Ah, late 80s horror from Italy... Gory deaths, beautiful nude women, and zero explanations given!

At the great Italian University of Cult & Horror Movies, Marcello Avallone certainly wasn't the brightest or the most gifted student. Six out of the eight movies he directed are completely forgotten, and the two horror flicks he made during the late 80s aren't exactly high-flyers neither. I concur with most reviewers around here, stating that "Maya" is slightly better than "Specters", but it still is a muddled and thoroughly incoherent flick.

Avallone was clearly fascinated by macabre history and ancient civilizations. "Specters" revolved around a feline monster escaping from a sarcophagus in Rome, whereas "Maya" takes place - supposedly, at least - in Mexico and revolves around an entire village falling victim to a vicious Maya (duh!) curse. Old prof Slivak (veteran William Berger) is the first to die when he climbs up a Mayan temple and awakes "something". The evil but invisible force spreads and kills several people in brutally imaginative ways, like impalement through the mouth or hung up by chains. The sexiest girl even has her pretty nose split open when she gets smacked around in her bathtub.

The pacing is sluggish, the occult aspects remain underdeveloped, and the macho protagonist Peter Phelps is an insufferable jerk, so unless you're an avid fan of Italian 80s horror, there aren't many reasons to search for this obscure title.

Obscure flick only out on VHS and do has a VHS rip on DVD on the German Dragon label. I only searched it because it was directed by Marcello Avallone of SPECTRES (1987). It shows that it was made by the Italians. Because the effects are rather okay and you do have overdubs for special effects sounds. On the other hand the way the camera was used also shows it origin of country and of course the use of lightning also reveals that fact.

It's a supernatural flick and it do has a few good moments, like one hanging on fish hooks or another one being smashed with her head in a bath tub. But it do has a few flows. It's slow building and it do has a few awkward moments. Overall it's not that bad and do has all elements, nudity, the red stuff and some good effects but it do fails a bit here and there due that some scene's do take too long. Still, so typical Italian that the lovers of that cinema really has to search this obscure flick. And for the girls, yes, Peter Phelps do shows his body famous of Baywatch and other series.

Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

In the 8th century, an evil king attempts to extinguish a Mayan Indian tribe but is unsuccessful. He vows revenge and, being a wizard who can move freely between the world of life and death, slips into the netherworld. According to Mayan legend, the king will return when a man who knows of the bridge between the two worlds is killed at a pyramid-like temple. So says a character at the beginning of MAYA, which for at least ten minutes is entirely gripping, as we watch archaeologist Solomon Slivak (William Berger) play out the role of instigator who goes to the temple and gets murdered so the king may return to Earth.

Upon Berger's exit, MAYA director Marcello Avallone, and his co-writers Andrea Purgattori and Maurizio Tedesco, seem unable to expand much on the concept of the "night as the fracture between two worlds," as a pre-credit title card notes. At regular intervals, Avallone drifts away from the supernatural, inserting routine stalk-and-slash gore sequences that smack of artistic compromise.

The "night fracture" theme plays out, though, as Slivak's daughter (Mariella Valentini) arrives in a poverty-ridden Mexican community, asking a lot of questions and falling for a down-and-out adventurer and gambler (Australian actor Peter Phelps). Soon, both of them are snared in the legend of the returning king, and people around them get murdered in horrible ways.

For example, two punk dudes down from Texas to raise hell run afoul of the evil spirit, which crushes both of them with their own truck. A death by fish hook scene is similarly contrived and ridiculous. The best suspense scene shows Phelps' girlfriend tossed about a bath tub, an invisible force repeatedly smashing her face against metal pipes.

Phelps confronts an old friend of Slivak's, who is the only one who can stop the evil spirit from sacrificing a small child atop the temple, during the Celebration of the Dead. The doctor yells some mumbo-jumbo, stuff flies off the walls in POLTERGEIST fashion, and the spirit is supposedly sent back to its netherworld. After the dust has cleared, there is one last cinematic jolt, a throwaway ending sequence set in an airport that is almost as creepy as the opening set-piece.

MAYA never strays very far from playing its horror very straight, with knifings and beatings and other earthly killings. When it investigates the underpinnings of the supernatural, however, it becomes for fleeting moments a really fun movie.

This Italian production was filmed in Isla de Margarita (Venezuela).