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THE WELL - Mini BOP
Calling all art fans! No, not THAT Art--even if, Lauren LaVera IS in this movie. I mean of the brush stroke kind! Look at what TERROR your preferred form of expression wreaks on more, unsuspecting restorers from a foreign land! I won't hold it against you, though. I WILL hold it against you if you don't check out this here review of THE WELL! Mike is here with more new Euro Horror recommendations for your perlilous eyeballs, this one from writer and director Federico Zampaglione, with a tone and foreboding frights that harken back to the films of Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi and just had its North American premiere at SCREAMFEST. Listen now to hear some quick post-watch thoughts and why YOU should keep it on your radar.
Unearth arcane evils beneath an Italian mansion by downloading the review now!
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Transcript
I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Speaker:Groovy
Speaker:Welcome to Box Office Pulp, I'm Mike, here by my lonesome once again for another itty bitty
Speaker:buh.
Speaker:This time, I have watched The Well, by director Federico Zampleone, starring Lauren Lavera,
Speaker:everyone's favorite final girl from Terrifier 2, once again taking the horror world by storm.
Speaker:And I think this got mostly on people's radar from Lavera being in it.
Speaker:I know I didn't hear about it until just about a month ago.
Speaker:So I was super excited when this kind of came across my desk and immediately sat down and
Speaker:watched it.
Speaker:Fun little fact.
Speaker:So I don't know if it's actually fun.
Speaker:Fun's like a water slide.
Speaker:This is just me telling you something that happened to be brief.
Speaker:Like, so I was woken up by animals, animals I own, I should say.
Speaker:They're not like wild animals that broke into my house and I was like skedaddled by a raccoon.
Speaker:I was woken up super early after only like four hours of sleep.
Speaker:So I was going to watch this today, but I decided like, well, I'm awake, so I'll just start watching this.
Speaker:So I watched it about an hour and a half long, about an hour in and was realizing, OK, I'm actually kind of getting falling asleep.
Speaker:Not because of the movie, because of completely complete lack of sleep.
Speaker:So I paused it because I wanted I was into it and I didn't want to like get droopy brained and stop paying attention.
Speaker:So I leaned back to take a quick nap and I had nothing but Euro horror nightmares.
Speaker:The entire time, like really gnarly ones, like melted skin and stuff.
Speaker:It was awesome.
Speaker:I am forever in this movie's debt for gifting me that.
Speaker:So thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:The well, you did good as he had.
Speaker:This is super up the ass hero horror and like the best way.
Speaker:It is incredibly full.
Speaker:She asked Umberto Lensi, especially and not in like a throwback where everything's kind of grainy.
Speaker:And it's shot like it's the 70s.
Speaker:It just even though there is a lot of framing that's similar to it, because that's just the natural language in regards to horror films of that culture and of that ilk.
Speaker:It's not a throwback.
Speaker:It's just that's the feeling of it.
Speaker:That's the DNA.
Speaker:It's it's it's in that chromosome of horror as all of those films.
Speaker:And to that end, I had no idea, though, makes all the sense in the world that Lauren Levera has the most perfect Euro horror.
Speaker:I have such like such fondness for like super close ups of actresses and all those old or Italian horror films.
Speaker:The close up with their eyes on the blinking, like selling all the fear in that expression, like, you know, deer in a headlight stuff.
Speaker:You know, hero horror was so great at that.
Speaker:And she nails it.
Speaker:She's great in the entire movie playing a completely different type, different age.
Speaker:Really.
Speaker:Showing her range here super early on in her career, which is great.
Speaker:I'm hoping then people kind of latch on to this and then she can kind of keep getting more and more, especially after Terrifier three comes not soon enough.
Speaker:But, yeah, just to give you a quick log line.
Speaker:So that way you know what the fuck I'm talking about with this movie.
Speaker:When novice art restorer Lisa Gray goes to a small Italian village to bring a medieval painting back to its former glory after fire damage.
Speaker:Little does she know she is placing her life in danger from an evil curse and a monster.
Speaker:Born of myth and brutal pain.
Speaker:Also a pretty dope poster if you ever want to look that up.
Speaker:But, yeah, so that so outside of like being drawn to see it because like, hey, Italian whore.
Speaker:I dig that.
Speaker:Hey, Lauren Lavera.
Speaker:She's cool.
Speaker:I didn't know if that was just going to be the only thing that was going to keep my interest.
Speaker:Just the tone of Italian whore and really like in the lead actress.
Speaker:But that whole like concept of use as you slowly uncover.
Speaker:As you slowly uncover this painting.
Speaker:There's a unfurling of supernatural events.
Speaker:Just disturbing behavior happening around you.
Speaker:Like visions and things just start going a little bit haywire and a little bit weird.
Speaker:Almost like the paintings making you ill.
Speaker:And like I loved that.
Speaker:And the why you're doing that.
Speaker:You're having like this B plot of it has that allows you to take it slow.
Speaker:With the A plot.
Speaker:Because then you're cutting to this B plot that is also kind of unfurling.
Speaker:And you're learning a little bit more.
Speaker:And it's getting more strange.
Speaker:Lovecraftian or honestly Fulci again.
Speaker:You know, something like the Gates of Hell trilogy.
Speaker:That kind of like butting up against something that's beyond the other side.
Speaker:And you're a little bit unfurling there.
Speaker:And what exactly is happening.
Speaker:But it's hinged with all of like this really brutal gnarly violence.
Speaker:Somebody has like the skin of their face like peeled off.
Speaker:And like one rip like saran wrap.
Speaker:Fucking cool.
Speaker:But if I were to label any criticisms.
Speaker:I would actually like to have seen more of that.
Speaker:Like more.
Speaker:Not of the gore.
Speaker:But well, yes.
Speaker:But that has nothing to do with anything.
Speaker:But more of like that foreboding that's building the more and more this painting is uncovered.
Speaker:You know, it feels like this is a complaint.
Speaker:And a lot of my like only complaints from the movie.
Speaker:Actually wouldn't exist if I didn't like the film.
Speaker:If you ever, you know, really enjoyed a movie.
Speaker:But it's like, ah, if it did a little bit more in this direction.
Speaker:And a little bit more here.
Speaker:It would have lived up entirely.
Speaker:Instead of just being good.
Speaker:It would have done more than just brush up against what it could have achieved.
Speaker:And I feel a little bit like that with this.
Speaker:Where a little bit more to the main character's arc and story.
Speaker:And how it relates.
Speaker:And how we kind of arrive at a certain ending.
Speaker:Which that I, there is an aspect of the ending I didn't really care for.
Speaker:Even though it is interesting.
Speaker:But I feel like it could have worked with more extrapolation early on.
Speaker:But particularly, I just want to focus on more of that unnerving strangeness.
Speaker:That unnerving high strangeness.
Speaker:As she slowly uncovers this painting.
Speaker:And you start seeing more and more.
Speaker:And you get a little bit of details.
Speaker:And it starts to explain some sort of story.
Speaker:In fact, I think we even got, felt like we got our back story for the painting a little bit too soon.
Speaker:Comes, you know, it doesn't come a little bit over the halfway point of the film.
Speaker:But I feel like that could have actually been held off for a little bit longer.
Speaker:I feel like the film itself could have stood to be a little bit longer.
Speaker:And have a little bit more breath to it.
Speaker:A little bit more mystery.
Speaker:And oddness.
Speaker:And more playing around with these visions that you don't know.
Speaker:Are they visions?
Speaker:Are they apparitions?
Speaker:Are they dreams?
Speaker:Are they some combination of reality and dream?
Speaker:And I just ate that shit up.
Speaker:So I would have really loved to have seen more of that.
Speaker:And for it to like really hit that hard.
Speaker:Because I really dug it.
Speaker:I dug the entire movie in general, honestly.
Speaker:Performances were all great.
Speaker:I was really taken with how good.
Speaker:Zamplione's daughter. Linda.
Speaker:Was.
Speaker:Young actress.
Speaker:But the performance she puts on.
Speaker:Has so much connotation and emotion to it.
Speaker:Like what I, one of the things I liked was.
Speaker:You don't like all good like Italian horror.
Speaker:The minutiae of backstory and point A, point B, point C.
Speaker:Like details aren't really that important.
Speaker:Like it's what the, what is the character feeling?
Speaker:That's, that's what's important.
Speaker:That's like, that's what their mode of storytelling is.
Speaker:Where in the West we're, we're very detail oriented with that.
Speaker:So we have to get emotion through details very often.
Speaker:And this goes, we don't need to show you more than like where this painting comes from.
Speaker:And like that little piece of backstory, that's enough explanation.
Speaker:What matters is what this character is going through and has gone through on an emotional level.
Speaker:And what catharsis they're trying to reach.
Speaker:Even though there is maybe a little bit of.
Speaker:Like a logic hole, I guess you could say with something in regards to that.
Speaker:But that's getting into spoiler territory.
Speaker:But she sells that so fucking well.
Speaker:And really makes for a beautiful part of like the finale of the film.
Speaker:But overall the movie just had its North American premiere at Screamfest on the 12th.
Speaker:I don't know when it's going to be hitting VOD or anything yet.
Speaker:I don't think there's any gun like dates secured for that stuff yet.
Speaker:So just go ahead and keep your eyes out for the well.
Speaker:It's just a really good entry into Euro horror.
Speaker:Shows more of what Lauren Lavera can do.
Speaker:And hopefully this is just salvo number two for a big long horror career that she has.
Speaker:So per usual, if you like this podcast, you can of course find it at boxofficepulp.com.
Speaker:All the places you find, listen and enjoy fine podcasts.
Speaker:Such as this one.
Speaker:If you find this one, it'd be fine anyway.
Speaker:If you can rate and review us on any of those platforms, that'd be great.
Speaker:You can of course find us at boxofficepulp or boxofficepulp podcast.
Speaker:And all the usual social media bullshits.
Speaker:I'm at luckydecknapier and all the usual social media bullshits.
Speaker:And now if you excuse me, I think I'm going to actually go and rewatch Castle Freak.
Speaker:Because this got me in a real Castle Freak kind of mood.
Speaker:Not sure if I should admit that publicly.
Speaker:You know me by now.
Speaker:You expected of me.
Speaker:Anyway, I'm getting the hell out of here.
Speaker:This is boxofficepulpguy and this has been a pulp podcast production.
Speaker:Now please, please, please put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger and say goodnight.
Speaker:And now, on with the show.
