ReaderKenka
Let's be realistic.
Yash Wade
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Zandra
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Roxie
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
adriangr
The is is a fairly obscure and poorly distributed movie from 1977/78 that actually packs quite a punch. The fact there are only (at time of writing ) EIGHT reviews on IMDb proves how little seen it is. Now that I have watched it, I want everybody to know how good it is.OK, it's no masterpiece but for any fan of 1970's -1980's European giallos and shockers it is bound to prove very enjoyable. That's not to say it is a giallo, although it is filmed like one, but the plot is more supernatural. Something along the lines of The Omen, the plot involves a brother and sister who live in Venice and due to a few unexpected events find themselves inheriting a boarding house. Mysterious bad omens wash over them and eventually the brother starts so suspect that evil forces are preying on them, but why? First of all I want to point out the setting of the film, which is very clearly shot on location in Venice, and it looks terrific. The boarding house has window views over the main waterway of the city and many outside scenes are shot in the city centre. It makes a difference! Secondly, the whole film has a recognisable Italian slant, particularly in the way religion is portrayed, and in a way that roots it well and truly in it's time frame of the 1970's, it is full of period and localization chic in my mind.Next, all the performances are good. Although I watched the film in Italian with English subtitles it was still dubbed by the looks of things, but this did not matter. The performances are great, especially of the brother of the two main characters, who is blind and yet afflicted with gruesome visions of supernatural events and violence. He brings a naturalness to the role that make it very believable. The sister is pretty good too, although a less likable character, so her colder performance kind of fits the role.There is a fair amount of violence, and some scenes do stand out, especially for a film made this in period. Most of the time, the younger brother's visions are a cue for something horrific to happen on camera, and this includes several nasty piercings of unfortunate people with nails and/or the end of a very sharp cane. There's also the discovery of a very effective rotting corpse which is quite revolting. Most people who have watched the movie, however, come away from it holding the memory of one single shocking scene involving a tiny baby which even had me gasping - you'll know it when you see it! Don't worry it doesn't look real but it would be unheard of in a British or American movie of the time, or even now I suspect.However, one brief scene of shock would not be enough to make me recommend a movie (in the same way that the scene with the animated poker in "Patrick Viva Encore" didn't make me recommend that to anyone), but Nero Venezia would still be effective anyway. It really does have a sense of atmosphere, and although a lot of the plot is glossed over with a better script it could have really created a true atmosphere of corruption. Still worth a look if you can find it.
Lars Jacobsson
A blind kid starts getting horrible visions about the birth of the Antichrist when he and his sister moves in a rundown pension in Venice with their guardian relatives. I liked this Italian horror flick a lot! It's heavily influenced by Rosemary's Baby & The Omen but its got a personality of its own. Pretty slow pace but great surreal atmosphere there's a constant feeling of dread and uncertainty, good photography and an surprisingly clever script. And the Venice setting is always appreciated, that city is almost provocatively beautiful! Not much violence, but the few violent scenes were highly effective. Especially one scene really raised my eyebrow, those of you who have seen it probably know which one i'm thinking about... The bad dubbing is about the only really negative aspect I can think of right now, although I can imagine that some find it slow on action and maybe even a little boring. Not me though, I love slow, atmospheric films!
catherinekeohane
Recently acquired this video via ebay and am pleased I did so. I've been reading up a lot about this movie and was interested to see Renato, who gave such a sensitive performance in "Last Snows of Spring" starring in such a dark tale.OK it isn't that original, but I loved it nevertheless. I obtained the English dubbed version with Dutch subtitles. It kept me interested and I knew what was about to happen as I'd read up on the film previously before purchasing, doing a google search. I thought the acting fine and the story fine actually, naturally it is a bit dated now in comparison to the more gory modern films, but considering it's age it was still quite a powerful movie. Most disturbing of all is the baby scene towards the end of the film, and although I had already known what was going to happen, I still wasn't quite braced for it. So that could be disturbing for some viewers. It was a bit too realistic for comfort.I wasn't expecting the twist at the end, and I consider my money well spent.
pumaye
Other than for the Venice scenarios, this late Rosemary's baby clone is almost dismissable without any comment, with its story of a blind young man trying to battle against the evil spawn of his sister short relation (in fact, she was virgin, as Satan want to mock Jesus life and death for his son)with a dark stranger, probably Satan himself. Bad acting, bad story, bad special effects, gratuitous nudity. A real B-movie, but not as good as it should be