• Source: Spirits of Death

      • Spirits of Death (Italian: Un bianco vestito per Marialé/ translation: A White Dress for Mariale) is a 1972 Italian film directed by Romano Scavolini and starring Ida Galli, Ivan Rassimov and Luigi Pistilli. The film was also released as Exorcisme Tragique (Tragic Exorcism).


      Plot


      As a child, Mariale witnesses the murder of her mother at her father's hands. She later becomes a recluse, living by herself in a dark, gloomy castle. Mariale decides to invite some friends over for the weekend and stages a decadent orgiastic party. Then a series of grisly murders begin to occur.


      Cast


      Ida Galli as Marialè
      Ivan Rassimov as Massimo
      Shawn Robinson as Semy
      Luigi Pistilli as Paolo
      Pilar Velázquez as Mercedes
      Carla Mancini
      Ezio Marano as Sebastiano
      Gianni Dei as the lover of Marialè's mother


      Style


      Although the film is often described as a giallo, film historian Roberto Curti stated it only becomes a violent murder mystery about an hour into the film. Curti described the giallo trademarks of violent murders and a twist ending are marginal when compared to other films of the genre at the time. Curti opined the film was one like a perverse kammerspiel which borrowed from both gothic and avant-garde theatre.


      Production


      Following his return from Vietnam where he was a freelance photographer, director Romano Scavolini returned to his native Italy where he started his film career again as a genre filmmaker.


      Release


      Spirits of Death was released in Italy on 30 November 1972. The film grossed 65.564 million Italian lire in Italy on its release. When the film was released in France, it was titled Exorcisme tragique to try and bank on the popular success of The Exorcist.


      Reception


      In a retrospective review, Curti stated that Scavolini's direction and Fiorenzo Carpi's score "cannot overcome the script's many shortcoming–namely, sketchily developed characters, pretentious dialogue, heavy-handed symbolism." Scavolini later referred to the film as a film "which only deserves to be forgotten"


      See also


      List of Italian films of 1972


      References




      = Footnotes

      =


      = Sources

      =


      External links


      Spirits of Death at IMDb

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