In order to confront her fears, emotionally disturbed Lisa (Eva Spadaro) drives to the villa she once shared with her deceased scientist husband Professor Brecht (Brad Euston). Lisa's fiancé Lailo (Isarco Ravaioli) tries to convince the woman that her dead spouse isn't haunting her, but that isn't an easy task when they experience such inexplicable occurrences as a driverless car following them on their journey! When they arrive at the villa, Lisa sees terrifying visions and hears strange noises, further convincing her that Brecht is punishing her from beyond the grave for having an affair with his brother Germano (also Euston) and for leaving him to burn when his lab caught fire.
Mania is easily one of the craziest Italian horror films I have seen: Eva Spadaro is hysterical throughout -- hysterical, as in screaming uncontrollably, and hysterical, as in unintentionally funny. It's definitely a one-of-a-kind performance: you'll have never seen anything quite like it before, and you probably never will again because this is the only film Spadero ever appeared in. The film's other strange performance comes from Mirella Rossi as mute house-keeper Erina, who lost her voice when Brecht shoved a plastic bag over her head: not only can she not talk as a result of the trauma, but she also seems to have turned into a simpleton, and perpetually looks like she's peed herself in public.
The film has one of those 'they're trying to drive her mad' plots, glaringly obvious to all but the protagonists, but director Renato Polselli's handling of proceedings is unpredictable and nothing short of insane, with random flashbacks, weird hallucinatory moments (disappearing footprints, ghostly apparitions, a burnt man in a raincoat), an impromptu naked catfight, Lisa getting snared up in a net full of eels, and Germano trapping Lisa and Erina in a bizarre chamber made from perspex and corrugated metal! There's a fair amount of nudity in the film, and a smattering of gore, as Lisa finally loses what's left of her marbles, slashing the throat of governess Katia (Ivana Giordan) with a piece of glass and bashing Lailo's skull in with a candle holder.
The confusing final act has Germano -- hideously scarred and wheelchair bound since dragging his brother's body from the flames -- peeling off his burnt flesh and rising to his feet, before shooting himself; as he dies, we see him meddling with a control box, which he has been using to create all of the ghostly effects witnessed by Lisa. Quite the box of tricks! Is Germano actually Brecht? I don't know. The last scene sees Lailo, somehow still walking despite having his head repeatedly smashed with a lump of metal, witnessing Lisa fall from a great height, landing in the fork of a tree, the impact causing her clothes to fall off!
3/10. It's almost worth seeing just to appreciate just how completely bonkers it is, but Eva Spadaro, with her incessant histrionics, is one of the least appealing female leads I have ever endured in an Italian horror, and made the film quite a chore to watch.
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