This is the final film from Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci and it is not a fitting swan song to one of the most recognized and interesting Eurohorror directors. Most of us know that Fulci was not known for his memorable characters or cohesive plots but you usually got your entertainment in the form or a splinter in the eye, a tarantula attack, or someone puking up their intestines. None of that mayhem is present in this film and instead we get what looks like a TV-movie with endless scenes of John Savage driving around the Louisiana backroads. I was quite excited by Fulci's return to the American South but expectations of another classic like The Beyond or The Gates of Hell were quickly quashed. This movie has a clever premise but Fulci was clearly having difficulty stretching the material he came up with into a feature film. Either that or we are getting a somewhat abstract vision of a man dealing with thoughts of death in a way that few can understand.

John Savage stars as Melvin Devereaux, a businessman who finds himself in a peculiar situation that involves a mysterious woman and a black hearse in bad need of a car wash. The film opens when Devereaux visits a graveyard, has an exchange with a woman (Sandi Schultz), and ends up in a hotel room with her. Just when he thinks he is going to get some action, she leaves a cryptic message on the mirror and Devereaux proceeds to hit the dirty, rural roads that surround The Big Easy in search of something that is never really explained. On these roads, he keeps encountering the hearse and these scenes come off as a backwards version of Duel without the suspense. We get numerous scenes of Devereaux trying to pass the hearse while it swerves and makes car chase sounds that are completely out of place on a dirt road in the bayou. These scenes along long straightaways make up some of the most boring car chases sequences I have even witnessed. After some time, Devereaux begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together and eventually figures out what most of the audience has put together in the first act. The end result is a twisty thriller that lacks suspense because it constantly feels like we can see the road ahead far before Devereaux can.

There is so little going on in this movie that even the slightest interesting scene such as a new character or location seems like a huge revelation. Thankfully, this happens quite often through the story giving us some moments of respite from the driving sequences. We get to see a backwoods bar featuring a girl dancing to a jukebox, a gospel church, a black guy playing a washboard outside of a gas station, and a hitchhiker who propositions Devereaux while showing off her legs and cleavage (sorry, no nudity). These scenes keep the running time moving but do little to add to the flimsy plot. It is almost as though Fulci was just looking for filler to pad out the time to get to the big revelation that was sincerely not worth waiting for. This would have been a fun episode of "The Twilight Zone" but as a feature, it just doesn't work.

Savage is a long way from The Deer Hunter but still manages to add a little bit to what he is given. His career never took off but he has managed to keep working and usually gives a decent performance in the low-budget movies in which he stars or in smaller roles in more mainstream fare. This also marks one of Savage's early appearances with his wife Sandi Schultz. I am not sure how producer Joe D'Amato got involved but he was in New Orleans at the time shooting a number of his own movies. It is likely through D'Amato that Laura Gemser (Black Emanuelle) was hired as the costume designer.

Fulci passed away in 1996 and even though his late career lacked the passion for shock and style of his prime, he is and will always be one of more memorable European directors of our time. Door Into Silence is far from his best work but the mere nature and subject matter of the film leaves a strange aftertaste especially when put into context as to the fact that Fulci was in poor health. It is not my type of movie but I can see how a Fulci completist would appreciate the final thoughts from one of the more complex figures in the horror genre. (Josh Pasnak, 11/18/09)

Directed By: H. Simon Kittay (Lucio Fulci).
Written By: Jerry Madison (Lucio Fulci).

Starring: John Savage, Richard Castleman, Sandi Schultz, Jennifer Loeb.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: Decent for such an obscure title. It has a TV-movie look but the picture is crisp and clear of defects.

Extras: Bare bones.

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