by Sun Meilan

Created on: November 16, 2009

Cheryl and her friend Kathy go to see an unnamed film at the cinema after a masked man hands out tickets on the street. On the way into the cinema, another member of the audience touches the mask and cuts herself. The film turns out to be a horror, in which numerous teenagers are slashed to death. The girl who cuts herself goes into the toilet to mop up her face, where she turns into a fanged demon and starts attacking everyone she can get hold of. Before long, the entire audience is being chased around the cinema; even worse, they cannot get out. Can anyone find a way to escape, or are they all doomed?!

Directed by Lamberto Bava and released in 1985, this film was part-written and directed by Dario Argento, who is best known for his giallos (Italian thrillers), which nearly always have a gory storyline. This film, obviously at least partly under his influence, is most certainly a horror of the most murdering kind - definitely not one for the weak-stomached! The version I have is dubbed into English, although it was originally made in Italian (or at least, I think so - giallo often involve actors of varying nationalities, each one speaking in their own language). The dubbing is fine, although the lip synching will annoy some people.

The acting is rarely the strong point of any horror film; here it is wonderfully wooden. I like horror films that don't take themselves too seriously and, whereas the aim may have been otherwise, I love the wooden acting that makes the film just that bit more enjoyable. There are a number of characters, so it is hard to say who the main ones are, but certainly Natasha Hovey appears first and then regularly throughout as Cheryl. Her facial expressions are hilarious; forced and fake - it takes her a clear second or two to decide what expression she should be making and then it isn't a very good one.

The apparent 'hero' of the film is played by Urbano Barberini and, although wooden, he's actually not too bad, which makes me wonder if, with better direction, he might have given a good performance. He certainly has the looks for the role, so provides eye candy if nothing else. Bobby Rhodes who plays Tony, a pimp who decides he's tougher than the rest is truly hilarious in his attempts to spur on the rest of the audience to attack the demons - I don't think he was supposed to be funny, but he was. The rest of the crew are more or less as bad; it's just we don't get to see much of them before they turn into demons!

The film was made

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