Meridian

Language : English / Italian

Year of release : 1990

Run time : 1h26min

Genre : Fantasy / Horror

Cast : Sherilyn Fenn

The movie is known under a few titles like, Kiss of the Beast or The Ravaging and Phantoms.

An old painting is donated to a church in Italy. Gina, who restores paintings,is asked to restore the painting underneath the paint it has on,within a few days. The only problem is, she is supposed to visit her friend who came from the USA for the weekend.

As they reunite, Gina sees on the grounds of the castle a traveling carnival. She persuades her friend, Catherine, to go.

On their way there, as they walk through the gardens of the castle Catherine inherited , Catherine tells her about the myths and legends behind the large and scary statues. She tells her an evil magician created the castle from the mountain and turned his enemies into the statues across the premises.

Gina is impressed by the traveling carnival's performance, so much so, that she takes Catherine backstage to meet the troupe,and ends up by asking them for dinner at the castle.

The troupe drugs them, and the two brothers, twins, r@pe them.

The next day, Catherine starts seeing a dead woman in the wing of the castle which is not used,whom apparently she saw as a kid, and was the reason they moved to the USA.

Gina, back to work,is unraveling the painting within the painting.

Catherine is a sculptor,so she sculpts the bust of the magician. Taken over by a vision, her old nanny

and maid of the castle, tells her the woman she keeps seeing was her father's sister, who was k!lled at 15 by a traveling troupe wearing the same name the troupe she and Gina invited over.

The movie,if we are to believe the backstory with Gina,who is restoring the painting within a few days, over the weekend, is taking place within a few days, and Catherine is supposed to be in love with the creature,real love ,which I find ridiculous. She knows nothing about him, they only had s3x once, that's what it was , sex, and other than that, never talked to each other,apart for a few words.

The same thing can be said about him, Oliver, who fell in love with her,at first sight, I guess, and couldn't wait to woo her, he had to r@pe her?!

The visual effects are so and so.

The acting is not so good. Malcolm Jamieson who plays Lawrence and Oliver was despicable as Lawrence and really lovable as Oliver.

I liked the soundtrack,it reminds me of Sirenia's music, although,I'm not sure it matches the scenes it's in.

You can watch the full movie here for free : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=speximLHISc&ab_channel=MaryMayham

Rating : Could have been a contender !