I have read of the elusive cult that targets and stalks vulnerable victims while driving them to madness and suicide. They have a preferred method of friending those who’ve come into their domain, gaining the trust of the unfortunate, lonely soul who would likely not see the danger until it is too late. These sect members appear to live normal lives and are closely associated with each other in their own community, so that there’s no trouble at all once they’ve acquired a corpse for "God knows what". Once all is done, there is no memory of the unfortunate, no mourning, and no suspicion, as if the victim had never been born at all.
Now I fear my own sanity is beginning to grow unsteady… The illusions of painful memories that appear before my eyes as though no time has passed since those tragic events…. The scary faces that follow and stare at me on my nightly walks home from work. I worry that I will soon be wiped clean from existence, in memory and in name. What will become of my body after they’ve taken me?
It all started after tasting the bitter wine that was offered to me from a so called friend, but my grip on reality really started to falter after he had me view Francesco Barilli’s THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK, a masterpiece from the golden era of Italian horror in serious need of praise and discovery. Allow me to divulge a bit more:
The film's main character, Silvia Hacherman (Mimsy Farmer), lives alone in an archaic apartment complex and is the boss of a research and development facility. What awaits her is a spell of madness that results in resurfaced tormenting childhood memories, haunting visions of her dead mother in a black dress, and a newfound murderous instinct. A nice touch and an eerie hint of the dark mystery between Silvia and her deceased mother occurs early on when a populated cemetery she’s visiting becomes quiet and empty after viewing and laying flowers on her mother’s headstone.
