Graveyard Disturbance (1987) (DVD Review)
Directed By: Lamberto Bava
Starring: Lea Martino, Beatrice Ring
Rated: UR/Region: 1/4:3/Number of disc: 1
Available from Mya Communication/Ryko
Five teen friends are running from the police after they have robbed a supermarket. After passing through a thick blanket of fog, they end up in very strange inn, populated by a group a spooky people. The deformed inn keeper challenges them to spend the whole night in the underground catacombs located beneath the nearby church: if they succeed they will win a fabulous treasure. The five friends accept the challenge, unaware of the danger they are going to face…
Lamberto Bava has done great films like Demons, Demons 2, and Macabre. Then, you get into his made for TV horror films like The Ogre and you see a different side of things. Graveyard Disturbance is one of those films. We have a group of people who spend a good hunk of the start of the film walking around before finally ending up in a shady place, but to spite seeing everyone’s eyes there glow they go along with the game set forward to them by an even more strange and horrendous man. It is almost as if Bava was trying and failing to turn this Italian movie into more of an American film. That worked with Demons, it doesn’t work here.
If the film has anything it would be atmosphere. Even if you dislike the rest of the movie you can appreciate the vibe and feel at least. I just wish it had a plot and a story to go along with it. The film almost ends on a typical twist, but once you see the finished result I think you’d rather they went the typical route just to add some sort of flavor to the overall events of the movie. If you loved stuff like Demons and Macabre, you probably won’t like this.
– English/Italian Audio Options
