D'Amato's directorial debut already incorporates his two major concerns – eroticism and gore; another element which, however, comes to the fore here (a pitfall of many a novice film-maker!) is an ostentatious approach to technique – with shots taken from any number of improbable angles! That said, the elliptical plot is nothing to scoff at either (indeed, whenever one thinks of having unraveled the mystery, another twist turns up to mystify the viewer, and this keeps up till the very last image!): to be fair, this was quite a bold move for a first feature and that is why, for all its faults, the film is not one to be easily ignored.
Incidentally, the central theme of resurrection was what linked it with the Christopher Lee vehicle THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM (1967; with which it was actually paired on DVD); while Klaus Kinski's presence (and co-star billing) in this was basically its selling-point, he exits the picture before it is even half over! He plays a Frankenstein-like doctor called in at a country estate to nurse a carriage accident/amnesiac victim played by Ewa Aulin (after years of research, he conveniently discovers the life-restoring formula on the back of a medallion she wears!) but, while he spends minutes on end carefully preparing the potion, is killed off precisely at his moment of triumph!!
As for the girl, she proves not quite the ingénue she at first appears (with a complicated back-story to boot!); seducing both the master and mistress of the house, she eventually drives the latter into a jealous fury which sees her walling up the still-living heroine in the basement! However, she re-appears as a vengeful wraith (with the girl's features occasionally reverting to her true decrepit state for horrific effect) with everybody who had in some way wronged her meeting all sorts of grisly demises (including her crazed and hunchbacked medical student brother – scratched to death by a cat in extreme close-up! – and the young aristocrat's doctor father Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, who had first impregnated the girl and then saw her die on the operating table!!).
Berto Pisano's score, which mixes moody interludes with a terrific romantic theme, emerges as one of the film's definite assets. By the way, this was Aulin (who had shot to stardom with CANDY [1968])'s penultimate effort; since its follow-up – Jorge Grau's well-regarded BLOOD CEREMONY (1973) – proved to be in similar vein, I will also be checking that one out presently...
Incidentally, the central theme of resurrection was what linked it with the Christopher Lee vehicle THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM (1967; with which it was actually paired on DVD); while Klaus Kinski's presence (and co-star billing) in this was basically its selling-point, he exits the picture before it is even half over! He plays a Frankenstein-like doctor called in at a country estate to nurse a carriage accident/amnesiac victim played by Ewa Aulin (after years of research, he conveniently discovers the life-restoring formula on the back of a medallion she wears!) but, while he spends minutes on end carefully preparing the potion, is killed off precisely at his moment of triumph!!
As for the girl, she proves not quite the ingénue she at first appears (with a complicated back-story to boot!); seducing both the master and mistress of the house, she eventually drives the latter into a jealous fury which sees her walling up the still-living heroine in the basement! However, she re-appears as a vengeful wraith (with the girl's features occasionally reverting to her true decrepit state for horrific effect) with everybody who had in some way wronged her meeting all sorts of grisly demises (including her crazed and hunchbacked medical student brother – scratched to death by a cat in extreme close-up! – and the young aristocrat's doctor father Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, who had first impregnated the girl and then saw her die on the operating table!!).
Berto Pisano's score, which mixes moody interludes with a terrific romantic theme, emerges as one of the film's definite assets. By the way, this was Aulin (who had shot to stardom with CANDY [1968])'s penultimate effort; since its follow-up – Jorge Grau's well-regarded BLOOD CEREMONY (1973) – proved to be in similar vein, I will also be checking that one out presently...