Nightmare Symphony Review from TetroVideo!
There is simply no need whatsoever to introduce Domiziano Cristopharo to readers of Severed Cinema. This restless workaholic of the underground scene fills pages upon pages of the site. His films and those of whom he contributes are a damn good majority of the time. Nightmare Symphony is something of a change of pace but one which has been telegraphed courtesy of a couple of recent films. This is mellow compared to his older creations.
Beginning with a shower scene murder which includes neat little winks to any fans of Fulci’s The New York Ripper, and Michele Soavi’s Stagefright, we’re into something quite different this time around as I said. This has a Giallo feel with steady pacing. Domiziano is offering a very mature beast here. I don’t mean his films are childish, in fact, his latest offerings such as eROTik (see review of eROTik here) and The House Guest(see review The House Guest here) are slowing down and concentrating on building a strong tale with characters who properly exist and breathe for us. Both of those films must be two of the best I’ve seen in the last few years from the whole horror genre.
We meet our main character, Frank, who is a director and he’s boarding a train, briefly trying to entertain two bewildered children whom sport the darkest tired eyes ever. He’s met at the destination station by a young man and they walk through a shopping mall together as the funky music plays and credits run, unaware he’s being followed by a woman. The mood, sound, and film style are of the ‘70s but in a modern setting. This seems to be where Domiziano’s head was at whilst creating this quiet gem.
At his temporary apartment he briefly meets his drunken neighbour and looks like a guy who is a fish out of water in his surroundings. He meets with Isabella, a colleague in the industry and learns of the death of Catherine, an actress (who we saw at the start) and his close friend. Isabella explains there has been many others, possibly the work of a serial killer. Watching some old behind the scenes footage of an old horror with zombies, he says “They said, no dead people, no movie.” Yes, a few golden age Italian directors certainly heard that line from producers. Things aren’t much different this time around either — he’s had to make changes to the original script and falls out with Antonio, his writer, to appease the producers. The lament of many directors.
Meanwhile the mysterious woman is still following Frank, and he’s beginning to struggle through some rather bizarre dreams. Soon enough, Antonio is killed mercilessly by being force-fed his own pages accompanied to some loud death metal music. Naturally as we progress the deaths mount up at a steady rate.
Domiziano said to me this is a homage to Lucio Fulci’s Cat in the Brain (see review of Cat in the Brain here). However, other than Frank Laloggia playing himself as the director, there are no similarities until the conclusion. I feel if I’m truthful, Nightmare Symphony is a huge gamble. The multitude of his fans will expect a standard hardcore gore and sex presentation but will scratch their heads somewhat because this is the opposite end of the scale. It has drama, comedy, and a bit of gore chucked in. It’s a Giallo.
The biggest stunner to regular readers of Severed Cinema is this time around I have negatives with the positives, and unfortunately the negs outweigh the possies.
In my opinion, I didn’t really feel it as much as I did eROTik and The House Guest. This is down to Frank’s performance throughout; his mannerisms didn’t gel with me. But, be that as it may, I can see the path Nightmare Symphony was taking, carefully and steadily building a mood with humour, but the difference with, say, eROTik, is that the central character was one who could say many things with silence, wherein Frank chats and doesn’t appear too interested in his surroundings and the film in general. Sadly, when the central role is shallow and totally uninteresting it kind of decomposes all around him including dragging the story down somewhat. Frank LaLoggia plays himself, he is a director, having been the bloke behind 1981’s, Fear No Evil and later, The Lady in White.
Look, I’m sure many people will find something to enjoy, the gore is here, and the lighting certainly helps the mood in parts, yet there’s nothing gripping, no tenseness which is standard in any of Domiziano’s films. I like a red splashed bloody movie as much as the next horror fan, but it isn’t the be all and end all for me. I balance with acting, and a damn good story. If it has neither, fine I’ll go with the gore, but
Nightmare Symphony doesn’t have enough of that either. None of the main characters compelled me into the film, I always find in a Domiziano flick the richness and depth of those who live and suffer within are key regardless of what the movie is, because that is just a home for who you find.
Onto the positives then. If you feel a bit deflated with the first forty minutes here and there, stick with it. For all my grumblings about Frank, and those right beside him etcetera, in fact, I found myself liking the lesser players far more, and they were used very well, red herrings and all. Some of the murder-set-pieces were startling, just not original because they were all homages and love letters to the Giallo genre. The nightclub deaths were marvellous. You can feel it, with help of the pulsing music through the walls. When you watch that segment, you’ll totally dig it. I particularly adore the mask the killer wears and smiled every time thinking of the name of the movie Frank is tirelessly putting together. Also, the long and surreal chase sequence late into the film is masterfully shot, again the music adds a sweet layer – so bloody wonderfully 1970s!!
Oh, the music… Antony Coia does it again as per usual with a crisp quality score, then adding some Fabio Frizzi tinkerings into the cauldron totally ups the soundtrack. I love it!! The final half hour is unstoppable and builds more of a relentless pace, which, at one point annoyed me thinking a really cop-out twist had been initiated into the event, but then it all makes sense and takes us to Fulci’s Cat in the Brain in spirit and soul.
All in all, and above everything else, Nightmare Symphony is, like I said, a love letter with many crimson kisses to those lost golden years of Italian and Euro Giallo films. Those lush minutes spent watching murder mysteries shrouded in dream like qualities. Nightmare Symphony catches all of that almost to perfection here and there but falls down with some ingredients. The actual grand finale brings back some of that skin creeping uneasiness found in Domiziano’s original and especially his remixed edition of House of Flesh Mannequins.
A special mention goes to Poison Rouge (American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice) who is steadily becoming to Domiziano what actress Daniela Doria was to Lucio Fulci. “Hmm, how shall we kill you this time I wonder…?”
Directed by: Domiziano Cristopharo, Daniele Trani | Written by: Antonio Tentori, Domiziano Cristopharo | Produced by: Coulson Rutter | Cinematography by: Daniele Trani | Music by: Antony Coia, Fabio Frizzi | Special Effects by: Athanasius Pernath | Cast: Frank LaLoggia, Antonio Tentori, Antonella Salvucci, Edi Hasan Lushi, Poison Rouge, Merita Budakova, Pietro Cinieri | Year: 2020 | Country: Italy | Language: English, Italian | Color: Color | Runtime: 1h 18min
Distributor: TetroVideo
