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Absolutely Fantastic

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Of the nine films directed by Marcello Avallone, only two were horrors: the first was an unremarkable demonic movie by the name of Specters, which not only suffered from a dull and utterly nonsensical plot, but offered little in the way of genuine scares, and even failed to compensate with that staple of 80s Italian horror, OTT gore. That film was followed two years later by Maya, which was just as incomprehensible, if not more-so (that ending! WTF?), but at least presented viewers with a unique setting, a reasonable amount of atmosphere, and more than enough nasty violence to satisfy the gore-hounds (along with plenty of gratuitous female nudity for thems that like it).Mariella Valentini plays Lisa Slivak, who travels to Venezuela to identify the body of her father, who has died in mysterious circumstances. As Lisa investigates, with the help of rather unlikeable local lothario Peter (Peter Phelps), numerous people begin to die in unusual and gruesome ways. Quite who or what is behind these bizarre deaths is beyond me—the plot is kinda hard to fathom out—but the killings are both creative and sadistic: a would-be rapist has his leg crushed by a truck before getting his head impaled by a metal pole, a naked Latino hottie gets her face bashed in by unseen forces while in the bath (her nose splitting open as it hits the edge of the tub), and another victim is suspended by fishing hooks in her neck. To add to the nastiness, there's also a stomach churning scene where a 'finger-wrestler' has his fighting digit snapped in two (blood spurting from the messy wound), and a strange ritual that sees a man vomiting up live snakes (similar to those weird Hong Kong black magic movies of the early 80s).5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

More late eighties Italian horror from the director of Spectres! This time, absolute jerk Peter is some American ex-pat slob working in a bar, sleeping with a local gas station attendant, and gambling his money away on some strange finger wrestling matches (where one guy gets his finger torn off!) when his mate Solomon (600 year old William Berger) gets mysteriously murdered at some Mayan temple. Solomon's daughter turns up looking for answers and Peter gives it about five minutes for her to mourn before he starts hitting on her, the douchebag.Just in case you don't think he's an a**hole, Peter also hits on his bosses wife (the stunning Mirrela D'Angelo) who's having an affair with some guy, and goes deep sea diving while wearing headphones and chewing gum. Two redneck muppets turn up to get drunk and try and rape Peter's girlfriend, which results in some supernatural force turning up and killing both of them in typical twilight era Italian horror film style.Solomon's daughter's a bit curious as to why these two guys have the same wounds as her Dad, but the local doctor's giving her the brush off. Around this time she finds out the local legend of some spirit who tried to wipe out the local tribe with the help of the God of death, but got thwarted and vowed to come back. Has this demon returned? Peter's girlfriend catches Peter (the fud) getting lovey-dubby with Solomon's daughter and goes a bit mental, trashing Peter's apartment but then getting herself killed rather graphically in her bath. The local police don't seem to be too bothered though as Peter isn't even a suspect and just goes about his daily business. Oh – I forgot to mention the creepy kid that turns up to frighten the crap out of people, and that looking in a mirror in this film means death. And that guy that pukes up snakes.It takes about an hour of the film before anybody starts trying to unravel the mystery, but you won't be bored as the demon works it's way through the cast, where people are pierced through the mouth with steel poles, have their faces torn to shreds, have their nose split open (eww), get lifted of the ground by hooks and generally meet fates that anyone appearing in a late eighties Italian film generally meet. There's also plenty of female flesh on display, but I could have done without the two attempted rapes, thanks.So, yet another late eighties gore/boobs film that's pretty good. Nice, non-sensical ending too, as per the norm for this kind of film.

Italian horror has never especially depended on coherence. Fulci and others made up for it for it with the horror of their visions, Argento and his like made up for it with the intensity of their art. I don't fault Maya for lack of coherence, but lack of conviction, it has the right moves for the most part but comes off insipid in the end. It has an interesting mythological basis, the resurgence of an evil Mayan king (the awesomely named Ze Bul Bai) who has conquered death and wants revenge, prompting horror, but while it isn't lacking in engaging incident it has little anchor. The story sees one Lisa Slivak coming to a Venezuelan town on the death of her father and becoming entwined in the weirdness he was researching, indeed became part of himself, with inexplicable death all around building to a climax of sorts. Director Marcello Avallone is adept in creating a sense of unusual place, a certain heady atmosphere that goes a long way towards carrying the film, he also has a real knack for tension, through filters and lighting the ability to summon menace in quiet images, disturbance in the calm before the storm. He also has a knack for sharp and shocking violence, though the film is never all that gruesome (don't worry, there is a bit of cool gore such as some fish-hook fun) the nasty bits do tend to pack quite a nifty punch. Where the film falls is its lack of a notable hero or villain. Mariella Valentini is perfectly pleasant as Lisa, but hardly memorable, while Peter Phelps does his best as the male lead Peter, but regrettably is written as sort of a dick. There isn't anyone else to pin interest on either, other characters are mostly either forgettable or dick-heads that deserve demise. As for villainy you can forget about it, this is supernatural territory but the what behind the grisliness on show never puts in an appearance and is never really concrete. And this isn't a subtle show either, just one where things don't really add up. Still, for the most part this is a good watch, only really coming apart in the final block. There's some cool bloodshed, nudity, a Hong Kong style puke scene and some decent atmosphere, its all pretty entertaining. Worth a look for connoisseurs I think, don't expect too is the best way to get the best of its charms say I.

Horror veteran William Berger stars as Dr. Slivak,who is murdered while undertaking a study of a Mayan pyramid.A number of bizarre supernatural murders follow,while Slivak's daughter and old friend attempt to solve the mystery."Maya" by Marcello Avallone is actually an international production that was filmed in Venezuela.The film offers plenty of sex and blood and several truly atmospheric moments.There's even a cockfight and an exorcism which concludes with the victim vomiting live snakes.Marcello Avallone has to be one of the most underrated Italian horror directors."Maya" is his crowning achievement-a masterful and highly innovative horror flick somewhat reminiscent to Lucio Fulci's masterpiece "The Beyond".It is also very well made,with beautiful photography and plenty of good actors to match.Give this overlooked Italian horror a look.8 out of 10.