The Manetti brothers have been busy recently: only a few months after The Arrival of Wang they have a new release, a horror film called Paura.
According to the blurb on the FrightFest site (where it’s showing), the plot goes like this:
There are situations in life that are better avoided. Marco, Simone and Ale have been friends for a long time, living in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome where nothing ever happens. The boys consider themselves lucky when they find themselves holding the keys to a beautiful villa outside of the city. The villa belongs to Marchese Lanzi, who will be away over the weekend. The Marquese is a strange character, a rich collector of vintage cars, carefully looked after by the shop where he works. The three boys can not resist and plunge into the luxury without restraints. But there is one thing they should not do: go to the cellar…
According to La reppublica:
Still a rarity in our cinema, during the 1960s the Italian horror film introduced sexual drives and perversions on screen through the films of Bava, Margheriti and other B-movie masters. And we don’t have to go too far to see connections with the Manetti brothers, aka MArco and Antonio Manetti. One of the characters of Paura, Simone, attends a university lecture where the professor explains the poetry of Mario Bava’s work… After a long introduction, which is necessary to establish the characters, the rate of suspense is mainttained at a high level until the very end. The Manetti’s appear to have learned their lessons from Bava and Argento… and add a does of splatter to the traditional recipe.
Some other reviews have been less positive, but this sounds very hopeful. I like the Manetti Borthers, who are pretty much carrying the torch where Italian exploitation cinema goes. It’s also worth noting that this has another connection to the golden age of Italian exploitation cinema: it was produced by Luciano Martino’s Dania Film (Dania have made hundreds of films from the early 70s on, from poliziotteschi to splatter movies)
Here’s the trailer:
