Good start, but then it gets ruined

Awesome Movie

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Of Bava Jr.'s vintage movie work, I am only familiar with popular-but-despicable DEMONS (1985) and the so-so Giallo DELIRIUM (1987). Apart from these, I have watched the fine period chiller THE VENUS OF ILLE (1978; TV) – on which he actually only served as co-director with his father, the late great Mario Bava – and the more recent offering THE TORTURER (2005), about which, the less said the better. When financing of genre efforts for the cinema seemed to slacken towards the end of the 1980s, he turned his attentions to TV with a quartet of titles which, to this day, turn up from time to time on late-night Italian TV. Since I had the two more highly-regarded outings at arm's reach (the others lie amid a multitude of VHS recordings – incidentally, the film under review was itself a VHS-to-DVD conversion which resulted in brief intermittent instances of jittering image!), I decided to include them in the current "Halloween Challenge". By the way, there are differing opinions as to the order in which these were made but, given that I was watching the two pictures quite late at night, I opted to go first with the one which is the best-rated (at least on the now apparently extinct website "Cult Filmz").Anyway, the film's theme of possession by the dead and overall somber tone owes quite a bit to Mario's own last picture for the cinema, the just-average SHOCK aka BEYOND THE DOOR II (1977) and is actually superior to it! The subplot, then, of the sultry co-owner of a diner conspiring with a handsome man (David Brandon, from Michele Soavi's recently-viewed STAGE FRIGHT {1986}) to dispose of her husband seems to derive from that Noir staple THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946)! The catch, however, is that the deceased has somehow inhabited the body of an even younger and more attractive man but, rather than have history repeat itself, Bava makes the latter's quiet presence instill tension between the two murderers, which naturally leas to more bloodshed. The film's horror actually emanates from the first husband's ghoulish apparitions (in dreams) to the son he never knew, which keep the boy from sleeping and thus getting on his surrogate dad's nerves – on the other hand, the new recruit (who literally seems to have come out of nowhere and was asked by the leading lady to stay as if it were the most natural thing in the world!) shows affection to the kid, even repairing a swing Brandon had long promising to but never bothered with. Later, however, he also torments the woman as, finally seducing the young stranger, he turns into the rotting figure of her husband (with, at one point, his face weirdly appearing as an amalgam of the two men's respective visage)! Some of the film's more entertaining passages are devoted to the violent relationship between the woman (the stunning Gioia Scola) and Brandon, which sees both hurling insults at each other (the hard-boiled dialogue being one more nod to the Noir genre) and beating one another to a pulp, inevitably resulting in Brandon's demise, and which would leave Scola at the mercy of Husband No. 1. However, typically, the latter gradually loses his sense of reason and does not spare the child from his attacks – culminating in the house adjoining the diner being set on fire and the young man's own death, while the woman and her son manage to survive the ordeal. The English moniker is actually a subtitle to the Italian original, which translates to FOR EVER (though it was also inexplicably known in some quarters as THE CHANGELING 2!), which are the words ironically inscribed on the wedding ring of Scola and the husband she soon grew tired of! All in all, I would venture to say that this is Bava-son's most considerable work which, while pretty good taken on its merits, admittedly shows little of the stimulating artistic flair which made his father's name at the time and which has kept his oeuvre in the public eye.

It's a shame that this film has been lumbered with the title 'The Changeling 2' (those Italians!), as it's actually not bad at all and far better than the cash-in title suggests. The film is nothing like Peter Medak's 1980 horror, and actually owes more to the popular Italian Giallo imports, as well as the American film noir movement. The film that this one takes most of its influence from is undoubtedly the 1946 masterpiece The Postman Always Rings Twice (which coincidently (or not) was remade six years before this film), and this is shown by the central plot and characters; all of which are clearly reminiscent of the earlier film. However, this is an Italian movie - so you can count on a few over the top surprises! The plot focuses on a man and a woman who decide to murder the woman's husband. This isn't the sort of behaviour that goes unnoticed by the law, and the man becomes paranoid about what the couple have done. Eight years on, a mysterious drifter arrives at their bed and breakfast and he seems to know a lot about the crime the couple committed years earlier...This film was made for Italian TV, and it does have a rather cheap feel to it; but it's adequately glossed over by a distinctly Italian style, and the film features some brilliantly atmospheric music along with a quality cast of actors, most of which have worked with big names such as Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. The film is directed by Lamberto Bava; son of the great Mario Bava, and a director who has a varied career full of hits and misses. The Changeling 2 is actually one of Lamberto's better films and isn't too far off the quality of some of his somewhat acclaimed Giallo's such as Macabre and A Blade in the Dark. The Giallo influence can be seen throughout the film as Bava keeps the focus on the murder, and the mystery surrounding the drifter who enters the couple's lives. It has to be said that the ending is rather poor and I'd have preferred the film if Bava didn't go for the ill-advised schlock twist. But even so, this is an assured and fun little film that is a lot better than the TV roots and the cash-in title would suggest it is. Recommended to the cult fan!

I have this on VHS as Changeling 2, obviously it's another of those Italian films advertised as a sequel that isn't really a sequel. It's interesting to see one of the actors from Stage Fright in this, and there are a few good moments, but it's mostly dull and boring. The music is good (some of it taken from Stage Fright) and so is the atmosphere, but there is little much else of interest. The story itself was interesting - it was just done in a boring way. The ending is rather confusing and silly. This is more of a drama than a horror, so I wouldn't recommend it to horror fans. If you love Italian films however, you may want to see it.

Inconspicuous but nevertheless stylish Lamberto Bava thriller with a couple of remotely suspenseful sequences and an attractive Italian cast. The plot sounds very familiar but, although Bava doesn't really pretend to be original, he still manages to make his film look innovating and compelling at times. The beautiful Linda and her virulent lover Carlo just killed Luca, Linda's fatuous husband, and they continue running the hotel/restaurant near a popular fishing-lake. Eight years later, however, a hitch-hiker shows up and he seems to know alarmingly many details about Linda's first marriage. Linda and Carlo start to distrust each other and even her little son Alex begins to suffer from nightmares about a murdered man that comes crawling out of the muddy ground... Indeed, the plot resembles a lot like "The Postman Always Rings Twice" but - since it's Bava - the killings are nastier and the characters are more deranged. When it comes to atmosphere and horrific mood-setting, this definitely is one of Lamberto Bava's best accomplishments. The music is also good and the acting is far above Italian standards, with Gioia Scola (Lucio Fulci's "Conquest), Urbano Barberini (Dario Argento's "Opera") and especially David Brandon, the mean-looking actor from "Delirium" and "Caligola – the Untold Story". Recommended!