''La Casa del Buon Ritorno'' () is a 1986 Italian ''giallo'' written and directed by

Beppe Cino Giuseppe Cino, better known as Beppe Cino (born 3 February 1947), is an Italian director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Caltanissetta, Cino formed at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, graduating in 1970. The same y ...

. It is also known as ''The House of the Blue Shadows''. The film was theatrically released in Germany as ''Das Haus der Blauen Schatten'' (''The House With Blue Shutters'').

Plot

A little girl is pushed off a balcony to her death, and her murderer is never found. Fifteen years later, a young man named Luca and his fiancée Margit return to the house for a visit. Memories start returning slowly to Luca, and he begins to unravel the mystery of who killed the little girl. A strange woman named Ayesha turns up and unnerves Luca. Then murders begin to occur.

Cast

Amanda Sandrelli Amanda Sandrelli (born 31 October 1964) is an Italian actress. Born in Lausanne, she is the daughter of Italian singer Gino Paoli and actress Stefania Sandrelli. She debuted in '' L'Attenzione'', from director Giovanni Soldati, in 1984. Fil ...

as Margit *Stefano Gabrini as Luca *Lola Ledda as Lola *Fiammetta Carena as Ayesha *Francesco Costa as Bruno *Eleonora Salvadori as Luca's mother *Stanis Ledda (as Luca as a boy) *Elvira Castellano

Production

''La Casa del Buron Ritorno'' was budgeted at 300 million

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

and was shot in 12 days on

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...

film in and around Rome. Actress

commented that the film was shot quickly, "like pulling a tooth".

Release

''La Casa del Buon Ritorno'' was first exhibited at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

on August 31, 1986. It was distributed theatrically in Italy by C.R.C./Real Film on 13 February 1987. The film was never dubbed into English and did not receive any theatrical release in the United States or United Kingdom.

Reception

The film received negative reviews on its initial premiere.

Lietta Tornabuoni Giulietta "Lietta" Tornabuoni (24 March 1931–11 January 2011) was an Italian film critic, journalist and author. Life and career Born in Pisa into an aristocratic family, Tornabuoni started her journalistic career in 1949 for the magazine ''N ...

in '' La Stampa'' stated that the film was "below an acceptable professional level" and that Stefano Gabrini could not act. Maurizio Porro of '' Corriere della Sera'' stated that the film was not clear whether the film wanted to be a "thriller, a horror, a love story. ... or an analysis session: however, the unpleasant thing is that it seems like something already seen, and it wishes to remain deliberately obscure." Robert Firsching of AllMovie later described the film as an "atmospheric giallo" that "plays with the theme a bit more cleverly than most." The review noted it recycled elements from older films such as '' Deep Red'', '' Formula for a Murder'' and '' Onibaba'' but that the film was a "clever combination of rip-off and synthesis which has always been a hallmark of the national cinema, creates a unique, seemingly original story."

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Casa del Buon Ritorno Giallo films 1986 films Italian horror films 1986 horror films Films shot in Rome Films scored by Carlo Siliotto 1980s Italian-language films 1980s Italian films