Review: Conspiracy theories converge in abysmal Italian non-thriller ‘New World Order’

Vanity projects don’t get any weirder — or much worse — than the Ferrara brothers’ “New World Order.” An Italian conspiracy thriller utterly devoid of thrills, the film will be of interest only to fans of the quirkily wretched.

Writer/director/editor Marco Ferrara and writer/director/cinematographer Fabio Ferrara cast producer Mario Ferrara as police commissioner Massimo Torre, who in the course of his daily duties uncovers a secret tribunal of global power-brokers. Their aim: to destabilize civilization, establish a one-world government and enslave humanity with mind-controlling microchips.

Across two grueling hours, the Ferraras tell their story via badly staged shootouts, prolonged death scenes and long sequences where men in suits and uniforms sit around conference tables and make speeches. All of this is set to an incessant Francesco Marchetti score, filled with synthesized strings, martial rhythms and ethereal choirs.

Aside from the odd bit of gratuitous nudity, there’s little of visual interest in this low-budget project, which is otherwise darkly lit and shot on underdressed locations — with as many close-ups as possible to obscure the minimal backdrops.

What is semi-interesting — in a “huh?” kind of way — is how the Ferraras take various paranoid speculation from the darkest reaches of the Internet and weave it all into a barely coherent super-theory. The cautionary tone doesn’t make “New World Order” any better. But hey, if a movie has to be this crummy, at least it should have a point of view.

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‘New World Order’

In Italian with English subtitles

Not rated

Running time: 2 hours, 2 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena

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