Abrakadabra

Now, I know that it's tremendously popular nowadays to make new horror movies look like as if they were made 30-40 years ago. For certain genres this also works perfectly well, like the 80s slasher or the 70s grindhouse flick, but certain other cinematic styles and sub-genres were so periodically and culturally specific that they simply don't fit in this current post-Millennial era. The Giallo is, at least in my humble opinion, such a sub-genre, and even though I genuinely admire the Onetti brothers' goodwill and enthusiasm to pay tribute to these unique films, their "Abrakadabra" just didn't evoke any feelings of nostalgia or excitement. Exceptions aside, the true Gialli came from Italy and were released between 1969 and 1975. They are wonderfully deranged movies with twisted plots, absurd twists, graphic violence, gratuitous sex and experimental stylistic aspects. The Onettis most certainly did their homework in terms of look & feel, as "Abrakadabra" features chaotic color patterns, inept sound effects & editing and massively theatrical death sequences. For some reason, however, they also assumed that an incoherent plot with giant holes and logical errors are also a mandatory trademark. That's not the case, or at least I never felt so! The setting is excellent: a washed up, alcoholic and gambling-addicted magician, still traumatized because he witnessed the death of his father on stage following a magic trick gone wrong, suddenly becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation when the corpse of a woman is discovered amidst his magic show equipment. The cadavers continue to pile up, and everything points in the direction of our sleazy magician, but he is determined to prove that someone else wants to frame him. It's definitely a strong giallo-concept, with several praiseworthy technical aspects and two or three delightfully sadistic slayings (the guillotine!). But, believe me, I've seen more than 120 authentic gialli, yet I've rarely ever encountered one with a script so randomly structured and uneven. There are dozens of great but sadly obscure gialli out there to discover, psychedelic ones as well as straightforward ones. Please, seek them out!