The Murder Secret (1988)

It's hard to find...and I'm glad! If this film dropped off the face of the earth tomorrow, it would be no great loss. yet another stupid and implausible Italian horror that attempts to be edgy and shocking, but actually isn't much more than incoherent and plodding, even neglecting to address huge, major plot points that it apparently wasn't aware it brought up. It's so unlikely in the first place, and the voice-over ending it is made hilarious by its attempt to make it all seem intentional.The pacing is nonexistent and the whole thing is pretty predictable, except where it's random (and implausible there too). It's so predictable that you'll watch it, know exactly what will happen, and say to yourself 'no -- no, nothing's that stupid, nothing would do that anymore'. But you will be mistaken and it will disappoint you even more.From the start, you'll find yourself wondering why these people, who obviously have pretty demanding lives, are so inanely doing the things they do. The father has no reason for doing what he does, especially. Nothing makes sense, and it's unfulfilling. This isn't the sort of 'dream logic' Argento could get away with when he was still good; it's just a mess of shoddy writing, and the ending is absolutely contemptible.If you want to see something on a similar sort of note, watch Atrocious. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it's far better than this rubbish. This isn't worth finding, and it's certainly not worth sitting through once you do find a copy.

Your enjoyment of this film 80's Italian horror flick will probably depend somewhat on your expectations. If you're expecting a superior Lucio Fulci film (Fulci produced this), you'll probably be somewhat disappointed (but to be fair it's really no worse than a lot of the stuff the gore-master himself was directing at the end of his career). On the other hand though, if you've seen any of the previous work of Mario Bianchi, the actual director of this (for instance, his deadly dull "Satan's Baby Doll") you'll no doubt find this one comparatively entertaining.A family, consisting of a father (Gabriele "Mr. Laura Gemser" Tinti), his second wife (Adriana Russo), and his three children--a young son, a voluptuous "teenage" daughter (Jessica Moore), and his adult son who shows up later--all drive out to a secluded family estate to meet the father's "Aunt Martha" who has just been released after spending thirty years in a mental institution for the criminally insane. Naturally this sounds like bad idea, but if dumb characters didn't do dumb stuff like this, we'd have a lot less gory horror movies. The place is managed by a creepy caretaker and "Aunt Martha's" arrival is mysteriously delayed. Meanwhile, all kinds of strange things begin to occur. . .This movie is not very well paced as almost all the murders take place in a ten minute period near the end. They're suitably gory at least--one thing I like about the Italians is that they have no compunctions about doing things like decapitating annoying child actors with chainsaws. Tinti is always enjoyable, even in roles like this where he's not making "the beast with two backs" with his more famous wife. Russo and Moore both have memorable nude scenes. I think the former might be the sister of the voluptuous Carmen Russo (they look a lot alike anyway) while the latter appeared in several Joe D'Amato movies like "11 Days, 11 Nights" and "Convent of Sinners". (Here she takes a very long and very hot shower that all by itself might be worth the price of admission). Unlike most latter-day Fulci films or Bianchi's earlier "Satan's Baby Doll", this is not yet available on legitimate DVD. But it really ought to be.

This is one of a number of low-grade horrors with which Lucio Fulci was associated towards the end of his career: it’s actually the fifth I’ve watched (or, to be honest, made an effort to sit through) – following AENIGMA (1987), TOUCH OF DEATH (1988), GHOSTS OF SODOM (1988) and BLOODY Psycho (1989). They’re all terrible and unworthy of his talents (for the record, I’ve got two more of these to check out – MURDEROCK [1984] and THE RED MONKS [1988])…but also an indication of the depths to which the genre (and, by extension, the “Euro-Cult” style) had plunged by the end of the 1980s! Incidentally, the director of this one was the man behind the decent horror flick Satan’S BABY DOLL (1982), recently released by Severin in tow with MALABIMBA – THE MALICIOUS WHORE (1979), of which the former was an inferior remake.The original Italian title of THE BROKEN MIRROR (a meaningless, generic moniker) translates to the more appropriate DON’T BE AFRAID OF AUNT MARTHA – which, presumably, is intended to evoke memories of the “Whatever” cycle of Grand Guignol-type shockers renowned for having revitalized the career of many an ageing Hollywood diva…but which had gone out-of-fashion some 15 years earlier! Anyway, the narrative concerns the arrival of a family at a country-house (most of these latter-day Fulcis seemed to go this route, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the locations were duplicated from one to the other!) – the property of the head of the family (Gabriele Tinti)’s aunt, who’s supposedly just been released from a lunatic asylum; however, she’s not there to greet them but the mysterious custodian (Maurizio Poli, from Mario Bava’s RABID DOGS [1974]) claims that she’ll be arriving soon.The catch is that Tinti’s mother had confined the aunt (her sister) in order to appropriate herself of her sibling’s fortune: gripped by a sudden remorse, however, the former jumps out of a window – which has left an indelible effect on Tinti (then still a boy); that said, he doesn’t bother to get his aunt re-instated and makes use of the money himself! Sensibly, Tinti should have stayed away from his (understandably) revenge-seeking relative – but, invariably, the ill-fated heroes of this type of fare turn out to be awfully dumb! Soon enough, the bodies start piling up: Tinti’s eldest son is seen (by the audience but not the characters) mangled and hanging upside down from a tree – for what it’s worth, his introduction is treated as a red herring in an effort to generate some would-be suspense; the good-looking (and frequently topless) teenage daughter is knifed in the shower – which, actually, isn’t too badly done (again, it plays on the fact that, prior to this, she had twice been scared by her younger sibling’s practical jokes); the boy himself is viciously (and gorily) decapitated by a chainsaw; somewhat lazily, then, Tinti’s wife shares this exact same fate – except that the vessel of wrath in her case is the lid of a wooden chest…which makes for one of the most improbable celluloid beheadings I’ve ever come across! At this stage, I have to mention an implausible turn-of-events: most of the deaths occur in one fell swoop – while Tinti’s gone out to visit the custodian; his wife drops him near the latter’s house, while she herself goes to do some shopping in town. By the time she arrives back home, two of the children have been killed and the murderer lies in wait to do her in too…but, when we cut back to Tinti, he’s just reached the custodian’s house!! It’s possible that this ‘delay’ on his part was intended to throw suspicion of the deeds on Tinti – especially after he ‘discovers’ the bodies propped up at table and Aunt Martha ‘appears’ to him (suggesting a deranged mind)…all of which, however, is negated by the fact that, immediately prior to this, he had stumbled upon five graves outside the house bearing the names of the entire family! Eventually, it transpires that Poli is the murderer: he had been the lover of Aunt Martha – whose putrefied body he still keeps in the cellar (and on which the camera lingers in revolting detail for an inordinate length of time). The two engage in an extended scuffle, ending with Poli about to split Tinti’s head open with an axe…which takes us back to the very beginning (the journey to the country-house), except that it had actually been interrupted by the family’s car being wrecked in an accident – all its occupants killed but for Tinti (cue Aunt Martha’s voice declaring that his agonies aren’t over yet)! Ugh.

After spending 30 years in a mental hospital, aunt Martha is free to leave and writes a letter to her relatives, inviting them to spend a weekend on her isolated country house. But when they get there, they meet only the caretaker, who informs them that their aunt has not arrived yet....After 50 slow minutes of virtually NOTHING HAPPENING, there are a few gory murders, and then it's time for the twisted secrets and nonsensical plot revelations. As it often happens in these Italian horror films, there is a very atmospheric score, which actually does most of the director's work for him. And I must mention that the actress who plays the daughter (Jessica Moore) is really hot. There are two scenes of her checking herself out in the mirror, and let me tell you, this girl has every right to be proud of what she sees. (*1/2)