Riccardo Freda is a director whose early work in the 60's is very similar to Mario Bava's gothic movies and is some really good stylized stuff. Those were his only films I was familiar with before seeing this one. This film carries that gothic feeling into the giallo territory and throws some blood and boobs into the mix for good measure. This movie as a whole feels like it has all the elements to have been a really good thriller but it seems very disjointed and all over the place. It's part ghost story, part gory murder mystery, part Satanic ritual flick and it all doesn't really gel into anything spectacular. There's also one really odd bit where a mannequin gets it's brains smashed out by an axe which comes out of nowhere and leaves you scratching your head. There's also a giant plastic-looking spider and some crud-faced nuns running around in what I think were dream sequences. Laura Gemser also shows up but she looks slightly chubbier than in her 70's EMANUELLE flicks so I wasn't even sure if it was her at first.
A bit of a confusing mess that isn't for anyone except hardcore giallo/strange movie aficionados. This has a whole slew of aliases including DELIRIUM, FEAR, THE WAILING, MURDER SYNDROME, UNCONCIOUS and SATAN'S ALTAR to name a few.
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