The Ogre (1988)

Before we start: this film is not a third installment to the "Demons" series and it has nothing to do with it whatsoever, except the fact that Lamberto Bava directed them. Regardless of the false advertising, "The Ogre" is worth watching. This movie is quite atmospheric and even though there are a few unintentionally funny moments, I thought it had it decent share of creepiness. In a way, I see this as a poor man's "The House by the Cemetery", at least plot-wise. In both films, Paolo Marco is the man of the family, in both films, there's an irritating little son named Bobby, in both films, the woman of the house is a beautiful thirty-something, who seems to be the only one to see that there's something really wrong in the new house, and in both films, there's something really, really wrong going on in the basement. Those who enjoyed "The House by the Cemetery" are probably going to enjoy this movie as well, keeping in mind of course, that "The Ogre" is less artistic, less scary and not nearly as gory.

In "The Ogre", the story begins with a little girl, named Charel, who is tormented by a horrible nightmare. In said nightmare, little Charel is chased by a horrendous ogre, in what seems to be an old basement.

Several years later, we see Charel as a grown woman, who works as a novelist, is married to a guy named Tom and has a son named Bobby. Charel and her family go on a vacation trip to an old deserted castle, located in the heart of an Italian villa called Trifiri. Shortly after their arrival, Charel has the feeling that she had been in the villa before, which she finds very odd, since she knows for a fact, that she had never been to Trifiri in her life. Charel begins to experience visions of that horrible nightmare that she used to have when she was little, but her husband tells her not to worry about it. Charel can't seem to get over her visions of that horrendous creature going after her, and her husband, who is not a very patient guy to begin with, tells her to cut the crap and enjoy the damn vacation, before he loses his marbles. However, Charel knows that the old nightmare from her childhood is actually becoming real and she's going to have to fight that horrible ogre on her own, since nobody believes her.

As it is expected, the plot somehow turns out to be a little bit simplistic, which makes it hard to fill an hour and a half. This means that "The Ogre" offers more than a couple of sequences with nothing but total silence and the image of the main character walking around the castle for several minutes, going on about her business and reviving the images of her childhood, with a look of dismay in her eyes. Since this movie deals with the premise of a main character who is trying to figure out if she's actually seeing certain things or if she's having hallucinations, we get a lot of "Oh, is this actually happening?" moments... and, yes, it becomes tedious after a while. Like many Italian horror films that came out throughout the late eighties, this movie is pretty stylish and effective, but it also offers a nice variety of unintentionally funny moments, that make the movie unforgettable. For instance, the part in which Charel is brutally slapped by her husband and instead of going to her bedroom crying like I would have expected, she strikes back against him by punching him on the face really hard and running away to the woods, like a maniac. The funniest thing however, is the fact that two minutes later, they appear as a happy couple again, as if punching each other like that, was the most natural thing in the world. I know it's silly, but I myself, found it absolutely hilarious. The ogre (which is obviously the villain of the story) looks creepy and funny at the same time too and let's face it: a villain who can freak us out and make us laugh a little bit, it's twice as welcomed. It reminded me of Michael Jackson in "Thriller", but much more natural and human, of course. But if focusing on the genuinely good aspects that I mentioned before: the music composed by Simon Boswell is one of the high points and even if it pretty much always the same, it fits perfectly and it helps to create a rather dark atmosphere during the moments of tension. So if I have to give my final statement regarding this movie, I'm going to have to say that I can't help loving it, including the small flaws and most people who enjoy these typical Italian horror movies from the late eighties, won't be disappointed by this one. It has all the typical and always well received clichés, like the crazy old man who actually speaks the truth, the foxy local woman who is said to be a witch, a creepy castle, a huge dark basement with a terrible secret and the local folks who try to prevent the tourist with their hostility, to stay away from the infamous lands. I would say that "La Casa dell'Orco" deserves two thumbs up and a punch at your spouse's face, as a way to pay tribute to the heroine of the story. Take this movie for what it is and enjoy it.