The House of Lost Souls
Alternative Titles: La casa della anime erranti; House of Lost Souls
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Year: 1989
Starring: Stefania Orsola Garello, Joseph Alan Johnson, Matteo Gazzolo, Charles Borromel
Review by @SkiesChloe. Follow her on Twitter for more discussion of Italian horror.
Context:
THE HOUSE OF LOST SOULS is the fourth & final film in the ironically named 'Doomed House' series, a project co-helmed by Umberto Lenzi and Lucio Fulci, who both offered two films each to the project covering such subjects as witchcraft, creepy kids, clocks and in this instance- misplaced souls. Initially pitched for Italian TV, the project was itself doomed from the start as all four films were deemed too violent and subsequently never aired. They only became available for mainstream viewing via DVD in the early 2000s.
Review:
Opening with a series of eerie exterior shots of the titular 'house'- we see a run-down industrial-style building surrounded by the rolling Alpine hills of northern Italy (the characters mention Bormio being nearby, but the film was actually shot in the Borgo Pace region, north of Perugia). Unlike the accompanying films in the series, the 'house' here is less stereotypically Italian and it's debatable how effective it works as a horror location.
We are introduced to our main character, Carla, who, in a head-scratching and forced exchange of dialogue with boyfriend Kevin is revealed to be a reluctant medium:
"hey, the doctors gave you a reasonable explanation- they said you have psychic powers!"
Our couple belong to a group of geology students who are returning to Rome after spending months digging for fossils in the mountains. In a baffling forty-second-long shot we follow their cars driving down a winding road, and it's at this point that you'd be forgiven for expecting more such 'baggy' instances of filler to come. Thankfully, this is actually a one-off and I suspect was originally shot with the intention of overlaying with the opening credits but was later changed. Anyway, after a brief stop at a service station (where they encounter a perky female reporter and her cameraman) our protagonists find themselves at a loss when their route home is blocked by a landslide. Unsure of what to do, Carla's young brother Gianluca (more on him later) mentions a sign he spotted for the 'Hotel Dell'Eremita/The Hermit Motel'. They decide to inquire about spending the night.
Although initially appearing deserted, the proprietor (Charles Borromel - ABSURD) appears at the door and grants them entry. He is not the hospitable type however, and swiftly leaves without a word after handing out three room keys. After making their way to their dusty hotel rooms, the ever curious Gianluca finds a calendar hanging on a door with an ominous circle around the 24th of August. The calendar is dated 1969...
It's not long before Carla is awoken by scratching noises from the ceiling and muffled crying from the basement. She of course heads downstairs alone to investigate and seemingly ends up in the basement from Lenzi's GHOSTHOUSE/LA CASA 3, from the previous year (I could be wrong, but do they look very similar). Down there, Carla quite literally has visions of a mass murder that seems to have taken place at some point in the motel's past. I say literally, because despite her psychic powers she witnesses this on an old TV screen (unplugged, of course)! While the rest of the group are drawn down by her screams, Gianluca is attacked by spiders and the other female of the group, Mary, is locked in a walk-in freezer by a disembodied arm. Luckily though, they manage to pass the night without further incident.
Things continue in this vein the next day, as the group splits up, some to investigate the history of the motel while the rest stay behind to act as ghost fodder. We get our first fatality at the 37 minute mark, where, in a bold move Lenzi offs the annoying child character Gianluca via a washing machine decapitation! I'm sure many HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY fans wish Lucio Fulci had thought of this eight years earlier (sorry Bob)!
The motel's former guests gradually make themselves known and they are an eclectic bunch; a young baseball-hat-wearing boy, a middle-aged woman and even a Buddhist monk (played by Hal Yamanouchi, EMMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS; 2019 AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK)! The rest of the group are picked off one-by-one- each decapitated in highly improbable ways (dumbwaiter?). Of course, our protagonists eventually put two-and-two together and discover their supernatural attackers are the 'lost souls' who were murdered by the motel proprietor back in the '60's. They become trapped inside when the doors and windows are inexplicably sealed, and decide the only way to vanquish the ghosts is to find their heads (which have apparently been missing all this time) and burn them. They achieve this with a handy metal detector (they're geologists, remember) and save the day with an exorcism by fire. Though by this stage there aren't many living souls left to save!
THE HOUSE OF LOST SOULS is clearly a very silly film which rarely comes close to being scary but it has enough substance to appeal to fans who know what to expect from late eighties Italian horror. The budget is obviously tiny, evidenced by the minimal locations, but this works in the films favour as the longer we spend in the motel with our doomed protagonists the more Lenzi allows the atmosphere and the environment to close in. The pace is respectably swift, and once the first head rolls the film never really lets up until the fiery finale. There are some sloppy moments however, such as Mary entering the kitchen via a set of glass doors which magically change to solid wood in the next shot, and there are even a few boom mics slipping into view (pause on 25:54)! Not to mention some truly bizarre dialogue. In my opinion it is the most entertaining of the 'Doomed House' series, despite feeling like a retread of Lenzi's earlier film GHOSTHOUSE. Which if you want a more action-packed haunted house effort then that may be worth checking out first. Although GHOSTHOUSE doesn't have a creepy Buddhist monk rolling around the halls in a wheelchair...
Version Reviewed:
This film is currently up on YouTube in it's entirety. Alternatively enjoy a brief hilarious clip below.
To discuss this movie and other genre gems with the reviewer join the conversation over at Twitter and follow her @SkiesChloe.
