THE ETRUSCAN MASK

Billionaire collector Samuel Powell comes into possession of an Etruscan mask that reproduces the features of a warrior demon. Six years later, five foreign students residing in Siena come into contact with the mask while delivering the newspaper to Powell's residence. From that moment on, the five young people will be victims of horrific visions that will lead them to their deaths. Jude and Mark, worried about the unsettling situation, seek help from a priest expert in Etruscan culture... Every time an Italian production ventures into the horror genre, it creates in the longtime fan a spasmodic curiosity and a deep hope of witnessing a worthy film, which could affirm that Italian-made horror is regaining ground. Certainly, something is moving, especially considering the recent returns of Dario Argento and Pupi Avati, but if we were to place our hopes exclusively in products of disarming mediocrity like "La maschera etrusca", we could certainly prematurely celebrate the funeral of our favorite genre. The film in question is born from a subject by Roberto Bessi, also a producer, who attempts to refresh the demonic - archaeological vein on Etruscan culture that had a certain success in our country between the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to films of the caliber of "L'etrusco uccide ancora" by Crispino. The plot of "La maschera etrusca" takes its cue precisely from an Etruscan artifact to stage a millennial curse involving five young people today, and to do so, it attempts to involve the viewer exclusively through the creation of the "right" atmosphere. But this is where the film fails immediately, giving from the start signs of preventive fatigue and exhaustion of the plot. "La maschera etrusca", in fact, despite a duration of less than 90 minutes, is particularly boring due to the repetitiveness of the action that conceals an evident exhaustion of the plot: throughout the time we witness the back-and-forth of the young protagonists in Powell's house who exchange lines that seem improvised on the spot, and most of the "excursions" resolve with a relatively scary vision and the escape. What should be the true "deus ex machina" of the entire story, namely the dilapidated condominium where Powell lives and serves as a dwelling for evil, is very poorly exploited. The almost pathological insistence on the framing of bas-reliefs and decorative statues is exhausting and the same set design of the residence is extremely poor and not at all unsettling. Even the rare scenes of real tension are managed with evident incompetence and are never effective. This clumsiness in the management of the scenes is particularly unjustifiable, as in the direction we find the expert Ted Nicolau (also screenwriter), a craftsman for years involved in low-budget horror productions (his long participation in Charles Band's productions is noteworthy) who, although never distinguished by artistic merits, is nevertheless a veteran who should know his job. To the poverty of the screenplay and the insufficiency of the direction are added a series of other macroscopic defects that make "La maschera etrusca" really indefensible. Let's start with the cast. The few actors involved are simply embarrassing, unexpressive, and with approximate acting skills. One could save from the bunch only the protagonist Majlinda Agaj thanks to a particularly interesting face, but the "I pose" construction of her character and the "professional" dubbing do not allow understanding with exactness if the girl is also capable of acting. Absolutely wrong is then the copious use of computer graphics for the rendering of flames, monsters, and even blood, that is, the most economical and easy-to-make artisanal special effect rendered with fake digital splatters! But one also fails on what is commonly the last resort of any genre product, namely the "sex & gore" combo; in fact, there is not even "sex" to talk about and the same bloody scenes are rarissime and approximate. In short, "La maschera etrusca" is yet another bad direct-to-DVD that is reluctantly watched and increasingly distances the hope of finding a rebirth of Italian genre cinema. What a pity.