House of Flesh Mannequins (2009) - Domiziano Cristopharo.

An insular, emotionally damaged man (Domiziano Arcangeli), with macabrely artistic pretensions, once tormented as a child, voyeuristically attempts in adulthood some increasingly outré photographic/video installations of his very own! By the time snuff-obsessed Sabastian's morbid peccadilloes fatally crescendo into a wickedly gory S&M'd climax, my initial curiosity had waned, since it all kinda felt like a protracted Skinny Puppy video, with an added 90s aesthetic of Dee Snider's horror curio Strangeways. For an Italian genre film maker, House of Flesh Mannequins felt greatly indebted to American shock-horror, rather than the eerier manifestations of Bava/Freda, or Fulci et. al. This surreal, palpably perverse reworking of Peeping Tom provides imaginative adult content, but, for me, it didn't coalescence convincingly into a grippingly immersive horror film. More sado-inflected Grindhouse, than atmospheric art-house, largely due to soap opera dialogue, an episodic narrative, and some distractingly theatrical performances. I am not, in any way disparaging Mr. Cristopharo's artistic vision, as he is, quite patently a creative artist, but I simply couldn't connect, while others may certainly feel more impassioned about House of Flesh Mannequins! The one unequivocally wonderful aspect about Cristopharo's fleshly, junk-heavy jamboree is the charismatic presence of Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who is never less than a delight to behold. In summation, this is NOT a poorly made indie feature, and with a sharper edit, and better dialogue, who knows?