THE UNNATURALS

 

This is another film I discovered on the Tubi streaming channel. THE UNNATURALS is a 1969 German/Italian co-production, directed and co-written by cult fave Antonio Margheriti, under his usual "Anthony M. Dawson" moniker. The original Italian title of the film is CONTRONATURA. 

The story is set in 1920s England. On a dark and stormy night, a group of characters is traveling by car to the site of an important meeting. The group includes influential businessman Archibald Bennett (Giuliano Raffaelli), his mistress Margaret (Dominique Boschero), his lawyer Ben Taylor (Joachim Fuchsberger), Taylor's wife Vivian (Marianne Koch), and Bennett's accountant Alfred (Claudio Camaso). The travelers literally get stuck in the mud, and they take refuge in a remote old house that is occupied by a strange man (Luciano Pigozzi, billed once again as "Alan Collins") and his elderly mother. The old woman is a medium, and a seance is instigated, which, through a series of flashbacks, reveals incidents of murder and passion, incidents which affect all the participants in the story. 

THE UNNATURALS got a brief review in Jonathan Rigby's excellent book EURO GOTHIC, but it's not really a full-fledged horror film or a giallo. It's more of a melodramatic soap opera with a few supernatural elements. There's no overt gore, but there are a few short shots of female nudity. 

The many flashbacks, and the various interactions and connections between all the characters, gets confusing at times. (It doesn't help that the flashbacks start before the viewer even gets a chance to become familiar with what is going on in the main story.) Margaret is Archibald Bennett's mistress, but she's having an affair with Alfred, while Vivian (who has a taste for young girls) is attracted to Margaret. Two murders which happened a decade ago complicate matters even further. 

There's more talk in the movie than action, but the climax does feature a settling of accounts that gets one's attention. One problem is none of the main characters are sympathetic or particularly engaging. 

There's plenty of Eurocult faves in the cast, with krimi veteran Joachim Fuchsberger, Marianne Koch, and Luciano Pigozzi. Pigozzi lives up to his status as the Italian Peter Lorre with his severe presence, while Koch gets the showiest role as the sexually aggressive and obsessive Vivian. 

It appears that Antonio Margheriti tried to make this more than a conventional thriller by throwing in a few artsy shots, and a sequence where a fox hut is inter-cut with a combination seduction-assault. I'd have to say that overall THE UNNATURALS isn't one of Margheriti's better films. The music score by Carlo Savina does help out a bit. 

The  widescreen version I saw of THE UNNATURALS had an Italian voice track and credits, and appeared to be uncut. (I used close-captioning for the dialogue.) The picture quality was somewhat fuzzy at times (especially during scenes taking place in the dark), but decent for the most part. 

With Italian Gothic box sets recently being put out by the likes of Arrow and Severin, I wouldn't be surprised to see THE UNNATURALS show up soon on a Blu-ray made for English-speaking audiences, especially with the notable names among the cast & crew. I don't think it's a major Italian genre film, but it's worth seeking out for those who are interested in that type of fare.