They Have Changed Their Face (1971)

In this allegory on capitalism, director of a known car corporation invites one of his employees to his country villa to give him the good news. He just got promoted. However, the old man is not what he seems and promotion has a price.

Director:

Corrado Farina

Writers:

Giulio Berruti, Corrado Farina

Stars:

Adolfo Celi, Geraldine Hooper, Giuliano Esperati

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Adolfo Celi	...	Giovanni Nosferatu
Geraldine Hooper	...	Corinna
Giuliano Esperati	...	Alberto Valle (as Giuliano Disperati)
Francesca Modigliani	...	Laura
Lorenzo Rapazzini
Mariella Furgiuele
Claudio Trionfi
Pio Buscaglione
Amedeo Tommasi
Salvadore Cantagalli
Rosalba Bongiovanni
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alberto Farina	...	Kid playing ball (scenes deleted)
Corrado Farina	...	Scientist in spot commercial

Storyline

In this allegory on capitalism, director of a known car corporation invites one of his employees to his country villa to give him the good news. He just got promoted. However, the old man is not what he seems and promotion has a price.

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Plot Keywords:

italy | capitalism | allegory | cult film | giallo | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

2 July 1971 (Italy)

Also Known As:

They Have Changed Their Face

Filming Locations:

Chieri, Torino, Piemonte, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film 70

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Italian censorship visa # 57934 delivered on 27-3-1971.

User Reviews

Ultra-strange Italian adaption of Dracula

This Italian horror film is one that is most certainly coming at us from a decidedly different angle. Its director Corrado Farina was also responsible for the more well-known Baba Yaga but for my money They Have Changed Their Face is the better film. It's an adaption of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula but with some serious differences. In it the Dracula substitute is a powerful businessman called Giovanni Nosferatu. Like the book, he also lives in a remote mountainous region of Eastern Europe and the storyline also follows a hapless businessman who has been sent to see him. But aside from a similar basic story structure this film takes the material into very unusual places. Atypically for an Italian horror film this is a somewhat satirical movie. It's an allegory on capitalism, where the modern vampires have moved with the times and now prey on the public differently. Instead of sucking their blood, they suck the life from them with soul-destroying commercials and generally prey on the population with ruthless capitalism.

All this is well and good but what takes it up a level is the overall strangeness of the presentation. The vampire's house is a crumbling old building but inside it is very chic and modern. His henchmen drive around in white minis while sporting jump suits and helmets. While inside the house the hero is exposed to commercials; cumulating in an excellent later scene where a selection of newly developed adverts are shown to Mr Nosferatu in his board room. It's all very disconcerting and, to be honest, it's very hard predicting where this one is going to go. This is very inventive genre film-making that's for sure. The soundtrack by Amedeo Tommasi is great as well, with a variety of tones and themes. It helps set the atmosphere, which is one of real mystery. There is also a good cast too. Adolfo Celi is well suited to the role of Giovanni Nosferatu. But perhaps most interesting of all is Geraldine Hooper who was most famous for her turn as a male homosexual in Dario Argento's Deep Red. Frankly, it was only due to this film that I was even aware that she was not a bloke!

This is one of the most original Italian genre pictures from the 70's. It's one that certainly needs to be seen by a far wider audience.