The Ogre

In the late 80s, Lamberto Bava made a quadrilogy of Made-for-TV films. These include Graveyard Disturbance, Dinner With A Vampire, Until Death and The Ogre.

All are fairly similar, featuring a monster terrorizing people. As this is Italy, there is a bit of nudity, however unlike his earlier TV film, A Blade In The Dark, the gore is very minimal in these films.

The Ogre is the best of the lot, and feels the most like a real movie, coming off as a mix of latter-day Fulci with some Argento influences throughout. In fact, the script was reportedly the original draft for what would become House By The Cemetery, though it has more in common with House Of Clocks or Sweet House of Horrors (both TV movies as well). The child named Bob in this one is exponentially less annoying which is a plus!

The locations, soundtrack and the ogres makeup are all good. The story moves along well for a TV film, though a few more killings and a bit more action at the finale would have made this much better.