Review: La notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba A.K.A. The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave (1971)

I'd been dying to see this ever since I saw it featured in a montage video of 70s exploitative horror trailers on YouTube, and after finally getting my hands on it, I have to say I was totally bummed.

You would THINK it was a ghost story based on the fact that it's trailer repeatedly shows a white gowned dead woman wandering around, scaring the living daylights out of everyone, as well as its amazing tagline "the worms are waiting," and not to mention its morbid title, but this film seems determined to completely steer clear of its own description.

This biggest problem with this film is that it seems confused as to what kind of movie it's trying to be. It strives to confound its audience by introducing it as a psychological slasher, later adding crime, romance, and revenge elements, which could be an interesting concoction, if only it made any goddamned sense. Instead, it merely leaves us grappling for a rational explanation for its abhorrable stupidity. The only thing that's frightening about this movie is the insipidly slow pace and utter lack of plausibility. It's basically an attempt to slap together as many genres as possible and then sell it as a gothic horror. Italian horror might be well known for pushing the envelope, but this is just unforgivable.

Directed by Emilio Miraglia who also directed The Red Queen Kills Seven Times and starring Anthony Steffan, The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave tells the tale of a Ted Bundy-ishly handsome and emotionally distraught basketcase, Sir Alan Vincent Cunningham, who is obsessed with his dead and unfaithful redheaded wife, Evelyn. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so he takes up a hobby in serial killing by luring redheaded prostitutes and strippers to his semi-dilapidated gothic castle, where he shows off his medieval torture chamber and subsequently strangles them to death.

He undergoes a change of heart when he meets a strawberry blonde named Gladys at a friend's lavish party. Hours later (or possibly less than that), after some banter and a lovemaking session, they decide to get married and move into the non-foreboding section of his castle.  Suddenly, Sir Alan puts his murderous antics aside and moves on with his life, a reality that Evelyn doesn't seem too fond of. Sir Alan becomes paranoid that Evelyn is haunting him and will try to avenge him for loving another woman, yet it's really hard to tell what the hell is happening since the movie seems to get off on disengaging us with its relentless and absurd plot twists. The only motivation I had to finish watching it was the implication of Evelyn's impending resurrection, which does occur but not in a supernatural sense.

To be fair, it contains a few decent qualities including an appropriately dreary atmosphere as well as some fantastic shots of the the creepy medieval castle where the film is primarily set. There's also a slight omnipresence of Evelyn that provides some semblance of unease, but there's neither any real tension during the pivotal scenes nor a convincing and consistent storyline to follow.

This film might have worked had it stuck to a specific story line, but unfortunately it's just a major disappointment. It's so bad, its not even laughable. If you enjoy the style of giallo, it might be worth a look, since it does contain some of its properties, however, if you intend to find any logic in the sequence of events, spare yourself the headache.

Review: Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986) (contains spoilers)

I recently watched the slasher flick Mountaintop Motel Massacre, directed by Jim McCollough Sr., and starring Anna Chappell as Evelyn Chambers, the loony middle-aged owner of the Mountaintop Motel which is essentially a cluster of run-down cabins nestled deep in the woods. Evelyn, fresh out of the nuthouse,  embarks on a murder spree during the dark, stormy night of her last hurrah.

The film wastes no time establishing its own absurdity, and I respect that.  The first time we see Evelyn is while she's working in her vegetable garden. She seems like any other average senior citizen until she notices her teenage daughter Lori’s pet guinea pig just chillin' on a bed of green and after a final warning ("Girl, ya better get out here before I chop its head off!"), she  proceeds to slaughter the poor critter with her garden tool.  But Lori couldn't care less about the little pest.  She has more important things to do, like, you know, hide in her bedroom and conjure the forces of darkness whilst speaking to a photograph of her dead father.  Things get even more bizarre when Evelyn catches Lori committing this act, thus stabbing her to death in a passionate rage.  She gets away with the crime, of course, by framing the homicide as a gardening accident.  The sheriff who is called in to help seems not-so-sure about that scenario and silently questions Evelyn's involvement.

          
 As a side note, I love the production design. You can tell they put a lot of thought into creating a creepy yet childlike atmosphere, especially the scenes with Lori.

This film is the kind you might feel embarrassed for, but that's what I enjoyed about it. It's absolutely terrible, but in a watchable way. There's more going on than just some homicidal fruit loop running around through underground tunnels and sneaking through the trapdoors of bathrooms ready to slay her guests with a sichel.  We get to see Evelyn delve further into her madness as the film progresses, and although it's unclear whether Lori is a ghostly presence or a figment of Evelyn's imagination, the mother/daughter relationship sustains some mystery.

The setting offers a really visceral effect as well. Set mostly on the grounds of the motel, there’s something organically creepy about the scenery.  I loved the childhood images of Lori’s bedroom, too. I mean, look at that doll! It looks like a mini Evelyn! 
   

Surprisingly, I found the characters to be moderately original and genuinely entertaining, despite Will Mitchell's pitiful perfomance as the main protagonist Al, a sleazy advertising executive on his way to seek shelter from the storm. He picks up two young attractive women, aspiring singers Prissy (Amy Hill) and Tanya (Virginia Loridans), who are stranded on the side of the highway conveniently wearing matching white T-shirts in the middle of a rainy thunderstorm. Also in for the night are a newlywed redneck couple,Vernon and Mary, the ever-hilarious bible thumper Crenshaw, oh, and a damaged, alcoholic reverend who permanently resides at one of the cabins at the motel.

Overall, Mountaintop Motel Massacre is more chuckle-inducing than scary, and features some mediocre gore, and although it doesn't exactly live up to the potential of its amazing premise, I thought it succeeded with having a specific storyline and characters.  There is some frequently horrendous acting going on, but that’s part of the fun, right?  The concept of an old batshit lunatic parading the woods may be something we've all heard of, but given the background of Evelyn's life and her struggles with mental illness, there's definitely a distinction from other films of its kind.