Tulpa

Tulpa

Directed by: Federico Zampaglione

Italy, 2012

Giallo, 89Min

The Giallo! One must love the Giallo. There’s possibly no other sub niche that can vary so much under one collective banner as the Giallo. You can find artistic interpretation like AMER, the glamorous homage approach like François Gaillard's Blackaria, or the classic tight, tense, thriller as Federico Zampaglione’s Tulpa!

Tone and atmosphere is everything in Giallo. Establish that tone, and reel the audience in. Keep them captivated and asking questions. Tulpa opens with a fantastic initial attack that hammers the referents to classic Giallo in as if Zampaglione was crossing off the Giallo 101 checklist.

A mysterious encounter leads to a BDSM game where pleasures peak. The man wanders over to a desk and snorts a line of coke; whist the woman still enjoys her state of submission. She catches something out of the corner of her eye as a leather trench coated, black gloved and fedora wearing shadow steps into the room. Gagged and bound she panics as she tries to break free, but this doesn’t catch the attention of the man, who continues to get high on his cocaine. Seconds later profound violence fills the screen; blood, knives, death and mutilated genitals are left resting in front the still bound woman face as she tries to release her muffled screams.

Yes, after this amazing, rough and visually stunning, opening there’s no doubt about it; Federico Zampaglione has created a Giallo that vibrantly resonates with all the right tones, colours and holds a solid atmosphere. Early on Zampaglione has in interviews said that he wanted to make a film that was actual Giallo, and true to his word he’s done exactly that. From a story co-written with legendary Dardano Sacchetti - writer of many fine Gialli and Italian horror classics - and a screenplay penned with his co-writer on Shadow, Giacomo Gensini, Tulpa is everything that we loved about old school Giallo.              

Following the initial attack, a brief moment of time is spent establishing the lead character Lisa Boeri [Claudia Gerini]. This is done swiftly and effectively as we see her in her workspace. She’s rapidly established as a strong and powerful businesswoman, with a key position in the company, fluent in several languages and also someone who even the boss [Michele Placido] holds a secret desire for. We also get to see a third persona of Lisa when we are introduced to her friend, bookshop owner and love sick Giovanna [Michela Cerson], possibly Lisa’s only real friend and the person who she can really be herself with.  

Each well written leading character needs dimension to make them interesting to the audience, and Lisa’s “dark secret” is that she spends her nights at an erotic “members only” nightclub. Here she takes a drug laced cocktail, supplied by the mysterious Kieran [Nuot Arquint – who also played Mortis in Zampaglione's previous film, Shadow], slips out of her clothes and starts the nights carnal encounters with fellow club members.

So starts the intrigue. Being a Giallo, we as an audience are on our feet; paying attention to detail and already placing together the pieces that will make this film click. The initial murder is connected to the club members, the woman Lisa was intimate with at the club becomes the murderers next victim – in a fantastic merry go round, victims face versus barbed wire session – and we realize that the killer is stalking club members… now we start to lay the puzzle of who the killer is, what is the motif and what’s the connection.

Zampaglione plays it by the book; lush settings filled with vibrant lighting, solid camera work and a genre typical soundtrack all written and performed by Zampaglione and Andrea Moscianese as The Alvarius. The soundtrack is contemporary, but at the same time it breaths classic Cipriani, Morricone and Goblin scores, and more than one theme that sticks in my head after the movie is over. I can’t wait for it to be released so that I can listen to it again.

It’s obvious that Zampaglione knows his Giallo traits, and he uses them perfectly. He keeps the killer mysterious and sadistic – which makes for some outstandingly murder set pieces – in the safety of the off screen space until the very last moment. He also tosses in a few red herrings and a few loose ends – which I’d claim are vital Gialli traits as the entire genre is about deceiving and keeping the audience guessing. Then there are the obligatory murders. Oh yes, there are a great variety of murders in Tulpa. Even if you aren’t a fan of the Giallo as a genre, Tulpa has some great special effects that will satisfy your blood lust. Really, there are some really spectacular moments in this film that are top notch. Finally the ultimate trait – the amateur sleuth! Lisa becomes the amateur sleuth as she comes to the same insight that we as an audience do – that someone is murdering the clientele and that only she can solve this mystery. Yes, there is logic and a stern motivation to why she get’s drawn in, which I’m keeping hidden from you as not to spoil the intrigue, and her rush of insight moment is fantastic.

I’ve seen many a neo-Gialli try so hard to be Giallo, and perhaps some of them try to hard and become pretentious and illogical, which makes them fall flat on their faces. Tulpa avoids all those pitfalls, as it stays real, and instead of being a pastiche or homage, it is a pure and simple Giallo, so when the big reveal is made, there’s a logic to the killer’s raison d’etre. Another great detail was the use of cell phones to spy and share information between characters. We all know the classic “camera” POV of early Giallo, Zampaglione brings it up to date and uses it in a smart way in these days of fast access and constant online living.

On a final note, I find that one of the key ingredients of Italian genre fare – or at least one of the features I find ever so enchanting – is the way the films are dubbed. Yes, I love that somewhat out of sync not quite right match of mouth and dialogue. Now let it be made clear that I work with TV productions and have been responsible for several hours of TV during my years in that profession. I’d never for a second accept out of sync sound and image there, but I actually feel that it’s important part of Italian cinema, and if you know your cinema history, you’d know that the main part of Italian cinema was post-synched. Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti, Argento, Fulci, Bava, all of them worked this way, and this makes it kind of sad that some people can’t appreciate this as a key ingredient to what makes Italian genre cinema such a passionate obsession.

Federico Zampaglione’s Tulpa is the slickest and grittiest Giallo since the eighties! I enjoyed this energetic return to the greatest genre in the world so much, that I watched it again, straight away. Tulpa is required viewing for Giallo fans! It get’s right to the point, nails it perfectly and violently rams a razor sharp dagger down the throat of all competition! A showcase of what made that Giallo so great, and unquestionably the best neo-Giallo of the last thirty years!

Tulpa hits Italian cinemas on June the 20th, and is set for a Swedish DVD release later this year.

Shadow

Shadow

Directed by: Federico Zampaglione

Italy, 2009

Horror, 77min

A movie claimed to be the return to Italian horror, has a lot to live up to. Federico Zampaglione’s Shadow has some great moments, and definitely comes with some heavy anticipation tied tightly to its pulpy pale flesh. Yes, it get’s the job done, but at the end of the day, I don’t think we should be hailing anyone before we really know what we are hailing.

 

An Iraqi war veteran, David finally takes the biking trip in Europe that’s been keeping him alive. He also meet’s his dream woman, Angeline, who saves him one night when his tent blows over a cliff. The two hit it off wonderfully until the two bastards they insulted in a local pub the day before finally find them, and start to hunt them. But that’s only the beginning of his ordeal, as David, Angeline and their hunters soon find themselves running right into the chamber of depravity where a skinny antagonist instantly starts the torture sessions…

There’s something about Shadow that I liked. It’s all in the atmosphere, and the build up of the movie that makes it work, the dedication to the storytelling as it unravels. I also enjoyed a few sudden scares, despite them being classic tricks. Yes, there’s some generic conventions used in Shadow that make me squirm with unease. I won’t list them here, but one would be randomly meeting a stunningly beauty in the middle of nowhere and the chance of her letting David, a complete stranger spend the night in her tent. There’s a shock twist at the end, which I’m sure few will see coming, I didn’t, but then again when it did I instantly thought of two classics that go out on the same note. But we’ll leave it at that, because there’s still enough in Shadow to make it a decent watch.

 

Bringing David [Jake Muxworthy, who also starred in Zev Berman’s Borderland 2007] into the world of “mortis” is done with ease. Backstory is intelligently retold as he rides his mountain bike up and down hillsides in what at times feels like extreme sport porn. The initial antagonist – kinda stereotype, Buck [Chris Coppola] and Fred [Ottaviano Blitch] – are introduced, and we get a pretty firm idea of what kind of blokes they are. Being everything but Rambo, David steps in when Buck and Fred start hassling the gorgeous Angeline [Karina Testa, who was magnificent in Xavier Gens Frontier(s) 2007] who’s in all simplicity sat drinking a cup of tea in the small village bar they all have ended up being in. So with all characters established it all takes off. Pretty traditionally done and not much more. There’ is although an interesting little glitch that implies “something else” when the barman, stops Fred and Buck from trying to fight with David in the bar, indicating that he has some form of authority over them – and says “No not here, No hunting in here!” It adds something, an external threat, which when one comes to the final act, can read as a metaphor for dangers ahead on the journey David is about to make.

This kind of metaphorical approach returns on several moments, such as when David fails to raise his tent in the strong winds blowing through the landscape, sending his tent off a cliff end down towards trees below which resemble sharp pointed objects which would mean certain death if fell upon.

The mishap with the tent leads to David spending the night in Angeline’s tent, and she establishes the treat of the secondary antagonist – not Fred and Buck that is -, the ghosts that live in the dark parts of the forest. Ghosts that have just like the story David tells Angeline, been born through the atrocities of war.

Inevitably the couple, and their adversaries, Fred and Buck end up captives of he strange figure called “Mortis” [Nuot Arquint]. All “monsters” or intriguing antagonists need to come off mean and intimidating.  Zampaglione does it with ease with the old show and then tell. First has Mortis torture the men, and then retreat to his chambers, were it becomes apparent that Mortis is some kind of surviving Nazi with a strange fixation for human taxidermy. OK the picture is pretty clear. Later he digs deeper into the psyche of his antagonist when David see’s reels of celluloid film Mortis is projecting on the walls. 8mm, 16mm even 35mm prints of past and recent wars, act of terrorism and other atrocities Vietnam, The German concentration camps, Srebrenica and even a September 11th reel… Mortis is obviously a sadist and a Mondo fan!

The big problem I have with the movie is that this is Italian and I’m expecting to see a salty Italian production where shit hits the fan and I get to see everything in all it’s glory! I don’t want off-screen torture, cutaway reactions, or suggestive weaponry rose into frame. I want to see what’s going on, and I want it to be in that Italian way showing no mercy, because I can’t help feeling that Shadow is trying too hard to mimic the already made entries into this already tediously formatted to shit blocks niche known as Torture Porn, way to hard.  That not saying that the movie doesn’t have some really effective scare moments that even had an old dog like me jumping on the couch.

 

Karina Testa is critically underused in this film, here she’s reduced to just a pretty face in a stereotype gender role, and damn shame that is. Again, her return in the climax is rather unsatisfying, and as said, there are several movies that already have a similar ending to the one of Shadow, and unfortunately they are better too. Yes, this one works and I’m sure some viewers will be shocked by it… perhaps I’ve just been watching too many movies over too many years and know the tricks of the trade. Then there’s the issue of wandering right into a genre that the Yanks already have laid claim to. How this film can be lumped in with other entries in that niche when it’s pretty tame compared to others. Sure, some fine atmosphere, but torture wise, rather low, and porn, well nothing. If we are going to insist on calling it Torture Porn, then I want cameras to gloat on every gooey detail, just like I mentioned above.

For newcomers to genre cinema this is should be an interesting entry, which I’m sure will scared you, surprised you, and entertained you. I enjoyed it and I really wanted it to work for me, although found it to be lacking in certain areas to qualify for the genre and type of movie it’s being proclaimed as being. But that’s only my opinion, which shouldn’t inhibit you from seeing it; it holds a very high standard and is visually a great looking movie. Considering the obvious love for genre that Zampaglione has brought to this movie, his forthcoming Giallo inspired Tulpa – which I suggest you google up ASAP If you haven’t seen any of the online images - seems to be an impressive ride which just may actually be that one movie to put Italian genre cinema back in the spotlight. 

So Good luck Federico Zampaglione, and welcome back when Tulpa is complete.

Shadow is soon to be released by primo numero uno Swedish distributor NjutaFilms.