The screening of Federico Zampaglione’s Tulpa is a FrightFest legend. The version of the film that played to attendees however, is not available to watch digitally. That version remains lost forever, with only those that were there able to understand the madness that ensued during that screening. Now, Zampaglione returns to FrightFest to try and win back the masses with his 90s set horror, The Well.
Starring Terrifier 2’s Lauren LaVera, The Well finds a young woman, Lisa (LaVera), sent to Italy to restore an ancient painting belonging to the affluent Emma (Claudia Gerini). During her journey to her new job, she meets Tracey (Taylor Zaudtke). From this point on, The Well breaks into two paths following each woman: Lisa as she begins work for Emma, and Tracey as she is abducted and subjected to a nightmarish ordeal. This fractured story is The Well’s biggest misstep. Although eventually revealed as interconnecting, for much of The Well, the two stories feel like a tonal mismatch.
Tracey’s plight involves being locked in a cage and watching a man mountain decimate fellow captives. The deaths are gnarly and grim, and wouldn’t be out of place in the millennium nasty era of genre cinema. This plot is at painstaking odds both in tone and style with the main story. Whilst Tracey is wallowing in a torture porn Hellscape, Lisa is luxuriating in a Italian Gothic horror with echoes of Dorian Grey. Her story is beautiful landscapes, creepy castles, and wicked witch types. The two styles and stories do not solidly glue together and instead feel like conflicting ideas forced together to pad out the run time. What Zampaglione needed to do was pick one plot line and finesse it slightly.
Although the plot is a tonal and muddled nightmare, the heavily female cast all work their hardest. Zaudtke is great as Tracey and makes the viewer feel for her trapped in her miserable loop. Claudia Gerini is gleefully mischievous as Lisa’s employer. Although not as cool as her John Wick 2 counterpart, Emma is still a wealthy, glamorous, woman used to wielding power. It’s the type of role that Gerini is made for and her inclusion enriches The Well.
The main reason most will be seeking out The Well though, is Lauren LaVera. The star was catapulted to horror A-lister after mesmerising audiences in Terrifer 2. Her character here is less kick-ass, but no less engaging. LaVera puts a lot of thought and feeling into shaping Lisa as a character that the viewer wants her to survive. Her work is made harder by the occasional line of clunky dialogue, but LaVera attacks even those with vigour. Frustratingly, Lisa remains something of a mystery; time that could be spent delving into her psyche is instead replaced with more maniacal killings. The end result is that one of the primary lasting thoughts about the character is that her hair looks immaculate throughout.
Sadly not the rise to glory that Zampaglione will have been hoping for, The Well loses itself in a maze of conflicting plots. However, The Well is a step up from Tulpa and does have plenty to entertain a variety of horror fans, though disappointingly none will be fully satisfied.
The Well
Summary
A disjointed primary and subplot leaves viewers of The Well struggling to work out exactly what they should be focussing on.
The Well was reviewed at FrightFest Glasgow 2024.
