Marco Castellini
•A group of criminals break into the apartment of a young painter, John Jaspers, kill his girlfriend, and leave the man dying. John, after several days, manages to regain his strength, but the shock suffered and the pain of losing the woman he loved are too strong and drive him to attempt suicide. One night, he decides to end it all by jumping off a bridge, but, a moment before letting himself fall into the void, he meets a strange character who promises to make him return to his former self and allow him to avenge the death of his girlfriend. The young man thus accepts to sign a pact with the mysterious individual, obtaining in exchange supernatural powers that will allow him to avenge the wrongs suffered but that will also force him to commit horrible crimes against his will… Produced in collaboration with Julio Fernandez and adapted from the eponymous comic series created by Tim Vigil and David Quinn, "Faust" marks the return behind the camera of Brian Yuzna ("Society", "Re-Animator"), one of the most original and beloved contemporary horror directors. The film was intended to be an attempt to reinterpret the classic theme of the "Pact with the Devil" (already staged in 1926 by Murnau with the fantastic "Faust"), but Yuzna fails in the operation by not keeping true to one of the characteristics of all his films, originality. The director indeed directs a film that has too many and obvious credits towards previous productions: from "The Crow" to "Wishmaster"; but it is especially the disappointing fantasy movie "Spawn" that is repeatedly referenced, and it seems that Yuzna even "stole" the protagonist from the film in question: the terrible Faust is very similar in appearance, attitudes, and posture to Spawn portrayed by Mark Dippé in the eponymous film dedicated to McFarlane's hero. To praise, however, is the extreme splatter of some sequences (a true rarity for modern horror productions) and the excellent makeup effects curated by the great Screaming "Mad" George; disappointing and at times grotesque is the gory finale, limited moreover by absolutely poor computer graphics. In the cast, the only familiar face is Yuzna's fetish actor, Jeffrey Combs. A partial disappointment for a long-awaited film. Curiosity: the film won the 2001 edition of the FantaFestival.
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