The Witch (1966) User Reviews

The Witch ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 26 February 2006]

When my pal at the DVD store told me that he had ordered Damiano Damiani's THE WITCH, I admitted that I had never heard of it before - although, on looking up the film under its original Italian title, I had the notion that it may have been shown on late-night TV without my realizing what sort of film it was! In any case, having now watched it for myself, THE WITCH has proved to be one of the most pleasant film-viewing surprises I've had since the beginning of the year! Ostensibly a horror film, it doesn't easily fit into the genre since Damiani approaches it, for the most part, as if it were a Kafkaesque art-house flick (with an undeniable erotic charge, which was as unexpected in this kind of film as it was effective)! This isn't in itself a bad thing, since THE WITCH has a very elegant look to it - in direct contrast to the endless spate of undistinguished low-budget productions being churned out by the Italian film industry during this time - extending to the production design (its excellent use of locations is a major asset) and the inspired use of shadowy lighting (coming as it did at the tail-end of black-and-white horror-film production) which is comparable to the work of Mario Bava. As a matter of fact, it reminded me quite a bit of the latter's KILL, BABY...KILL!, made the same year (albeit shot in color) and also largely set in a decrepit mansion; besides, Rosanna Schiaffino's hypnotic beauty and wonderful performance can stand proudly alongside Barbara Steele's iconic showcase in BLACK Sunday (1960) and especially that of Daliah Lavi in THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963) - both of which, incidentally, were also directed by Bava! The rest of the cast features Richard Johnson (fresh from another subtle horror piece, Robert Wise' THE HAUNTING [1963]) as the bewildered love-struck hero, Sarah Ferrati (here in only her second film and which also proved to be the last!) as the creepy-looking old "lady" who sets the complex plot in motion - and who has an unexplained predilection towards torturing cats (loving animals as much as I do, I found these scenes somewhat disturbing!), Gian Maria Volonte' (excellent as Schiaffino's distraught former lover who still resides in the doomed mansion) and Ivan Rassimov (who is set to take over Johnson's double duties at the house, until the latter resolves to put an end to the whole charade in the fiery climax). Apart from the latter scene (and, of course, the sexy bits), perhaps the film's best moment is when Schiaffino goes - convincingly - into convulsions (years prior to THE EXORCIST [1973]) and discloses her "true" identity to a horrified Richard Johnson.

From the few comments I've managed to find about the film, most have described it as being slow and pretentious. While I wasn't bothered by the film's deliberate pace (and I usually am in this type of film!), I must say that I am prone to appreciate intelligence in a horror film even more than in virtually any other genre - since it's the one that has suffered most at the hands of untalented film-makers and exploitative producers who go for the easy buck and are content to follow the current trend without "putting their mind to it", as it were. The DVD I watched, unfortunately, was a full-frame affair, fuzzy-looking (possibly sourced from a 16mm print) and poorly dubbed (which, coupled with the rather muffled audio, made the dialogue hard to understand at times!). I do hope that a more deserving edition of this gem eventually surfaces but, if not, I'll be on the look-out for it in the event that it turns up (again) on late-night Italian TV...

Damiano Damiani was just one of many Italian film-makers who made their mark on Italian "cult" cinema during the 60s and 70s and while he isn't among the more celebrated of the bunch, from what I've seen of his work - ARTURO'S ISLAND (1962), THE WITCH, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (1967), HOW TO KILL A JUDGE (1974) and THE INQUIRY (1987) - he more than holds his own; this reminds me that I have Damiani's IL GIORNO DELLA CIVETTA (1968) and THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (1975) lying in my ever-increasing "Unwatched Films on VHS" pile...not to mention 2 starring lovely Schiaffino and 9 with Volonte' (surely one of Italy's most versatile and important actors)!!

A Strange Obsession

[sol- · 7/10 · 12 June 2016]

'The Witch' - also known as 'The Witch in Love' (a literal translation of the original Italian title 'La strega in amore'), this psychological horror thriller involves a heartless philanderer who agrees to work in the private library of a mysterious old woman who has been following him around. The first eight minutes of the film are very well done with the protagonist, played by Richard Johnson, constantly commenting on how he can see her watching him, and yet she is always shot at extreme distance, nearly invisible to the point that we wonder whether it is all in his mind. Things only get more interesting as Johnson is invited to her abode where the camera creepily tracks around the old, near dilapidated building, and then suddenly an alluring girl claiming to be the old woman's daughter arrives and everything becomes even more uncanny. Promising as all this might sound, the film gives away a little too much too early on. The title certainly doesn't help ('Strange Obsession', another alias that the film is known by, leaves open more ambiguity) but title aside, it is fairly obvious from early on that something supernatural is up and that the two women are not really mother and daughter. As a result, the film has some pacing issues as we spend over half the movie waiting for Johnson to reach the same conclusion as us, but there are still plenty of interesting points. The seduction scenes are very well done, the aversion to sunlight is well-handled and grim ending is unpredictable in the best possible way. In short, it is flawed but encapsulating stuff from start to finish.

Mi chiamo Aura.

[brogmiller · 8/10 · 25 January 2020]

Both Luis Bunuel and Carlos Saura considered transferring 'Aura' of Carlos Fuentes to the screen but here it is directed by one who is not in the same league, Damiano Damiani. Here we have superb cinematography courtesy of Leonarda Barboni and an atmospheric score by Luis Bacalov, a future Oscar winner. The cast is excellent. There is Richard Johnson, very well 'dubbed', who was in great demand in the 1960's, Sarah Ferrati, Gian Maria Volonte and the divine Rosanna Schiaffino whose husband at the time, Alfredo Bini, produced. To his credit Damiani 's film is certainly a cut above others of this type where 'supernatural forces' are at work and holds ones interest with its elegance, atmosphere and literate script. It is also extremely erotic and the 'hands free' sequence one of the film's highlights! It is a wee bit long and the ending doesn't quite come off but it is still eminently watchable, especially if you are a devotee of Rosanna Schiaffino. Needless to say Fuentes was not impressed and no doubt wished Bunuel or Saura had filmed it. I implore you to avoid the version where everyone is dubbed into American.

Odd atmospheric modern witch tale

[gortx · 17 August 2001]

Had an opportunity to view a 16MM print of the English-dubbed version. Dubbing is often a distraction, but this is one of the better dubbed films of its era. Stylistically, this is a very slow European modern witch tale, not likely to appeal to the 'Creature Feature' crowd (which is surely why it bypassed US theaters and landed on late-nite TV). The acting, camera-work, direction and music (by IL POSTINO Oscar-winner Luis Bacalov) are all moody and well-done. Unfortunately, the slowness of the yarn (which builds the erotic tensions so well during the first half), minimizes the impact by the climax. Still, this is an intelligent, ADULT, and erotic piece which is worth searching out for high-minded horror fans.

A librarian getting stuck in the mystery of a rich mother and her lusty daughter

[clanciai · 7/10 · 5 December 2018]

What is wrong with this film? Something is very wrong from the beginning, which even Richard Johnson feels from the start, and yet he stays on when he shouldn't in a kind of subconscious urge to go to the bottom of the undefinable anomaly, which he does.

He is allured by an old lady to take on the task of catalogizing the books and manuscripts of an enormous old library in the grand old palace where the lady lives, but it appears that she has a daughter who is as attractive and sensual as the old lady is not. Of course he stays on by the attraction and mystery of this daughter, but after some time it appears that he has a rival, who also is engaged in a passionate relationship with her. There the problems begin getting constantly thicker to the very end.

There is nothing wrong with the actors or the story or the very interesting and skilful cinematography, but this is a case involving suopernatural elements, so there is some magic involved, but that is what is lacking. There is no magic at all here. Rosanna Schiaffino as the daughter is not convincing but rather callous no matter how beautiful she is, Sarah Ferrati as the grand old lady is repellent in her hard inhumanity, Gian Maria Volonte is perfect enough for his passionate part like Richard Johnson, but this is great cinematography entirely without magic, which is the most important thing, especially in a story like this. Instead of being fascinated and involved in the mystery, you are disgusted and learn to hate the old lady just like Richard Johnson does, so this is not a very recommendable film, unless you like directors like Bertolucci, which has the same callous and inhuman way of screening humans in erotic involvements focussing on sex and forgetting all about love.

Pleasant, mildly erotic, mildly Gothic.

[roganmarshall · 6/10 · 15 February 2001]

This is a pleasantly dated picture, the story of a womanizing linguist who is hired to sort through an old widow's sexual biography (written by her late husband) and gets tangled up with his employer's mysterious beautiful daughter and her lover. Very Italian, slightly Gothic, slightly mod, and erotic enough (for its time), this is a slow but pretty movie, which is also pretty satisfying, all things considered.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it this much

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 24 November 2005]

Sergio (Richard Johnson) responds to a "Help Wanted" ad for a librarian that seems to have been written just for him. When he arrives at the rambling villa, he meets an old woman who has been following him. At first, he writes her off as a nutty old broad and wants nothing to do with her or her job. But then he meets the old woman's daughter, Aura (Rosanna Schiaffino), and decides the job might have a few more perks than he at first imagined. But is Aura for real and to what lengths will he go to get her.

The Witch is a very slow moving, but incredibly intriguing film. The movie takes its time in building the suspense and ultimate horror. And while many of the plot points and twists along the way are surely obvious to most anyone, the fun is watching these plot points and twists unfold. I generally don't put much emphasis on things like this, but the relationship Sergio and Aura is as erotic as I've seen. The passion is all but palatable. And when Aura disappears, it's easy to feel Sergio's pain. The final scenes present a more than satisfying conclusion to the film. Although most viewers will have guessed that the old woman and Aura are really one and the same, the whole notion and the way it's presented in The Witch makes for a nice ending.

The acting in The Witch is easily its highpoint. Richard Johnson is outstanding as the love-stricken librarian slowly going insane. As for Rosanna Schiaffino, I don't know where these Italian producers found these incredible women. It's not a stretch of the imagination to believe Schiaffino could force any man to fall for her. Finally, Gian Maria Volonte is tremendous as Aura's former lover. I've only seen Volonte in his crazed, over-the-top roles in Spaghetti Western roles, so it was a nice to see him in a more subdued, yet just as crazed, role.

In the end, if you're a fan of Italian horror, The Witch is definitely worth seeking out.

The Witch

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 8 November 2008]

I had just recently revisited Wise's The Haunting, starring Richard Johnson in a role as dedicated, wonderfully humane "ghost hunter", so I realized just what kind of talent the man really has seeing him in a completely different role as a successful ladies' man, always moving from one sexual relationship to another, being pursued by a batty old former beauty, Consuelo(Sarah Ferrati)living within a ramshackle mansion which seems modeled after her..both setting and owner have lost their luster, beauty now deteriorating. Johnson is Sergio, a "historian"(..he has a profession, but it plays second fiddle to his ongoing duties chasing tail)sought by Consuelo for more than his skills at translation and setting her husband's old library, falling to waste and crawling rats, in order. Sergio is the kind of male used to getting what he wants until growing tired of whoever he's dating. But, Sergio, who doesn't seem that interested in the job, and less so with Consuelo who is hideous and ugly to him, finds a reason to remain when he meets Aura(Rosanna Schiaffino; a stunning Italian beauty of the 60's, with perfect curves and soft skin)who seduces him by merely walking and moving around a room..she has that effect on people, and would me as well. Sergio would be taking the position of Fabrizio(Gian Maria Volontè), a slightly off-kilter man who seems a little distraught, absolutely obsessed with Aura, almost to the point of quiet madness. Very protective of her, Fabrizio wishes for Sergio to leave, but seems awfully distracted with her designs to perhaps release him for the new man who presents a threat to their relationship. Sergio, quite a caveman desiring to snatch Aura away and have her for himself, will soon come to blows with Fabrizio, with tragic results. With a cover-up ensuing thanks to Aura and Consuelo's threatening not to absolve him for an accidental murder, Sergio will find himself at the mercy of them..he desires Aura to the point that he'd do anything to embrace her, a blissful passionate union results, but Consuelo doesn't wish for their happiness to last. Sergio finds that Aura is controlled by Consuelo, a form of witchcraft she uses to enslave men and he is caught in her web. Will Sergio ever get to have Aura when that horrifying wretch controls her comings and goings? Or, will he remain in an emotionally tortured state awaiting Aura's return, at the mercy of Consuelo?

I watched a rather bad quality print, and believe the film is definitely worthy of a proper transfer. To see this in a pristine form, with quality sound and properly enhanced visual quality, "The Witch" might capture a wider audience. Director Damiano Damiani(Amityville-The Possession)crafts quite a tale of obsession and desire with quite a cast at his disposal. Johnson delivers in spades regarding a direct change during this film going from confident, manipulative male, quite able to conquer the beautiful supply of female populating the city, to a shriveling worm, weak-in-the-knees and pleading for his Aura..completely controlled and under his paramour's spell. Ferrati looks like a witch, and has all the right features at creating an older jealous woman yearning to have the looks that would attract the men that were once cowering at her feet, making life miserable for those who now wish for Aura, a goddess manifested from her dark power to bring those like Sergio to a place of disquiet and agony. Interesting idea that Schiaffino's beauty is used as a weapon against men for they are overwhelmed by her outer qualities than the person herself which might just be the moral of the story..being eclipsed by a Helen of Troy and willing to go to any lengths to inherit her, we find ourselves heading for a downfall. The film like Schiaffino's character is quite a tease, not giving us what we truly desire. That in itself also works within the story, men want Aura, but never truly *have* her. Volontè has a much smaller role, but he is incredibly vital to the story because he represents what Sergio will soon become once he has taken Aura to bed. He's our example of what Aura's power will slowly do to any man who finds themselves in her trap, swept away by lust. I think this is where Damiani's true strength lies, establishing Schiaffino as a ravishing creature, only available to the men in her circle when Consuelo decides so. Schiaffino is often shown disrobing(..Damiani never shows her nude flesh to my chagrin)with the director just giving us a taste of her smooth skin, the camera often moving away as her clothes come off. We are carried away like Sergio because Schiaffino has that kind of on screen allure that draws you to her. Damiani wisely often closes his camera in on Aura as she works her magical grip over her victims. Schiaffino has that kind of face that enchants and a body to match. The film is what I'd definitely call a sleeper, probably will often be discovered either by chance or word-of-mouth. The director takes his time so this film might not work for everyone, but the use of darkness(..for which Aura often appears in and out of)within the dying setting and the psychological elements within the story might just compel those willing to hang in there. My favorite scene would have to be when Aura makes Sergio unbutton/undress her with his teeth, no touching with the hands. This is a good example of achieving an erotic response without divulging actual sexual occurrences.

A triumph of sensuous pretensions

[goblinhairedguy · 9/10 · 7 May 2004]

This is an absolute masterpiece of extravagant, sensuous Continental 60s art cinema, and provides an "incendiary" Gothic femme fatale to rival the Hayworths and Gardners of film noir. Nominally a horror film (which only becomes completely apparent during the last reel), it actually fits nicely into that 60s subgenre of manipulative mind games and metaphysical character duality, not unlike Losey's "The Servant" (though it's closer in execution to his elegiac "Eva"). Although it's constantly threatening to unravel under the stress of its own pretensions (as was the fate of many international art films of the time), Damiani is firmly in control as he continues to up the ante with a bacchanalia of outrageously stylish devices, visual metaphors and tactile atmospherics. Schiaffino is one of those classic beauties who seemed to fall out of Italian poplar trees at the time, Johnson is suitably arrogant in his machismo, and the exotic flute-and-bongo score is a retro dream driving the erotic game-playing. Many will find its excesses over-the-top or campy, and it's startlingly misogynist at times, but for those tuned in to the excesses of the 60s, this is a mindbending treat right up to the astonishing but fitting conclusion. (As a footnote, it's now plain that Bertolucci's "Last Tango" was not the first to play the make-love-without-touching game.) If you enjoyed this one, try to find the obscure "Death on the Four Poster", which plays with similar themes on a much more transparent, but enjoyable, level.

Given patience, this is a pretty intriguing work of art.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 9 April 2018]

Don't go into this Italian film expecting anything resembling a Hammer horror movie. It is deliberately slow, erotic, moody and gripping. Once you get past the pacing, you will find this an interesting piece of foreign cinema that is more a subtle erotic thriller than a masterpiece of horror. The luscious looking Rosanna Schiaffino is the subject of lust by Richard Johnson, hired to work at the mysterious castle by her mother, the aging beauty Sarah Ferrati in archiving the erotic works of her late husband. It appears that Ferrati has a secret, and as Johnson becomes more involved in their world, he is consumed by his passions that are other worldly in their obsession for Schiaffino. Along the way, there's a battle to the death with Gian Maria Volontè, Schiaffino's obsessive paramour, and claims from an aging female art collector about Ferrati that creates more mystery. I don't watch many foreign films, but the dubbed copy of this I was able to locate made it easy for me to get into, and I found it compelling once certain aspects of the characters were revealed. As it reaches its spell binding conclusion, I was all the more intrigued, especially with the final few minutes where everything from before that was slow and confusing literally had my mind bursting metaphorically into flames. Horror doesn't always need to be scary or spooky or gross. This works on its own merits and is as intriguing as a stranger's wink, although after seeing this, a stranger's wink might make me think twice before responding to it.

Baffling arthouse Euro-horror.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 17 December 2023]

La Strega in Amore AKA The Witch also goes by the title Strange Obsession and strange it most certainly is.

Richard Johnson plays womaniser Sergio Logan, who is lured to an old palazzo owned by Consuelo Lorente (Sarah Ferrati), who says that she wants to hire him to organise old manuscripts written by her late husband. Sergio isn't keen on the job offer until he meets the old woman's enigmatic daughter Aura (Rosanna Schiaffino), who plays a bizarre game of seduction which leads to murder.

My god, this one is slow. And confusing. Thank heavens for the lovely Schiaffino as Aura, who makes the whole thing just about bearable. Of course, I seem to be in the minority in thinking that the film is an utterly baffling piece of pretentious twaddle (the lowest rating given by any of the other reviewers is currently 6/10). I found my mind wandering as the film seemed to be going nowhere very slowly. The 'hands-free' erotic scene was effective, and the part where Consuelo and Aura suddenly do some crazy dancing made me laugh, but I found the rest of the film a real struggle. By the end, I still didn't understand what was going on.

3/10.

An offbeat and interesting 60's Italian horror obscurity

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 19 February 2010]

Suave and cocky male chauvinist historian Sergio (an excellent performance by Richard Johnson) is hired by aloof and strange old widow Consuelo (a fine and effectively icy portrayal by Sarah Ferrati) who lives in a moldy old castle to catalog her library. Sergio meets and becomes smitten with Consuelo's striking and seductive daughter Aura (the stunning and beguiling Rosanna Schiaffino, whose powerfully sensuous presence positively burns up the screen). Sergio soon finds himself caught in a bizarre supernatural world of dark secrets and forbidden desires. Director/co-writer Damiano Damiani relates the intriguing and unpredictable story at a gradual, yet hypnotic pace and does an expert job of creating and maintaining an arrestingly eerie and mysterious atmosphere that gets more creepy and unnerving as the narrative unfolds towards a genuinely startling surprise conclusion. Moreover, there's an intoxicating underlying eroticism to the oddball proceedings that's highlighted by an incredibly sexy scene in which Aura has Sergio undress her with his teeth. We also get a profound and poignant central message about the desperate measures someone will resort to for companionship. The three leads all give top-notch performances. Gian Maria Volonte is likewise outstanding in a substantial co-starring role as Aura's jealous and possessive former lover Fabrizio. Leonida Barboni's stark and expressive black and white cinematography offers a wealth of breathtaking visuals. Luis Enriquez Bacalov's brooding score hits the shuddery spot. Well worth a look for fright film fans seeking something different and out of the ordinary.

A sophisticated bit of horror, if a bit slow

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 1 February 2024]

This unusual film is nominally a horror but, like many Italian films from the 60's, it is at heart an art film, with the accent much more on psychological drama than suspense and thrills. The story has a slightly arrogant man agree to work in the library of a strange older woman who he believes has been following him around for some time; enter a beautiful daughter and increasingly strange events soon follow. It does have to be said at this point, that the title of this one is kind of a spoiler!

This is a very elegant film visually, with attractive camerawork, an ornately dishevelled mansion where the bulk of the story takes place and great use of shadows and light. It has a fine cast too, with good acting throughout. Unfortunately, I did think it had pacing problems though, probably not helped by the small cast and limited locations. The minimalism does mean that this is very dialogue heavy, almost like a stage play adaption really. At the very least, you would have to be in the right frame of mind for the deliberately paced events depicted in this one. Still, it is overall a distinctive enough effort which does have a certain interesting ambiance, including some tantalising opening scenes, a seductive dance routine and a memorably macabre ending.

Atmospheric Horror

[Tommy-5 · 20 October 2004]

Italy put out some interesting horror films in the 1960s and, as Italian horror is the best in the genre as far as mood and psychological drama is concerned, The Witch is worth viewing if for no other reason.

Which is not to say it is a masterpiece because it is not. The pacing is a bit slow even by the standards of the time and the English dubbing is in places atrocious. The main character Sergio, played by Richard Johnson, (the only American in the cast), is male chauvinistic to the extreme, but to be fair we must remember that not too many years ago this was thought to be a desirable quality in any self-respecting male. But even with these shortcomings I found this to be a very interesting and disturbing film, as good horror should be. The Witch also benefits from being shot in black and white, something I wish more of today's directors would realize about these types of stories and take advantage of when filming said stories which depend upon dark mood.

Sergio has noticed an old woman (Consuela, played by Sarah Ferrati) who seems to be around him and near all the time and is quite surprised to learn that it was she who placed an ad in the local newspaper for somebody to chronicle her deceased husband's papers, which are quite erotic in nature. Sergio has doubts about this but accepts the job when he meets Consuela's' beautiful daughter Aura, ably portrayed by Rosanna Schiaffino, a dark-haired beauty who reminds somewhat of the great Italian horror actress Barbara Steele. The remainder of the story is the three-sided psychological duel between Aura, Consuela and Sergio. Sergio, very much a man of the world, surrenders his soul and self respect when he murders Aura's current lover in order to win the right to stay in the old woman's house to be near Aura. Only, the old woman has other plans, for she is a witch and can force Aura to come and go at will. For all practical purposes Consuela and Aura are one and the same person, and Consuela has been enamored of the handsome Sergio for a long time.

I won't give the ending away, will say only that Sergio at long last re-asserts himself, hopefully to rebuild the pieces of his broken life. We are led to believe at film's end this is quite possible, probable even.

Some reviewers have stated this is a film about woman hating. I do not agree as the degradation and destruction of Sergio psychologically are the main elements of the story. I would say it is a film about the hatred of men, not women.

You probably won't find this one anywhere although I have been pleased to see a number of obscure films hit the market this year on DVD at very reasonable prices. My VHS copy came from Sinister Cinema. If you do find it, happy viewing. For students of obscure horror films, it is a can't miss.

Oh man

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 22 October 2022]

Damiano Damiani is a name held in high regard if only for one film, the most Italian movie ever made by a major U. S. studio, Amityville II: The Possession. Based on the book Aura by Carlos Fuentes, Damiani wrote the script with Ugo Liberatore.

Sergio Logan (Richard Johnson) is a womanizing cad who notices an old woman (Sarah Ferranti) following him everywhere. When he finally confronts her, she offers him a job: catalogue her vast library of erotica. That seems like the right job, but it gets better when he meets her gorgeous daughter Aura (Rosanna Schiaffino). As you can imagine, the library is filled with occult and sex magic energy. They claim the books are the works of their long-dead master, but the truth is that women can use their wiles to destroy men, especially ones who think they're the so-called stronger sex.

Sergio is not alone. He also has another librarian, Fabrizio (Gian Maria Volonte), as competition, as well as the remains of the master of the house behind a glass case. It's funny that this has always been amongst horror films. Sure, it's in the genre, but it's also just as much art as it is fright.

Drama? Horror? Who knows?

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 9 May 2017]

This is a strange one. Richard Johnson (whom you might know from Martin Clunes' Doc Martin) is a lover of many women in Rome (a fanny rat, as they say). The thing is, he's getting the feeling that there's this creepy old woman following him around the place. After trying to track her down several times he responds to an ultra specific advert in a magazine looking for a librarian who exactly fits his description - you guessed it -the library is in a creepy old mansion in the middle of Rome and the old lady is seemingly the only inhabitant.

The old lady wants him to transcribe all her dead husband's writing and sort the library out and even live in the house. Richard thinks she's full of crap and is halfway out the door when the old lady's daughter Aura makes an appearance, which coincides with Richard reconsidering the job while making eyes at Aura (and she seems up for it!).

Aura's up for it only if Richard takes the job, moves in, doesn't mind all the dead cats lying about, ignores the dead husband in the casket and gets rid of the previous transcriber who appears to have gone mad. That sounds like a good idea to Richard, who seems to be thinking with his 'lower brain' as it were.

But this is also where things start getting really weird, because Aura also seems to be stringing along the other transcriber, playing mind games with Richard, and Richard's also having to put up with the old lady seemingly spying on him all the time.

Is this film sufficiently coffee table? It seems to want to be a horror and an art-house film and some sort of serious battle of the sexes type film, but the only character you can really care about is the other transcriber, Fabrizio, played by Volonte as a very broken man. Richard is too much of a jerk to like, and even gives Aura a good punching at one point. There's rather a lot of blah in this film, but Damiano does through in a lot of strange shots and images too which keeps things from bogging down to much in dialogue. Much stuff involving shadows, darkness, and a very strange interaction between Aura and the old lady too.

Don't get me wrong though, it's an okay film, but lacking in the more cerebral aspects, like boobs and gore. This is a long long way from Richard Johnson's late eighties Italian film Ratman, that's for sure!

startling and even disturbing

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 11 June 2013]

Not perfect but at times startling and even disturbing, this is a fine 1966 b/w film from the versatile director, Damiano Damiani, who made the very different, A Bullet For The General, the same year and later several crime films, including, How To Kill a Judge. Apparently Bunuel at one point considered making this, based upon the book by Carlos Fuentes, and he would no doubt have made it a little more sinister and a little less hysterical. Anyhow, here we have the lovely Rosanna Schiaffino, who would appear in the colourful and equally strange, Check to the Queen a couple of years later. Here she is the love/sex interest, although like her worrying elderly mistress, also takes a turn at the frighteningly weird when she becomes stressed. You will have never seen anything quite like this, despite the seeming familiar theme of possession, and should definitely check it out.

librarian to witch smitten with her phantom alter ego

[revrommer · 2 October 2011]

This one seems to pick up on the Bavaesque idea to stage a psychothriller in a lavish but rundown Roman villa—a terrific set with a labyrinthan Orson Wellesian quality--and includes some chase scenes reminiscent of Bava too. The plot involves Sergio answering a want ad for a scholar to reorganize an old library (as in the Hammer Dracula), by an old women and her here-one-minute-gone-the-next, and extremely beautiful daughter. The main problem is it took me about five minutes to figure out what was going on, then I had to sit through another 90 minutes of Richard Johnson not being able to figure what it all meant. Let's see, a reclusive old woman, rare flowers, magic tea, dead cats, a daughter who only appears now and then, then mimics the gestures of the old woman. And yet he just doesn't get it. It's OK when horror movie characters are a bit dumb, but to be utterly clueless stretches one's patience. This movie also blundered badly by trying to fill up a horror movie framework with psychological thriller soap-opera argumentations ad infinitum and, some of which, involving a male librarian already trapped in the old women's employ, are unwatchably tedious (had to hit the fast forward button a few times). Here and there, some sequences work, like when Johnson has to remove Aura's dress no hands allowed, or a very weird bathing sequence or the final scene, but generally a fatal case of genre confusion. Not watchable except for spelunkers after Italian movie witches (but this one is far downhill from Argento's Suspira and even the fairy tale witches in movies like Lucifera).