''Door to Silence'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
: ''Le porte del silenzio''), also known as ''Door Into Silence'', is a 1992
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
horror film written and directed by
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...
and produced by
Joe D'Amato
Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres ( westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...
. It stars
John Savage. This was the last film directed by Fulci.
Plot
New Orleans, Louisiana. While attending the funeral of his father, Melvin Devereux (John Savage) meets a beautiful young woman (
Sandi Schultz
Sandra Schultz (born 19 January 1964) is a South African actress, presenter, and fashion designer. Her films include ''Door to Silence'' (1992), '' Assignment'' (2015), '' While You Weren't Looking'' (2015), and '' Call Me Thief'' (2016). On telev ...
) who addresses him by name, although he cannot remember having met her before. Devereux drives away after an enigmatic exchange of casual words, motoring aimlessly around New Orleans. Devereux decides to ignore warning barriers and drives onto a closed freeway. But the police follow him, and he is forced to turn aside. His car breaks down in a dilapidated area of the city. But the mysterious young woman again appears, driving a red
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
. The mystery woman suggests that he try a mechanic located nearby to fix his car. After helping Devereux push his car to the garage, the young woman again refuses to explain how she knows him or tell him her name. While waiting, the woman suggests they go to a motel nearby, apparently for sex. After checking into a room, and getting ready in the bathroom, Devereux exits and discovers that she is gone, leaving behind a message written on a mirror in red lipstick which says that the time is not yet right.
Having collected his repaired vehicle, Devereux encounters a
hearse
A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately a ...
driving on the road ahead. When he attempts to overtake it, the driver (Richard Castleman) deliberately swerves to prevent him. Turning off onto more treacherous country roads, Devereux nearly gets stranded when his car gets stuck in muddy terrain, and he barely negotiates a rickety wooden bridge.
At last finding his way back to the main road, he stops off at a local roadside bar for a drink where the hearse is also parked outside. In a drunken altercation, Devereux challenges the driver to reveal whose body he is transporting. The folded ribbon adorning the casket seen inside the hearse bears a name tantalizingly similar to Devereux's own. The confused, now frightened man follows the hearse to a church where an all-black congregation is mourning at another
funeral procession
A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles or by foot, from a funeral home or place of worship to the cemetery or crematorium. In earlier times the deceased was typically carried by male family members on a bier or in a cof ...
. Devereux drunkenly disrupts the proceedings, attempting to look inside the closed casket. He gets thrown out of the church by the angry parishioners.
Devereux drives over to a nearby funeral home where he sees that all of the corpses in the open coffins are labeled 'Melvin Devereux'. He finds his doppelganger lying dead in one of the caskets and tries to touch it, but it disappears beneath his outreached hand.
Back on the road, Devereux picks up a beautiful female hitchhiker, and tries to respond to her seductive advances, but he cannot perform, forcing her to leave the car. Next, Devereux drives onto a river barge as it transports a handful of vehicles, including the omnipresent hearse, to the other side of the river. Devereux rips open the hearse's back door and tries to open the coffin which clearly bears his name. The hearse driver intervenes and there is a struggle. Devereux is subdued by the other barge passengers and gets arrested. In a local courtroom, Devereux is given a fine for defiling the casket. Devereux drives away and soon stops to visit a tarot reader. Reading the palm of his right hand, the palmist tells him that he has been dead for several hours. She suddenly falls dead after receiving a phone call from a "Mr. Devereux."
Devereux is once more on the road, driving nowhere. He suddenly sees the hearse again on the road and tries to overtake it, only to crash head-on into an oncoming truck. Devereux is killed instantly. His wristwatch stops at 7:29 PM, the same time as the film's prologue where a briefly seen car crash had appeared to be the cause of his father's death. The mysterious woman observes the fatal accident a short distance away on the road before getting into her car and driving off. The number license place on the woman's car reads: D.E.A.T.H.
At the end of the final scene, the text of a mysterious quote in Italian appears: ''... Quando varcherai le porte del nulla, nessuno ti sara vicino: solo l'ombra della tua morte ... IV Libro dell'Apocalisse''. English translation: ''... When you go to the gates of nothingness, no one will be near you: only the shadow of your death ... Book Four of the Apocalypse.'' To date, it is not known who the author of this quote is, nor has any anonymous source been located.
Cast
*
John Savage as Melvin Dovereux
*
Sandi Schultz
Sandra Schultz (born 19 January 1964) is a South African actress, presenter, and fashion designer. Her films include ''Door to Silence'' (1992), '' Assignment'' (2015), '' While You Weren't Looking'' (2015), and '' Call Me Thief'' (2016). On telev ...
as The mysterious woman
* Richard Castleman
* Jennifer Loeb as Margie
* Elizabeth Chugden as Melvnin's wife, Sylvia
* Joe Cool Davis as minister
* Bob Shreves as the judge
* Mary Coulson as Melvin's Aunt Martha
* Fred Lewis as the bartender
* Maureen Rocquin as Juke box girl
* Dunca Boyer as the Cajun hunter
Production
Following the completion of ''
Voices from Beyond
''Voices from Beyond'' ( it, Voci dal profondo, lit=Voices From the Deep) is a 1994 Italian horror film by director Lucio Fulci. The original shooting title of the film was ''Urla dal profondo'' (). The story centers around the murder of a weal ...
'',
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...
was approached by
Aristide Massaccesi who read the short story "Porte del nulla" Fulci wrote, and suggested to adapt the story into ''Door to Silence''. Fulci recalled that Massaccesi encouraged him to go to New Orleans and to bring his daughter with him to assist on the film and save money on production. Fulci recalled that on arrival, none of his equipment worked.
The film was shot on location in Madisonville, Louisiana over an 8-week period in April and May 1991.
Release
It was released on video to Spanish-speaking countries as ''El enigma de la muerte''.
Reception
Allmovie opined that the film lacks "both the energy and invention of
ulci'smore familiar work."
In a 1998 interview,
Joe D'Amato
Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres ( westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...
claimed this to be "the best movie I ever produced".
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Door to Silence
1992 films
1990s Italian films
Films directed by Lucio Fulci
Italian horror films
1990s Italian-language films
Films set in the United States
Films shot in Louisiana