Reviewed by Chris Peeples
When one thinks of the late Lucio Fucli one thinks about his gore-drenched horror films from the late 70s and early 80s. The one thing that most people don’t know is that Fulci had his foot in almost every genre. This film was a drama; a genre that I personally feel Fulci should have done more in. Beatrice Cenci was Fulci’s favorite film and for good reasons.
Beatrice Cenci is a story of a 19th Century Roman family. The head of the family is Count Francesco Cenci(Georges Wilson). Count Cenci is a cruel, greedy man, whose money helped protect him from the reprimand of the supreme Church. Count Cenci is not a liked man by his community or therefore even liked by his family. His family is so degusted by him that almost his entire family helps plot out his murder. When his beautiful daughter Beatrice (Adrienne Larussa) gets the thought to join a convent, Francesco precedes to lock her in a cell in the basement of the families’ castle.
This only heightens Beatrice’s growing hatred for her father. One night in a drunken rage Francesco tries to rape Beatrice. It is then final-Francesco must be killed. Beatrice and her lover Olimpio (Tomas Milian) acquire and hit man to kill Francesco. They kill Francesco while he is asleep in bed, and then dump him over the balcony to make it look like an accident. After an investigation takes place the truth is brought forward, and Beatrice and her close family members are beheaded in the town square. At the execution of Beatrice no one claps or cheers like is normally part of a public execution of a condemned murderer. The closing of the film is of Beatrice’s grave littered with flowers placed by people who saw her more as hero than a murderer.
After Beatrice Cenci I quickly started to notice why Fulci considered this to be his favorite and best film. The films script, which was written by Fulci and Roberto Gianviti, features some of Fulci shows Fulci at the top of his script game. The only flaw in the script was at the beginning when characters are mentioned multiple times before you know who they are, but once the film jumps into the flash backs you are caught back up to speed. The film features some rather gruesome torture scenes that will leave hardcore gore fans happy. The music in the film is also great. Fulci always used music to add atmosphere to his films and it plays very nice in Beatrice Cenci. Atmosphere-that’s one thing this film features a great deal of. So do yourself a favor and find yourself a nice print of Beatrice Cenci and remember Fulci as the great director he was.
Bitch Slap Rating: 4