Film composer Bruno (Andrea Ochipinti) is holed up in a rented villa to work on a score to a new horror movie. Yet it becomes clear that something isn’t what it seems as people in the area begin falling victim to a series of violent and extremely brutal murders, connected in some way to the film itself.
Originally planned as a four-part television serial, Bava’s shocking brutality in the murder sequences ruled that out completely, and instead it was re-edited it into an effective theatrical giallo movie. Coming twenty years after his father essentially invented the genre in 1963 with The Girl Who Knew Too Much, this film brought the cycle full circle and, with a notable few exceptions, comes at the tail end of the genre. Look out for an appearance by Michele Soavi, who can also be seen in Demons and Terror at the Opera at the festival.
