Saturday was the day of Outpost II: Black Sun, the awaited sequel of the first Outpost, where Nazi Zombies made us bite our nails. Now they are back in a movie that despite the big production and the third one already filmed, it did not deliver what expected. The story needs time to take off and slowly builds suspense, too slowly. By the time there is some Nazi Zombie action, the interest is already at a minimum level. The make-up is stunning and the twists of the plot are quite clever, but big explosions, big sets, and big guns do not make an interesting movie if the pace of the narration does not help. Being already the second chapter of three (so far) makes it also propaedeutic to the next sequel, preparing the audience for a new film to come and stealing interest from itself.
It was great to see the Nazi Zombie soldiers in person though…
This 13th edition of FrightFest saw the presence of quite a few Italian guests. After Dario Argento himself it was time for the Manetti brothers to present and screen their new horror called Paura 3D. Shot in Rome on a low budget, Paura 3D see three friends entering the mansion of a high maintenance Marquess to enjoy the weekend while he is not there. Soon they discover that someone else is in the house and when the Marquess comes back earlier than expected, troubles will hit the fan. A surprisingly good use of 3D, with every scene full of details and a depth that fills the eyes, and a few tricks to make everyone jump on their seat, make Paura 3D an enjoyable horror-thriller. Peppe Servillo delivers an astonishing performance as the psychotic torturer, but it’s the two brothers’ long time experience in story telling that makes the difference even though the plot and the story are not never-before-seen. Special effects icon Sergio Stivaletti gave the two directors a hand in dealing with decapitations and tortures, but it is not only about blood and gore; the final sequence in the dark, the chilling basement, the creepy shaving, these are the details that make Paura 3D an interesting entry in the list of the few good Italian horrors that came out in the last years.
The new Federico Zampaglione’s movie, Tulpa, was one of the most awaited films of the festival. The talented Italian director had his breakthrough with the clever and disturbing Shadow in 2009, and now he is back with a “giallo” tinted with blood. Produced by beautiful Italian icon Maria Grazia Cucinotta and starring Claudia Gerini and Michele Placido, Tulpa is a horror-thriller than winks at the early Dario Argento works. Unfortunately for
Zampaglione Argento is still the master of that genre, and surpassing his style and visual talent is still very hard. Nonetheless Tulpa is a well crafted movie with some very gory scenes that sees Lisa (Claudia Gerini) living a double life, manager by day and promiscuous lover by night at the Tulpa Club, where all the senses are loosened and the mind goes free. The only problem is that someone is killing all the people close to Lisa in both of her worlds, making her life miserable.
A crude opening scene sets the bar already high for the rest of the film and it’s great to see
Claudia Gerini handling very well the part, performed almost 
entirely in English and with a natural confidence during some intense hot sequences. What it is not utterly clear is how funny Zampaglione intended the movie to be. Unconditioned smirking and simpering spread throughout the audience, and it was not sure if some scenes were meant to be ironically tongue-in-cheek or the acting was a bit off, not delivering the right message. Tulpa is surely one of the most interesting Italian movies for its courage of venturing in a genre that has not been explored for years, and it is also appreciated the effort of Zampaglione and the producers to try to revive the Italian horror cinema. “ A genre” – Zampaglione said – “that has been mistreated for many years” and it is right to keep making movies like Tulpa and giving talented directors a chance to express themselves without thinking too much about profits.
