Aenigma (1987) Directed by Lucio Fulci

Generally speaking, the later Lucio Fulci movies are of course not as loved as some of his classic earlier ones. Not entirely his fault really. Times simply change and Fulci's style of film-making and storytelling was simply absolutely more fitting for the '70's and early '80's time period. He didn't really tried to adapt to new ways and standards, so all of his later movies tend to feel a bit outdated for its time.

The only way to tell that this is a late '80's movie is by listening to the musical score. Other than that, this movie totally feels and looks like an early '70's movie. Normally that's a good thing to say but in this case the look of the movie feels a bit too cheap and not entirely in tune with what's happening on the screen.

At the same time though; as far as later Fulci movies go, this movie really isn't anything too bad. Sure, it's a bit messy and too exaggerated at times but overall, it's just as fun and thrilling to watch as some of the other earlier well known Fulci classics.

It's not entirely a Giallo, not entirely a generic slasher...it's somewhere in between. Rather than being a whodunit it's more of a howdunit. It's never a big mystery who's the killer but the only mystery is how. It's however a mystery that isn't always handled that very well. It's more interested in telling some other things at times, rather than expanding on the mystery and suspense, which is a bit of a shame.

The one weird thing about these type of movie also always is that they never really feature any good main characters in it. No matter how great some of these genre movies are, the main characters aren't ever really any very memorable ones. This movie is no exception. I also honestly don't really know who even was supposed to be the main character in this. It's often focusing on a whole bunch of different characters, with as a result that none of the character in the movie get developed well or becomes a likable enough main protagonist.

As far as the gore is concerned; it's more of a gross-out movie than a gory movie really, as weird as that may sound. The killings are all pretty creative ones, even though most of them don't make much sense. But that same thing can be said about this entire movie of course. It's a ridicules, nonsensical but fun and entertaining one nevertheless, especially when you are into the genre and Fulci movies in particular.

Not a great movie but I at least enjoyed watching it.

6/10

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