Plain terror

Winner of the "Grand Prix de la critique" at the prestigious Fantasy Film Festival in Paris in 1979, judged by Phil Hardy  - in his authoritative "The Aurum Film Encyclopedia of Horror" - a masterpiece of the genre, "The House with the Windows that Laugh" (1976) is one of Pupi Avati's best works and indeed one of the best Italian horror movies of all times.
Set in a little town in the province of Ferrara, the film tells the tale of a young restorer who has been commissioned to restore a fresco in a little church: the fresco portrays the suffering of Saint Sebastian, and is the last known work of mad painter Buono Legnani, known as Buono "of the agonies" because of his strange habit of painting the dying. Soon, however, the protagonist realises that there is a sinister and ominous atmosphere in the little town: as an obscure past littered with violent death re-emerges, horrible nightmares linked to the life of the mad artist and the house in which he once lived seem to be coming true...
Playing off the contrast between the bright idyllic Romagna countryside and the terror that lurks beneath the surface, "The House with the Windows that Laugh" moves from a first part punctuated by signs and omens to a second part where the Indescribable - in the most Lovecraftian sense of the word - gradually becomes more and more concrete, finally exploding in a violent, unforgettable finale.
Previously available on abominable quality VHS, this masterpiece of horror can now be enjoyed in a superlative DVD version released by Fox. For the technical characteristics, see the technical chart detailed below: here, we would simply like to point out that the film has been restored frame by frame - recreating, in addition, the original lighting for each shoot and balancing the colour - in consultation with the director of photography Pasquale Rachini and under the supervision of the director himself. The audio has been reproduced in Dolby 5.1, but for the delight of purists, the original mono sound mix is also included: extras include a special "Behind the scenes featurette on the restoration" and a documentary entitled "25 years of cult". A great new release, all things said, for movie fans and lovers of DVD.

F.T.

Technical characteristics

• Disc (DVD 9)

• Interactive menus

• Instant scene access

• Cinematographic format: 1.85:1, anamorphic 

• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Italian - Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono Italian

• Subtitles: Italian, English

• Home Video Distribution: 20th Century Fox

Special contents

• Behind the scenes featurette of the restoration: A look at the restoration process of the original film!

• 25 Years of Cult: interviews, interesting facts, anecdotes on this cult movie with contributions by Antonio and Pupi Avati, Lino Capolicchio, Gianni Cavina and the composer Amedeo Tommasi