La casa dell'orco (1988) (TV)

Director:

Lamberto Bava

Writers:

Lamberto Bava (screenplay)
Dardano Sacchetti (screenplay)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

What happens when the nightmares of your childhood suddenly become reality?

Plot:

A sexually confused young woman is haunted by childhood memories when she moves into an old mansion in Italy with her husband and young son.

Plot Keywords:

Nightmare | Ogre | Writer | Mansion | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Paolo Malco	...	Tom
Virginia Bryant	...	Cheryl
Sabrina Ferilli	...	Anna
Stefania Montorsi	...	Maria
Patrizio Vinci	...	Bobby
Alice Di Giuseppe	...	Young Cheryl
David Flosi	...	The Beast (as Davide Flosi)
Alex Serra	...	Dario the artist

Also Known As:

Brivido giallo - La casa dell'orco (Italy) (series title)
Demons III (UK)
Demons III: The Ogre (USA) (video title)
The Ogre (USA)
The Ogre: Demons 3

MPAA:

Rated R for brief nudity.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Netherlands:16 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Company:

Dania Film

Movie Connections:

Follows Fino alla morte (1987) (TV)

Good, but it could have been better

I have been wanting to see this one for a while because I've never seen a haunted house/ogre movie. Aside from Shrek I've never heard of any other ogre movie. I was very happy that I saw this for sale in a box set so I got it right away. But after I finished watching it, I didn't feel completely satisfied.

A horror writer rents a house with her husband and son and soon finds out that it's haunted by and ogre who plagued her dreams as a child. I expected this to be a traditional styled haunted house movie with a bit of Gothic fantasy thrown in. It has these elements but falls short with them. I think it would have been much better had the ogre not been repeatedly born from a glowing cocoon on the basement ceiling, don't you think?

There is one thing that I can't stand in any movie, from kids films to this kind, and it is when strange things happen to only one person and when this person tells others, they think that she's imagining it or going crazy. Like "the boy who cried wolf." I don't like these scenarios because it's aggravating. Of course no one's gonna believe an ogre is at large!

Aside from this the movie is not bad. The ogre itself (when you do see it) is pretty frightening-looking but it could've been taller. It has a silly happy ending which is rare in a horror film. I kinda liked it. The dialog is expectedly silly. To me this puts some fun in films that would be grueling without it. Also the content in the movie is pretty tame. Just some brief partial nudity and underwater skeletons is all that keeps this from a PG type rating. Overall it has a good creepy atmosphere and an original concept. Not as scary as other haunted house movies but much better than most creature movies.

"Demons III The Ogre" is a fair movie that'd be good to watch at night.