I was about to add these comments to the gigantic ongoing thread over on the Cult board, but since they both fall under the remit of this board (and since the threads on the Cult and Sci-Fi boards have provided me with a lot of entertainment) I thought I'd attempt to start one here. Simple really - what Eurocult films have you been watching recently, and brief thoughts?

(That's assuming of course that those of you with Tim's book have found any time to watch anything :D )

MASSACRE IN ROME (1973)
One of many in the spaghetti war genre, this one is a little less action-oriented and concentrates more on raising tension via the dastardly villainy of the Nazi soldiers taking revenge for an attack on a group of SS soldiers.

It's a lot better than I expected it to be to be honest - it is a tense affair and while they're not exactly in the same league as THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, many of the conflict scenes are remarkably well staged. What really gives the film an extra sheen however is the combination of a great score (Morricone turns in another of the pounding dramatic scores with which he characterised the best of the 70s Italian cop movies) and a memorable cast (Richard Burton, Leo McKern, Marcello Mastroianni, John Steiner). Mastroianni isn't quite at his best (having to deliver his lines in English) but is still as magnetic as can be expected, and the Brits all do villains as Brits are wont to do.

I must confess however that for the first little while I didn't actually realise the Germans were Germans. Okay, a more observant person might have noticed the uniforms, but when your three main soldiers are Burton, McKern and Steiner all speaking English, it's an easy mistake to make. At least if you're me, anyway.

WHITE FANG (1973)
Lassie, but with a wolf, directed by Lucio Fulci. Fulci's involvement is the main reason I watched this one, but another good Eurocult cast might have grabbed my attention too - Franco Nero, Fernando Rey and the aforementioned John Steiner all pop up. It's tough to call whether they actually put in good performances or not however, as the film (in the version I saw) was almost destroyed by the terrible English language dubbing.

That's the sort of contrast that marks the film. Watchable actors, badly dubbed; a film for kids, but with plenty of bloody violence; some lovely location photography, but which suddenly jumps to an exceptionally obvious soundstage; and so on. Even the music swings between beautiful old-fashioned swelling strings and rather workmanlike filler material.

It's a fun watch, but probably of most interest as a curio for Fulci completists (yes, me) than anything else.

I have many times watched a SVHS letterbox tape I recorded off German SAT1 many years ago, and just the other day won an eBay auction for a full screen Greek VHS of White Fang which carries the English dub - hope to put them together when I have time (it can join the list of dubs-to-do).

Earlier this year in Japan I twice picked up, but put back down, La Settima Donna, of which I had never heard, and was going to buy it just because Florinda Balkan & Ray Lovelock were in it. I somehow was short of cash the day I could have bought it, and thought I'd get it later - and ended up with the very nice Sazuma DVD (with uncredited English language dub available on the disc). Sazuma - well they got me Franco's The Devil Hunter DVD many years ago, but the old Splatterhouse Board was the only reason I ever gave them a second chance even back then!

La Settima Donna (1978)

Three crooks on the lam after a violent bank job hole up in a coastal villa which they take over from a group of young girls being taught by (plain clothes) Nun Florinda Balkan. They rip out the phone line, rip off the girls' clothes, and generally spend the ninety minutes keeping the pressure on the audience. I kept thinking was the audience supposed to side with the villains (to some degree) as a reaction to the burgoise 'goodness' of the victims? At least until the villains go too far... All comes good by the end, and I enjoyed watching it in faux HD through the Xbox 360 out through the video projector on the big screen!

MALABIMBA - A wild EXORCIST ripoff by the team that brought you BURIAL GROUND, PATRICK STILL LIVES, and SATAN'S BABY DOLL (different directors but similar crews and producer Gabriele Cristiani). Beautifully shot in the same castle as TERROR IN THE CRYPT, DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT, and LICKERISH QUARTET (the beauty of the interiors in MALABIMBA makes me long for a remastered version of the better photographed Metzger film) and more energetic than BURIAL GROUND, the film opens with a seance in which an ancestor shouts accusations of hypocrisy to her descendents. Hilariously, among the telekinetic manifestations are a woman's top being ripped off and invisible hands unzipping a guy's pants. The spirit rushes through the castle and tries to possess Mariangela Giordano who defends herself in a manner that recalls similar defenses in CAT PEOPLE, the vampire segment of DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, and BRIDES OF DRACULA so the spirit instead possesses 16 year old Bimba who is soon swearing and making lewd gestures as well as modifying her teddy bear with a candle.



SPOILERS:

What relative sophistication the film has likely come straight from writer Piero Regnoli (PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE). There's aristocratic hypocrisy aplenty (the family's blonde "whore" trophy wife tells off the family in a great monologue during the dinner scene) as well as the kinky jet setting victims to be that people BURIAL GROUND and PATRICK STILL LIVES. Like THE ANTICHRIST and EXORCISMO, there's also some interesting psychological aspects of Bimba's possession that are brought up before the more blatant supernatural stuff starts. The sheltered Bimba has not gotten over her mother's death and the doctor suggests that her lewd displays are the result of trying to identify with an adult female. Truly, her outrages do mirror the "whorish" exhibitions of Nais, the proudly whorish wife of Bimba's paralyzed uncle. Nais' own exhibitions and vulgarity that Bimba might be picking up are themselves in order to outrage her hypocrite in-laws (grandmother speaks of paralyzed son Adolfo as if he were already dead and suggests Bimba's father marry Nais so the money stays in the family because she refuses to lose the family castle).

So, MALABIMBA was shot at the Castello di Balsorano as well. Interesting.

But did you know it has a swimming pool? ;)

The villa in BIMBA DI SATANA also looks familiar but I can't recall from where at the moment. I'm sure its been used plenty of times in Italian horror. The cinematographer of this stripped down though still quite entertaining version of MALABIMBA has less to cover in Regnoli's equally stripped down script so he makes the most of the castle's beautiful interiors (several up angle shots of actors that also include the ornate ceilings including one in which the camera is mounted to the bottom of a wheelchair).

RABID GRANNIES - I know its a Troma release but its also one of the few Belgian horror films. I saw the trailer for this a long time ago on a Troma tape long before I was aware of their type of product. The film itself is not the dreck I supposed it would be given that the filmmakers apparently marketed it to Troma before it was even shot. The film is beautifully shot (though I think the tape is cropped) with gorgeous Belgian locations standing in for the English countryside (unless that change was just made in the hilariously bad dubbing). A pack of greedy relatives make their way to the sprawling manor house of their dear elderly aunties for an extravagant birthday dinner all in hope of inheriting the family millions. Their true colors come out over dinner but the two aunts seem blissfully oblivious as to the ugliness of their relatives. A mysterious woman shows up with a gift from a disinherited black sheep relative who did prison time for celebrating the black mass in a cemetery. The gift is a wooden box which lets loose a fog which turns the two aunts into DEMONS-style demons who start bumping off the family members in various gory fashions (the first victim's head is swallowed by one of the aunties whose jaw splits open to allow for extra space. The rest of the film is the old split up and run through the dark (though well-exposed) hallways and get killed off.

In spite of the hilariously bad dubbing, this one was meant to be funny from the get go (when an aristocratic woman insults her husband's low background he responds that "we may be common but at least we leave our parties happy and alive!"). The gore is expectedly outrageous in a post-EVIL DEAD manner even if most of it is missing from the Troma cut (the gore is included in workprint form as an extra - most of it is quiet messy but there are one or two cut shots that seem mostly like MPAA prissiness than anything else such as a couple lingering shots of faces after death that I guess they found disturbing). The movie is audacious enough to kill a little girl as well (although thankfully we are only shown the aftermath and not the kill itself in both cuts). The film works because it doesn't take itself seriously in any way so the results aren't as grim as some films that either dollop on the gore without a sense of humor or ones that reason "loads of gore and guts = funny".

By the by, it's just possible that MALABIMBA was the film to ruin Castello di Balsorano as a location.

When I was there Pepe, the caretaker and local top chef, made reference (through a impromptu and beleaguered interpreter) to 'porno films' being the reason they stopped letting productions shoot there. I imagine SISTER EMANUELLE didn't help matters much either...

Can anyone cite a film shot here later than '79?

Nuthin'?

Perhaps thats why they chose a different castle for SATAN'S BABY DOLL and the TERROR CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE villa for BURIAL GROUND and PATRICK STILL LIVES.

THE BIG ALLIGATOR RIVER (1979) This often-laughable but still enjoyable Sergio Martino flick never hit US theaters, but did premiere on CBS in 1981 under the title THE GREAT ALLIGATOR. The story is a hodgepodge of native superstition, ecology, and the nature-gone-amok subgenre with Mel Ferrer's Sri Lankan resort under attack by both a vengeful tribe and an alligator god named Kroona, which resembles less an alligator and more a surfboard with glued-on scales and a wagging tail. Many of the effects are almost Ed Wood-worthy, including some underwater visuals that appear to have been filmed in Martino's bathtub, and one scene where Kroona knocks Barbara Bach and Claudio Cassinelli out of a boat, and you can CLEARLY see Cassinelli propelling himself out of the boat to create the illusion of being knocked out of it. That, coupled with some other assorted nonsense like some drunk guy somehow being allowed to bring a hunting rifle on a booze cruise, make this some really fun Eurocult viewing. Also featuring Eurocult stalwarts like Richard Johnson (in a scenery-chomping cameo as a priest still bonkers after his encounter with Kroona), the great Romano Puppo as Ferrer's thuggish right-hand man, the awesome Bobby Rhodes (unfortunately not dubbed by the same legendary guy who would voice him in DEMONS and DEMONS 2), Anny Papa, and Lory Del Santo, better-known (tragically) as the mother of Eric Clapton's late son Conor.

There's some conservative bloodletting that looks like spilled Hawaiian Punch, but really, it's pretty tame by '70s Eurocult horror standards. Aside from a fleeting Del Santo breast shot and an occasional bit of profanity, it wouldn't seem too difficult to cut this for network TV. I could see this "uncut and uncensored" version almost flying with a PG rating if it were released theatrically back then

I don't have much time to write but here it goes....

THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED (1969) ***1/2

A genuine chiller! This one follows the explots of school girls in a remote countryside. Slowly the girls are disapearing. Have they runaway or is it something else. And why? The tension is great and the silence is loud. The body count is kept to a nearly a abstract minimal but it carries a great weight. How did I go for so long without seeing this? You'll always wonder who and why. The Greenhouse seqence is a shocker yet it is outdone by a couple of random moments.

THE DEATHRAY OF DR. MABUSE (1964) **1/2

Often considerd the worst of the series but actually lots of fun as long as one take it stride. Its basically THUNDERBALL set in Malta before the Bond opus hit the screens. And it works. Its played for absurdity but knowingly. Its one of those movies where everyone continues spying on each other even though everyone knows what everyone is doing. You got that? Yet it keeps you wondering for all the right reaons. But it is dumb! It features a smug Peter Van Eyck. He has an attitude. Its all in a day's work when he tosses a shovel in a bell tower. His co-star who's name I forget was in BLACK SABBATH. This time she wears a transperant teddy while bouncing on a bed! The shoot out with the frogmen is kinda cool too. See it now!

CHURCHILL'S LEOPARDS (1970)

Bringing this thread almost full circle, it's another spaghetti war movie. There is some appeal in seeing the usual Italian cult movie suspects in action (Richard Harrison in the lead, supported by the likes of Klaus Kinski, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Frank Brana and Pilar Velázquez) but this Dambusters/Guns of Navarone imitator is not exactly a classic.

Even if you can get past the slightly daft premise (Harrison plays a British officer who infiltrates the Germans due to having a German twin brother in their army!) the film is still a rather slow-moving affair that doesn't really kick into gear until the last half hour. Even then, the action scenes are rather pedestrian gun battles rather than any particularly notable set-pieces.

This lack of great action might be more forgiveable if there was a degree of tension in the build up but sadly the film is almost entirely lacking in suspense. The only real exception is a memorable but brief scene involving Klaus Kinski's over-zealous plan for using a German firing squad.

Talking of Kinski, this is where another one of the flaws of the film lies, albeit restricted to the version I watched. It was dubbed into English, which is obviously no surprise, but it's a particular problem here. I'm used to bad dubbing, but here it's detrimental to the film because I've yet to see any dubbing actor who can capture the intensity of a Kinski performance, even in a minor role like this. There's also the small matter (as with Massacre in Rome, back at the start of this thread), that having German officers speak with posh English accents just doesn't work, even though it does allow the film to gloss over whatever problems Harrison's character might have had with the German accent required for the plan.

I've made it this far and realised I've not actually mentioned the main driver of the plot. The Brits are out to blow up a damn in order to destroy German supply lines. That's it really. I hope the others I've still got to watch are better than this one.

GET MEAN (1976)—Directed by Ferdinando Baldi. Stars Tony Anthony, Lloyd Battista, Diana Lorys. You have to give Tony Anthony his props. As the producer, star and occasional writer of several Italian westerns, Anthony, more than most working in the genre, wasn’t shy about thinking outside the box. Returning to the iconic Stranger character he played in the 1960s, Anthony, who wrote the original story (co-star Battista and Wolf Lowenthal receive screenplay credit), places GET MEAN firmly in the realm of fantasy. The bizarre plot finds the Stranger accepting a $50,000 offer to return Princess Elizabeth Maria (Lorys) to Spain, where a battle for her kingdom ensues between Moors and Vikings! The Stranger loses the Princess to the Viking king, but negotiates his way into the warlord’s good graces with the promise of a treasure hidden in a nearby temple. Battista, who played the main heavy opposite Anthony in BLINDMAN, is the Viking lord’s hunchbacked sidekick with a RICHARD III obsession. GET MEAN is a strangely weird movie, even more so than THE SILENT STRANGER, which took the title character to Japan. It’s somewhat effective, but it’s pretty clear the spaghetti western genre was on its last legs. At least it’s about time one of these Spain-lensed pictures actually set itself in Spain. Anthony’s next picture, COMIN’ AT YA!, was filmed in 3D and was surprisingly successful in the U.S., kicking off a shortlived 3D craze.

My recent Eurocult Excursions include:

CUT-THROAT'S NINE
DEATH LAID AN EGG
THE IRON ROSE
TWO UNDERCOVER AGENTS
COUNT DRACULA (Franco)
VAMPYROS LESBOS
LE AMANTI DEL MOSTRO
BLACK MOON
THE DEVIL (Zulawski)
THE 10th VICTIM
THE BLOOD ROSE

CASTLE OF THE CREEPING FLESH (1968)

It starts off innocently enough: music, spirits, and laughter. This wild youth of today just wants to have a good time and they do so at no expense. One in particular that really like to have his way: Baron Brack (Michel Lemoine). Leaving the party early with his friend’s girlfriend Marion (Claudia Butenuth). He promises to meet the group back at his cabin and ready them selves for some horseback riding. Alas he does perform some riding on Marion and much to her dismay. To be a pony girl is not what she has in mind but as mentioned Baron likes to have it his way. While there friends (one of them being Janine Reynaud from SUCCUBUS) arrive, He than has the nerve to tell her its her fault and not to tell anyone that this happened. After all he in engaged. Embarrassed, used, and unable to communicate, she separates herself while riding through the country with her friends.

In search of her, the path that leads to only one place. That place being a remote castle in the German forest. It’s a castle with a history. It is a history that the Baron knows about. He knows of the family curse that lies upon that castle. What he doth not know is that the daughter has returned home. And sure enough what waits inside is none other than Howard Vernon as Graf Saxon in search of a look-alike to substitute for his daughter.

“Based upon” King Lear, thus the story will end the way you think it will end. The castle comes complete with a Jess Franco screenplay, Vernon channeling Dr. Orloff and King Lear, Shakespeare dialogue, orchestral variations of Chopin, a fake bear that maims, nudity, the family legend, flashbacks, horse back riding, rape, nudity, mannequins, footage of a genuine open heart surgery, and a topless Janine Reynaud.

This is a genuine exploitation film with all of the European trimmings. Logic, craft, and pacing are held in question. But that is not what the story is about. It was hard not to be exhausted or taken aback when some of the more awful elements. Yes the storyline is nearly perfect for this sort of this thing. Yet to bear witness to the heart surgery was extreme by any measure. What are they thinking? It does add a certain "heart and soul" to the proceedings. It is the reality of the melancholy. It is a story of emotions and splendor both evocative and gory. On that it succeeds. One of the more sublime moments in the movie is when the visitors of the castle are told a chapter of the sad story. Before them is a groups of mannequins that is restaging a violation. While the castle keeper tells the “audience” he also plays a recording that is a recreation of the events. It is essentially a frozen moment captured with narration and a soundtrack. It is creepy in the best of ways.


Directed by Adrian (MARK OF THE DEVIL) Hoven. This is everything you’d expect a Euro horror cult to be or close enough. If you think I’ve spoiled the story, I have not. This is about presentation. The foreshadowing only underscores the goings on. It begins as a lark but has a dire conclusion. The closing frames are as shivering and delightful as you’ll see for yourself.

CASTLE OF THE CREEPING FLESH is a fun film. I've wondered if Franco was meant to direct it or if Hoven just made use of the the talent available from the Franco collaborations with him and Pier Caminnecci. I have three English tapes and they're all the same in terms of content but I've heard that the German version has a different ending. The dubbing voice for Howard Vernon is really unsuitable. It would've been better had he dubbed himself as in the Eurocine films.

I've been methodically working my way through the Mario Bava Book, watching the movies that I can track down one by one. I'm up to HERCULES (1958) so far, so not all that much actual Eurocult to list at this point, but plenty of Italian movies.

Things that I've discovered in the process that I either never knew or had forgotten:

1) The young Gina Lollobrigida was incredibly hot. She is just smoking in I PAGLIACCI and LA DONNA PIU BELLA DEL MONDO.

2) Aldo Fabrizi is a funny guy who deserves more recognition; he can do pathos in the Chaplin mold too. In everything from NATALE AL'CAMPO 119 to VITA DA CANI to COSE DA PAZZI he's terrific.

3) Why have I never heard of Alberto Sordi before? Tim Lucas kind of takes apart BUONA NOTTE AVVOCATO for its sexist tropes, but I more or less consider that as standard Italian male behavior, at least in the 1950s. Sordi kind of reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld on speed. Anyway, he's really sensational, and his casting as Nero in MIO FIGLIO NERONE is nothing short of inspired. And Gloria Swanson in that movie is pretty darned entertaining too, especially when Bava goes nuts with the gels and makes her look undead.

The list of 20 items watched so far--and I haven't really even started on Bava's directorial career! They're not all in chronological order since I had trouble finding NATALE and GRAZIELLA; ATTILA is supposedly in the mails to me:

10/2/07: Mario Bava Project: Uomini sul fondo (*)
10/3/07: Mario Bava Project: La corona di ferro/The Iron Crown (*)
10/4/07: Mario Bava Project: Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (*)
10/5/07: Mario Bava Project: Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (*)
10/6/07: Mario Bava Project: Mad About Opera (*)
10/7/07: Mario Bava Project: I Pagliacci (*)
10/8/07: Mario Bava Project: Vita da cani (*)
10/9/07: Mario Bava Project: Guardie e ladri (*)
10/10/07: [Mario Bava Project: The Sins of Rome half of Sword and Sandal Double Feature DVD] (*)
10/12/07: Mario Bava Project: Cose da pazzi (*)
10/19/07: Mario Bava Project: Ulysses (*), Mario Bava Project: Hanno rubato un tram (*)
10/20/07: Mario Bava Project: Buona notte...avvocato! (*); Mario Bava Project: Le avventura di Giacomo Casanova (*)
10/23/07: Mario Bava Project: La donna piu bella del mondo (*)
10/27/07: Mario Bava Project: Natale al Campo 119 (*)
10/28/07: Mario Bava Project: Mio figlio Nerone (*)
11/02/07: Mario Bava Project: Graziella (*)
11/03/07: Mario Bava Project: Roland the Mighty (*)
11/04/07: Mario Bava Project: I Vampiri

(*) indicates items I acquired in 2007 to pursue this quixotic adventure.

Yes! to all of the above. Sordi had an amazing run from early fifties through midsixties of dozens and dozens of great films of every variety. Since there's at least one fan in the house, I'll provide an overview of some highlights within the next couple weeks.

Related question: the remarkable Sordi vehicle Mafioso received a recent theatrical revival to universal accolades. Is it due out on US DVD anytime soon?

MAFIOSO is the best film, by far, I saw in a theatre this year.

It was released by Rialto, so hopefully :unsure: Criterion will see fit to release it soon.

BLACK SABBATH is one.

Tim's book has launched me on a peplum binge. Some of my recent viewings:

GIANT OF MARATHON (coming on Retromedia in 2:35-1)
GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (on Wild East in 2:35-1)
ROME AGAINST ROME (aka WAR OF THE ZOMBIES)
ESTHER AND THE KING (2:35-1 from Fox Movies Channel)
ERIK THE CONQUEROR (2:35-1 on Anchor Bay)
GIANTS OF THESSALY
HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (2:35-1 from Something Weird/Image)
with many more to follow

And, one that Bava apparently didn't help with:

TESEO CONTRO IL MINOTAURO (aka THE MINOTAUR, 1961)
2:35-1 and gorgeous color, from Spanish DVD, but no English

Female Vampire (1973)

Not a classic, even by Franco standards, but it does possess possibly the greatest opening title sequence in history. As much as the dubbing is terrible, in this case the movie actually becomes a lot more enjoyable because of it - particularly when it appears that people are just throwing in any old words in an attempt to make it fit with the timing of the actor's mouth.

If that wasn't enough to make it unintentionally funny, it's also helped by the music. There seemed to be only about three pieces of music - one, the main theme, which was very good and the other two which just seemed totally at odds with the tone the picture was aiming for.

I also thought the story was the loosest of all the Franco films I've seen. Obviously it was secondary to getting in plenty of sex scenes, in fact it was pretty much used just to hold them all together, but it was still so nonsensical that at times I wondered if the scenes were even being shown in the right order.

Mainly rubbish, but lovable rubbish.

The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1972)

A spaghetti western - with martial arts! And gruesome deaths! And a great pseudo-Morricone score by Nicolai! Gordon Mitchell! Klaus Kinski! Unconvincing stunts! A man dubbed in a politely spoken accent calling someone's sister a slut! A killer yo-yo!

If there's a single reason for not absolutely loving this movie, I've not discovered it.

I'd love to see this one. Have you ever seen THE STRANGER AND THE GUNFIGHTER, another Italian western with kung fu starring Lee Van Cleef and Lo Lieh?

Spaghetti western... martial arts... Lee Van Cleef?

*thud*

Er, actually, now that I've recovered - no, I've not. But it sure sounds like my next mission is to do just that. (Or at least add it to the ever-growing pile so that I watch it six months from now, long after we've all forgotten about it)

As for Shanghai Joe, once again I have to thank those lovable folks over at Movies4Men here in the UK for showing a whole bunch of cult classics including lots of letterboxed Euro gems. No idea if this one was cut or not, but if it was then it certainly wasn't for its bloody content - the flying-eyeball-removal that Joe performs on one villain is right up there with zombie-v-shark as one of the most thrilling moments in my Eurocult experience.

BLACK EMANUELLE, WHITE EMANUELLE - Brunello Rondi's knockoff of the BLACK EMANUELLE series is one of the better ones. Not only do you have Eurotic couple Laura Gemser and Gabriele Tinti (always great at playing a jerk - here he gets Laura to pose for photographs next to corpses and on top of camel dung), you also get that other star couple Annie Belle and Al Cliver along with Susan Scott.

Stunningly shot on location in Egypt by Gastone Di Giovanni (NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE) in Techniscope, Fellini collaborator Rondi assembles a collection of set pieces with stately compositions (the film credits a still photographer in the opening credits but no other below the line credits so I'm thinking that thoughts of photo spreads also influenced the scripting and shooting (several shots seem to combine National Geographic and seventies fashion photography). The film is also sensually scored by Alberto Baldan Bembo. While its not as diverse as Fidenco's works for the "official" series, I actually think Bembo's score is the better work.

Severin's disc is anamorphic 2.35:1 and looks stunning (the letterboxed Italian cassette from the early nineties also looked beautiful so the source elements were well cared for). Besides a theatrical trailer, there is a featurette which is described as interviewing Al Cliver and Annie Belle but it does not mention that Laura Gemser is also featured in an audio interview.

I love M4M, they've been showing loads of spaghetti westerens lately. However, it seems they cut some of their films to screen during the daytime but screen the cut prints when they show the films in the evening, too.

The first few screenings of SHANGHAI JOE were rated '18' and were only shown after the 10pm watershed. However, I see they are screening the film again later this week but at an earlier time and listed as being '15'.

They are also screening THE DELTA FACTOR with Christopher George in a version I believe is missing at least one brief shot of nudity present in the print the BBC showed last year.

I'm not that familiar with the whole lesbian vampire thing, but the efforts I've watched recently are beginning to make me wonder if there's something I'm missing. I don't mind going at a slow pace, but man these films don't exactly seem to rattle along, do they?

VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD (1973)

Some lovely location work in the large house and exotic island that we see so much of and as usual there's an interesting array of weird characters, the best of which is probably Franco himself as a deranged idiot. Not much happens, but it does at least happen while accompanied by a nice "oooh-oooh" soundtrack, and often in the nude. Also, after waiting so long for something to happen, it seemed like the film didn't so much end as just... stop.

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971)

One of the better efforts in the genre as far as I've seen. Not as much gratuitous nudity as the others but stylishly handled, big on atmosphere and the English version doesn't have quite as much trouble with the dubbing (although whether that's good or bad will depend on your own views I guess). Nice music too. The main problem I had was taking John Karlen seriously. It's not so much that he's a bad actor, just the fact that in this film he just kept reminding me of Tom Cruise.

Update on my Mario Bava Project:

11/13/07: Hercules (*)
11/14/07: Day the Sky Exploded (*)
11/15/07: Nel Segno di Roma (*)
11/16/07: Hercules Unchained (*)
11/20/07: Attila (Atila,hombre o demonio) (*)
11/21/07: The White Warrior (*)
11/22/07: The Last Days of Pompeii (*); Caltiki the Immortal Monster (*)
11/23/07: The Giant of Marathon
11/24/07: Black Sunday
11/25/07: Atom Age Vampire (*);
11/27/07: Hercules vs the Hydra (*)
11/29/07: Morgan the Pirate (*)
12/6/07: Esther and the King (*)
12/7/07: The Giants of Thessaly (*)

SLAUGHTER NIGHT - It starts out with some beautifully lit misty night forest shots but and some warm firelit interiors but is immediately ruined by the hand-held shakycam undercranked aesthetic as a child-killing Satanist is captured by the authorities. In the present day, a Dutch girl's writer father is killed in a car crash and she travels with her obnoxious friends to Belgium and the mine where her father was researching the aforementioned Satanist who was sent into the mines with a torch to blow up gas deposits (apparently if he survived he would be spared). The kids and some Belgiums go on a tour of the mines. Its the last tour of the day so they're trapped below with the guide. The kids pop ecstasy pills and break out the Ouija board and try to contact the spirit of the murderer. One of the girls freaks out, attacks the psychic check with a rock and disappears into the tunnels. Pretty soon, the body-hopping spirit of the killer is decapitating people anew for no apparent reason.


SPOILER:

The goal of the killer when living was sacrificing eight children to enter hell to find out from his parents where the family gold was. One would assume that he was in hell before being brought back so the goal of the new killings isn't so clear.


END OF SPOILER.


Satisfyingly gory, although a lot of it occurs offscreen, the film has some initially attractively lit images in both the period flashback and the present day expository passages that are ruined by the camerawork while the below ground stuff is a lot of lightbeams in darkness, backlighting, infrared camcorder (as usual, someone carries a camcorder to document things) and a lot of annoying undercranking. Other than the language, there's not much different from any other cave-dwelling horror movies from other countries. Tartan's DVD has a featurette that I didn't bother to watch as well as the usual 2.0 stereo, 5.1 surround, and DTS mixes.

Not bad but not even worth a rental really.

Another dip into the world of spaghetti war movies for me. Alberto DiMartino's The Dirty Heroes stars John Ireland as the leader of a gang of anti-heroes out to rob the Nazis in this rather familiar WW2 tale.

This time my viewing (again courtesy of M4M) was a murky pan-and-scan print which looked like it could have been taken from a very old VHS, such was the quality. While that undoubtedly did no service to the photography, it can't really be blamed for the hokey romantic angle, the pointless death of one character near the end, the ludicrous ease with which a colonel is persuaded to launch an airstrike, the seemingly endless battle scene towards the finale, the unspectacular nature of the actual heist or the silly twist which sees another stupid plan involving some diamond smuggling.

It's not very good, it's far too long and Ennio Morricone's score is a waste, sounding like it belongs to a far better film than the one it ended up in.

I just purchased Lev Atamanov's THE SNOW QUEEN (1957) from Jove films. Totally off the radar, I learned of this 2006 release (the only version with the original Russian soundtrack and engllish subtitles) almost by accident. It also has 4 other works by Atamonov (THE GOLDEN ANTELOPE, BENCH, FENCE and THE CYCLIST)
On the downside, the print contains a number of splices, the mastering has a lot of combing and there are no chapter stops during the main feature. The menus are on a par with the worst dollar store variety PD releases (as is the package artwork) However color is reasonably good, and it is great to finally see this in the original language.
If you want this, probably best to order asap. I called the manufacturer (hoping that maybe a replacement disc with chapter stops was available) and was informed the company has already gone out of business and the disc is out of production.

As we say in the Bronx, Raymond, "Good lookin' out!" I have two different English dubbed versions of this wonderful animated film (and the one which most moved and impressed me as a child--I saw it on its original release when it had a prologue hosted by Art Linkletter!), but it would be great to have an original Russian version, plus one with the director's other works. I suspect there is tons of great Soviet animation that we never see here. A Russian co-worker recently showed me clips from a Tom-and-Jerry/Road Runner & Coyote-type cartoon series about a wolf chasing a rabbit and always getting comeuppance for it. What I saw was very amusing. It's a long-running series of theatrical cartoons that began in the 1970s, I believe, maybe earlier. It's called "Nu Pogodi!" which is the phrase the wolf uses at the end of each cartoon and translates as "I'll GET you!"

It is a beautiful film, one which has haunted me since I saw theatrically in the 60s. Despite the flaws with this edition, it's priceless to see it in this form at last!
Now if only other european animated features of the 50s & 60s would find their way stateside in subtitled editions (for example Trnka's SEN NOCI SVATOJANSKE aka A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM or Grimault's LE ROI ET L'OISEAU aka THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY SWEEP aka THE CURIOUS ADVENTURE OF MR WONDERBIRD)

I've not watched either of them yet so I can't vouch for quality or completeness, but as a huge fan of Ray Bradbury, I was excited to find these Russian sci-fi efforts on Youtube with English subtitles:

Here There be Tigers
There Will Come Soft Rains

MINOR SPOILERS

A MINUTE TO PRAY, A SECOND TO DIE (1968) -- Alex Cord is an outlaw trying to come in from the cold, and opposed by the leader of a town right out of Jim Thompson's The Getaway -- there's a great sign at the limits that says something like "If you're not wanted, you're not wanted." I've long wanted to catch this spaghetti western and was quite surprised/pleased to see it pop up on Comcast's free on-demand service. Cord is basically a tormented guy trying to do the best with what little he has; just about everybody who helps him pays with their life; and there's an interestingly heavy, depressing vibe to the thing, like no matter what our hero tries it won't matter all that much. The ending is at best cautiously optimistic. As these things go, fairly well written, which helps it to stand out from the pack. With Robert Ryan as the pistol-packin' governor of New Mexico.

That's the American release ending. There's another ending -for the Italian release-that really is the end, frankly pessimistic in the manner of a Sergio Corbucci finale.

The American release, which you presumably watched, is also considerably shorter in length and consequently choppier...

BLACK EMMANUELLE, WHITE EMMANUELLE (1976) aka VELLUTO NERO, EMANUELLE IN EGYPT

SPOILERS

Not really an EMMANUELLE or an EMANUELLE film, this is an astonishingly unerotic travelogue directed by Fellini associate Brunello Rondi, who appears clearly lost without his infinitely more renowned friend supervising him. Laura Gemser (as Laura) is a dumb fashion model putting up with her rageaholic, a-hole photographer Gabriele Tinti at the Egyptian estate of a horny MILF (Susan Scott) and her daughter (Ziggy Zenger), both of whom share the services of the mute handyman as well as a mystic douchebag named Horatio (Al Cliver). Also arriving for the "festivities" is Scott's other daughter Annie Belle (as Pia), who seduces Gemser after Gemser is raped by Tinti out in the desert for having the gall to complain about Tinti forcing her to pose for shots with a dead dog and vogueing on top of a giant manure pile. Eventually, all of the extremely unpleasant characters, plus Scott's gay friend, an aged, retired actor named Hal (Feodor Chaliapin), who seems to have a thing for Horatio, all go on a cruise and then reconvene at Hal's house, where Horatio casts a spell on everyone and possesses Laura. Tinti breaks the spell by doing what he always does--slapping her around and calling her a bitch. Horatio tries to put the moves on Pia, but she is able to resist his spell by...dancing to disco!

This isn't nearly as interesting as it sounds, and it really only comes alive during the ridiculous Al Cliver spellcasting sequence, when Rondi temporarily turns this into a bad horror movie instead of bad softcore porn. There's still plenty to mock for bad movie fans and Eurocult completists.

The Severin R1 DVD looks good and the location shooting in Egypt is easily the best thing about the film (should I be saying that about a Laura Gemser/Annie Belle film?). The DVD has English and Italian audio tracks, though the English one is incomplete and frequently switches to Italian (but there's a few bits where it's not subtitled), and unlike many of these films, the English dubbing is actually well-done for the most part. Extras include an interview with Cliver, and excerpts of audio interviews with Belle and Gemser, the latter explaining that she was working on another EMANUELLE movie with Aristide Massaccesi at the time, which probably explains why Gemser is absent for long stretches of this film, including the climax (as it were), before magically reappearing to run off nude in the distance with Belle. Running 94 minutes, this seems to be the longest version available (the 1978 US release ran 85 mins, and the UK version is 79, accoring to imdb), but still feels like it's missing stuff. Either that, or the sex scenes really are that lame. Well, at least any ladies out there who can't get enough Al Cliver can get a good look at his junk here. Thanks a lot, Brunello. His idea of eroticism seems to be cutting away just things are about to get good, or showing Susan Scott wiping goo off of her chin after fellating Cliver in the desert.

CODENAME: WILDGEESE (1986)

This Antonio Margheriti commando/mercenary/jungle action German-Italian co-production was filmed in 1984, and actually got a wide US release via New World in 1986. I missed this in theaters back then, but I'm sure the few who managed to catch it were utterly appalled by the hilariously dated special effects. Margheriti has his place as a craftsman, but the use of miniatures, model cars, and toy helicopters were more than a little passe at this point. If you doubt that at all, check out the hysterical car chase about 20 minutes in, when Lewis Collins drives a car on the wall of a tunnel.

The plot has mercenary Collins leading the requisite ragtag group of mercenaries into the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia to destroy an opium operation at the behest of DEA chief Ernest Borgnine and enigmatic mystery man Klaus Kinski. Collins recruits imprisoned chopper pilot Lee Van Cleef and lots of gunfire, explosions, and nonsensical dialogue ensue.

Margheriti keeps things moving even though the film does feel a tad overlong. The New World VHS I picked up about two years ago at a Movie Gallery closeout store appears to be slightly cut at times, is rather horribly pan & scanned, and features a really annoying synthesizer score performed by Eloy. As far as the cast goes, Van Cleef is always fun to watch, Borgnine is just cashing a paycheck, Mimsy Farmer turns up as Canadian journalist kidnapped and hooked on heroin by the bad guys, an uncredited Bruce Baron plays a drunkard mercenary, the ubiquitous Luciano Pigozzi/Alan Collins is a priest who pays for helping out the mercenaries, and Kinski might be having a good time, but is dubbed by a British actor, as Klaus probably couldn't be bothered to stick around and loop his dialogue. Collins, coming off a successful run on the British TV show THE PROFESSIONALS, comes off like a bland David Warbeck, lacking any screen presence or conviction, and seemingly bored beyond belief by the proceedings. If there's a duller action hero in '80s cinema, let me know. Collins did two more action flicks for Margheriti: COMMANDO LEOPARD and DER COMMANDER, neither of which received any US theatrical or video release.

In short, it's not Margheriti's best jungle action film by any means, paling next to classics like THE LAST HUNTER and TIGER JOE, but it's a decent-enough action film for undemanding fans and Eurocult/Margheriti completists. To the best of my knowledge, this was the last Margheriti film to get a theatrical release in the US, unless his great INDIO snuck into theaters, though I'm pretty sure that went straight to video.

Does Anchor Bay still own the rights to the New World catalog? I'd pick up a properly-transferred DVD release of this if it were available, with maybe a Lewis Collins interview. He's a pretty weak leading man, but I'd be interested to hear what he has to say about the film and working with Margheriti. According to imdb, he's been inactive since an appearance on a TV show in 2002, and his last gig before that was in 1994.

BLACK EMMANUELLE NO. 2 (1976)

"Albert Thomas"/Bitto Albertini directed what is possibly the tamest and lamest EMANUELLE (there's two M's in the onscreen title) I've seen, and easily the dullest, with the possible exception of EMANUELLE ON TABOO ISLAND.

In her only film, "Sharon Leslie"/Shulamith Lasri temporarily steps in for Laura Gemser as Emanuelle Nera, this time suffering from amnesia that either came from a gang rape or after her close proximity to a bomb blast in war-torn Beirut. Back in NYC, her shrink (top-billed Angelo Infanti) tries to get to the bottom of what's troubling Emanuelle, while dealing with a very jealous wife (Dagmar Lassander) and, in a painfully unfunny subplot complete with its own wacky music, a crazed patient who thinks he's a general in wartime. Infanti spends most of the film talking to various Emanuelle family members and acquaintances in a gross abuse of doctor/patient confidentiality, though these scenes with Emanuelle's father (Don Powell) and her estranged basketball pro husband (Percy Hogan) do give Albertini a chance to show off some vintage mid '70s NYC location shooting, complete with the usual shots of the Esquire and the Lyric (showing stuff like ROLLERBALL and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST), along with ubiquitous passersby who can't avoid gawking at the Italian crew presumably filming without permits. Lots of nudity, but little onscreen sex or eroticism, this focuses more on Emanuelle's treatment, which, excuse me, but who cares? Filled with the usual English dubbers, nonsensical character behavior (what's with the turn in Hogan's character by the end of the film?), a musclebound oaf who gets himself a three-way by dangling an anchor from his erect penis, and some hilariously mismatched stock footage during one of Hogan's basketball games, BLACK EMMANUELLE NO. 2 is really rough going, making 92 minutes feel like four hours.

As expected, Severin's R1 DVD looks great, and there's an informative but sometimes repetitive interview with Eurocult legend Lassander.

It doesn't bode well when the best part of a Euro T&A flick is the NYC location footage, does it?

Django Against Sartana (1970)

Even by spaghetti western standards, this film has a cast of virtual unknowns, headed up by Tony Kendall and George Ardisson as the title characters, who as usual appear to be doing their best to stand in for more famous spaghetti actors. Aside from one or two notable stylistic flourishes and an uncomfortable scene involving a racist villain humiliating a black man, there's not really much in this film that isn't offered by other spaghetti westerns.

All the same, there are some really great dramatic moments, most of which carry the weight they do largely due to a terrific score by Piero Umiliani.

THE OPPONENT (1987)

A watchable but bland and very predictable Italian boxing drama from the great Sergio Martino, who pulls out every boxing cliche in the book. Shot in Miami, like many Italian films of the time, the film concerns Bobby (HANDS OF STEEL's Daniel Greene), an aspiring boxer who runs afoul of mobster/boxing promoter Duranti (Giuliano Gemma) after sleeping with the big boss' kept woman Gilda (Mary Stavin), a constantly hammered, would-be chanteuse with really big 1987 hair. Bobby makes a name for himself in the boxing world, and when a shot at world champ (or, at least champ of Miami) comes up, he refuses to take a dive, prompting Duranti to kidnap Bobby's squeaky-clean girlfriend Anne (Keely Shaye Smith, future ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT reporter and future Mrs. Pierce Brosnan) and threaten to kill her unless Bobby plays ball. But Bobby, along with Anne's ex-boxer father (Ernest Borgnine) decide to go the distance because the eye of the tiger....well, you know the rest. And of course, there's a final showdown outside an abandoned warehouse.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this Martino film is that it was shot with direct sound, so no one is dubbed, not even Gemma. He's hard to understand at times, but it works better than an unconvincing, distracting English dub job. The Swedish Stavin suffers more than Gemma, as her accent varies wildly from scene to scene. Future Farrelly Brothers mainstay Greene fared much better as cyborg Paco Querak in Martino's HANDS OF STEEL a couple of years earlier, as acting isn't really his strong suit. Borgnine doesn't get a whole lot to do until the end, when he practically emerges as the hero. Until then, he basically scowls a lot about his daughter's involvement with Bobby, and gets into an amusing grocery-store throwdown with his daughter's paramour before seeing that Bobby is a stand-up guy. That is, aside from that whole "banging the crime lord's girlfriend" thing.

All in all, THE OPPONENT is a harmless time-killer, not even close to essential Sergio Martino. It's not even essential Daniel Greene. The film seems very choppy, with abrupt edits, especially the opening sequence, which is either Martino trying to do a stylish time-shifting set-up or just editorial incompetence on the part of someone. Whether the choppiness was intentional or done by US VHS distributor Vidmark is anybody's guess. Martino's always been a solid filmmaker, but there's a lot of rough, amateurish transitions here, almost like it's been cut down (the box lists a 102-minute running time, but it's actually about ten minutes shorter); a couple of sex scenes appear to be excised (though there is some very brief Keely Shaye Smith nudity), but the R-rated film is loaded with copious amounts of profanity. If you take out the F-bombs and some splatter near the end, this could almost be a TV movie.