CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS
From The Director of “Demons” Comes The Next Chilling Experience …
Directed by #lamberto bava.
Written by Lamberto Bava and Dardano Sacchetti.
AKA
Italian: Una notte al cimitero
One of four horror films directed by Lamberto Bava constituting his Italian cable television series #brivido giallo.
Five teens shoplift from a store (the shopkeeper is director Lamberto Bava himself in a cameo role) and drive off in their van. The teens are: David (Karl Zinny), David’s sister Micky (Beatrice Ring), Johnny (Gianmarco Tognazzi), Tina (Lea Martino) and Robin (Gregory Lech Thaddeus).
They get lost in a dense mist and see a horse drawn hearse pass by with no one at the reins. They eventually reach a river and attempt to drive across but the van gets stuck so they set off on foot.
There is a mysterious man hanging ’round.
They arrive at a cemetery and decide to camp for the night in the ruins of an old church but then David notices a light. They take a look and see a tavern they didn’t see earlier and go inside. Inside, Tina recognises the tavern keeper (Lino Salemme) as a mysterious man she saw at the river.
Micky sees a stange vessel full of treasure and calls the others to look. The tavern keeper tells them the treasure’s a prize that will go to anyone who succeeds in spending one night in an underground crypt beneath the tavern. David wants to do it and tells the others he’ll go ahead and the others can join him later. The tavern keeper takes him to a flight of steps leading to the entrance while the others wait in the ruins of the church.
They head inside to join David, the tavern keeper has deliberately left the gate open for them, and descend into the crypt.
This is a fun little film with great settings and a likeable cast. The makeup effects are damn good really (remember it’s an 80s TV movie) and there’s quite a variety of things to see. It’s a comedic horror film but I like the atmosphere. The music is by the brilliant Simon Boswell. I’d recommend it to anyone curious about obscure Italian horror from the 80s but it’s not a gory film like Lamberto Bava’s Demons (1985) or anything so I wouldn’t expect something like that.
Also stars Gianpaolo Saccarola as Man at Tavern.
Brivido Giallo:
Until Death (1987)
Dinner with a Vampire (1987)
The Ogre (1988)
