30th Oct2024

‘The Well’ DVD Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Lauren LaVera, Claudia Gerini, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Linda Zampaglione, Yassine Fadel, Melanie Gaydos, Gianluigi Galvani, Courage Osabohine | Written by Federico Zampaglione, Stefano Masi | Directed by Federico Zampaglione

{NOTE: With the film out now on DVD, here’s reposting of our review of the fantastic Italian horror, The Well]

Lisa Gray, a budding art restorer who travels to the small Italian village of Sambuci just outside Rome to bring a medieval painting back to its former glory for a wealthy and titled client. Little does she know she is placing her life in danger from an evil curse and a monster born of myth and brutal pain.

I have been a fan of Federico Zampaglione’s genre work since I saw his film Shadow in 2009. Then came the original cut of Tulpa back at Frighfest 2012. It’s safe to say I was one of the ONLY people who reviewed that screening and that cut positively (and then went on to review the recut just as glowingly) and saw what Zampaglione was trying to achieve. That film and its reception, I think, put the writer/director on the back foot and since then he’s only helmed a few short films, including Remember and Bianca, and one non-genre film in 2021, Morrison.

But now he’s back, stepping out from the shadow of the Italian masters (which he’d been associated with thanks to making Tulpa, a more traditional giallo) with a movie that feels more akin to his debut, Shadow – focussing on the gore and grue, going for stomach-turning shocks, whilst never sacrificing the story, which is a gothic horror that echoes those 60s Italian horrors, the black and white genre films, from the likes of Mario Bava.

Now I say stepping out from the shadow of Italian masters but The Well still feels very much influenced by those masters – the idea of an American in Italy feels like it stepped out of Phenomena, whilst there are echoes of Suspiria here too, Lauren LaVera’s art restorer taking place of  Suspiria’s dancer and the mansion’s residents hiding similar secrets to Argento’s characters in that film too.

Surprisingly, The Well has a wonderful sense of humour. Black humour yes, but it still brings a light-hearted edge to a film that feels intense – not only because of the story but the excessive gore effects, packed with the kind of gruesome in-your-face PRACTICAL effects that look like they’ve stepped straight out of the horrors of the VHS heyday – the era Steve Johnson, Rick Baker, Rob Bottin and John Carl Buechler to name a few – icky, sticky and very bloody work!

As was the case with Terrifier 2, LeVera’s performance is central to the success of the film – managing to convey the much-needed sense of fear but then turning it on a dime and bringing that Final Girl Scream Queen strength. In fact, she turns that scream queen strength into Girl Boss power in the film’s epilogue, taking the Final Girl trope to the next level! But LeVera is not alone in holding this film’s attention. Claudio Gerini is her usual fantastic self as the Duchess, bringing the same powerful performance she does in each and every film she works on and yet, as always, it feels like she does it with ease – captivating the screen in ways we don’t see in many films, or from many film stars, these days. Both are ably supported by none other than Zampaglione’s own daughter in what turns out to be a pivotal role, a character that has a huge impact on the film. So much so that the conclusion of her story is one of the film’s most poignant moments.

If you’re a fan of the grotesque nature of Shadow, the gothic horror of yesteryear and love a bucket or three of gore with your genre films, then you’d do well to see The Well.

***** 5/5

The Well is out now on DVD from High Fliers Films.

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