A group of punks steal some irrelevant groceries from a local supermarket and get chased by police. While trying to run away, their van enters a strange road near the graveyard and kids soon find out a mysterious inn run by a strange looking man. Inside the inn there's a passage in which you need to spend the night and if you come out alive you get a prize...
A couple of weeks ago I upgraded my book collection on horror movies with some nice additions. One of them is a sequel to a mini fan book on slashers (Slash Hits) and the other one is Jim Harper's rather interesting overview of Italian horrors from 1979 to 1994 ("Italian Horror" is the name). I read the book in one take and instantly got some good mantra going on for watching old school italo horrors.
Although I found some fabulous flicks in there, one of the Harper's reviews reminded me of a 20 year old movie that I watched ages ago while VHS cassettes were the only thing in the rental stores. I don't like to read or share any kind of spoilers, but there is one huge thing about this flick that I just need to share. If you are not interested, just skip to the next paragraph. So the thing is - I remember this movie vividly because of one "special" thing - this is a full fledged horror movie, but it doesn't have any casualties. Yes, you heard me right - the kids go in, get scared out of their shoes and come out alive and kicking. The thing was that the movie was shot for the TV and it seems that it had to be very very mild on the killing part.
 
"Graveyard Disturbance" focuses on a group of teens that enter a hidden passage that guides them through different stages of something that looks like Hell. They get attacked by vampire zombies and all kind of different monsters, but their only problem is not survival from the clutches of evil, but finding the exit. For help they consult the dumb blond one who in their words will "definitely pick the wrong exit and in this nightmare wrong is right". Such brilliant writing...
The movie was directed by the famous Italian horror director/writer/producer Lamberto Bava and the movie doesn't at all resemble some of his better movies such as wonderfully trashy "Demons" 1/2. Having the "made for TV" stamp in mind, the movie often looks like it is an exercise in slow pacing. In the non-horror scenes the only thing that makes the viewer go on is the hilarious bad acting, cheap dubbing and some great music score by composer Simon Boswell mixed together with some hard rock hits of those days.
Because of its many flaws the movie will not be the best viewing solution for the most of you, but if you are into original mid 80s trashy Italian horror atmosphere you will enjoy this one. The special makeup effects are in some cases a bit over the top, but of course, in a good way. The zombies and the demented family that gets scared by humans (looks like we are ugly and frightening to some "species") are examples of good makeup effects.
"Graveyard Disturbance" is a like it or hate it type of a movie. Its slow pacing will surely turn away some people, but you should still check it out - it is Italian, comes from Bava junior and has this special thing that I mentioned in the spoiler above.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Una Notte al cimitero, Brivido giallo - Una notte al cimitero
MOVIE YEAR: 1987
DIRECTOR: Lamberto Bava
WRITING CREDITS: Lamberto Bava, Dardano Sacchetti
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy
CAST: Gianmarco Tognazzi, Gregory Lech Thaddeus, Beatrice Ring
COUNTRY: Italy
RUNTIME: 90 min
RATING: 4/10
Graveyard Disturbance Website/IMDB Click here
Graveyard Disturbance Trailer
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