Movie info via Slamdance:
There is an ancient villa where desperate people have the opportunity to revive their fortunes by selling their bodies to mysterious entities in exchange of money. When huge and age-old creatures emerge from the deep woods surrounding the villa, a series of strange and sinister events prompt three unlikely guests to band together in a desperate escape,
Review:
I kept on wondering, while watching the Italian faux horror cum shaggy dog story The Complex Forms by debut director, Fabio D’ Orta, what exactly are these complex forms?
Is it Freudian, referring to the complexes that haunt the mind? Partly that, but on second thought, probably not. Does it refer to the mysterious villa where all these volunteers are housed in for this experiment in terror? Obviously, but not entirely. Does it have anything to do with filling out tedious mountains of elaborate paperwork? That’s a good pun, but stretching things a bit. Or is it surreal, meta, a labyrinth on how the mind creates, stories, structures from fearful illusions inside the human psyche? That’s probably the starting idea to which a mechanical flea-like creation can be added, along with mysterious solo moving of objects by themselves, some vomiting blood effects, and a slow moving Mercedes that falls languidly from the sky- all misdirections of the horror film.
Every film festival gets one of these experimental films by newcomers which should not have been expanded from its short film source. This is Slamdance’s entry. The critics love them. The audience loves/hates them. As for me, I can only put up with so much misdirection without intention, before I ascribe these films to just another piece of artsy-fartsy nonsense.
The Complex Forms gets a 2.5/5 or a C+, and that’s only because of the nice cinematography.
It’s streaming as part of Slamdance 2024 which is part of the Slamdance Channel. The virtual part of the festival runs from January 22-28.
Credits:
Directed by
Fabio D’Orta…(directed by)
Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)
Fabio D’Orta…(screenplayer)
Cast (in credits order)
David White…Christian Del BenMichele Venni…LuhCesare Bonomelli…GiantEnzo Solazzi…DirectorGiovanni Corridori…Chief of GuardiansGiovanni Pochetti…Chauffeur
Produced by
Mariangela Bombardieri…producerFabio D’Orta…producerBombardieri Mariacristina…producer (as Maria Cristina Bombardieri)
Music by
Riccardo Amorese…(music by)
Cinematography by
Fabio D’Orta…director of photography
Editing by
Fabio D’Orta…(edited by)
- Year:
2023 - Runtime:
74 minutes - Language:
Italian - Country:
Italy - Premiere:
US Premiere - Genre:
Drama, Fantasy, Sci-fi - Subtitle Language:
English - Social Media:
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