Severin has brought us a rare find with this one; Lucio Fulci's final film, Door Into Silence, available on DVD July 30th, 2009!
FILM- John Savage plays Melvin Devereux; who has just left his fathers funeral. Confused by a woman he met at the funeral who insists they knew each other, he begins the long drive home. Rough rains have wiped out the roads, and he must detour through the back roads of Louisiana. After some car trouble, Melvin stops in a small town to have the problem fixed. He rents a room at the local hotel (and stays there about 2 minutes before leaving, making no sense), when low and behold the mystery woman appears. She immediately vanishes, leaving behind a cryptic note in lipstick, taunting Melvin to follow her. About that time Melvin's car is fixed, and he's on the road again. After an aggressive encounter with a hearse, he is forced deeper and deeper into backwoods. After several more disturbing encounters, even confronting the driver, Melvin soon turns the tables on this coffin wagon following it in search of answers to a disturbing question- just who is in the casket it's toting? And how is our mysterious woman related to this whole mess, anyways?
First off, I must say I loved this movie. I love the southern vibe this film puts out; which is really surprising to me. It is pretty much a premonition/ killer car film with some obvious nods to horror of the era (The Car, Phantasm, and a few others). Another thing that I love is this is a very intelligent film, relying on suspense and tension rather than blood and gore. While Fulci will always be Italy's splatter king, this film has not a drop of blood. Let me repeat that- not a drop of blood!!! This was very, very surprising to me, seeing as how Cat in the Brain was done just a year prior. If you put Fulci's films on a color spectrum, the red scale would (of course) be tipped. However, the few films on the opposite side are just as good as his gore epics, and are well worth your time. Now for the bad part. This film is pretty linear, drawn out, and predictable. There are about a thousand parts in the film that are completely useless; such wonderful examples are the already mentioned hotel scene, and countless shots of Melvin's car stuck in mud numerous times. Some characters are as useless as a broken flashlight in the dead of night, and add nothing to the plot or story in the least. This film is essentially a ferris wheel- has high and low points, you can see it from a mile away, but is always a fun ride. 8/10.
PICTURE/ AUDIO- The picture is good for the most part, albeit soft. Not much grit and grain, but there is some print damage. There are some places in the film where the picture looks downright bizarre, and seems to have been filmed through some kind of mesh. While this is not Severin's fault, it is distracting and noticeable. 7/10.
The audio is far superior to the picture; with hardly and damage at all. The dubbing is just the right volume, and couples with the music perfectly. There is not a place where the sound fades in and out, and the sound effects aren't overpowering either. 9/10.
EXTRAS- Nothing- zip- nada. There's some nice menus, but I only grade on "true" extras. Seeing as this film is reasonably priced however, I can't complain. 0/10.
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