Billed as an arthouse horror film, this is also labelled as the third part of the ANIMA PERSA trilogy. I am something of a newcomer to the films of Director Cosmotropia de Xam and am currently unfamiliar with the 'Malacreanza' and 'Il Mondo Perduto', the earlier entries to this series, and would say this stands reasonably well as a 'standalone' experience. That is to say, in keeping with the style of other Phantasma films, the storyline and its telling are so oblique and deliberately unspecific that there are no particular plot strands from previous installments you need to be particularly aware of.
Here, Cinzia (Maya Schneider) and her partner/husband John (Giorgio Anselmi) travel to Venice and meet Professor Freudstein (Theo Tetra Grammaton) and the beautiful, blind Ana (Shivabel Coeurnoir), billed simply as Shivabel. Anna appears to be the link between all three films.
A beautifully photographed travelogue of the city, together with a growing number of surreal, stuttering images (not suitable for epileptic viewers) convincingly portrays an emerging feeling of unease. Like the best Rollin/Franco projects, there is a fine balance between seduction and morbid danger. Glimpses of her younger self convince Cinzia all is not well, and frustratingly for her, John tries to dismiss her fears scientifically. In common with other Cosmotropia de Xam directed projects, images and experiences of an increasingly eccentric, bizarre nature gradually take over, with Mater Suspiria Vision's soundtrack further ushering us into insanity.
These films are often loosely told (or open to interpretation), frightening and compelling. Addictive even.
Here, Cinzia (Maya Schneider) and her partner/husband John (Giorgio Anselmi) travel to Venice and meet Professor Freudstein (Theo Tetra Grammaton) and the beautiful, blind Ana (Shivabel Coeurnoir), billed simply as Shivabel. Anna appears to be the link between all three films.
A beautifully photographed travelogue of the city, together with a growing number of surreal, stuttering images (not suitable for epileptic viewers) convincingly portrays an emerging feeling of unease. Like the best Rollin/Franco projects, there is a fine balance between seduction and morbid danger. Glimpses of her younger self convince Cinzia all is not well, and frustratingly for her, John tries to dismiss her fears scientifically. In common with other Cosmotropia de Xam directed projects, images and experiences of an increasingly eccentric, bizarre nature gradually take over, with Mater Suspiria Vision's soundtrack further ushering us into insanity.
These films are often loosely told (or open to interpretation), frightening and compelling. Addictive even.
