 |
| From http://www.rewindfilm.it/public/immagini/spasmo-22.JPG |
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Screenplay: Pino Boller, Massimo
Franciosa, Umberto Lenzi and Luisa Montagnana
Cast: Robert Hoffmann (as Christian Bauman); Suzy Kendall (as
Barbara); Ivan Rassimov (as Fritz Bauman); Adolfo Lastretti (Tatum); Franco
Silva (Luca)
Synopsis: Christian Bauman (Hoffman)
has an illicit affair with Barbara (Kendall),
whose boyfriend is a man of considerable wealth. However the night they decided
to be together in a motel is interrupted by an assassin, a struggle taking
place and Christian believing he's killed the man. From here the body
disappears and he becomes surrounded by countless unanswered questions as
strange circumstances start to take place. A conspiracy is possibly afoot
around him, but from who, why, and does it have any connection to the female
mannequins being found through the regions with knives shoved in them or hung
on nooses like they were murder victims?
It's a debatable issue whether
the giallo subgenre from Italy should be put in the horror genre or not. They end
up on the shelves labelled "Horror" at British HMV stores, but they're murder mysteries or stories of intrigue
first, the plots as knotted as pretzels and as much beloved for their
convoluted natures as they are for their good plot twists. What differs them
from conventional murder mysteries are the body counts many have, usually with
very gory set pieces. Some belong in the horror genre, such as Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975), or Torso
(1973), but for others it feels more appropriate to call them suspense
stories, which entrenches further complexities to this issue. They confuse the
barriers of what genre tags should mean, befitting that their origins were pulp
paperback novels with yellow covers ("giallo") which included Italian
translations of Agatha Christie stories
as much as they did more lurid fair.
 |
| From http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6185/6148409351_1a89fe98f4.jpg |
Spasmo was a tough watch for three-quarters of its length, a vague
narrative mostly of suspense rather than horror where little is purposely
explained. It all finally gets explained in its conclusion, relieving me of the
stress I had trying to grasp the film. Despite having adapted to even the most
difficult of art films, I still have moments where having a lack of clear plot
or something to hook onto causes frustration for me by my own fault as a
viewer. When it does explain what has taken place, the result is one of the
most ridiculous plots for a giallo I've seen in a while, involving Christian being
less than he appears and his brother Fritz Bauman (Rassimov), but this is as much why it proved to be exceptionally
entertaining when the pieces came together. The continual wrong-footing and
bafflement of what actually takes place proved to be a reward in itself, exemplary
of a virtue in giallos that they're about keeping the viewers on their feet,
both in logical plotting but also purposely slipping into the bizarre.
Spasmo also makes steps for me to reconsider a certain Umberto Lenzi for a re-evaluation, a man
I may have unfairly dismissed in his previous films I've seen. One of the best
aspects about the golden years of Italian genre cinema is that, whether they
were only working directors or more than that, from the composers to the
directors, names have their own fanbases and also distinct personalities even
if they worked in countless genres. Not only does this mean Mario (and Lamberto) Bava, Argento
and Lucio Fulci, but also an Enzo G. Castellari, a Sergio Martino or a certain Mr. Lenzi. Spasmo is interesting as it's a vastly different side to a director
known for his volatile temper on sets and films like Cannibal Ferox (1981), an openly unconventional narrative that
stands out as one of the least conventional giallos I've seen. Christian is a
character completely lost as I was as a viewer too in the narrative, what
happens deliberately vague until the answers are drip fed to you. Not only is
it the strange importance of female mannequins that catches you off guard, but
how the world is kept a distance from Christian and us. Characters fade in and out of the narrative
abruptly, and while the plot twists are quite obvious in hindsight, Spasmo proudly an overripe pot-boiler,
when they appear they drastically change all that takes place for Christian to drastic
extents.
 |
| From https://goregirl.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/spasmo-8.jpg |
Technical Detail:
Giallos have always been stylist,
at least before the mid-eighties when the genre industry in Italy started to
collapse. A large of the subgenre's appeal is of their period details - the
suits and dresses worn by the characters, the decor of rooms, the appearances
of J&B whiskey bottles everywhere - the high technical quality of many of
these films meaning they are kitsch but are also exceptional artistically as
well. Films like Spasmo through this
paint their own misanthropic universes, where Christian is not sympathetic,
cheating on his pregnant girlfriend at the start of the narrative, but you
still fear for his life with what is taking place around him. While plot is not
something I necessarily talk about in this section of the reviews, the balancing
act is perfectly accomplished and helped by the filmmaking itself.
The score as well stands out in
the sense of disorientation it adds to Spasmo.
Not surprisingly, having Ennio Morricone
compose the score would rarely lead to a bad work. Unlike the bombast of his
scores for Sergio Leone, this one
shows an avant-garde ting that was also audible in his other work in the
giallos like The Bird With The Crystal
Plummage (1970), appropriately discomforting and close to noise when the
plot reaches moments of disarray and ill-ease.
 |
| From http://klubkrik.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/46.jpg |
Abstract Spectrum: Mind Bender/Psychotronic
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): Low
Whether Spasmo will change on multiple viewings, now I can join the dots of
what takes place, is for future debate, but this does stand out as a bold,
unique giallo, encapsulating the very abstract sense of disorientation where
one does not know what's taking place around you. It's something that you
actually find in a lot of mystery and suspense tales, but usually it's never allowed
to be startling to a viewer because the plotting explains itself throughout the
stories even before the final twist is revealed. Spasmo immediately stands out for how much it keeps secret, and
barring the one overtly surreal aspect involving the mannequins inexplicably
appearing in various locations, everything else that alarms a viewer in this
film is entirely on restricting as much as possible about what is taking place
until the plot threads are finally fed to you.
Personal Opinion:
For two-thirds, I thought with a
heavy heart that, considering Spasmo's
warm reaction with fans, I might find it overrated and sluggish. Then the
finale comes into play and I found Spasmo
to be a smartly constructed movie, one with a nutty plot but which executes it
with intrigue and creativeness. From the famous poster art alone, which I had
to include at the top of this blog review, this is a very different giallo from
others, leaving a mark in what it finally reveals itself to be.
 |
| From http://www.panorama-cinema.com/V2/ images/critique/critique463/entete.jpg |
No comments:
Post a Comment