My personal favorite type of cinema is Italian cult and horror – preferably from the sixties, seventies and eighties – and many directors from this great country truly are my idols! But at the same time I have to admit that a lot of these same Italian directors are quite megalomaniac and borderline insane. Fellow Italian horror fanatics will unquestionably remember a certain movie called "Nightmare Concert" a.k.a. "Cat in the Brain". It's a film in which the famous Italian horror director Lucio Fulci shoots a film about a famous Italian horror director called...Lucio Fulci! No, wait
DOCTOR Lucio Fulci! The film supposedly was the director's attack towards censorship and pseudo-critics, but he nevertheless managed to have the name "Mr. Fulci" or even "Lucio" mentioned every 3 minutes (34 times throughout the entire movie, to be exact). But hey, I still loved that movie because chock-full of outrageous gore and – after all – Lucio Fulci was a God! Following nearly 20 years of radio silence in his career, writer/director Luigi Cozzi comes with something similar; a fantasy/mockumentary starring himself as
himself. Sadly, though, I can't say it's a big success because a) Luigi Cozzi is NOT Lucio Fulci and b) the film is a confusing and overlong hodgepodge of wild ideas and homages.
Luigi Cozzi doesn't belong to Italy's top horror directors but he did make a handful of entertaining and memorable movies, like the clever giallo "The Killer must Kill Again", the gooey Alien rip-off "Contamination" and the shameless Star Wars clone "Starcrash". Moreover, he's a very amiable and friendly guy! He was a guest at the Brussels' International Festival of Fantastic Films and came across as a very approachable and down-to-earth guy, what with his funny tourist hat and big smile on his face. His newest film might perhaps be a bit too bonkers and tedious, but in his defense, all he really wanted to do was openly declare his passion for the art of cinema. In his 130 minutes (!) long love-letter, Cozzi mixes clips and footage of the earliest film classics (Georges Méliès, the Lumière Brothers) and the German expressionist landmarks ("Nosferatu", "Metropolis"), but he also extendedly talks to his befriended directors (Lamberto Bava, Luigi Pastore) and exhibits horror pilgrimages (Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso Museum, the Metaluna store in Paris, Georges Méliès' grave at the Père Lachaise cemetery
). The actual film is quite boring and I still haven't quite figured out what the earth's apocalypse has to do with a missing piece of Méliès' "Voyage to the Moon" film
The only parts that are really interesting are the references towards the mysterious disappearance of Louis Le Prince, reputedly the true inventor of moving pictures in 1890 already. I can't be too harsh considering my love for Italian cinema and my appreciation for Mr. Cozzi, but to most people will undoubtedly reject "Blood on Méliès Moon" as pure amateurish and senseless trash. Hence, proceed with caution
