"Spring" (Benson & Moorhead, USA)

A grieving young man without any family and wanted by the police decides to skip the country and try his luck travelling across Europe.  In a gorgeous Italian village in the shadow of Vesuvius he meets the girl of his dreams and decides to stick around.  At first resistant to his advances, she soon warms to him and romance blooms.  Unfortunately she's dealing with something.  Something monstrous.

About 45 minutes into this film, I turned to my friend and whispered, "This is so great!"  The dialogue is natural and witty and the cinematography is so stunning that I couldn't help but fall in love with the film especially when the elements of horror started creeping in.  But then like most horror movies (and this one in particular) eventually the explanations begin.  At this point it feels like the film suddenly takes a sharp left turn from organic, slightly supernatural romance to silly scientific mumbo-jumbo.  Sometimes things are better left to the imagination.

In one scene, the girl points to a family of ash bodies in the ruins of Vesuvius stating its her dead family and I just wanted to roll my eyes.  But I couldn't because I just was just enjoying the characters too much.  In the end the film is saved by the brilliant first hour, the sweet ending, and the gorgeous vistas throughout.  A very good independently funded monster movie, perhaps not as strong as 2010's amazing 'Monsters', but definitely way more romantic.