Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

hwg1957-102-265704 A man called Stefano goes to a remote village to restore a church mural depicting St. Sebastian and starts receiving phone calls telling him to desist and to get out of town. He begins to find out about Buono Legnani, the strange and possibly mad painter of the mural and this leads to danger and suspense and murder. Directed by Pupi Avati this is a good mystery story with twists and turns and a chilling finale. Perhaps it is a bit too long. The romance with the schoolteacher holds proceedings up rather. There are some minor plot problems but apart from that it is an entertaining and memorable film. Lino Capolicchio as Stefano is the main lead and he acts well, portraying his mounting unease that leads to terror convincingly. There is a supporting cast of eccentrics that give atmosphere to the film. Praise must be given for the excellent cinematography by Pasquale Rachini and the choice of locations giving the movie a mood of sadness and decay. The 'House of the Laughing Windows' itself when fully revealed is colourful but creepy and the thing in the wardrobe disturbing. Not quite a giallo but a gripping film nevertheless.

Tender-Flesh I wanted to like this film. I'd heard some good things about it, and, as with most gialli, it does have some very good points. Director Pupi Avati knows how to build tension and use light and shadow to some very exceptional ends. But the look of the film stock seemed like it was shot on video instead of film. This seems to be another one of those horror films where everyone is in on the plot except our hero.An art restorationist arrives in a small town to work on an aging fresco depicting the murder of Saint Sebastian. He works in a church where the fresco is located and rents a small set of rooms in a strange villa on the outskirts of town. An old woman is his only other house mate and she is bedridden. But, our hero hears creaking floors at night and finds a strange recording of the fresco artist's voice talking riddles and madness. The artist is presumed dead as his body was never recovered, and although he had two sisters, no one seems to want to be forthcoming with the information as to their whereabouts. And some people end up dead, yada yada.The plot seems to be forcing itself on you and wants to make the overall feel of the movie more menacing than it really is. The direction is good but the material leaves you wanting. For gialli lovers only.

SJSondergaard *Minor plot details, no actual spoilers*Antonio, recently reacquainted with his friend Stefano who has come to renovate a fresco in the local church depicting the Martyrdom of St Sebastian, has discovered something he shouldn't. Something is rotten in the Italian backwater, but before he can divulge his suspicions he finds himself on the wrong side of a top floor window and plummets to his death while a shadow lurks behind the curtains. So far, so giallo. The gruesome work of art is apparently key to uncovering some secret harboured by the town's residents, so the bulk of the film is then devoted to delving into the bloody back-story of the deceased Artist and his two insane sisters. The main problem here is that the film finds the central mystery much more mysterious than it actually is, and doesn't seem to realise it's given most of the details away. As the Painter's story unfolds - murky as it is - the important stuff (that the gruesome acts depicted in the artist's work might be real) is either implied by the promotional blurb, the opening credits sequence or already anticipated by our over-active imaginations.What the film sorely needs in the absence of any real action is some clarification as to what it is we're actually supposed to be intrigued by while we wait for the body count to rise. There is a throwaway line later in the film which goes a long way to informing the story as a whole, and cements in our minds the very real danger at hand, but it comes a bit late in the day. Used earlier it would have given Stefano's amateur sleuthing some much needed impetus (Antonio's is too mundane and isolated a death and seems forgotten almost immediately). What lies at the heart of the film then, once the back-story has been told (and after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing) is Stefano's failure to deduce the identity of the sisters and the consequences therein. So everything depends on the final reveal. These are obviously characters we've already met - that's how these things work - but a real rapport needed to be established between Stefano and the peripheral players to give the nature of the revelation (which has been sketchily sign-posted) a much greater emotional punch when it comes. As a result the effect is diluted. Ultimately the biggest mystery is why the town is keeping its secrets in the first place.On the plus side, coupled with the brooding atmospherics, it is lovely to look at. The camera work isn't overly elaborate but understated works in the film's favour. There are some nice shots - one in particular where Stefano walks round the side of a house with his back to it, so we discover, a moment before he does, that the title isn't simply a metaphor. A palette of greys and smoky blues blends with the thin winter light, with sparing splashes of crimson and orange ochre (emulating the look of Hitchcock's Frenzy). The artist's monologue which accompanies a retrospective sepia-tinged slaughter during the opening credits and used again later on is effectively lurid (you'll need a shower afterwards, followed by dinner and flowers) and the full extent of one haunted local's involvement with the murderous trio some thirty-odd years earlier lends the film some much needed emotional resonance. Most of all Avati deserves credit for the St Sebastian reference. It seems a pretty innocuous stylistic choice, but there is a significance here which, though not essential, provides one of the true, subtle revelations of the entire film. Provided you put two and two together and know your saints.The House with Laughing Windows was for so long the 'lost giallo' and consequently it seems a bit of giallo envy has bolstered its reputation as a forgotten masterpiece. In terms of pure film-making that's short of the mark. There are too many uneven moments. Characters disappear ominously, then reappear without acknowledgement. Things go bump in the night which we discover second hand rather than getting to witness, and there's a curious did they/didn't they? (have it off) tryst between Stefano and the town's departing school teacher (if they did he apparently likes to keep not only his socks on but his entire dapper three-piece). That isn't to say it's a total bomb by any means either. It depends how invested you find yourself in the Painter's story, and to some extent how prepared you are to suspend disbelief. If you approach with expectations suitably tempered it'll probably do the business. Just sit back and soak up the quietly unsettling atmosphere without thinking too much, but be warned, a great time is not assured.

Leonard Smalls: The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse "The House With Laughing Windows" is a very European film. Unlike the gialli of, say, Argento, this film is not 'Americanized' at all. It reminds me more of films like "Don't Torture a Duckling" in that it takes place out in a small town in the Italian countryside. It adds to the ambiance and I really like that.The plot is very slow-moving. I'm not even sure if I'd call this film a giallo, but reading other reviews on here, it seems that it is in fact classified as such. It was hard for me to watch this for the first hour or so. I was wondering when it was going to pick up. Not many people get killed. But, I stuck with it and I recommend doing so. If you can stick with it, the ending is freakin' awesome. I was shocked by it; it really delivers. And it gets nice and bloody too. I had no idea who the killer was, and by the time I found out, my head was spinning from the progression of the final few scenes. It ends abruptly and it feels great. It more than made up for the sluggishness of the first 2/3 of the film. It's not unlike many of the newer Asian films in that regard: it moves very slow but the last few minutes are like a twisting train wreck.In short, I recommend this film to those of you who have patience and enjoy Italian horror.8 out of 10, kids.