The Well

Film - 2024

7,1

48.4K

The Well it's a movie with Lauren LaVera, Claudia Gerini, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Linda Zampaglione, Jonathan Dylan King Full cast. Directed by Federico Zampaglione. Original title The Well, runtime 91 minutes. Genre Horror.

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Review of

Emiliano Baglio

At the moment the gamble represented by The well appears to have been won. It is Federico Zampaglione himself who certifies it in a post on Facebook in which he writes that "with over 17,000 spectators... it is officially the totally independent Italian horror film far from large distributions... which has grossed the most in the last 15 years". It wasn't easy given that the film was released in the middle of August with few screenings, mostly at night, all without taking into account the absurd ban on children under 18 which, for a horror film, seemed like a real punishment. Instead The well yes is also preparing to be distributed in 104 countries, including the United States. It would be all too easy to ruin the party by focusing on the film's defects, which are there, starting with a dubbing which has, rightly, received unanimous criticism and which often hope for the death of the protagonists so as not to hear from them again. However, Zampaglione loves him; one senses a deep love for horror and a knowledge of the genre and its rules which ensures that the director knows well what the public wants, also because the first potential spectator is himself. It almost seems that the leader of Tiromancino makes the films he would like to see and he does so with passion, without getting too big or giving himself the airs of a great director. The well recalls one of those b- 80s movies often made for the video cassette market or for television; on the other hand, we are talking about a super independent film; made in record time and with a low budget. The main story is that of Lisa Gray (Lauren LaVera) who arrived in Italy, in the small town of Sambuci, to restore a painting owned by Duchess Emma Malvisi (Claudia Gerini). It's impossible not to think to the atmosphere of The House with Laughing Windows by Pupi Avati who is alone Read all

Review of

Luigi Pastore

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Federico Zampaglione's film is the true relaunch of Italian horror, like that beautiful cinema that made us fall in love with our great masters. At first viewing you don't immediately realize what you're looking at; you see it precisely as a journey on the carousel of horrors, a macabre dance of brutal and bloody scenes in a gothic narrative in which the ghosts of the collective imagination echo. Only on a second viewing do you discover those keys to understanding the true essence of him. Federico Zampaglione, the director of horror films who sings romantic songs, here really tells us about his boundless love for the genre, especially the Italian one. His dark romanticism takes us by the hand in this dark fairy tale, where the monster is perhaps something different from what he appears to us. The director's ability lies precisely in disorientating the spectator, showing only one side of the moon, while behind it lies an underlying poetics that contrasts with the cruelty of a ruthless horror, right up to the end, which suggests that the true monstrosity is in the human soul, and that victims and executioners can also exchange roles. THE WELL is undoubtedly the Italian horror film we have been waiting for for a long time, which has already become a media phenomenon, which has involved many fans of independent genre cinema, and which is appreciated precisely for that bloody taste that only a true enthusiast like the director manages to represent with an international staging. Is it Federico Zampaglione's masterpiece? Probably yes, also given the results at the Italian box office, which in the second week of programming continues to remain in the top ten and, almost simultaneously, is released in cinemas in New York and Los Angeles, so much so that a contagious enthusiasm explodes, immediately renamed THE WELL MANIA. Come on Read all

Review of

Balkan Castevet

Italian horror directed by Federico Zampaglione who draws heavily on Italian horror films of the 70s, taking inspiration from Argento, Avati and Bava, mixing the Gothic setting with moments of intense and crude violence. The staging of the film is not sloppy, despite the low budget and Zampaglione knows how to bring out good camera movements, some directorial ideas and a good management of artisanal effects and splatter. The major defects are instead on the writing and acting side, on this last aspect I partially give the benefit of the doubt in when I saw the film dubbed. The beginning of the film with the protagonist Lisa inside the bus headed for Sambuci is very reminiscent of the incipit of various 70s horror films and possibly also Suspiria as well as the incipit of the film where Lisa, from the United States , is called to restore a painting reduced to terrible conditions due to fire at the castle of Duchess Emma Malvisi. It is very reminiscent of The House with Laughing Windows by Pupi Avati but also The Bloody Medallion by Dallamano. Lisa looking out the window with the reflection of her face is a warning for the ending of the film, the reflection recalls the double, the two souls and therefore the narrative arc that will see Lisa as the protagonist. The narrative of the film is mostly divided into two blocks, Lisa restoring the painting inside the castle with the presence of Duchess Emma and her daughter Giulia and the team of biologists that Lisa meets on the bus, who will be prisoners in the basement of the castle, victims of ferocious violence. In writing, the team of biologists has practically no characterization therefore for the spectator at the spectator cares little about their outcome. The splatter moments are enjoyable and with good artisanal effects, in the film for example there is a back where the skin is torn, a torn eyeball and much more in this respect, but it remains Read all

Below the bar of

Rael70

When you commit to carrying out any project, you can implement various techniques to achieve the final objective but one thing cannot and must never be missing: the essential element. A dessert without sugar tastes of nothing even if the finest ingredients are used, enrolling in a course of studies without having any motivation makes no sense, participating in a marathon without training is idiocy. Cinema does not escape this rule: as I have already written several times (recently in "The Watchers"), there are genres in which, regardless of the final technical quality (direction, photography, interpretation, soundtrack, setting, VFX), one element must always be present and highlighted: tension or, even better, shivering (from the English thrill from which, consequently, the term thriller derives, i.e. making the spectator shudder, keeping the spectator constantly in tension). Genres like Horror have their backbone in the thriller element, without ifs or buts: there are films that have the ultimate aim of disgusting the spectator, others of scaring him every ten minutes by making him jump from his chair and still others that frighten by creating , in the viewer's mind, night terrors that are not so easy to escape in a short time. Everyone can expect certain aspects from a film belonging to this particular genre, personally I expect tension and mystery from a horror film, beyond more or less bloody, more or less explicit dismemberments: the butcher's shop does not generate tension and even less mystery (only the (the unattainable “Martyrs” by Laugier succeeded) It is said that in Italy “genre” films are no longer made and, at the same time, great importance is given to the so-called “auteur cinema”: both labels, created by critics and journalists, they are hateful and have a divisive function (separating the mainstream from the "cultured" elite); Personally, I never listened Read all

Review of

Cinedan

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film that celebrates horror of

Witchcatcher

Finally a film that celebrates local horror, with care, love and wisdom. Adding a whole new and personal world that makes the film precious. The things that struck me most are the growing tension, the very effective direction and the fantasy dimension that leads to the terrifying, very well represented. It wasn't easy to do a job like this, which recalled the great cults without falling into the "already seen". Here there is aesthetics, new, vintage and fairytale. Very nice! Read all

plot

A young restorer travels to a small village to restore a medieval painting to its former glory. She will put her life in danger due to a curse attached to the painting.