John and Laura Baxter travel to Venice to recuperate from the accidental drowning of their daughter Christine. John is restoring an ancient church in Venice. Laura gets mixed up with a pair of psychics who tell her John should leave Venice immediately for his own safety. John dismisses this as hokum. Laura has to go back to England as their son has injured himself at boarding school. John becomes obsessed with a tiny red hooded figure (his daughter drowned whilst wearing a red macintosh). He follows the hooded figure which turns out to be a freaky dwarf that slashes his throat. We watch him die horribly and all of the weird images John had seen in Venice turn out to have been premonitions of his own death. The killing of John is a startling moment for a number of reasons. First of all, the dwarf is weird looking. Second, he gets his throat cut and dies horribly and thirdly, the visions that John has while he dies piece together the film so we understand what it was really all about. The startling end to Don't Look Now has become legendary among discerning horror fans because this is not an easy film to watch. Even the notorious love making scene is sad and poignant rather than erotic. I have showed this film to people who called it 'boring'. Sacrilige!
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
