Based on Un’anima persa by Giovanni Arpino, The Forbidden Room has Tino (Danilo Mattei) come to Venice to study painting and stay with his Uncle Fabio (Vittorio Gassman) and Aunt Elisa Stolz (Catherine Deneuve). Yet the house just seems off; Fabio is abusive to Elisa. She just takes it.

He also starts to hear sounds from the attic in the section of the house he is never allowed to explore. It’s gigantic yet has fallen into ruin, cobwebs and cracks all over, even as it contains a full theater where Elisa once performed. The sounds come from a door behind the stage and soon, Tino learns that they belong to another uncle. Annetta (Ester Carloni), the housekeeper, allows him to enter that door and he learns that it is where Fabio’s brother (also Gassman) lives. He has gone mad after the death of Elisa’s ten-year-old daughter from her first marriage and screams, eats like a child and destroys baby dolls. But is the girl dead? And how did she die? The truth will ruin Tino, sending him away from painting and Venice, which always seems to attract the most gloomy of movies.

Director Dino Risi also made the original The Scent of a Woman. He wrote the script with Bernardino Zapponi, who wrote Deep Red. This has fantastic elements that show up before it’s over but is more drama than horror. However, it’s so well made that it will keep your interest for the whole film.

You can watch this on YouTube.