Directed by Silvio Amadio, The Medium (1980) is an Italian horror offering that stars Vincent Mannari Jr, Sherry Buchanan and Martine Brochard. This Italian slowburner is more a thriller with supernatural elements (ghost, possession, poltergeist activity) than all-out horror. Its climax is different but not much else happens during its 91-minute runtime.
Buy The Medium Blu-rayAfter the death of his wife, American composer Paul packs up his son, Alan, and they move to a big Italian villa in the countryside. Paul hires a pretty blonde tutor for the boy and things start to get creepy. It begins with noises in the attic before Paul begins to have visions of a girl’s tragic fiery death. A whispy, dark-haired maiden then appears, roaming the garden and woods around the house, calling for Alan to follow her. Meanwhile, Alan starts acting like a little jerk: talking back, smashing toys and trying to secretly kill his dad. It turns out poor Alan has been possessed by the wraith that haunts the woods.
Through a seance, they discover that the dark-haired girl is a former lover, Elenora, who Paul left behind when he took a major offer in New York. Elenora is so upset at his leaving she attempts to kill them both by driving her car over a cliff. Paul survives by jumping from the car but now that he’s back in Italy, Elenora’s sister is seeking revenge. An old friend of Paul’s insists he get in touch with Dr. Power, the world-renowned medium. Power arrives just in time, via astral travel, to save Paul from a deadly trap laid by Alan, then disappears. Power then reappears at his door alongside his old pal and thus a new seance is begun. This session will cause more than the shaking of tables and chandelier’s. This time they’re in for an epic astral-projection battle with Elenora and her evil sister for the soul of Alan and the life of Paul.
The Medium isn’t terrible; it’s just too slow in building to its climatic astral battle, which is quite unique as it has a bullet travel across time and space to hit its mark. There are some good atmospheric, eerie supernatural scenes that involve ghost- and poltergeist-like activity but those are few and far between and mostly stacked at the end. Amadio does employ clever use of shadows and silhouettes on some interior shots giving that beautiful house some creepy vibes.
The Medium’s major trouble is that Amadio, a true believer in the supernatural and the occult, along with writer Claudio Fragasso, tried too hard to deliver their message about the seriousness of the subject matter. Choosing to use little to no special effects and gore leaves the movie bland, talky, and lacking in tension throughout. So serious was Amadio about the topic that he went with zero nudity or sex and avoided attempts at exploitation gags besides a severed dog’s head (visibly panting while its head pokes through a table). The musical choice is a bit too jaunty overall as well further detracting from the spooky elements.
The lone special feature is an audio commentary by film historians and Wild, Wild, Podcast hosts Adrian Smith and Rod Barnett. The lads are very knowledgeable about Italian horror movies and their directors, which makes for an enjoyable second viewing. They discuss how Amadio was turned on to the occult through his friend and mentor director Demofilo Fidani, who is known as a kind of the Italian Ed Wood. Smith and Barnett further highlight how Amadio wanted to use The Medium to get his message across that the supernatural world is real and these events could actually happen somehow. The pair also provide a great breakdown of the musical style known as Dodecaphonics aka 12-tone music that was chosen to play throughout the movie and was Paul’s specialty.
The Medium is an interesting watch and brings to mind the horror classic The Changeling with George C. Scott, also released in 1980 but The Medium won’t be making my frequent-watch list. Well, maybe that last 15 minutes every 15 years.
