After her father’s death, Catherine returns to her family’s gothic castle in Italy and gets caught in the web of a mysterious love triangle.
Sherilyn Fenn
Catherine
Malcolm Jamieson
Lawrence / Oliver
Charlie Spradling
Gina
Hilary Mason
Martha
Phil Fondacaro
Dwarf
Vernon Dobtcheff
Priest
Alex Daniels
Beast
Vito Passeri
Adriana
Angelo de Bianchi
Lunatic Man
Mohamed Badrsalem
Strong Man
Walter Colombaioni
Fire Eater
Nashira
Belly Dancer
Gianluca Tramboni
Boy
Fernando Cerulli
Master
Isabella Celani
Ghost
Amazon Video
Amazon Video
Wuchak
Beauty and the beast at an Italian castle
A half-American woman (Sherilyn Fenn) returns to Italy to inherit the family castle, but she and her best friend (Charlie Spradling) dubiously get involved with a traveling carnival troupe, led by a dark, handsome man (Malcolm Jamieson).
"Meridian” (1990), sometimes subtitled “Kiss of the Beast” (and also known as “Phantoms”), is a castle-oriented romantic drama/fantasy with elements of the supernatural, even horror. The real star is the milieu of the castle and the awe-inspiring garden of colossal statues, along with the two brunettes.
Speaking of which, they’re both shown top nude a couple of times (so stay away if that offends you) but, honestly, the director & cinematographer didn’t really take advantage of their presence (not talking about nudity or sleaze). In other words, they didn’t know how to photograph beautiful women.
There's a surprising politically incorrect element that wouldn’t fly today and is bewildering if you think about it (I don’t want to give it away). Meanwhile the details on how a person is to escape a 400 years-old curse are eye-rolling and almost singlehandedly ruin the movie. It’s like it was written by an author of bad romance/fantasy novels.
It runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot at Castello di Giove, which is a 75-minutes drive north of Rome, as well as Bomarzo (the garden of statues), which is about seven miles west of the castle.
GRADE: C+
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