La bambola di satana might be a guilty pleasure of mine. The film isn’t very well made with one-dimensional characters, so-so performances (at best) and the plot is a bit silly culminating with a Scooby-Doo like ending; and this is not forgetting some piss-poor editing. That said, it did keep me entertained and under better talent, might’ve made for good mystery-thriller.
La bambola di satana
(aka The Doll of Satan)
(1969)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller
Twilight Time | NR – 90 min. – $24.95 | February 16, 2016
Date Published: 03/08/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 2.75/5 |
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La bambola di satana aka The Doll of Satan aka Satan’s Doll, is an Italian tale, in the giallo subgenre, of Elizabeth (ERNA SCHURER), a young woman traveling with her fiancé (ROLANC CAREY), to her recently deceased uncle’s estate for his will to be read in which, as his only living heir, will inherit his castle. There, with two other friends, she encounters a few colorful characters including the suspicious housekeeper who, in spite of what others said, encourages Elizabeth to sell the castle. Soon enough, mysterious things begin happening, specifically to poor Elizabeth as the line between nightmare and reality begin to blur.
Quick Hit Review: At best Satan’s Doll is amateurish and it’s easy to see why as first, and only, time director Ferruccio Casapinta seemingly didn’t know what he was doing leading to a chaotic production where he pushed directing duties on the assistant director and one of the film’s star, Erna Schurer, was quoted describing Casapinta as “an idiot who couldn’t do anything.” But for all that is wrong, and there sure is a lot starting in the editing department where shots didn’t match (day to dusk to day and back), there was a certain something I did enjoy, particularly the mystery elements and even the laughable Scooby-Doo like reveal at the end (literally with an unmasking). Is this movie any good? Not by a long shot and it is an obscure picture I doubt many have seen (only has 72 votes on IMDb) but for any fans of Italian horror, it might be worth pursuing if only as a rental. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5 |
| Along with the usual 6-page essay booklet, this release only comes with an Audio Commentary with film historians David Del Valle and Derek Botelho. |
VIDEO – 3.5/5 |
| La bambola di satana arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time which presents the film in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a respectable but imperfect 1080p high-definition transfer. First for the good, colors generally are bright and pleasing as showcased at the local diner. Detail is fairly decent in some scenes while others show the unprofessional nature of the production where some scenes appear unfocused. There were also many instances of dust marks and major scratches that are hard to go unnoticed. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track is perfectly serviceable providing for crisp dialogue levels throughout. Ambient noises, such as the fake thunder and other creepy sounds around the mansion come through well enough. I did notice the occasional hissing sounds but nothing overly distracting. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
| Overall, La bambola di satana might be a guilty pleasure of mine. The film isn’t very well made with one-dimensional characters, so-so performances (at best) and the plot is a bit silly culminating with a Scooby-Doo like ending; and this is not forgetting some piss-poor editing. That said, it did keep me entertained and under better talent, might’ve made for good mystery-thriller. The Blu-ray released through Twilight Time is limited in the bonus material while the video/audio transfers are at least above average. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.