Damned in Venice

While visiting a graveyard in Venice with his bitch of a sister, a blind mop-head (Renato Cestie) ‘sees’ a mysterious, ghostly couple and their big black dog—casually snacking on a human arm. After further visions and the bizarre death of a crispy aunt, both blindy and sis are forced to live in a great looking haunted boarding house owned by a sinister old couple that talk in cryptic riddles. 

Unphased, blindy goes searching the enormous house for some ‘magic water’ to cure his eyes, but instead has more horrid visions and runs into taps that drip maggots, slamming windows, laughing ghosts and spilled blood as he blindly gropes for clues to help him—and us—explain the point of the twisting, morbid plot.

Written as well as directed by Libaratore, a cruel atmosphere swamps it and you’ll be more than surprised at the level of graphic gore on display and just how mean the characters are to poor blindy (who’s considered an annoying chore and shouted at and frequently left abandoned to wander around the vast, creaking halls and basements of the desolate building alone).

Barely released and criminally obscure, this quirky, oddball horror tale is devilishly dipped in gothic Italian style and despite the bare faced plot swipes from The Omen (76) and especially Don’t Look Now (73), its crackpot antics never let up, giving it a memorable surreal edge that’s nearly ruined by some ridiculous ‘Kadooiing’ and ‘Booiing’ sound FX that occur whenever blindy has a vision—which craps the movie out a little bit, but so what, the stoopid sounds now make it one of the best drinking game films ever. Hurrah!