Unknown Beyond (aka Maelstrom Il
Figlio dell'attrove)
2001, Italy
dir. Ivan Zuccon
cast: Michael
Segal, Emanuele Cerman, Roberta Marrelli
The Old Ones have
returned to Earth, shattering reality. A handful of survivors cling
on underground. They discover that the dread book Necronomicon holds
the key to banishing the Old Ones back to the void, and begin a
harrowing trek to locate the book in the ruins of Arkham, while
plagued by various avatars of the gods, undead witches and so on.
The Lovecraftian
apocalypse has been rarely tackled in literature and even more rarely
in film, with good reason as these horrors are best left to the
imagination, though this makes a half decent stab at it. The film's
got a nightmarish, disjointed quality that transcends its obvious
budget restrictions, and as such it's almost reminiscent of Lucio
Fulci films such as The Beyond. It evokes a sense of true
hopelessness. A few cheap effects can add atmosphere if done right, and the
boiling red sky does give the feeling of a world gone terribly wrong.
Having said that, despite the atmosphere, the film has some major flaws- the acting and
script's not very good, the undead witch seems like she's just
staggered on to set on the way home from a goth club and by the end
it's really confusing who's who, who's possessed and who's changed
sides. Not great, but some good ideas.
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