The Conspiracy of Torture (1969) User Reviews

A simple soldier shouldn't be too suspicious.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 21 March 2010]

Those expecting a typical horror movie will be disappointed, as the horror depicted here is the Catholic Church's use of torture in the Middle Ages, and their greed. Fulci doesn't flinch from presenting the evil that was the church in that time.

Those who do not like period pieces may find this film dull, but Fulci does a great job producing a work that is both beautiful and interesting.

Adrienne Larussa was beautiful and did a very good job as the title character. Her father, played by Georges Wilson, was an evil man who kept her locked up. Wilson does a very good job portraying someone you really want to see die.

You have to love a strong determined woman. Even in the face of torture by the church, she remained strong.

Definitely not a movie for faithful Catholics.

Incredible production values!

[dopefishie · 6/10 · 25 May 2022]

Incredible production values for a Fulci film. This may be his best looking work - from the set to the costumes - it's a great looking film. The acting is also much better than in most of his other films. However, the story was not that interesting. Its told in a series of flashbacks. I finished the film just not knowing what the point of it all was. Not a horror film, but it features horrific content.

Looks the part, great!

[chrislawuk · 8/10 · 2 July 2022]

I read the 12 reviews (at this time), and not much to add really. It really feels like the 16th century. There is something special about the detail put in to the costumes and set designs. The acting is really 1st class, and Fulci really works them to get convincing performances. The story line deserves a lot of credit, this being a 1969 flick. Its non-linear structure is maximised to full effect. Sadly its literally unheard of, despite coming out 2 years before The Devils (1971). Would have thought the controversial content, would have at least have kept it in the spot light over the years. Its a fine period piece, and I can see why Fulci was proud of it.

Fulci's Best Non Horror Movie

[eibon09 · 28 August 2000]

A terrificly executed period piece from the Godfather of Gore, Beatrice Cenci(1969) is a masterpiece of tragic beauty. This movie is a contradiction to the accusation of Fulci as a misogynist from his later films. Adrienne LaRussa does a nice job in conveying the almost gentle nature of the female protagonist. George Wilson as the father does a good job in portraying someone truly evil. Cries of death to the director were shouted in a theatre due to the film's anti-catholic nature.

The Catholic church is presented in the film with absolute disdain. In fact, they are seen as greedy and hypocritical. Beatrice Cenci(1969), along with The Witchfinder General(1968) are probably the best films dealing with the late middle ages. The direction is nearly perfect, and the story is well done. The film revolves around a labyrinth of flashbacks in the style of Reservoir Dogs(1992). The main source of influence seems to been The play version of The Cenci by Artoud, Antonin as well as the five act play by Percelly Shelly.

There are two films that Beatrice Cenci(1969) compares with. One film is Don't Torture A Duckling(1972) which also deals with Catholic repression. Another film is The Devil's Honey(1986) which deals deals with a woman's urge to be an independant woman. Beatrice Cenci(1969) is not only overlooked by Fulci supporters but by Fulci distractors as well. This movie shows that Fulci was capable of more ambigious and personal films then the many ones that he direct in his career(Its too bad as he had the talent that would have made him one of the best directors of his generation in Italy).

Fulci's jab at the Catholic Church Part One

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 5 October 2017]

This is further evidence that Lucio Fulci was a man of many talents before becoming bitter at diminishing budgets and the pigeonholing of his skills into gory horror. Here, Fulci gives us a historical drama about the corruption of the Catholic church (and not for the last time!) as well as the hypocrisy of Roman nobility, It's gory and horrible too, but in a dramatic, historical way!

Beatrice Cenci is the daughter of Francesco Cenci, a Roman nobleman whom we first see feeding a man to a pack of dogs. He's a nasty bastard all right, and has done something to offend the current Pope and now has to make amends by giving up a third of his wealth. His children all hate him, even Beatrice, who has petitioned the Pope behind his back in order to enter the church as a nun. This breaks the heart of her lover, Vassal Tomas Milian, but he still remains loyal and goes with her wishes.

However, while celebrating the death by smallpox of his two eldest sons(!), Francesco finds out about Beatrice wanting to join the church and arranges instead to keep her captive in the basement of his tower until he dies…which seems to happen almost immediately after he says that. As the film jumps back and forth on the timeline, we don't get to see what happened right away, which allows the Catholic Church to hire medieval Colombo to sort the mystery out! Should that be D'catolic choich?

Yes, the film is gory and full of violence and torture, but I think this only goes to show how awful human beings actually are and how corrupt the Catholic Church were back then. Folks are put on racks, burned with tongs, and one character foreshadows many a future Fulci film by having a huge nail rammed into his eye. That said, the film is not cheap looking and it's all deadly serious. Everything looks exactly like a Fulci film too – no matter how cheap his films became in the late eighties, they still retained that certain look.

Tomas Milian stands out here as the repressed, subdued servant which had me worrying if he would ever do his 'covered in filth, screaming' bit (it happens about an hour in). It's depressing stuff, but it's also interesting to see these directors working in different fields. I'm not watching any of his comedies however, although I do like the title The Senator Liked Woman's Bottoms.

Well, it's Fulci

[nick121235 · 6/10 · 22 September 2019]

Mid-century Italian renditions of period pieces are never quite the best; especially when coming from someone better suited for giallo as we would see from Fulci in the future. Even this early film shows all the fulci trademarks: the brutal special effects, the swinging close ups, the focus on eyes, and sadly, the poorly written plot. Although to be fair it's not the story so much as it is the constant back and forth in time. The flashbacks and present time are hardly differentiated and this is made even more confusing by it being in a foreign language for me. I really want to love this film, it gives hints as to the director's later greatness, and at the same time shows that he can work with genres other than slashers. Sadly it's just not up to par and makes me glad that he later did decide to stick with slashers. If I can get my hands on his earlier, non-thriller, stuff I will. But i'll be sure to keep my standards lowered just a bit. Mind you, this movie was still enjoyable but I think I let my excitement and love for this director raise my expectations too high.

A mature, well-made film from Lucio Fulci

[Condemned-Soul · 8/10 · 10 April 2021]

While Lucio Fulci considered Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Beyond the two films that forever catapulted him to cult film stardom, there were two films at the start of his career that he considered his best all-round work: Don't Torture a Duckling, and this.

And it's easy to see why - 'Beatrice Cenci' (aka The Conspiracy of Torture) is arguably his most mature effort: a fact-based historical drama laced with revenge, politics, and a touch of religion; a film which, going by release date, belies its position in the director's filmography.

Set in 1599, the story is told mainly through flashbacks of how Beatrice Cenci plotted the murder of her abusive father with the aid of her stepmother and lover.

It's rare when a Fulci film contains a story that takes priority over violence, but it's refreshing. There's no gratuitous gore on display here, just brutal, historically accurate torture methods. It's also thematically satisfying, with love servicing the narrative well, particularly when accompanied by a poignant score to bolster its impact in the latter stages.

It might take its time to grip you, but once it does, 'Beatrice Cenci' proves to be a compelling effort from the soon-to-be-labelled Godfather of Gore, with strong direction, solid performances, and great camera work making for an impactful historical drama.

8/10.

magnificent looking number for Fulci completists.

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 21 November 2019]

I have to say that a lot of effort and great work has gone into producing such a fine Blu-ray print. I once tried to watch this some time ago and it was just too washed out but this is wonderfully sharp and colourful - a real treat for the eyes. Trouble is I must have lost concentration now and again what with all the Latin, the religious ceremony and the general historic recreations, for I seemed to miss the back and forth time lapses and got terribly confused. Got the lengthy torture scenes loud and clear and eventually caught up but this is not an obvious pleasure but certainly a magnificent looking number for Fulci completists.

One of Lucio Fulci's most underrated and unjustly neglected films

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 3 December 2010]

Lucio Fulci achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with his gruesome and moody horror splatter pictures, but was actually a much more versatile and accomplished director than he usually gets credit for being. This historical drama stands out as a sterling example of Fulci's remarkable cinematic talents: Lavishly mounted on a substantial budget, it manages to be genuinely poignant and gripping without ever becoming too sappy or melodramatic. Fulci handles the stark and unsentimental telling of this shocking real life tragedy with admirable skill and assurance; he delivers a thoroughly convincing and unromantic evocation of the harsh 16th century period setting along with a properly grim'n'gritty atmosphere and trademark startling moments of brutal violence and sadistic torture. Adrienne Larussa gives a strong and touching performance as Beatrice Cenci, a gentle, yet proud and resilient teenager who plotted with her faithful servant lover Olimpio (the always excellent Tomas Milian) to kill her cruel and abusive nobleman father Don Francesco Cenci (superbly played to the hateful hilt by Georges Wilson). Mavie is likewise sound as Beatrice's long-suffering stepmother Lucrezia and Ignazio Spalla contributes an amusing turn as gross fat slob bandit Catalano. Erco Menczer's sumptuous cinematography gives the movie an impressively lush and expansive look. The grand and melodic score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino and Silvano Spadaccino rates as another major asset. But it's Fulci's inspired direction and the bold vehement anti-Catholic stance that really brings a certain raw and direct power to the film. Well worth seeing.

Interesting for Fulci fans but that's about it!

[The_Void · 6/10 · 20 February 2008]

Lucio Fulci. Just hearing the name will make most cult cinema fans think of blood and gore - and for good reason since the great director was responsible for some of the best gory highlights ever made, and for that reason; he's just about the last director you would expect to make a period drama. Fulci did have a varied career, making films in many of Italy's most famous genres, from westerns and Polizi flicks to Giallo and the blood and gore films with which he made his name...however, it would seem that period dramas were not his thing as Beatrice Cenci will not feature in my list of favourite Fulci flicks! The plot is actually a decent base for a film and is set in 16th Century Italy. The title character, Beatrice Cenci, is the daughter of a rich landowner named Francesco Cenci. Francesco is a cruel man who keeps his daughter locked up in a room and tortures her. Naturally, she's not best pleased at this arrangement and since she's not the only one who dislikes her father, she doesn't have a hard time getting some other people to help her murder him.

I have to admit, part of the reason why I didn't like this film is because I'm not a fan of period dramas. Naturally, my only reason for watching this is because I'm a big Fulci fan and I'll watch anything that the director's name is attached to, even if it is something from a genre I have no love for. Even though I found the film rather dull, I do have to admire the great director's work on it. He may be best known for his gore flicks, but Fulci's talent came out best in his earlier films and here he creates a great atmosphere and manages to pull good performances out of his cast. Aside from Fulci at the helm, this film also features another great cult luminary in an early role, in the form of the always watchable Tomas Milian. He is joined by Adrienne Larussa who takes the title role and does a good job with it. Despite the fact that this is a departure from what Fulci is best known for, it's not completely devoid of the elements that won him his fan base as the film does feature some rather nasty torture scenes. Overall, I can respect the craftsmanship on this film but I won't pretend to like it! Recommended to hardcore Fulci fans only.

No time to kill

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 13 October 2021]

It's kind of ... well with the recent Bond movie out, it really presented the opportunity for me to use the title - to tweak, so it fits the bill here. A Lucio Fulci movie, which if you are a horror fan - well you may expect something different from this movie.

Don't get me wrong, twisted things happen here. But this is by no way a movie that can be categorized as a horror genre movie. That being said, it surely makes a great argument for many things. One of them being not having religion dictate politics and the law.

Apart from the main actress being as beautiful as one can be, the movie gives the viewer more incentives to really feel her struggle ... and her fight to survive/make it in general. While I am in no way a Fulci expert, it seems likely that those claiming this being one of his best movies to be correct.

Flesh and blood

[dbdumonteil · 10 July 2008]

I do not go much for Fulci's horror movies which remain very inferior,IMHO, to those of his Italian colleagues (Dario Argento and Mario Bava).But this one ,by keeping the horror sequences to the minimum (the tortures scenes do not last long fortunately),is eminently commendable.

The cast includes two French actors :one of them ,Georges Wilson ,a very earnest stage thespian ,and the father of Lambert Wilson,is very unexpected here ,and his part of the violent perverse noble who rejoices cause two of his sons are dead so he won't have to feed them anymore and who imprisons his daughter in a dungeon is quite impressive .The other French actor is Raymond Pellegrin in a supporting role.Adrienne Larusso is incredibly beautiful as Beatrice Cenci and Thomas Milian gives a restrained effective performance.

The plot is not easy to catch up with ,because the director blends present and past without the traditional codes .No transition most of the time.Besides ,there are many characters ,and many of them are underwritten (Beatrice's brother for instance)

It's a film of blood and fury,the monsters are everywhere :Francesco Cenci is terrifying but so is the Holy Office whose goal is to appropriate the Cenci's fortune.

Like this?try these....

Flesh and blood (Paul Verhoeven,1985)

The devils (Ken Russel,1970)

La monaca di Monza (ERIPRANDO Visconti,1968)

The Cenci tragedy and case with nothing hidden

[clanciai · 9/10 · 14 June 2020]

This is something completely different from the glossy, romanticised and euphemistic 1956 account of the Cenci drama, completely adjusted to suit a great audience and appeal to popular taste, in an effort as well to 'bowdlerize' the matter, actually suggesting that Francesco Cenci was not murdered at all but really had an accident. In Lucio Fulci's film nothing is hidden or pasted over, but the realism is brutally complete in comprehensively trying to include all the worst details. On the other hand, Francesco Cenci here (George Wilson) is one-sidedly depicted as a complete inhuman monster without any humanity left, which is hardly credible. He was a monster but not entirely inhuman, as he actually moved his children from Rome to protect them against the perils there. Although this film is closer to the truth than the Riccardo Freda film, it is in spite of all its atrocious brutality equally beautifully made and very stylistic at that -- the Rome and environment of 1598 is meticulously recreated with greater success than in 1956, and the rustic scenes are magnificent. Also Beatrice herself (Adrienne LaRussa) is more convincing and even more beautiful here than in the earlier version and makes an unforgettable impression - she is the one you will remember from the film and none of the others. You could object against the exaggerations here, the film begins with a horrible scene of the count looking on while he lets a man be torn to pieces by furious dogs, and when the rape scene occurs the sound of the furious dogs returns in playback, which is very efficient and an ingenious illustration of a rape scene, so this scene you could forgive, while the torture scenes are more unnecessary and hardly even relevant. Objections have been raised against Fulci's chronological confusion, the film begins with the preparations for the executions, and after the murder of the count he is shown again in very vivid scenes in flashbacks, culminating with the rape scene, but all this is in perfect order to build up artistic architecture, appropriately ending up by a full explanation of the motive, so this timetrack confusion is rather an advantage than detrimental. Lucio Fulci's film is definitiely a work of art with adorable cinematography all the way, and it is a pity that he didn't make more serious films, as he later declined almost exclusively to horror films, but he certainly had potential for a great director.