from carrying it through.
Review:
This here was quite the impressive and noteworthy effort. A lot of what makes this one so much fun is the fact that there's quite an oppressive atmosphere throughout here that's quite hypnotic and worthwhile. The terrifying idea of him getting released and being acclimated to the newfound lifestyle outside of the asylum makes for quite an enjoyable time here, as the different tone is established in the first half of him going through the countryside and meeting up with the residents within the community. These scenes give this a wholly different tone than expected here, which goes along quite well with the idea of what's going on within the household, as those really sell the fact that he's in an entirely different setting than he was, as their bickering and teasing is a fantastic way of keeping that strange atmosphere and tone consistent along the way. That atmospheric tone, from the suspenseful setting in the small coastal village to the manner in which the church's bell plays a large role in the first half, all makes for quite a stylish and engaging effort.
The film also gets a lot of enjoyment from the manner of his revenge, which is quite complex and goes from the surreal to the sensual as not only does he go through the means of seducing and bedding everyone of his cousins in rather erotic fashion while the actual manners of how they're accomplished manage to go from tormenting the family to actually going through with setting up accidents to look like they've succumbed to strange and bizarre deaths. This is especially prominent in the last half, which is where the film really settles into the revenge territory as he goes through the encounters in the slaughterhouse, where all of their naked bodies are tied up on slaughter apparatus and kept where he can tease and torment them, which is all tied together with the attempt to hold him back in the building of the bell. That as well makes this one even more enjoyable with the rather frantic and chilling manner of how he carried out everything against his tormentors which is an exceptionally chilling and darkly fitting manner of how this one resolves itself as there's quite a haunting conclusion that works so well here that it makes the film feel far better than it really should with the way it ends on this highly artistic level. These factors here are quite lively and enjoyable, which does hold this one up.
It does have some flaws that hold it down. One of the biggest here is the fact that this one goes through such a hard time forcing the question of his insanity on the others that it never really focuses on all that much action. The pacing is rather sluggish, if not entirely boring, during the first half, as there's more about him interacting with the family rather than anything to do with the intention of dwelling in the more overall thrilling slasher setups, as there's not a whole lot to really affect this one more. There's also the film's most troubling nature in the explicit and utterly graphic scenes of animal torture inflicted upon the film by showing all the rather up-close scenes in the slaughterhouse where the animals are cut up in full detail. It's not all that necessary and really takes the viewer out of the film by going for these types of scenes in several instances in a long, drawn-out fashion. These really hold this one back.
Overview: ****/5
A really enjoyable if slightly flawed genre effort, there's a lot to like here that gives this a lot of highly effective aspects that hold it up against a few slight issues that hold it down. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who are curious about it, or who enjoy this type of genre fare will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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