BLOODY PSYCHO (1989)
This is one of the most medíocre entries in the "Lucio Fulci Presenta" series. Worst than this only the abominable "Hansel E Gretel". I still need to watch "Luna De Sangue" and "Le Porte Dell'Inferno" to stablish a ranking of all the eight titles.
"Blood Psycho" has a terrible and confused plot, with an ending that made me wonder "what the hell was that?". And if the story in itself is a big mess, the uninspired direction by Leandro Lucchetti (who?) does its best to kill us of tedium. Watching this in the company of a criterious cinephile friend must be very funny, but, unfortunately, I checked it alone. Some scenes were embarrassingly ridiculous, like the horrendous flashback showing a silly incident that happened when the protagonist was a child. The scene, bearing a tacky sentimentality typical of soap operas, features two of the most inexpressive child actors I ever saw! Another atrocious moment involves the male protagonist with a woman on a bed doing sex games with yogurt in a stupid rip off of the already stupid "91/2 Weeks" (Adrian Lyne, 1986)!
The gore scenes are few and totally inefficient, mainly due to the poor choice of the menace, kind of a mummy riding a wheelchair (!), whose cheap aspect denounces how low was the budget. And the soundtrack, considered the only highlight by some reviewers on the web, doesn't help at all. Personally, I don't like when they put a "pop" theme to play during horror scenes. This was quite common in Italian horror cinema of the 80s, but I think it destroys any attempt at creating tension. The death scenes were so weak that I felt less bored during the many talky moments, despite the fact that the dialogues were mediocre and nothing interesting was discussed by the characters.
Of the entire cast, only Paul Müller can be saved, although like in other films of the series, he was wasted in an useless supporting role.
Is there anything I liked here? Well, yes, the late 80s feeling and the castle. I always appreciated old European castles and the one used here is fascinating. So bad that they wasted the chance of making a good ghost story.
Lucio Fulci can't be blamed, as it seems his name was merely used for commercial reasons, and he wasn't directly involved in these movies, except for the ones he directed.
