Fatal Frames

1996

Horror / Mystery

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 22% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 22% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 4.0/10 10 419 419

rome, italy psychopath male with long hair music video b movie slasher

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Plot summary

Alex Ritt, a music video director comes to Italy to direct a video for pop sensation Stefania Stella. He soon encounters a mysterious killer who videotapes his victims for the police. As the horrible murders continue, Ritt is unknowingly pushed into the killer's games and he soon becomes a target of the police. The video-killer is on the loose and Ritt must find out the truth before it's too late.

Director

Al Festa Photo
Al Festa

Top cast

Linnea Quigley Photo
Linnea Quigley as Wendy Williams
Rossano Brazzi Photo
Rossano Brazzi as Dr. Lucidi
Donald Pleasence Photo
Donald Pleasence as Professor Robinson
Alida Valli Photo
Alida Valli as Countess Alessandra Mirafiori
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.13 GB
1280*674
English 2.0
NR
us  
24 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 1
2.1 GB
1916*1008
English 2.0
NR
us  
24 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by BA_Harrison 5 / 10

Giallo with zero finesse.

Fatal Frames hasn't got a very high IMDb rating and reviews are mostly scathing, and that's understandable: it's an utterly inept attempt to recreate the style and visceral horror of prime Argento or Fulci. However, in doing so, music video director Al Festa has given fans of the genre a film so poorly executed and so laden with '90s cheeze that it should prove entertaining for all the prove wrong reasons - when viewed as a parody (which it almost certainly isn't), it can be a lot of fun.The film opens with a young boy walking in on an old man watching snuff movies. The geriatric sicko grabs the boy and forces him to look at the violent images on the screen, which no doubt does irreparable damage to the lad's psyche.The action then cuts to a woman being pursued by a typical giallo-style maniac (presumably the boy all growed up): wearing mask and hat and armed with a machete, the killer slices at the woman several times before chopping her neck, her head almost coming off. It's a suitably mean-spirited and gory start to the film (special effects courtesy of Steve Johnson), but things soon go pear shaped...Festa introduces us to his movie's main character, music video director Alex Ritt (Rick Gianasi), who sports a magnificent Fabio-style mane of hair (as do several of the other men in the film). Ritt is hired to make a new promo video for Italian pop sensation Stefania Stella (Stefania Stella) which will help to make her a star in the States. Good luck with that, faux Fabio: Stefania looks like an ageing drag queen and cannot sing.Soon after Alex's arrival in Rome for the video shoot, the masked killer begins to hack up women with his machete, filming the mutilated victims with a camcorder. Ritt is witness to the first murder and when the police discover that the director's own wife was killed in a similar fashion a couple of years before, he becomes a suspect.As things progress, Festa chucks in every hokey giallo cliche he can think of, both audio and visual: strong coloured lighting, smoke machines, a synth soundtrack, a gratuitous sex scene, more gory attacks, some truly awful music videos starring Stefania (Festa's wife in real life) and plenty of red herrings. All of this is done with zero finesse, the result being giallo turned up to eleven. Genre regulars David Warbeck and Donald Pleasence are drafted into lend some class to proceedings, but there's little they can do when starring alongside the likes of Gianasi and Stella. Also look out for Angus 'The Tall Man' Scrimm ('...and kill and kill and kill and KILL!") and scream queen Linnea Quigley (ex-wife of FX man Johnson).In a plot twist that even current-day Argento would be ashamed to use, it is revealed that all of the murders that have taken place in Rome were faked, a ploy to flush out the psycho who killed Ritt's wife. It's utterly preposterous, made all the worse by Festa's use of some really naff visual effects (including some rudimentary morphing) as the killer breaks down and confesses.So 'yes', in many ways this film is utter dross, but at the same time, it's a real hoot.4.5, generously rounded up to 5 for the gory murders, even if they turn out to be staged in the end.
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Reviewed by ruediger_vienna 3 / 10

Worst giallo ever made.

Giallo meets the 80s - in a movie made 1996. If Fatal Frames was made in the 80s, then it would be just a styleless 80's movie, but at least contemporary at the time of release (like Le Foto di Gioia by Lamberto Bava). The movie is looking like a music-video from '83, also the score was 100% outdated.

The plot is quite OK if you manage to watch the whole movie - the end is quite logical (for giallo-standards).

Stefania Stella - the lead - also produced the movie, which might be the reason for Festa to cast her. If you are used to female actresses like Daria Nicolodi you could experience serious damage: The acting is practically not present, and her looks - ehh - okay, just forget about her.

So if you are a giallo-collector get this flick, if you're just starting your exploration of the giallo-genre (which you are probably not, if you're reading this on IMDb) please forget about this or you will never catch the giallo-spirit. Start with Argento, Bava(s), Fulci or even Michele Soavi - and then turn to Festa, smile and shake your head.

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