Carla Cassola Movies
- 1994
In this Italian comedy, eight lifelong friends attending their annual dinner party/reunion must re-evaluate their lives after they read a provocative letter from a group member who recently died. All of the remaining eight are retired. The letter suggests they all move into an empty convent and live the rest of their lives together. Though the eight seem outwardly comfortable and happy, the proposition becomes more enticing. As the evening wears on their truths are revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giorgio Albertazzi, Paolo Bonacelli, (more)
- 1993
Fausto (Gaetano Carotenuto) is a deaf boy who has been trained from birth to live exclusively in the hearing world. His mother (Anna Bonaiuto) has refused to allow him to meet or interact with other deaf children, much less learn sign language. As a consequence, he gets along (with some difficulties) in the hearing world; he holds a job at a bank, and has a "normal" girlfriend. His mother cannot or will not see that despite his "success," Fausto still feels like a second-class citizen since he will always be somewhat disadvantaged among the hearing. His spirits are boosted when he meets a girl (Chiara Caselli) who has dropped out of school; he is able to persuade her to return to school, and he is able to persuade the school board that she knows enough to sit for her final exams with her classmates. Eventually this sense of accomplishment enables him to win a victory of his own over his iron-willed mother. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chiara Caselli, Anna Bonaiuto, (more)
- 1992
- PG13
After a scientist creates superhuman warrior Red Skull for the Nazis during WW II, she defects and does the same for the U.S.-- injecting a polio victim to transform him into the titular heroic beefcake. Forty years after a confrontation which left Captain America frozen in Alaska, he is found and thawed and must take on Red Skull once again. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Salinger, Melinda Dillon, (more)
- 1991
- R
This stylishly photographed horror movie centers upon a beautiful, good-hearted schoolteacher whose life becomes a living hell after she is chosen to bear the son of Satan. Her horrible ordeal begins when an ancient enigmatic traveller places an ancient, supposedly extinct, insect up her nose. It crawls into her brain. She soon begins having terrifying dreams and more. When she learns the awful truth about her relationship with the Dark Master things get even worse. Still the baby is born and the poor woman faces a terrible and, genre-wise, surprising choice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this thriller, American novelist David Raybourne (Andrew McCarthy) accidentally becomes entangled in the Red Brigade's terrorist plan to kidnap Italian Premier Aldo Moro during a research trip to Rome. As the terrorists attempt to kill David, he and his photojournalist friend (Sharon Stone) must struggle to stay alive. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew McCarthy, Valeria Golino, (more)
The story of Italian horror maven Lucio Fulci's made-for-television gore-a-thon concerns a creepy dark house inhabited by a dotty old couple, Victor and Sarah, and their uptight maid, Maria, who is soon impaled (complete with close-ups of guts pouring from the wound) when she discovers the couple's nephew and his wife dead in the basement. Three young crooks decide to break in and rob the isolated villa, killing the handyman (Pier Luigi Conti) and the old couple before being trapped inside by vicious Dobermans in the yard. The house is filled with clocks, which all stop when Victor dies. Even the sand in an hourglass stops pouring. Then the clocks begin moving backwards and time follows suit, resulting in bizarre phenomena and eventually reviving the old couple, who get gory revenge. Soon the whole house is full of reanimated zombies, leading first to a bloodbath and then to a quirky and ironic conclusion which plays with the stereotypical "dream ending" in amusing ways. Karina Huff gets a knife jammed through her hand and there are chainsaws, throat-rending zombies, impalements, and numerous gaping stomach wounds. Keith Van Hoven co-stars with Paolo Paoloni, Bettine Milne, and Peter Hintz. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Italian cult favorite Lucio Fulci (Zombi 2) directed this atmospheric return to the Gothic themes which had brought him such success in the early '80s, and reminds the viewer of a pair of those early works in the opening scenes. Beginning with the horrifying torture, crucifixion, and flaming deaths of a group of nuns beneath a convent in 1486 Sicily (reminiscent of the opening murder of the warlock in L'Aldila), the film then flashes forward to modern-day Toronto, where Liza (Meg Register) has visions of their deaths at a séance (as in the opening of Paura nella Citta dei Morti-Viventi). Naturally, Liza soon finds herself in Sicily, along with archaeologist Professor Paul Evans (Brett Halsey) and his colleague, Porter (Al Cliver). Nosing around the convent, she breaks open the crypt, unleashing the nuns' expectedly bloody occult vengeance. People are impaled on spikes, a woman (Carla Cassola) has her eyes ripped out by her pet cats, a mean butcher (Lino Salemme) has a meathook driven through his neck and his tongue nailed to a board, and so on. Things reach a predictable frenzy with an angry mob, a nun with no face, demonic possession, and a man ripped completely in two. There's also a bizarre back story about the nuns seducing local youths and murdering them at the moment of orgasm to obtain their blood for Satanic rituals. None of it makes much sense, and most fans of the director seeking a return to form found Demonia a pale imitation of his notorious Gothics, particularly coming so soon after Michele Soavi's similar -- and more successful -- La Chiesa. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Carla (Anna Bonaiuto) is forcibly reminded of her mortality when her father dies. She is an attractive, mature and successful woman, and there have been a lot of men in her life. When she has to bury her father, she becomes obsessed with looking up every man who has ever meant anything to her. Quietly accompanying her and making sure he is there to pick up the pieces after each encounter is Gianni (Francesco Capitano), her current lover. Though he keeps to the background, he is no doormat, as his intent is to see to it that she does not forget him while she relives the past. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Bonaiuto, Francesco Capitano, (more)
Bill (John Phillip Law) grows up to seek revenge on the gang that killed his parents. He meets up with Ryan (Lee Van Cleef), a veteran gunslinger seeking his own revenge for the ones who put him in prison. The two proceed to shoot everything that moves in this violent spaghetti western. Bill eventually discovers Ryan was there when his parents were killed and is torn between killing Ryan and letting him ride off into the sunset. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Phillip Law, Lee Van Cleef, (more)
