After the extraordinary horror feature film Ghost (2017), American director Brett Mullen writes and directs Belladonna (2018), an approximately 25-minute short film about the lamia, a dangerous female figure in Greek mythology. In fact, the story features a "serpent" who once devoured children and has now found a way to remain hidden in the modern world.
Adorned with magnetic cinematography (by Brett Mullen himself), this stylish monster film opens a gateway into the 1970s by paying homage to the giallo genre but also to famous Italian directors such as Lucio Fulci.
The female character of Belladonna, in particular, refers back to the blind woman de ...And you will live in terror! The afterlife (1981), a figure who in Mullen's film is then characterized by charm, sensuality but also ferocity.
As in Ghost, Brett Mullen is adept at bringing a vintage feel to his film with his elegant direction, managing to combine past cinematic masterpieces and genres (giallo and horror) with the lamia myth.
Unfortunately, in Belladonna, the excessive dialogues create a vacuum at the center of the story, making Meridiana (Alyson O'Keefe), the superlative woman-serpent seductress who surely would have deserved more depth.
In the cast: Alyson O'Keefe, Sterling Hurst and David Price. Photography is by the director himself, Brett Mullen.
The monster movie Belladonna (USA - 2018) was awarded the "Best Cinematography" to theOptical Theatre Film Festival 2018.