Web of the Spider (1971)

When Michèle Mercier appears in the sequence when she's still "alive" and puts on a necklace,it is obvious that the director was thinking of her "Angelique " character.The scene looks like an outtake of the Bernard Borderie's saga."Nella..." is certainly an underrated work:it does not rely on special effects or on gore and sex is kept to the minimum.Probably influenced by Bava,Margheriti creates fear with his camera ,using elements of the settings ,a mirror for instance.His lead is an earnest thespian,Anthony Franciosa, a former student of the Actor's Studio,not a mediocre amateur as we often meet in European horror movies.Supernatural is smartly introduced and the screenplay is much more elaborated than usually.Many people will disagree but Amenabar's style in "the others" is not that much different,even if that director is infinitely superior to Margheriti."Nella..." was also certainly influenced by Robert Wise's classic "the haunting " (1963!!!) as far as the conclusion is concerned.Poe's presence (Klaus Kinski) and the fact that the hero's first name is "Allan" do not bring much to the movie.In spite of the poor rating,I sincerely believe that fantasy and horror buffs won't waste their time if they watch "nella...."

I picked this one up at the dollar store (for a buck, naturally) and it was well worth the price (but not much more than that). This is classic schlock theater fare, perfect for Halloween. More mood than actual plot. You can't take it too seriously because it takes itself so very seriously and that makes it almost comical at times. This is no cinematic masterpiece, but as long as you keep your expectations realistic, you'll have fun watching it. I wish I knew Italian so I could decipher the original title. Somehow, the American title "Web of the Spider" isn't too descriptive as spiders don't figure very prominently in the plot. I guess it's a metaphor for not being able to get out of a situation once you're in it.

The guy who was Poe was certainly the highlight of this very dull flick. Unfortunately, he is not in it enough to save the pick, rather he is sort of a movie bookend. For the rest of the movie we have a guy trying to win a bet by staying at a haunted house. A house no one has ever gotten out of alive...so basically he has to survive the night to win the bet. If he loses, well losing will be the least of his concerns. As soon as he arrives at the castle he meets lovely ladies and later a scientist who explains the situation. All the while nothing all that horrifying really occurs as we are treated to a few flashback like scenes. Truly a boring spectacle awaits you when you watch this flick...at least for me. Sure the scientist guy was kind of interesting too, but this is a movie that could use maybe a killing or two more, maybe a bit of nudity, certainly some time cut from its running time would have helped. Still though it ends interestingly enough and there are some people who may like this kind of horror drama hybrid.

This is one of those terrible 70's films where every shot is a close-up.Terrible is the only way to describe it. Kinsky is a terrible Poe.The haunted house consists of people dancing.Avoid at all costs...really, I mean it!