Bezenby This is a strange one. Richard Johnson (whom you might know from Martin Clunes' Doc Martin) is a lover of many women in Rome (a fanny rat, as they say). The thing is, he's getting the feeling that there's this creepy old woman following him around the place. After trying to track her down several times he responds to an ultra specific advert in a magazine looking for a librarian who exactly fits his description - you guessed it -the library is in a creepy old mansion in the middle of Rome and the old lady is seemingly the only inhabitant.The old lady wants him to transcribe all her dead husband's writing and sort the library out and even live in the house. Richard thinks she's full of crap and is halfway out the door when the old lady's daughter Aura makes an appearance, which coincides with Richard reconsidering the job while making eyes at Aura (and she seems up for it!).Aura's up for it only if Richard takes the job, moves in, doesn't mind all the dead cats lying about, ignores the dead husband in the casket and gets rid of the previous transcriber who appears to have gone mad. That sounds like a good idea to Richard, who seems to be thinking with his 'lower brain' as it were.But this is also where things start getting really weird, because Aura also seems to be stringing along the other transcriber, playing mind games with Richard, and Richard's also having to put up with the old lady seemingly spying on him all the time.Is this film sufficiently coffee table? It seems to want to be a horror and an art-house film and some sort of serious battle of the sexes type film, but the only character you can really care about is the other transcriber, Fabrizio, played by Volonte as a very broken man. Richard is too much of a jerk to like, and even gives Aura a good punching at one point. There's rather a lot of blah in this film, but Damiano does through in a lot of strange shots and images too which keeps things from bogging down to much in dialogue. Much stuff involving shadows, darkness, and a very strange interaction between Aura and the old lady too.Don't get me wrong though, it's an okay film, but lacking in the more cerebral aspects, like boobs and gore. This is a long long way from Richard Johnson's late eighties Italian film Ratman, that's for sure!

Woodyanders Suave and cocky male chauvinist historian Sergio (an excellent performance by Richard Johnson) is hired by aloof and strange old widow Consuelo (a fine and effectively icy portrayal by Sarah Ferrati) who lives in a moldy old castle to catalog her library. Sergio meets and becomes smitten with Consuelo's striking and seductive daughter Aura (the stunning and beguiling Rosanna Schiaffino, whose powerfully sensuous presence positively burns up the screen). Sergio soon finds himself caught in a bizarre supernatural world of dark secrets and forbidden desires. Director/co-writer Damiano Damiani relates the intriguing and unpredictable story at a gradual, yet hypnotic pace and does an expert job of creating and maintaining an arrestingly eerie and mysterious atmosphere that gets more creepy and unnerving as the narrative unfolds towards a genuinely startling surprise conclusion. Moreover, there's an intoxicating underlying eroticism to the oddball proceedings that's highlighted by an incredibly sexy scene in which Aura has Sergio undress her with his teeth. We also get a profound and poignant central message about the desperate measures someone will resort to for companionship. The three leads all give top-notch performances. Gian Maria Volonte is likewise outstanding in a substantial co-starring role as Aura's jealous and possessive former lover Fabrizio. Leonida Barboni's stark and expressive black and white cinematography offers a wealth of breathtaking visuals. Luis Enriquez Bacalov's brooding score hits the shuddery spot. Well worth a look for fright film fans seeking something different and out of the ordinary.

goblinhairedguy This is an absolute masterpiece of extravagant, sensuous Continental 60s art cinema, and provides an "incendiary" Gothic femme fatale to rival the Hayworths and Gardners of film noir. Nominally a horror film (which only becomes completely apparent during the last reel), it actually fits nicely into that 60s subgenre of manipulative mind games and metaphysical character duality, not unlike Losey's "The Servant" (though it's closer in execution to his elegiac "Eva"). Although it's constantly threatening to unravel under the stress of its own pretensions (as was the fate of many international art films of the time), Damiani is firmly in control as he continues to up the ante with a bacchanalia of outrageously stylish devices, visual metaphors and tactile atmospherics. Schiaffino is one of those classic beauties who seemed to fall out of Italian poplar trees at the time, Johnson is suitably arrogant in his machismo, and the exotic flute-and-bongo score is a retro dream driving the erotic game-playing. Many will find its excesses over-the-top or campy, and it's startlingly misogynist at times, but for those tuned in to the excesses of the 60s, this is a mindbending treat right up to the astonishing but fitting conclusion. (As a footnote, it's now plain that Bertolucci's "Last Tango" was not the first to play the make-love-without-touching game.) If you enjoyed this one, try to find the obscure "Death on the Four Poster", which plays with similar themes on a much more transparent, but enjoyable, level.

Joe Stemme Had an opportunity to view a 16MM print of the English-dubbed version. Dubbing is often a distraction, but this is one of the better dubbed films of its era. Stylistically, this is a very slow European modern witch tale, not likely to appeal to the 'Creature Feature' crowd (which is surely why it bypassed US theaters and landed on late-nite TV). The acting, camera-work, direction and music (by IL POSTINO Oscar-winner Luis Bacalov) are all moody and well-done. Unfortunately, the slowness of the yarn (which builds the erotic tensions so well during the first half), minimizes the impact by the climax. Still, this is an intelligent, ADULT, and erotic piece which is worth searching out for high-minded horror fans.