Horror Movie Review: The Other Hell (1981)

A 1981 Italian horror movie, The Other Hell was written and directed by Bruno Mattei and stars Franca Stoppi and Carlo De Mejo.

Also known as Guardian of Hell in the US, The Other Hell sees a young priest (De Mejo) investigating deaths at a nun’s convent. These deaths seem to be supernatural in design but the priest isn’t convinced. In fact, he’s quite forward-thinking seeing science as a necessary tool to help keep religion out of the dark ages.

Unfortunately, Mother Superior (Stoppi) has other ideas and tries to put a stop to his investigations. What is she trying to hide?

The Other Hell is a tedious watch and not for the reasons you might expect. Sure, it has got awful acting, horrible dubbing and erratic pacing but the amount of glaring plot holes and the disjointed editing makes for a really difficult watch.

The over the top performances might have given it some charm considering the era in which it came to life but the random quality overall makes it feel like a joke at the viewers expense. It watches like a movie that shouldn’t be taking itself seriously but it really does. To its inevitable detriment.

One of the more attention-grabbing things about The Other Hell is how it proudly declares that the music was done by Goblin. This ‘selling point’ is purely because Goblin has worked on numerous Dario Argento movies including ‘Phenomenea’ as well as Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead.’

While that might appeal to some, it only stands out here because of how often it is hilariously misused.

Tension or scares? Not in the slightest even though it tries. It is such a mind-numbing watch that the most it will get from you when it does go for a scare is a yawn. The finale attempts to pick up the pace but there will be few who have made it this far. For those who have, things get a little more interesting and unusual but it’s far too little too late.

[amazon_link asins=’B07FFY1GHD,B00TNM8BMK,B06XC3GY9C,B00006LPG9′ template=’UseThisOne’ store=’g0e5b-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=”]