This film is an Italian horror slasher film, usually called Giallo films. They usually have someone killing; however, they almost have a twist that makes them standout compared to American slasher movies. Here, Argento really makes this one standout from the crowd! Bringing us a bizarre film with strange settings, strange powers and strange twists. I will admit, I did see almost everything coming, but that has more to do with the fact I played the video game Clock Tower a couple of years ago and I have heard that the game takes a lot of its inspiration from this film and by golly it does!
The story sees a woman left behind by a bus, she seeks aid at a local residence where something pulls itself free from chains on a wall and begins to chase after the girl, beheading her at the end of the chase. Flash months later as an entomologist played by Donald Pleasence discusses his findings with an inspector and another guy who was unfamiliar with Donald's work. Donald's character is confined to a wheelchair and he has the aid of a monkey. Then a young girl is introduced who is going to a private school for girls and it isn't long before her strange power is demonstrated as she can communicate with bugs. She and the entomologist team up to try and find the person responsible for the killings, but strange things keep occurring!
The film is rather good, as Jennifer is very good in the lead role and Donald does a great job playing a very likable doctor of insects. There are a couple of twists along the way as I knew that one of the ladies at the school was most likely the killer's mother, once again from playing the game, but I picked the wrong one. One problem I had with the film is the killer's reveal as it was a deformed child, which is fine, but when he was coming after Jennifer he was not exactly slight of foot and dominating, but very awkward and clumsy, making me wonder how he was able to kill a healthy girl. I could understand him skewering Donald, as he was taken by surprise, but he was also killed by the mother! Say what you will though, I've never seen another horror film where the heroine is saved by a very revenge driven chimp before!
So, we get chimps, attacking bugs and a pit of maggots so a lot of fun to be had! The scene that got me the most though was when Jennifer started trying to make herself puke, almost made me vomit! The film is not perfect as they made the child killer a bit too immobile and the run time was a bit long and the version I watched went into Italian from time to time, but overall a very good Argento film as he always has such cool music in his movies! He also has a very well shot movie as his stuff always looks like it came straight out of an A list Hollywood studio.
The story sees a woman left behind by a bus, she seeks aid at a local residence where something pulls itself free from chains on a wall and begins to chase after the girl, beheading her at the end of the chase. Flash months later as an entomologist played by Donald Pleasence discusses his findings with an inspector and another guy who was unfamiliar with Donald's work. Donald's character is confined to a wheelchair and he has the aid of a monkey. Then a young girl is introduced who is going to a private school for girls and it isn't long before her strange power is demonstrated as she can communicate with bugs. She and the entomologist team up to try and find the person responsible for the killings, but strange things keep occurring!
The film is rather good, as Jennifer is very good in the lead role and Donald does a great job playing a very likable doctor of insects. There are a couple of twists along the way as I knew that one of the ladies at the school was most likely the killer's mother, once again from playing the game, but I picked the wrong one. One problem I had with the film is the killer's reveal as it was a deformed child, which is fine, but when he was coming after Jennifer he was not exactly slight of foot and dominating, but very awkward and clumsy, making me wonder how he was able to kill a healthy girl. I could understand him skewering Donald, as he was taken by surprise, but he was also killed by the mother! Say what you will though, I've never seen another horror film where the heroine is saved by a very revenge driven chimp before!
So, we get chimps, attacking bugs and a pit of maggots so a lot of fun to be had! The scene that got me the most though was when Jennifer started trying to make herself puke, almost made me vomit! The film is not perfect as they made the child killer a bit too immobile and the run time was a bit long and the version I watched went into Italian from time to time, but overall a very good Argento film as he always has such cool music in his movies! He also has a very well shot movie as his stuff always looks like it came straight out of an A list Hollywood studio.