Joe D'Amato is regarded as a rather greedy hack by most people acquainted with horror. Now that's not too far from the truth. But before D'Amato started cranking out movies with an inverse relation between quantity and quality, he made this startling horror movie. Startling in the sense that it's actually GOOD! Don't get me wrong. Just because it's good doesn't mean it's not exploitation. It has truly gory scenes such as a taxidermy which doesn't leave much to the imagination, nails being ripped off, some implied necrophilia and a particular scene of a "stew" being munched on with an extreme close-up which made my stomach do a somersault. Well done Joe for that! However, these gore scenes are spread out and in between them, there is some attempt to build suspense. There is some good acting particularly by the very creepy but oddly sexy Franca Stoppi(RIP) who plays the caretaker from hell, Iris. The cinematography (by Joe himself) is gorgeous in spite of all the carnage around. It doesn't seem like a cheap B-movie. The music by Goblin is as expected, superb.That said, the movie is not perfect. It stagnates from time to time. There is absolutely no humour (except some unintentional stuff but you will be too busy gagging to notice) to lighten the relentlessly downbeat tone. Also, the lead actor can be too over-the-top sometimes.That said, I am shocked that this is a film by Joe D'Amato. It would seem he actually had talent. It's tragic that he was so caught up in making money that he didn't fulfill it. The horror aficionado missed out on a few more quality horror movies.

Yes, this is definitely a guilty pleasure. And the guilt comes from giving the movie a 7. It doesn't deserve that high of a rating. None of the film's alternate titles really seems to quite fit. And D'Amato's direction is run of the mill. A rousing soundtrack by Goblin is a highlight(I prefer this soundtrack to Suspiria's). The biggest complaints are the hand-held shots, which are slipshod, and the beautiful countryside setting is almost completely ignored. Also, the dubbing is atrocious, but you just have to expect that with old cheesy foreign movies. There are a few people speaking during the dinner scene who don't have moving lips.And now, I shall gush. The reason why I watch this repeatedly is due to the presence of the severe, the exquisite, the succulent Franca Stoppi as house governess or whatever she is suppose to be. Her hair in a bun, her always-conservative dress hanging off her whisper of a body, well, I guess I'm probably in a minority, but she's nails. And her portrayal of Iris is delicious and devious. It's fortunate she was allowed so much screen time. Frank and Iris and Anna have a rather unusual relationship. Anna is dead because Iris wants young Frank for herself. Iris employees a local gypsy to perform a bit of voodoo to drive Anna into the grave. But Frank's having none of that, so he steals her body from the boneyard(a woefully mismanaged scene that has the casket only about 1 foot below the soil). In a fantastic autopsy scene that would make Savini cry, all of her organs and her brain are removed so Frank, a taxidermist, can preserve her. He keeps her in his bed so he can kiss and fondle her corpse. Iris takes it in stride and helps dress the corpse and even paint the fingernails. She knows this is just a phase(and what a phase!) and in good time, Frank will be hers. A few girls fall afoul of Château Frank and are murdered, with the smirking Iris helping the process along by dismembering a body and helping give it an acid bath or tossing a corpse in the incinerator. Eventually, she grows tired of the game and demands Frank dispose of Anna's body once and for all so he will belong to Iris. But, Frank has grown quite attached. Two scenes to further highlight the strange relations between Frank and Iris show the young man suckling at the older governess's breast and then Iris giving him "a hand up" while he pines over Anna's body.D'Amato gives a few solid scenes. My two favorites are when Frank loads the freshly disinterred Anna into the side of his van(a super creepy red, windowless jalopy that would make Ted Bundy jealous) and the interior shot looks like she's going back into a grave or coffin, and when Frank is on his way home with a hitchhiker and the back window of the van's cab opens slightly, and the deathly white hand of Anna slides out, bobbing along with the twists and turns in the road dangerously close to the hitchhiker's head. Very effective.Towards the close of the movie, Iris has had enough of all this weirdness, and in her best Mrs. Bates, she stalks through the dark to kill Anna's twin sister. She must have a killer knee, because she kicks Frank in the crotch and he starts bleeding all over the place through his trousers(wince). It's a showdown between Frank and Iris that ends rather bad for both of them, but not before Frank can give a final twist to the plot. Highly recommended for fans of the sick.

BUIO OMEGA is often considered as one of the sickest films ever made. Its reputation amongst horror fans is almost legendary. So when I decided to watch this Joe D'Amato flick, I was all excited and was prepared to be grossed out. Instead of being shocked senseless, I found myself laughing or giggling non-stop. I'm aware these films rarely live up to their reputations but I wasn't scared or grossed out for a second, which sorta dismayed the gorehound in me. It WAS entertaining but entertaining for all the wrong reasons.First, the gore. The blood was pink. PINK!?!? In order for the dismemberment or gore to be believable the free flowing blood has to be red, not pink.Second, the body count is very low: aside from the end, there are only two victims. The way they are killed is not scary, gross or exciting.Third, the story, or lack thereof, is too silly and filled with real groaners. The film starts with the housekeeper, Iris, hiring an old gypsy woman who puts a curse on a doll, which represents Frank's girlfriend who's in the hospital. After prickling the doll with needles, the girlfriend's condition worsen and eventually she dies. Iris wants the girlfriend out of Frank's life and this is how she goes about it!?!? It worked, the girlfriend dies, right after asking Frank "I want to make love to you before I die." So they start making out on the hospital bed and then she croaks. ROTFLMAO!!! The script is really bad. I'm sure they wrote it as it went along. The whole film is filled with totally illogical moments that strain credulity, even for a Eurocult horror film. I really wonder how they came up with the ideas for the script and not think the audience was dumb enough not to notice. The entire scene with the hitchhiker is stupid & contrived, certainly when Frank leaves the hitchhiker sleeping in his van at his house. I mean, come on! He should have kicked her to the curb before parking the van in the garage. Fourth, the film is filled with unrealistic details which makes it impossible to take it seriously. For instance, when a body is buried, the corpse is already embalmed. So when Frank brings the girlfriend's body home after digging her out of the ground and starts doing an embalming process on it, pulling out all the internal guts and such, well, I had to laugh out loud. Also, a corpse becomes stiff as a board. The corpse of the girlfriend was pretty flexible even after being dead for days.And fifth and lastly, the actors. The cast is very small. There's Frank, Iris, the dead girlfriend, the fat hitchhiker, the three blond bimbos and the mysterious man who's identity is revealed in a stupid twist at the end. That's it! The actress who plays Iris is younger than she's made to be and this I always find this funny. And last but not least Kieran Canter, as Frank, the demented taxidermist. I have to say that he's sure is a pretty boy. And I thought Stephen Forsyth was ridiculously handsome for a killer in HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON. Kieran Canter's career apparently veered into the world of porno, which ain't too surprising.I'm actually glad I finally saw BLUE HOLOCAUST. It was funny while it lasted! But it's certainly not one of the most shocking films ever. I mean, NORBIT is more shocking and less funny than this.

Whatever your stance is on sleazy Italian horror films from the 70's-80's, it can't be denied by anyone that this film is some kind of minor masterpiece. Here is a film that works on every level -- not just the "gore" level that a lot of these films work on -- and is actually quite tasteful in its depiction of corpse-loving.First of all, the atmosphere in this film is amazing. Dialogue is left to a bare minimum, especially at the beginning of the film when there's hardly a line spoken for a good half an hour... though the music of "The Goblins" (Goblin, right?) is actually quite out of place in this particular film, as Joe D'Amato's directing style doesn't really lend to their blend of.. uh.. progressive-disco or whatever it is (on the other hand, their music perfectly fits Dario Argento's oversaturated colors in his films)... however, sometimes it hits the right notes at the right time. Everything has a sort-of washed-out look to it, which is nice. And almost the whole film takes place at night, which is nice, of course.The film is actually a very simple story of not being able to let go of someone you loved, but it's well-acted (shockingly!) and there's enough gore (though not as much as you would think by some of these reviews) and suspense to keep you watching.Just all in all, a really good picture without any real flaws that succeeds at all that it does. Not much else to say, really -- except, what's with the ending? Anyway... highly recommend.