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The Murder Secret
A family of 4 makes a long drive to Aunt Martha's house to visit her for the first time in years. Only she isn't there. Just the caretaker and his message that she will appear the next day...if they survive the night.
Release : | 1988 |
Rating : | 5.1 |
Studio : | Alpha Cinematografica, |
Crew : | Property Master, Director, |
Cast : | Adriana Russo Gabriele Tinti Jessica Moore Maurice Poli |
Genre : | Horror |
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Reviews
Good movie but grossly overrated
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
It's hard to find...and I'm glad! If this film dropped off the face of the earth tomorrow, it would be no great loss. yet another stupid and implausible Italian horror that attempts to be edgy and shocking, but actually isn't much more than incoherent and plodding, even neglecting to address huge, major plot points that it apparently wasn't aware it brought up. It's so unlikely in the first place, and the voice-over ending it is made hilarious by its attempt to make it all seem intentional.The pacing is nonexistent and the whole thing is pretty predictable, except where it's random (and implausible there too). It's so predictable that you'll watch it, know exactly what will happen, and say to yourself 'no -- no, nothing's that stupid, nothing would do that anymore'. But you will be mistaken and it will disappoint you even more.From the start, you'll find yourself wondering why these people, who obviously have pretty demanding lives, are so inanely doing the things they do. The father has no reason for doing what he does, especially. Nothing makes sense, and it's unfulfilling. This isn't the sort of 'dream logic' Argento could get away with when he was still good; it's just a mess of shoddy writing, and the ending is absolutely contemptible.If you want to see something on a similar sort of note, watch Atrocious. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it's far better than this rubbish. This isn't worth finding, and it's certainly not worth sitting through once you do find a copy.
The plot of "The Murder Secret" begins with Richard Hamilton(played by Gabriele Tinti)receiving a letter from his long lost and psychotic Aunt Martha inviting him and his family to visit her at her remote countryside villa.Together he and his wife Nora,their older children Georgia and Charles and their younger son Maurice decide to stay at Aunt Martha's villa.Upon their arrival Aunt Martha is nowhere to be found and the Hamilton's are instead received by the outwardly friendly yet decidedly creepy Thomas who claims that he is Aunt Martha's caretaker and that she will join them shortly.Soon series of bloody murders is set in motion..."Don't Be Afraid of Aunt Martha" by Mario Bianchi is an alright slasher/giallo with three extremely bloody murder scenes including chainsaw decapitation of a young boy.The acting is okay and the plot is entertaining.If you liked similarly gore and nudity laden Andrea Bianchi's "Massacre" give this one a chance.7 crazy aunts out of 10.
Your enjoyment of this film 80's Italian horror flick will probably depend somewhat on your expectations. If you're expecting a superior Lucio Fulci film (Fulci produced this), you'll probably be somewhat disappointed (but to be fair it's really no worse than a lot of the stuff the gore-master himself was directing at the end of his career). On the other hand though, if you've seen any of the previous work of Mario Bianchi, the actual director of this (for instance, his deadly dull "Satan's Baby Doll") you'll no doubt find this one comparatively entertaining.A family, consisting of a father (Gabriele "Mr. Laura Gemser" Tinti), his second wife (Adriana Russo), and his three children--a young son, a voluptuous "teenage" daughter (Jessica Moore), and his adult son who shows up later--all drive out to a secluded family estate to meet the father's "Aunt Martha" who has just been released after spending thirty years in a mental institution for the criminally insane. Naturally this sounds like bad idea, but if dumb characters didn't do dumb stuff like this, we'd have a lot less gory horror movies. The place is managed by a creepy caretaker and "Aunt Martha's" arrival is mysteriously delayed. Meanwhile, all kinds of strange things begin to occur. . .This movie is not very well paced as almost all the murders take place in a ten minute period near the end. They're suitably gory at least--one thing I like about the Italians is that they have no compunctions about doing things like decapitating annoying child actors with chainsaws. Tinti is always enjoyable, even in roles like this where he's not making "the beast with two backs" with his more famous wife. Russo and Moore both have memorable nude scenes. I think the former might be the sister of the voluptuous Carmen Russo (they look a lot alike anyway) while the latter appeared in several Joe D'Amato movies like "11 Days, 11 Nights" and "Convent of Sinners". (Here she takes a very long and very hot shower that all by itself might be worth the price of admission). Unlike most latter-day Fulci films or Bianchi's earlier "Satan's Baby Doll", this is not yet available on legitimate DVD. But it really ought to be.
The Murder Secret is a crazy giallo/slasher which, although directed by Mario Bianchi, was 'supervised' by Lucio Fulci. This inevitably means that the final product bears more than a passing resemblance to a Fulci flick, ie., it has a decent smattering of cheesy gore and a story that lacks any logic or cohesion. However, even with its flaws, The Murder Secret is still an entertaining film with enough good bits for it to be worth a watch.A family travel to a remote country house where they hope to meet Martha, the aunt of the father, whom he hasn't seen for 30 years. When they arrive, they are met by the caretaker who informs them that Martha has been delayed and that she will arrive the next day.But Martha never shows up, and one by one the members of the family are butchered by an unseen assailant.The movie begins fairly sedatelyBianchi allows 45 minutes or so to introduce characters and build the storybut once it hits its stride, The Murder Secret doesn't let up, delivering plenty of welcome gratuitous nudity and some rather outrageous death scenes.It is the mother who first reveals her charms during a brief 'sex' scene, but it is the cute (and busty) daughter who should be applauded for stripping off, not once but twice. It is immediately after her second strip that the violence really kicks in, with her bloody stabbing-in-the-shower scene. After that we get two great be-headings, one using a wooden chest(!), and another in which the young son gets decapitated by a chainsaw. This film certainly has balls, even dishing out the pain to the children!!Unfortunately, after these juicy murders, the film rapidly goes off the rails, and the story becomes a jumbled (but still quite engaging) mess. It finishes with a surprise 'twist' ending which is a complete disappointment, making no sense whatsoever and completely lacking in originality.But with its cheesy dialogue, no-holds barred killings, mad-as-a-bag-of-badgers killer, and OTT splatter, Bianchi's film is still a fairly fun way to pass the time.