I frati rossi (1988)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Gianni Martucci

Writers:

Pino Buricchi (writer)
Gianni Martucci (screenplay)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Sort of loose remake of the late director Mario Bava's "Lisa And The Devil" about a group of witches...

Plot Keywords:

Decapitation | Splatter | Female Nudity | Witchcraft

Cast

Gerardo Amato	...	Robert Garlini
Lara Wendel	...	Ramona Curtis
Malisa Longo
Chuck Valenti		(as Richard Brown)
Claudio Pacifico
Mary Maxwell
Gaetano Russo		(as Ronald Russo)
Ludovico Della Jojo

Also Known As:

The Red Monks

Runtime:

Netherlands:90 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18

Company:

Natmas Productions

Nothing to see here!

I didn't expect much going into this film, and it's a really good job that I didn't because Red Monks really doesn't deliver! The film offers little that you can't get from several better devils/exploitation flicks. The film has Lucio Fulci's name attached to it since the great director has a producers credit; but I don't know why that attracted me since even the films that Fulci did direct around the late eighties were mostly not up to much. This one is directed by Gianni Martucci, and while the director has something of an eye for aesthetics, he's not great at creating tension and it results in a very boring film. The story revolves around some ancient ritual involving a bunch of people dressed in red monk robes. The wealthy owner of a castle where this takes place meets a pretty young woman and marries her. She goes to live in the castle and soon becomes frustrated by her husband's secretive night time behaviour. People start dying and her husband's secret becomes in danger of being revealed; but maybe his secret is not the most surprising. The film drones on for about eighty minutes and there's very little that's memorable about it. In fact, the only sequence I can remember well is a scene with the most ridiculously fake spider I've ever seen, and considering I only saw it last night - it has to be said that this film is not overly memorable. It all boils down to a supposedly surprising twist that I guessed before the film even started. Overall, it has to be said that Red Monks is a big waste of time and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone!