For me when it comes to Giallo films there are three main directors that I'd say are often closely associated with the genre, a top 3 if you will. Mario Bava is often said to be the one who started the genre with my favourite, Dario Argento, often said to be the one who took it and made it what it is today. In my reviews I've already looked at films from both of these directors but I hadn't done one for the 3rd, Lucio Fulci. Fulci is certainly a name associated with Italian horror and is known for his use, possibly excessive use to some, of gore. He even got the nickname the godfather of gore.
Fulci is probably best known for Zombi 2, known in the UK as Zombie Flesh Eaters, a gory zombie film that was made to cash in on the popularity of Dawn of the Dead. However Fulci’s work covers a few genres such as spaghetti Westerns, all seemingly depending on what was popular at the time.
When I watched my first Fulci giallo a few years back, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, I was surprised at how different it was compared to the films I'd so far seen. Fulci's later films certainty focus on gore more than anything else but I was surprised to find his earlier films seemed more restrained and in some ways more stylish.
Don't get me wrong his later films often use atmosphere very effective. The beyond for example apparently is supposed to represent a nightmare so logic isn't important. I'll admit I've only seen it once quite a while ago and was a little disappointed probably expecting too much due to hype (plan to rewatch at some point). I much prefer his film City of the living dead which has some similarities but I feel the atmosphere worked far better for me. The thing with these gory films is it feels like at times the gore is the main focus. Now I'm not saying that is bad, but often the big question people ask is Argento or Fulci and I've always picked Argento because I feel he's a much more accomplished director. He is very stylish and I feel his plots have more meat to them, often cleverer in a way. Again I don't mean that in a bad way, I just always felt Argento makes plots that make you think more while as Fucli made fun cheesy gory popcorn type films, but both styles are great.
However after seeing a few of his Giallo films I've realised he is a lot more accomplished than I gave him credit for. Both this film and A Lizard in A Woman’s Skin have good stories but they are also shot great, by someone who obviously knows what they are doing and is good at it. Both have examples of his style of violence but it feels a lot more restrained with the plot itself being more of the focus.
The Psychic itself has a really interesting idea with the film focusing on a psychic who as a young child saw a vision of her mother kill herself by jumping off a cliff. Years later she is married and travels to Italy to restore an old house of her Husbands. However on the way she has a vision of someone being killed and buried behind a wall. When entering the house for the first time she recognises a room from her vision and decides to smash part of the wall revealing a human skeleton. Her husband gets blamed for the crimes as it is his house and also his former lover found, so she tries to prove him innocent and find out what really happened. She tries to solve the mystery by figuring out parts of her vision. She has help from her friend and husbands sister with her investigating eventually leading to a local wealthy gentlemen
I really found the plot interesting and quite smart. There's a couple of twists although once certain things happen you start to guess where things are leading to but it didn't make the film any less enjoyable. The film seems to use zooms a lot and while this felt a bit excessive at times I felt generally they worked really well adding a strange tension to the film.
The music by regular Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi also adds a lot of tension to the film. The lead character is given a watch by her sister in law that plays a weird tune possibly on the hour, that gets used effectively throughout the film
Before watching I did see someone call this more of a gothic horror than a giallo and it does make sense. The thing is, like the house with the laughing windows, it doesn't seem to be a traditional giallo. I half expected when the psychic started her investigating someone would start following her and killing other people off getting too close on the way which is how a lot a giallo films go. However apart from her mother's suicide at the start and the discovery of the body there's only really one other murder that isn’t even properly seen. However the film didn't really need the deaths as the main focus is the mystery.
For me out all of the giallo's I've seen lately this is probably one of the ones I've liked the most. Watching it I did wonder if it was technically a giallo but the mystery and way it was shot made it great whatever type of film you class it as. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone interested in the genre or Fucli.
As always I've included a trailer however the trailer gives away a key plot point so be warned.
The film has some big twists near the end which I wanted to talk about so I have hidden them below via the spoiler tag.
{Spoiler}
So as the psychic starts to investigate eventually we realise her vision isn't something from the past but from the future. Things don't make sense such early on as she sees an old women die and presumes that is the one buried but it is a young women who is found buried. As the film progresses however parts of her visions begin to happen further showing that she has been seeing what is to come.
Eventually the film reveals that the husband was actually guilty of murder. The old women the psychic had seen was someone interested in a painting that the psychic's husband, his lover and the other man stole from a gallery. It appears the husbands old lover planned to betray him and so he killed her and walled up the body hoping no one would find her.
The film leads then leads up to the reveal that the person being walled up in her visions was actually herself, she had been seeing visions of her own death. Her friend releases she is in danger so speeds attracting the attention of the police, who he hopes will chase him to the house. However by the time she gets there she is already walled up and the husband has hidden any evidence. Just as the police and friend are about to leave there is a familiar sound, the eerie sound of the watch coming from behind the wall, a little reminiscent of the black cat (Fucli has done a film based on this to that I own but haven't seen yet). The film ends there, with the audience wondering if she is still alive behind the wall.
