Another brick in the wall
Italian horror director Francesco Longo (VENIA MORTIS; NYCTOPHOBIA) returns with his latest film; CLARA - THE MOVIE [not to be confused with the upcoming animated comedy from Image Pictures] which is inspired by the Italian ghost story in which a young girl named Clara is walled up alive (very Edgar Allen Poe) by her father all because of the paranormal gift that she possessed terrifies the man.
As time passes, visitors to the mansion in which this horrible event happened would describe hearing the sounds of a girl wailing, the gentle playing of a piano and sometimes even the apparition of Clara herself. However it is the reported deaths of several visitors that add a further gruesome element to the story and set it perhaps up there with HOUSE ON THE HILL and other classic 'haunted house' movies allbeit with a little touch of the modern Hollywood takes on the ghost / paranormal story in the vein of OUIJA and its peers. Clara is certainly not someone you want to mess around contacting.
The trailer sets the scene perfectly as a group of friends do just that and as we watch the tension rises and although the climax does not quite match the build up, here for the trailer perhaps more of a blunt audio cue would have been more effective, a la Hollywood 'cattle-prod' horror; which incidentally is loosely attempted but with little conviction right at the end. Despite this minor gripe however CLARA - THE MOVIE looks a promising entry into the sub genre with the potential for plenty of tension and scares.
Meanwhile, although only brief we catch glimpses of some terrific shots (looking down the circular stairway for example) and the terrific use of darkness to set the mood, something following on from the directors last short film NYCTOPHOBIA and it is good to see that the lessons learned working on that have been put into practice here.
Now with a confirmed cast including rising star Roberto D'Antona as well as Italian genre mainstay Michael Segal along with Veronika Urban, Roberto Ramon, Orfeo Orlando, Olga Torrico, Giada Cameriere and Mikita lagunow I hope that even if you are unfamiliar with the director that you might have seen a couple of the casts films such as INSANE; IN ARTICULO MORTIS; AGE OF THE DEAD or even the TV series THE REAPING (check Amazon Prime). Furthermore what the attachment Roberto D'Antona and Michael Segal bring to the film is a certain level of reassurance of quality, not that director Francesco Longo needs it if you have seen any of his previous work.
The teaser trailer was produced by Moonlight Legacy Productions in co-production with SetteFilms, Theater 7/2 and Urca tv. Keep up to date with the films latest news over at the official Facebook page.
On a completely unrelated note, is it just me or does actress Olga Torrico bear a resemblance to Ashley Laurence from the Hellraiser films? Or is this just a weak excuse for me to post her picture?
