PLOT OF FEAR

Eli Wallach and Michele Placido

PLOT OF FEAR (aka E tanta paura/1976). Director: Paolo Cavara.

A series of murders are tied in to a sex club that was run by a man named Hoffmann (John Steiner of Shock) as well as a (true-life) dark children's book. Inspector Lomenzo (Michele Placido) questions a private detective named Struwwel (Eli Wallach) who is being hired for protection by some of the other members of the now-defunct club. A young prostitute who was hired for a party at the sex club and who supposedly died of fright may be part of the puzzle -- or not. As Lomenzo questions other people involved in the case, he encounters Jeanne (Corinne Clery), who was at the party where the prostitute died, and their relationship turns sexual. Now he has to wonder how far involved she was in what happened and in the current series of killings. Plot of Fear has a convoluted plot a la Dario Argento, but where that director's work at its best could be mesmerizing, neither this movie nor the direction of Paolo Cavara is in the same league. The storyline verges on the incomprehensible as well, and the denouement makes little sense. The movie has some suspense, however, and Michele Placido makes an attractive and likable leading man, with a pretty Clery more than competent as his lover and suspect. Eli Wallach gets several good scenes as the detective, but Tom Skerritt, as Placido's superior officer, is on camera for maybe a total of three minutes; he did Alien three years later. The picture has no real style and the non-gory murder scenes are not filmed with any elan. Paolo Cavara also directed the similarly mediocre and confusing Black Belly of the Tarantula. Michele Paolo was a busy Italian actor who later appeared in the homoerotic Ernesto.

Verdict: Mediocre, nominal giallo. **. 

SHOCK (1977)

SHOCK (aka Beyond the Door 2/1977). Director: Mario Bava.

Dora Baldini (Daria Nicolodi of Opera), her second husband Bruno (John Steiner of The Devil Within Her) and her little boy Marco (David Colin Jr.) move into the home she previously occupied with her late first husband, a drug addict who presumably committed suicide. Being in the house -- a rather bad idea -- has an effect on Dora, as it seems to have on her son, an adorable seven-year-old child who begins doing upsetting things that he later tearfully denies. Bruno thinks it is all in Dora's head, reminding her of her stay in a mental institution after her husband's suicide. But do Dora and Bruno have other secrets as well ... Shock is Bava's last film, and it's not one of his best, although the story does lead up to some interesting twists and the performances are good. Little Colin is a wonderful scene-stealing child actor who easily walks off with the movie. There are some genuinely creepy moments in this, but the movie is still tedious and silly for much of its length. Steiner was a British actor who did much work in Italy, including Tenebrae, which starred Nicolodi. Shock was released in the U.S. as Beyond the Door 2 after the success of the original, which is related only in that Colin Jr. also had a role at the ripe old age of 3. Shock has been vastly over-rated by Bava fanatics.

Verdict: What this needs is a little more shock. **1/2.

THE DEVIL WITHIN HER

Cute li'l fella

THE DEVIL WITHIN HER (aka Sharon's Baby/I Don't Want to Be Born/1975). Director: Peter Sasdy.

Lucy Carlesi (Joan Collins) does an act with a dwarf, Hercules (George Claydon), who tries to take liberties with her in her dressing room. When she doesn't comply, he puts a curse on her. The result is that Lucy becomes suspicious of, and terrified by, her adorable baby boy, Nicholas, who is apparently possessed by the still-living Hercules and runs about committing fiendish murders, such as beheading Lucy's doctor (Donald Pleasence) with a shovel! The Devil Within Her is utterly absurd but entertaining, greatly abetted by the very good performances of Collins, Pleasence, John Steiner as a sleazy club owner, Tommy; Ralph Bates [Horror of Frankenstein] as Lucy's husband, Gino; Caroline Munro [The Spy Who Loved Me] as her sister, Mandy; and especially Eileen Atkins [Madame Bovary] as her sister-in-law, Sister Albana. It's Alive, which was made the year before and also featured a killer baby, at least gave its monster fangs and claws and a hideous appearance, but aside from a couple of illusions of the infant resembling the dwarf, this baby is just an adorable little tyke, making the whole project even weirder (the child is so angelic-looking that his gruesome acts seem rather comical). Peter Sasdy also directed Hands of the Ripper and many others. The original title of the film was Sharon's Baby even though the mother is named Lucy. While this film is by no means intellectual, one could claim that it cleverly exploits parents' fears about children and the life/financial changes the little dears bring about. Ray Bradbury once contributed just such a story to an EC horror comic in the fifties.

Verdict: Ridiculous but has a good cast and even some suspense. **1/2.