The Well – review

Director: Federico Zampaglione

Release date: 2023

Contains spoilers

Seen on the big screen at Grimmfest 2024, from the trailer I suspected this one was Vamp and indeed it was – and despite being a bit schlocky it was one of my favourites at the festival.

It follows Lisa (Lauren LaVera), an art restorer whose father has sent her to Italy (in 1993) to restore a painting. We see her on a bus, going through the countryside and that bus picks up a trio; biologists Madison (Courage Oviawe) and Tracy (Taylor Zaudtke) and their guide Tony (Gianluigi Calvani). They get chatting and all depart the bus at the same small town, however Lisa is going to a hotel and they are camping at the edge of town. They agree to meet up in a few days.

Lisa and the Duchess

In the morning Lisa waits for a bus to go to the mansion but a local, Marcus (Jonathan Dylan King), explains that the bus no longer runs and walks her to the mansion carrying her case – he runs a pub literally opposite the mansion. Lisa meets the Duchess Emma (Claudia Gerini) who takes her to the painting. It is literally blackened after a fire and Lisa has only two weeks to restore it, she opts to stay in the room with the painting. Later she meets Emma’s strange daughter Giulia (Linda Zampaglione).

offering blood

So we get, for the most part, a film of two halves. The biologists and their guide are captured and held in a dungeon that has a well in the centre, where a hulking gaoler (Lorenzo Renzi) lowers a bowl and eventually we see the creature within it, Guron (Stefano Martinelli), cut its wrist with a talon and bleed into the bowl. The gaoler butchers prisoners and throws them down to Guron to feed on.

restoring the canvas

Meanwhile Lisa restores the painting (quickly revealed on the canvas is Guron) but she starts having vivid and horrific nightmares, whilst Giulia, after she warms to Lisa, warns her that the canvas is cursed. Of course the stories meet and Guron is our vampire. Emma is over 500 years old and she, with her witch Dorka (Melanie Gaydos, Vesper), lured Guron with a blood sacrifice and trapped him with a curse (the painting depicts this). The curse has to be renewed by the light of a blood moon falling on the canvas exactly 500 years later. The Duchess and her entourage is kept young by drinking Guron’s blood. So – capture vampire, feed it, drink its blood for eternal youth – or eternal as long as the curse is maintained.

the vampire bites

The dungeon scenes are effectively gory and the film itself is entertaining. Some of the logic does not stack – Giulia has “Claudia syndrome” and wants the curse to end but, as it is Guron’s blood keeping her young, one does not understand why she would not just stop drinking it? The film doesn’t tackle that nor does it explain if Giulia tried to destroy the canvas, hence it needing restoring, but one can assume as much. Though in English language (mostly) this was definitely Italian in nature and whilst it won’t set the world alight it was great fun to watch. It won’t tax you too much. 6 out of 10 is fair but for me its entertainment value outstripped the score I gave it.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK