A documentarian working on a film about the devil's depictions in artwork finds his life turned upside after the death of his wife, which traumatizes his daughter. Things get worse, though, when his daughter receives a cursed medallion that renders her possessed by a child murderess.I went into this film with low expectations as it is certainly not a film that has a sturdy reputation-the Code Red DVD release of the film in fact brands it under their "Septic Cinema" series, with the disc menu featuring a porta-potty. This is actually rather misleading, and possibly offensive. Though not a great film, "The Night Child" is a far cry from the utter trash that some may have you believe.Similar to other European rip-offs of supernatural American horror at the time ("Beyond the Door" and many others come to mind), the film riffs on elements from "The Exorcist" (though is far more understated) and at times looks and even feels like "The Omen," and unabashedly so. Fortunately, this makes for an atmospheric film, boasting lush and wintry London sets that contrast with warm, oppressive interiors. An eerie score underpins the proceedings, which are somewhat slow-going, but they do pick up in the last third.The film boasts a cast of English-speaking actors, with the English Richard Johnson leading the film, and American Joanna Cassidy playing his producer and sometimes-lover. The dubbing and dialogue are a bit hit-and-miss, but this is mostly expected for a film of the period, and at times it reminds one of some of the Bava or Argento films of the era.In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by "The Night Child," which seems to have garnered a reputation that I frankly found at odds with what was on screen. The film is a rip-off, but a good one, and it offers a select few well-orchestrated scenes and a chilling atmosphere. For what it is, this is an above-average foray into the "possessed children" subgenre. 7/10.

This is one of those OOP flicks that many people were searching but at this writing it finally had it's official release on DVD. The flick is fully uncut watchable in Italian or English spoken. Parts that never had a English translation are left in in Italian with English subs. A thing that has been done before with Italian flicks.Don't think that this is going to be a classic giallo because it isn't. It even isn't a gory flick. More about possession. But not in the Exorcist (1973) tradition. Although it also centers around a child this has a more arty way of filming. British reporter Michael Williams (Richard Johnson) has lost his wife in a fire. He's left with his daughter Emily (Nicoletta Elmi). He's gone to Italy together with his daughter and nanny to make a documentary about art but Emily still has weird nightmares due the death of her mother. To make her at ease her father give her a medallion. But things go worse from here.The medolic score also adds towards the atmosphere, piano and guitar doesn't give it a eerie feeling but still things are happening. The score sometimes do remind you of Morricone. The downfall for a lot of horror fans can lay in the fact that the possession takes a while to enter. It's a slow flick, nothing graphic to see. And it do takes until almost the end before the supernatural enters and even that is low. Kudos to Nicoletta Elmi as an 11 year old she gives an excellent performance and was a common face back then in horrors. But she decided to quit in her mid 20s to become a doctor.If you like flicks that are beautifully shot and has a eerie atmosphere then this is your stuff. Gore 1/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Taihei Yasui's Freudian reading and subsequent criticism of Il Medaglione insanguinato in the previous posting, is undoubtedly interesting. However I do feel it's a bit over ambitious. In many of these Italian genre films Freudian thematics are loose points of departure rather than actual work methods as seen with, say, Arthur Schnitzler or ETA Hoffmann. Furthermore these directors often treated classical dramatic constructions and story line logics very much the same way, that is, as a mere basis for experimenting with the given genre themes. Personally I find this period in European cinema thoroughly refreshing. And to me, Il Medaglione insanguinato certainly is no exception. Logical or not, Freudian or not, it is certainly a psychological thriller but it is draped in the quite appealing aesthetics of an near surrealistic Gothic ghost story. It stands out among it's peers today above all thanks to a beautiful rural cinematography, solemn performances by solid genre stalwarts, and a sublime score. Ultimately Massimo Dallamano's dreamlike direction renders a the film a tragical nightmare-ish tranquility which to me makes the film exceed it's limitations.

Michael Williams, who works for BBC, finds a somehow impressive Italian picture which gets mixed in the material of his ongoing task titled DIABOLICAL ART: A DOCUMENTARY. But since his wife's mysterious death her daughter, Emily, has been emotionally disturbed, so he goes Spoleto, where the problematic picture is, with her and her nanny, Jill. And there is a Countess, who is also a psychic, and she informs him that the picture was somehow made at the night that a young witch named Emilia was executed. Michael doesn't believe her story, but after that Emily has hysterical spasm and Jill is killed... This Italian film is, of course, almost innocently influenced by THE EXORCIST, but this one is much cheaper, much simpler,and in a sense, much dirtier. First of all, it should be said this film is full of confusion. For instance, the story shows Emily is a reincarnation of Emilia. But when Emily sees her in the flashbacks, she perceives her exclusively from a third-person's point of view. But if she is the reincarnation of Emilia, she should and must see the past from nothing but Emilia's point of view. Confusions of this kind, which the film has many, are almost exclusively based upon a problematic fact that the film is too cowardly, rather than ambivalent, to specify its own quasi-Freudian theme, namely, pre-adolescent girl's one-way incestuous wish. To make matters worse, this film also has characteristic problem (if not confusion); every character is too naive and helpless to be realistic and/or believable living human. Regarding Emily (or Emilia), she is after all a child, and one can say it is difficult to blame her mainly for her naiveness and helplessness. (And according to the Freudian theory, every girl wants to have her father's child(ren) in her own way. In this sense, Emily is not exclusively pathological; only her way of excluding other women from her father's love is problematically pathological. But, as I already mentioned, this film per se is too cowardly to be Freudian.) The problem is that adult characters are as childish and naive and helpless as Emily is. And because of this characteristic weakness even the psychic who can see almost everything cannot do anything down-to-earth, and because of the same weakness the very story of the film is ended in a badly escapist way. In addition, special effects of this film are incredibly cheap and laughable. Although Stelvio Cipriani's music is noteworthily beautiful (indeed this one is so good that it seems to be worth having it alone), the film as a whole is nothing but a cheap B-film which can disappoint even the 1970s'-Italian- horror-film-lovers.