Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea (1972)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Riccardo Freda

Writers:

Mario Bianchi (writer)
José Gutiérrez Maesso (writer)

Release Date:

20 December 1972 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman

Cast

Camille Keaton	...	Jane
Tony Isbert	...	Bill
Máximo Valverde	...	Joe
Luigi Pistilli	...	Lord Alexander
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Lady Alexander
José Calvo	...	Gas station attendant
Giovanni Petrucci	...	Fred
Irina Demick	...	Bill's mother
Paul Muller	...	Doctor
Beni Deus	...	Ferguson
Milo Quesada
Alejandro de Enciso
Elsa Zabala	...	Devil worshipper
Pablo García
David Thomson

Also Known As:

Trágica ceremonia en villa Alexander (Spain)
Tragic Ceremony (USA)
Tragic Experience at Villa Alexander (USA) (bootleg title)

Runtime:

Spain:82 min

Country:

Spain | Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Safa-Palatino, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Produzioni Internazionali Associate (PIA)

very strange but overall, not that bad

A bunch of young people get stranded at a villa in the middle of nowhere in a thunderstorm (including Camille Keaton, from "I Spit On Your Grave"). They're invited in and fed & allowed to stay, although Jane (Keaton) is given a little something to numb her out, since she's meant to be the guest of honor at a Satanic ritual of some kind. Oops. However, her friends rescue her but not until after all kind of murder and mayhem takes place at this ritual. They do manage to get away but one wonders later if they were actually alone. They flee back to the home of Bill, but his mother says the rooms aren't made up so they take off for his father's country house, where they hole up and try to decide what to do, since Bill was responsible for killing a woman at the ritual (in self-defense, but still...). However, one by one, all the men begin to die mysteriously. And Jane seems to figure in this somewhere. There's some good moments to this, and the overall atmosphere is rather strange and full of dread at times. However, some of it's just a little ridiculous, like the blue tint to one's skin when he's found dead, it's "Dawn of the Dead" blue & one expects him to rise up and eat the flesh of the living. The ending is rather strange but there's a rather lame explanation for what's taking place. Still though, it's a worthwhile and rather obscure little horror flick that has it's moments, for the right audience. 7 out of 10.