Murder Obsession

1981

1h 35m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

List

Reviews

32%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

A scandal from Michael's past emerges when he visits his mother's house with the director and others from a recent film project.

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Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

this who- and how-dunnit comes with the irrational trappings of a nightmare, as multiple narrative strands, dark magic and even metacinematic elements all converge to trap the viewer in a maddening fog of meaning.

Dec 23, 2023

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

It has some silly visceral thrills, but it's not exactly a good movie.

Jul 6, 2012

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Brian Orndorf

BrianOrndorf.com

Feature offers the rare opportunity to view a scene where a Herve Villechaize-sized spider fondles the legs of a screaming woman, which is almost worth the purchase price alone.

Rated: B

May 9, 2012

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Melissa L

Convoluted Italian movie from 1981. Not well-acted. I definitely recommend staying away.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/16/24

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Audience Member

Freda kind of does a giallo, or rather a gothic in giallo's clothing. I'm not too impressed. It had some surface charm, but was at heart a really dull film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

Murder Obsession (AKA Murder Syndrome) was directed by Mario Bava's mentor Riccardo Freda, but where Mario Bava was actually a very good director and could create some very memorable films, it seems that Freda's reputation is not as prevalent. This film is certainly a capable giallo, but there's nothing really clever about it. That's the problem with these giallo films is that the explanation of what's been going on in the film can sometimes be so convoluted and ridiculous that it hurts the overall film, and such is the case with this one. Everything seems to be total nonsense, but when explained, just seems to be overbearing. The film looks pretty good, and some of the actors do some good work, but overall, it feels tired. This was actually the director's last film, and he certainly didn't go out with a creative bang, in any way really.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Audience Member

Alright, I rated this movie below average, and it is below average to me. However, if you are a die-hard Euro-Horror/Thriller or Giallo(ish) type fan, then I do believe that you will want to see this movie! This movie is quintessentially European, make no mistake about it and it has tons of style! Very surrealistic but something in the presentation and pacing just ended up boring me a lot of the time.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

Heavily atmospheric, practically non-sensible giallo.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

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Audience Member

I don't know exactly what it is, but this movie just did not work at all for me. I've seen one other Freda film (The Ghost), and I thought that one was pretty good, so I don't know how he so incredibly failed at building atmosphere or tension in this one. It sure didn't help that the lead in this film defines "wooden". Really bad special effects (I mean REALLY bad), a nonsensical script (and not the good kind of nonsensical), and a slow pace make this a tough movie to sit through. Probably better as a crowd movie, where you can laugh with someone at the ridiculousness of it all, but it's so slow that it hardly feels worth it when you watch it alone. Not even the mighty Laura Gemser is enough to save this one.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

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Robert Davidson

Director

Stefano Patrizi

Michael Stanford

Martine Brochard

Shirley

Henri Garcin

Hans Schwartz

Laura Gemser

Beryl

John Richardson

Oliver

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Synopsis

A scandal from Michael's past emerges when he visits his mother's house with the director and others from a recent film project.

Director: Robert Davidson
Producer: Simon Mizrahi, Enzo Boetani, Giuseppe Collura
Screenwriter: Robert Davidson, Antonio Cesare Corti, Simon Mizrahi, Fabio Piccioni
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 6, 2019
Runtime: 1h 35m

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