The Other Hell 2003 Horror Movie Review

Going into this movie I expected the worst; a lot of people admire the work of Claudio Fragasso & Bruno Mettei because of the whole so bad it’s good. Personally I never really cared for either of them. There are plenty of movies I find so bad its good, but the work of Fragasso and Mettei for me are just bad with moments that I like.


If not mistaken The Other Hell is the first time these two guys worked together and it’s kinda of fitting they formed a partnership isn’t it? You name it Bruno Mettei & Claudio Fragasso ripped it off for this movie. They take pieces of other popular horror flicks and find ways to work it into The Other Hell.


If you hear the score and think to yourself I have heard this before, well you have. The score by Goblin is taken directly from the Joe D’Amato classic Beyond the Darkness. Normally a composer will come in and come up with a score a lot like another movie, but offer some changes, but Mettei and Fragasso would rather have the real thing.


When it comes to music composed in horror movies you’ll be hard pressed to find a better score than ones done by Goblin and Beyond the Darkness was one of their very best, so at least they knocked off the right movie.


The screenplay by Claudio Fragasso is one of his better ones, but that isn’t saying much seeing as I don’t think Fragasso has ever actually had a well written movie. His screenplays range from the so bad it’s good to just downright bad. The screenplay actually has some fairly decent moments and isn’t a complete waste.


Bruno Mettei made a career of making movies that were rather bad, but with that said, that is why he was so popular with horror fans. His movies were bad, but they were also a lot of fun.


As I stated before I was never the biggest fan of Bruno Mettei some of his flicks were fun, but as a whole I didn’t have as much fun watching them as other people. But I have to give him some credit here; The Other Hell isn’t nearly as bad as you would think. There are plenty of moments of bad filmmaking, but Mettei actually made a fairly decent movie.


Some scenes might have even been a little creepy, which is more due to the fantastic location and the great score by Goblin than it was Mattei’s directing. But I’ll still give Bruno Mettei some credit here; he actually was able to put together a fairly decent movie with some nice moments. But the biggest problem with the movie is The Other Hell is just too slow at times.


There are long stretches when nothing really interesting happens; by the 45-minute mark I felt as if the movie had been on a lot longer and that is never a good thing. Bruno Mettei tries to build some tension and atmosphere and have that drive the movie, but The Other Hell wasn’t written well enough or well enough made for the movie to depend on that.


If The Other Hell had a couple of more action scenes mixed in the movie would have been a lot better. Despite the flaws, like I said this wasn’t a badly made movie in general.


It’s a Bruno Mettei & Claudio Fragasso movie so there are bound to be moments of bad filmmaking, but as a whole not as many as you would think. Had there been more action even if just one or two more scenes it would have greatly helped the movie.


Franca Stoppi best known for Joe D’Amato’s Beyond the Darkness gives another strange and over the top, but creepy performance. Any scene Stoppi is in very much works to the advantage of The Other Hell. Carlo De Mejo also proves a fairly good performance and like Stoppi helps elevate The Other Hell.


In closing, The Other Hell isn’t your typical Mettei & Fragasso movie; the idea for the movie is actually pretty good and the execution was just a bit off at times.


Fans of either Mettei & Fragasso or Italian horror in general might wanna give this one a chance. Far from a classic of the genre, but it does provide some decent moments, but filled up with too many boring moments.


The Other Hell is watchable, but very forgettable.