WHEN ALICE BREAKS THE LOOKING GLASS (88)Lucio Fulci/Brett Halsey
4587DVD
original Italian title: QUANDO ALICE RUPPE LO SPECCHIO [When
Alice Breaks the Looking Glass]
also known as TOUCH OF DEATH [Edited Version]
director: Lucio
Fulci
starring: Brett Halsey · Ria De Simone · Pier Luigi Conti (as Al Cliver)
· Zora Kerova · Sasha Darwin
Some
reference sources incorrectly identify this film as Fulci's BROKEN
MIRROR [probably due to the title similarity] but it's not true.
They are two different movies.
Here
is the story of Lester Pearson, a down on his luck gambler who starts
seducing wealthy women with various deformities. He then kills them
for their delicious meat [he's also a cannibal] and their cash for his
horse racing addiction. However, Lester has a problem [besides the obvious]
as he is being shadowed by someone who knows his secret and is
planting evidence to implicate him.
Ultimately,
this is a very gory black comedy from Lucio Fulci. And that is something
of a rarity. He didn't make many comedies [not counting his interchangeable
'studio projects' from the early '60s], only the sexy SISTER-IN-LAW
and DRACULA IN THE PROVINCES come to mind. While a case could
be made to consider his CAT
IN THE BRAIN as a comedy - since it was clearly intended to
be self effacing satire - it wasn't shot as a comedy. On the
other hand, this movie uses many techniques (music, camera angles, etc)
that are usually reserved for lighter fare. But interestingly, this
film is one of Fulci's most meanspirited, gross-out-ugly productions.
Also,
Fulci seldom used the same actor twice, regardless of how effective
a performance may have been. Here is a notable exception. Brett Halsey
starred in the previous DEVIL'S
HONEY and later in Lucio's DEMONIA.
Halsey had been an American TV star who went to Italy for work after
the cancellation of his television series Follow the Sun
in 1962. He starred in everything from Peplums to Spaghetti Westerns,
from Giallos to Romantic Comedies. Cult fans know him best for the psychedelic
thriller HOT
LOVE OF THE YOUTH and Mario Bava's FOUR
TIMES THAT NIGHT.
Incidentally,
many of the scenes [especially the gorier ones] were redubbed and edited
by Fulci two years later for his aforementioned CAT
IN THE BRAIN.
An Italian
film with English subtitles; fullscreen format, uncut (86 minutes),
DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC WORLD FORMAT; extras includes selected
trailers.
Graphic
Violence/Sexual Brutality/Nudity
Recommended For Mature Audiences
