The plot of "The Murder Secret" begins with Richard Hamilton(played by Gabriele Tinti)receiving a letter from his long lost and psychotic Aunt Martha inviting him and his family to visit her at her remote countryside villa.Together he and his wife Nora,their older children Georgia and Charles and their younger son Maurice decide to stay at Aunt Martha's villa.Upon their arrival Aunt Martha is nowhere to be found and the Hamilton's are instead received by the outwardly friendly yet decidedly creepy Thomas who claims that he is Aunt Martha's caretaker and that she will join them shortly.Soon series of bloody murders is set in motion..."Don't Be Afraid of Aunt Martha" by Mario Bianchi is an alright slasher/giallo with three extremely bloody murder scenes including chainsaw decapitation of a young boy.The acting is okay and the plot is entertaining.If you liked similarly gore and nudity laden Andrea Bianchi's "Massacre" give this one a chance.7 crazy aunts out of 10.

This is one of a number of low-grade horrors with which Lucio Fulci was associated towards the end of his career: it’s actually the fifth I’ve watched (or, to be honest, made an effort to sit through) – following AENIGMA (1987), TOUCH OF DEATH (1988), GHOSTS OF SODOM (1988) and BLOODY Psycho (1989). They’re all terrible and unworthy of his talents (for the record, I’ve got two more of these to check out – MURDEROCK [1984] and THE RED MONKS [1988])…but also an indication of the depths to which the genre (and, by extension, the “Euro-Cult” style) had plunged by the end of the 1980s! Incidentally, the director of this one was the man behind the decent horror flick Satan’S BABY DOLL (1982), recently released by Severin in tow with MALABIMBA – THE MALICIOUS WHORE (1979), of which the former was an inferior remake.The original Italian title of THE BROKEN MIRROR (a meaningless, generic moniker) translates to the more appropriate DON’T BE AFRAID OF AUNT MARTHA – which, presumably, is intended to evoke memories of the “Whatever” cycle of Grand Guignol-type shockers renowned for having revitalized the career of many an ageing Hollywood diva…but which had gone out-of-fashion some 15 years earlier! Anyway, the narrative concerns the arrival of a family at a country-house (most of these latter-day Fulcis seemed to go this route, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the locations were duplicated from one to the other!) – the property of the head of the family (Gabriele Tinti)’s aunt, who’s supposedly just been released from a lunatic asylum; however, she’s not there to greet them but the mysterious custodian (Maurizio Poli, from Mario Bava’s RABID DOGS [1974]) claims that she’ll be arriving soon.The catch is that Tinti’s mother had confined the aunt (her sister) in order to appropriate herself of her sibling’s fortune: gripped by a sudden remorse, however, the former jumps out of a window – which has left an indelible effect on Tinti (then still a boy); that said, he doesn’t bother to get his aunt re-instated and makes use of the money himself! Sensibly, Tinti should have stayed away from his (understandably) revenge-seeking relative – but, invariably, the ill-fated heroes of this type of fare turn out to be awfully dumb! Soon enough, the bodies start piling up: Tinti’s eldest son is seen (by the audience but not the characters) mangled and hanging upside down from a tree – for what it’s worth, his introduction is treated as a red herring in an effort to generate some would-be suspense; the good-looking (and frequently topless) teenage daughter is knifed in the shower – which, actually, isn’t too badly done (again, it plays on the fact that, prior to this, she had twice been scared by her younger sibling’s practical jokes); the boy himself is viciously (and gorily) decapitated by a chainsaw; somewhat lazily, then, Tinti’s wife shares this exact same fate – except that the vessel of wrath in her case is the lid of a wooden chest…which makes for one of the most improbable celluloid beheadings I’ve ever come across! At this stage, I have to mention an implausible turn-of-events: most of the deaths occur in one fell swoop – while Tinti’s gone out to visit the custodian; his wife drops him near the latter’s house, while she herself goes to do some shopping in town. By the time she arrives back home, two of the children have been killed and the murderer lies in wait to do her in too…but, when we cut back to Tinti, he’s just reached the custodian’s house!! It’s possible that this ‘delay’ on his part was intended to throw suspicion of the deeds on Tinti – especially after he ‘discovers’ the bodies propped up at table and Aunt Martha ‘appears’ to him (suggesting a deranged mind)…all of which, however, is negated by the fact that, immediately prior to this, he had stumbled upon five graves outside the house bearing the names of the entire family! Eventually, it transpires that Poli is the murderer: he had been the lover of Aunt Martha – whose putrefied body he still keeps in the cellar (and on which the camera lingers in revolting detail for an inordinate length of time). The two engage in an extended scuffle, ending with Poli about to split Tinti’s head open with an axe…which takes us back to the very beginning (the journey to the country-house), except that it had actually been interrupted by the family’s car being wrecked in an accident – all its occupants killed but for Tinti (cue Aunt Martha’s voice declaring that his agonies aren’t over yet)! Ugh.

The Murder Secret is a crazy giallo/slasher which, although directed by Mario Bianchi, was 'supervised' by Lucio Fulci. This inevitably means that the final product bears more than a passing resemblance to a Fulci flick, ie., it has a decent smattering of cheesy gore and a story that lacks any logic or cohesion. However, even with its flaws, The Murder Secret is still an entertaining film with enough good bits for it to be worth a watch.A family travel to a remote country house where they hope to meet Martha, the aunt of the father, whom he hasn't seen for 30 years. When they arrive, they are met by the caretaker who informs them that Martha has been delayed and that she will arrive the next day.But Martha never shows up, and one by one the members of the family are butchered by an unseen assailant.The movie begins fairly sedately—Bianchi allows 45 minutes or so to introduce characters and build the story—but once it hits its stride, The Murder Secret doesn't let up, delivering plenty of welcome gratuitous nudity and some rather outrageous death scenes.It is the mother who first reveals her charms during a brief 'sex' scene, but it is the cute (and busty) daughter who should be applauded for stripping off, not once but twice. It is immediately after her second strip that the violence really kicks in, with her bloody stabbing-in-the-shower scene. After that we get two great be-headings, one using a wooden chest(!), and another in which the young son gets decapitated by a chainsaw. This film certainly has balls, even dishing out the pain to the children!!Unfortunately, after these juicy murders, the film rapidly goes off the rails, and the story becomes a jumbled (but still quite engaging) mess. It finishes with a surprise 'twist' ending which is a complete disappointment, making no sense whatsoever and completely lacking in originality.But with its cheesy dialogue, no-holds barred killings, mad-as-a-bag-of-badgers killer, and OTT splatter, Bianchi's film is still a fairly fun way to pass the time.

After spending 30 years in a mental hospital, aunt Martha is free to leave and writes a letter to her relatives, inviting them to spend a weekend on her isolated country house. But when they get there, they meet only the caretaker, who informs them that their aunt has not arrived yet....After 50 slow minutes of virtually NOTHING HAPPENING, there are a few gory murders, and then it's time for the twisted secrets and nonsensical plot revelations. As it often happens in these Italian horror films, there is a very atmospheric score, which actually does most of the director's work for him. And I must mention that the actress who plays the daughter (Jessica Moore) is really hot. There are two scenes of her checking herself out in the mirror, and let me tell you, this girl has every right to be proud of what she sees. (*1/2)