PARANORMAL STORIES

A child is left alone at home and, despite his mother's warnings, decides to watch a horror movie. He chooses an anthology film titled "Paranormal Stories." "17 November." Three boys spend the night in one of their father's homes. In the house, they find the notebook of the homeowner who died a short time ago, in which it seems that murders are confessed. "Offline." Pietro receives a strange message in chat from his friend Giovanni, immediately after a mutual friend warns Pietro that Giovanni took his own life the day before. But then who is Pietro chatting with? Is Giovanni really dead? "The Medium." A woman poses as a medium, scamming people who want to contact their deceased loved ones. All this despite the opposition of her daughter, who participates in the sessions as an accomplice. But the disturbed spirits of the dead will not be long in revealing themselves. "Fairy Tale of a Monster." Celeste is a ten-year-old child, marginalized by everyone because of a heart disease that also forces him into mutism. When Celeste meets Gioia, the only peer who is kind to him, things change, but when the friendship between the two is misunderstood by the child, the situation begins to deteriorate. "Screams in the Hills." Three girls returning from a vacation and heading to a motel lost in the woods accidentally hit something and do not stop. Arrived at the motel, the three learn that the 'something' they hit with the car is probably the janitor's son. For the three friends, a definitely eventful night lies ahead. In 2011, the anthology film "Ghosts – Italian Horror Stories" was presented at some genre festivals and later distributed on DVD by Ripley's. Now, three years later, that film, which benefited from the production of Gabriele Albanesi ("The Forest Outside"; "Ubaldo Terzani Horror Show"), returns in a new guise. Retitled "Paranormal Stories" and enjoying a theatrical release with Explorer Entertainment, the film is enriched with a framing story directed by Gabriele Albanesi himself and a slight variation in the editing of the episodes. The framing episode, which features a child and his phobias, is particularly in tune with the poetics of the director of "The Forest Outside," partly recalling his short debut "The Closet," both for the presence of a young protagonist and for the narrative dynamic that leads to a twist. With visual references to "Saw" and "Ghostbusters," and a more obvious homage to "Deep Red," the framing story is a delightful short film that has the only flaw of being too short. Overall, we are faced with a product that, in the end, we can consider successful, a small vademecum of atmospheric horror that, between fully satisfying episodes and others less so, can undoubtedly be considered a good film overall. The first episode, "17 November," written and directed by Tommaso Agnese, fundamentally has two flaws: a flimsy story and one that has been told far too often, and the inability to engage the viewer, to bring them into the narrative. The staging, on the other hand, is very convincing and the actors almost all appreciable. Here and there some blood flows, but the night of terror as a pretext for a passing of the torch is something seen in all kinds of ways, including that of the ghost story. The second episode, directed by Andrea Gagliardi and written by Stefano Prolli based on a subject by Albanesi, is rather evidently inspired by contemporary Eastern ghost cinema, in which the deceased finds a form of manifestation thanks to an electronic medium. In the specific case of "Offline," the theme of suicide is combined with the internet medium (and instant messaging programs like msn), bringing to mind Kurosawa's "Kairo – Pulse." The episode holds up quite well, both for the atmosphere that is created and for the credible performance of the actors (among whom we recognize Primo Reggiani from the Mociano "Universitari") but the viewer who knows the source material knows perfectly well where "Offline" wants to go, so that the ending is highly telegraphed. A significant step forward is made with "The Medium," directed by Roberto Palma and written by Simone Starace. We are faced with a perfectly directed and acted game of tension and atmosphere. The few minutes of the episode are enough to describe the squalor of a life consumed by the art of making do; the elderly medium, excellently portrayed by Anna Maria Teresa Ricci, scams to live, offers false hopes to poor unfortunate people with losses behind them and then squanders her earnings to lie with slimy young men. Obviously, such a reckless behavior, disapproved even by those who share a blood tie with her, is forced to find punishment and it is here that horror intervenes in a small climax of great suggestion. Perhaps it is precisely the brevity of the final climax that leaves a bit of a bitter taste in the mouth because the appearance of the ghosts and their successful visual representation was capable of creating a dreamlike and terrifying atmosphere. Nevertheless, a hit for Palma and his Medium. "Fairy Tale of a Monster," on the other hand, presents itself as a sort of "Forrest Gump" in a tragic and subtly unsettling key; direction and screenplay are by Stefano Prolli, who chooses to move away from genre canons to tell a story of marginalization and love with fairy-tale tones. The story of Celeste and his health and social relationship problems are the focus of the story that can be considered horror only marginally, thanks to a closing – which from a certain point of view also appears a bit intrusive – in which the shadow of the ghost story emerges. The photography of "Fairy Tale of a Monster," by Emanuele Zarlenga, is beautiful, the grays and the avanas are sharp and hypnotic and the scenographic construction of some scenes (especially those on the beach) is really suggestive. The episode lacks a bit in the narration of a story that appears too "forced" even to be a "fairy tale," to which some unconvincing performances contribute negatively, with the exception of the good protagonist Jonathan Coppola. The final episode is by Omar Protani and Marco Farina, who write (from a subject by Albanesi) and direct the last segment, "Screams in the Hills." Last and, in the end, the best, because this fifth episode presents itself as the most genuinely fun and relevant to the theme represented by the patchwork. "Screams in the Hills" reminds us closely of the atmosphere and carefree camp of some of the best episodes of "Creepshow," updated to the times of mockumentary. Protani and Farina have well in mind the lesson imparted by the horror cinema of the '80s, the one closest to the public, and they propose it in a simple but effective story that immediately gets to the point and continuously fires funny effect on the viewer. The spunky girls to be punished and the vengeful ghost are one of the most classic pretexts to build beautiful scenes of tension and sudden turns towards splatter, seasoned here and there with handheld camera shots, sometimes with night vision to show us the unshowable. A total success also thanks to the good performances of the three leading actresses Chiara Brunamonti, Laura Gigante and Guia Quaranta. In short, "Paranormal Stories" is a convincing work with an overall positive quality balance of the episodes.