Having admired Pupi Avati's films, and having no clue about what this film was about, it was interesting to find this movie in DVD format. We don't recall if this film, a giallo, as far as genres go, ever was released commercially in this country, although, we can't recall that it was ever shown here. This horror picture was a collaboration between Pupi Avati and his brother Antonio.
Watching the film recently, it has a faded look, even in the well restored transfer to DVD. The prologue, as the titles begin to offer a vision of a mad man as we hear his voice mumbling about his colors as someone is stabbed in front of our eyes, which should have played without the titles over what we are watching. We realize it's the voice of the painter whose fresco Stefano has been commissioned to restore. The opening titles are a distraction and one wonders if the Avatis did it on purpose, or was just an oversight.
The film has some interesting ideas and it's creepy enough to send chills up one's spine. We realize from the start that the mad painter and his sisters were more demented and connected than really meets the eye. Stefano, the young fresco restorer that arrives in that rural community, should have insisted in staying in the hotel, where he is forced from, without explanation. Staying in the creepy haunted house where the old woman is bound to her bed, should have been avoided at all costs, but without that, there wouldn't have been a film!
"The House of the Laughing Windows" must have looked better when it was originally released. The plot, as a whole is uneven; we sense what will follow, but we are not prepared for the conclusion at the church where Stefano realizes he is completely helpless and has been trapped by the same forces he was trying to fight.
Pupi Avati has grown artistically since he directed this film, which should be seen as part as his growing and maturing as a director but only offers some minor surprises.
Watching the film recently, it has a faded look, even in the well restored transfer to DVD. The prologue, as the titles begin to offer a vision of a mad man as we hear his voice mumbling about his colors as someone is stabbed in front of our eyes, which should have played without the titles over what we are watching. We realize it's the voice of the painter whose fresco Stefano has been commissioned to restore. The opening titles are a distraction and one wonders if the Avatis did it on purpose, or was just an oversight.
The film has some interesting ideas and it's creepy enough to send chills up one's spine. We realize from the start that the mad painter and his sisters were more demented and connected than really meets the eye. Stefano, the young fresco restorer that arrives in that rural community, should have insisted in staying in the hotel, where he is forced from, without explanation. Staying in the creepy haunted house where the old woman is bound to her bed, should have been avoided at all costs, but without that, there wouldn't have been a film!
"The House of the Laughing Windows" must have looked better when it was originally released. The plot, as a whole is uneven; we sense what will follow, but we are not prepared for the conclusion at the church where Stefano realizes he is completely helpless and has been trapped by the same forces he was trying to fight.
Pupi Avati has grown artistically since he directed this film, which should be seen as part as his growing and maturing as a director but only offers some minor surprises.