Anazapta Details

A far cry from the ultra-camp Killer Tongue, Alberto Sciamma's medieval murder mystery achieves a creditable sense of time and place, considering its meagre budget. But the surfeit of half-explored themes, the clumsiness of the dialogue and the tendency of too many cast members to play to the gallery ultimately undermine its laudable ambitions. The idea of a mysterious French prisoner from the Hundred Years' War bringing pestilence to an isolated, superstitious settlement ruled over by a vulnerable lady of the manor is splendid. But as the death toll rises, Sciamma can't decide whether he's making a bodice-ripper or a slasher film.

The title is said to refer to a charm against illness; what is needed is some means of keeping at bay muddled medieval concoctions such as this.