Review : La Terza Madre (2007)

This is the first review on this Blog, and what better way to start it off than with Dario Argento's new flick La Terza Madre. The Italian DVD is to be released on February 12th., but the movie has leaked to the Internet, and since it was a good quality DVD rip of the Italian release, it was time to have a sneak peek at the long awaited third mother. Now..Is Dario back?...and is the movie as good as his old movies?..read on..



Plot:

An urn is dug up from a cemetery in Rome, it's opened, and the Diabolic content, and evil itself, is unleashed in the shape of Mother Lacrimarum. To those familiar with Dario, that is of course the third mother. The first two appeared in Suspiria and Inferno, and died, but the new mother is the most evil of the three, and is bent on unleashing evil, and the second age of the witches, so she does, and only our heroine Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento) has the powers to stop her, powers she inherited from her mother Elisa (played by her real life mother Daria Nicolodi). Lacrimarum and her gang of witches makes Rome turn into total chaos, so it seems to be an impossible task for the beautiful Sarah, but is it?



What's good?:

It has the best opening credits ever! Satanic artwork fills the screen to Claudio Simonetti's fantastic soundtrack. He did do an incredible job here combining the old styles of Goblin with his own new style. It fits the scenes, and it's great music. My anticipation's been very high of this movie, and when those titles started, I shouted out a loud "YES!..Dario is back!" The movie kicks off with the fascinating story about the third mother, and gradually all Hell breaks loose. This is, as many have said, Dario's most brutal and gory film ever, and the shocks are plenty and intense. I won't spoil the film talking too much about them, but as an example...if you ever wondered what it would look like if we actually got to see the woman on the stake scene in Cannibal Holocaust when she was forced unto that stake, La Terza Madre shows you exactly that. There's enough references to throw a stick at too, but it also combines Argento's old style with his new style, and it works. The inventive camera work, and everything else he has become famous for is present, but it's a lot faster paced than most of his old movies...





What's not?:

..and that is the first problem. It's a bit too fast paced, so the story, which is very interesting in all it's dark and evil, gets lost somehow in the fast pace. It seems that the script might have consisted of a lot of small scenes, that were pasted together, and then the plot was built around that. That's not a good move, as it makes the watcher not care about it much, which is not a good thing. The suspense and the gore keeps it moving, and is at times so extreme it will keep any Argento, and Horror fan glued to the screen, but then the end comes along, and it is atrocious! What a lame way to end the incredible Three Mothers trilogy. To The movies' defense I have to admit that both Suspiria and Inferno didn't have the greatest endings, so in that way La Terza Madre follows that tradition, but it goes way further, I mean...and you might not wanna read this if you haven't seen the movie cause it is a

*SPOILER*..................
Burning a T-Shirt was all it took to stop the madness and killing the third mother!?..Now that is WAY too stupid, and even if the budget was running out, which it looks like...it looks as if they had to cut it off cause the budget was over or something....and when it's all over, and the movie ends with Asia's character laughing hysterically, one can begin to wonder if she mocks the audience like "Ha ha, how about THAT ending, didn't that just SUCK!??" *SPOILER DONE*

Of course that's not very likely as Asia is an incredible and beautiful woman, and I do love her very much, and I don't think she or her father would be that mean to their fans now.



The Verdict:
Despite the ending, and the shortcomings, this is a great movie from the maestro, and the gore, Asia, Daria, Udo Kier, Argento's direction, the witches, the occult images, and the music, makes this well worth watching in the theatres and buying on DVD. It feels good to see that Dario can still make great movies, although not quite as great and groundbreaking as his films from the 70's and 80's, and also I think the Masters Of Horror episode "Pelts" and "Non Ho Sonno" were both better than La Terza Madre, but if you're a fan of Italian Horror, and of Argento you need this movie in your collection.



Rating:
4 1/2 (out of 6)