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Wrath of the Crows
Curse of the Crows
Italy 2013
produced by Zack Ewans for Studio Interzona
directed by Ivan Zuccon
starring Tiffany Shepis, Debbie Rochon, Tara Cardinal, Domiziano Arcangeli, Suzi Lorraine, Michael Segal, Brian Fortune, Gerry Shanahan, Emanuele Cerman, Matteo Tosi, Giuseppe Gobbato, John Game, Carl Wharton, Andreea Togan, Chris Pybus, Svetlana Bekleseva, Marcella Braga, Miriam Zuccon
written by Gerardo Di Filippo, Ivan Zuccon, makeup effects by Elena Sardelli, Danilo Carignola/Crea-FX, visual effects by Luca Auletta/Phaos Studio
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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4 strangers (Debbie Rochon, Tara Cardinal, Domiziano Arcangeli, Brian
Fortune) find themselves in a weird prison, and they have no idea how they
got there, they only know this much: There are three options, the death
sentence (which is bad), lifelong imprisonment (which is even worse,
considering the place), or freedom (the worst, since "freedom"
most often leads to manhunts, fatal dismemberment or worse). Not that
either of these four deserves too much pity (even if the punishment by far
exceeds the crime) since they are all brutal murderers in one way or
another (and amusingly, most of their victims are played by Suzi Lorraine)
... but they are still human beings. The guards, who every now and again
torture them for their own amusement, are not much better off though, they
too are condemned to live this prison life for their past sins. One
morning, there's a fifth prisoner with our four anti-heroes, the seductive
Princess (Tiffany Shepis), who likes to dress in crow feathers and little
else, who seems to know a great deal more about the place than the others,
who can make them see things (and they're not pleasant things), who
constantly plays them one against the other, and who seems to have a
special hatred for Debby (Debbie Rochon), which means the two of them are
at each other's throat almost permanently. And it soon becomes clear
there's more to Princess than her just being another prisoner, she might
just be the ruler of the prison. But then Debby and Liza (Tara Cardinal)
are executed ... and after their death they find out some very
gruesome truths about their prison ... Wrath of the Crows
is a very impressive piece of horror cinema, as despite the reliance of
horror and pulp mainstays it manages to tell a highly original and very
creepy story that despite being divided into quite a number of subplots
manages to sustain suspense and atmosphere throughout, that uses its
handful of explicit gore scenes to enrich its mood rather than replace it,
that features rather stunning camerawork and art direction, and it's got
pretty much a dream cast as well. Now the cynic in me forces me to say,
if all these elements come together, something usually goes wrong ... only
in case of Wrath of the Crows, it doesn't. Totally
recommended!
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