Italian horror director Francesco Longo (VENIA MORTIS; CLAUSTROPOBIA; NYCTOPHOBIA) returns with his latest film; CLARA - a supernatural tale that has the potential to make him an international name.

 

CLARA is inspired from the 'Villa Clara' legend, a story about an old haunted Italian manor, CLARA tells the story of Helen Ludovisi, a New York native of Italian origin, who after graduating from an art academy inherits an old spooky mansion back in the old country.

 

Accompanied by her boyfriend and three members of the New York state cultural heritage superintendence, the group head to Italy with a plan to restore the run down building. They know however that they will be sharing this home with not someone, but something else - Clara Ludovisi. Who in the nineteenth century was monstrously killed and hidden behind the walls of the Villa by her father who believed her powers of clairvoyance to have been granted from the Devil and that her angry spirit still dwells in the house today.

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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. 

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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, Annamaria Lorusso, David White, Orfeo Orlando, Aurora Elli and Mirko Giacchetti amongst others. I hope that even if you are unfamiliar with the director that you might have seen a couple of films that the cast have starred in such as INSANE; IN ARTICULO MORTIS; AGE OF THE DEAD or even the TV series THE REAPING (check Amazon Prime).

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CLARA will be shot in English increasing its accessibility and if the team behind this can get the distribution right and they continue in the same vein as the teaser trailer there is no reason at all it cannot be a big success.