Out last week in Rome, In the Market, directed by Lorenzo Lombardi. The Italians seem to be making an attempt to muscle in on the rural massacre move with Zampaglione’s Shadow and this, and while it’s nice to see some kind of genre cinema happening it would be nice if they took something a little more ambitious than torture porn as their inspiration. But, hey, people would have said the same thing during the heyday of the giallo, so maybe I’m just being cantankerous.
Anyway, this was a totally self funded project, just like Hypnosis, which was made for a similar (low) budget. The plot follows three youths, David, Sarah and Nicole, who embark on a road trip across the country to go and see their favorite rock band. Unfortunately not everything goes as planned: things start to get complicated when they decide to stop at a service station for fuel and have all their possessions during a robbery. Forced to look for a place to call the police, they continue along the road, until they arrive at a market, where, tired and hungry, they decide to shelter for the night, not knowing that inside it isn’t only animal flesh that’s for sale…
Reviews have been hit and miss. It’s picked up awards at several festivals, but mainstream critics have been less convinced. The cast features Ottaviano Blitch (from Shadow) and the special effects are by Sergio Stivaletti. It’s shown on a couple of dozen screens, but box office records are difficult to come by at this time of year because of the Italian holidays…
Here’s the trailer:
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