The
Other Hell
Italy
1980. Director:
Stefan Oblowsky (Bruno Mattei)
Cast: Franca Stoppi, Carlo De Mejo, Susan Forget, Frank Garfield
Aka: L'Altro Inferno
Here's one film tied to bad memories.
It almost had me killed, but let's not get into that. Plotwise The
Other Hell has much going for it. Actually, there's so much moronic
stuff going on that it's hard to sort out what it all means. Strange
incidents takes place in a convent. A newly born child is just about
saved from being boiled alive and in the event the baby gets some psychokinetic
powers with which it can kill. Caretaker Frank Garfield is attacked
and has his throat ripped open by what is supposed to be a gang of possessed
and rabid dogs, although you can clearly see that the dogs are just
glad to see him. Many more weird incidents later Father Valerio (De
Mejo) comes around to search for God knows what clues only to eventually
stumble across Satan's daughter running in the hallways screaming for
mama and, oh yes, there is a zombie somewhere in here too. It all ends
with Father Valerio sitting and screaming with fear while the "borrowed"
soundtrack by Goblin accompany us to the end credits.
The Other Hell was the first result of a long partnership between Mattei and scriptwriter Claudio Fragasso. It was shot back to back with True Story of the Nun of Monza, one film shot at the top floor of a huge monastery, the other shot in the cellar, using mostly the same cast and crew. Both films are credited to one mysterious "Stefan Oblowsky", up until now always assumed to be yet another Mattei alias. However, history has more or less revealed that Fragasso is equally responsible. For some obscure reason I always imagined that surely The Other Hell would look better on DVD than on the old cropped tape, so perhaps I should be a bit forgiving until I get that chance to see it properly? Wrong again. Ain't gonna happen. Not a chance in hell. It still look like crap, ugly and repulsive and so inept and confusing it scares you. If you should put up any money for it? Only if you really have to.
© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.