The idea alone would deserve a prize. Setting a horror movie in Bobbio, Marco Bellocchio’s town. The same as Fists in the Pocket (1965). Daniele Misischia, a life spent at the side of the Manetti Bros., director of the excellent The End? (i.e., zombies in Rome, another pretty good idea, 2017), churns out a second film that, on paper, might sound crazy and instead works perfectly. Imagine the best teen cinema of the Vanzina brothers (Time for Loving (1983), for example). Add The Goonies (1985). Then season with a fondness for whatever is eighties’ horror (Jason, Freddy, Halloween). A bunch of comics and much good music (Blue Öyster Cult’s Fire of An Unknown Origin, for one). Without forgetting a salacious taste for good old comedies.
Here it is: The Crypt Monster is all this and something more. Misischia added his own philological and amused approach, playing it all out. An example of free-minded cinema, capable of playing with genres, and never taking itself too seriously. Supported by skills of times gone. If The Crypt Monster were a VHS, then we would have worn out the tape a long time ago. But you keep on reading the face of the sky…
Giona A. Nazzaro
