The House With Laughing Windows review

Reviews

Sep 25th 2006 By Total Film

Often whispered about but rarely seen, this 30-year-old Italian slasher finally gets a no-frills UK release. Avoiding the stylised sexual violence of contemporaries like Dario Argento, director Pupi Avati delivers an intricate Gothic giallo about an art restorer (Lino Capolicchio) who uncovers more blood than paint when he tries to restore a fresco in a rural Italian church. Set in a freakshow village that’s just one banjo short of inbred insanity, Avati’s shocker scores high on atmosphere with a series of malign moments: snails in fridges, bedridden old crones and a Mini-Me midget. Much like his creepy zombie curio Zeder, it’s a slow-burn narrative puzzle box. Here, though, the twist’s in the climax, an unintentionally giggly descent into cross-dressing delirium. Connoisseurs of vintage Italian scares will spot the influence of Lucio Fulci’s Don’t Torture A Duckling and those who prefer their horror without spaghetti scares might want to order something else.