Part of the reason for my relative lack of updates over the past week or so is that I was preparing for and then away at a two-day symposium on The Global Gothic, at which I did a presentation on The Italian Gothic, 1956-66, as Transcultural Gothic.
It was basically about I Vampiri as the first modern Gothic horror film, its failure relative to The Curse of Frankenstein; the subsequent emergence of Italian Gothic in the films of Bava, Freda, Margheriti and company where they passed their work off as that of English or Americans, and the distinctively Italian characteristics that could nevertheless be discerned in terms of the aesthetics and thematics.
I've uploaded the Powerpoint I used here for anyone interested:
http://rapidshare.com/files/171254256/The_Italian_Gothic_1956-66_as_Transnational_Gothic.pptIt may help to supplement it with the clips of Dracula arriving at Lucy's bedroom window in Fisher's Dracula and Kurt Menliffe's appearance before Nevenka at night in The Whip and the Body, along with the sequence in Kill Baby Kill where Dr Eswai ends up chasing and catching up with his double...
The panel I was on also had a very good presentation on Coffin Joe :-)
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Profondo Rosso / Deep Red - Another World Entertainment DVD
The obvious question many giallo and / or Argento fans are likely to ask when confronted with this new DVD release of Deep Red from Another World Entertainment is whether it is really necessary: aren't there already perfectly adequate releases out there?
Well, besides that choice is a good thing in itself, there are a number of reasons for getting this disc.
The first, for those in Europe and elsewhere whose players support the format is that the film is presented in PAL rather than NTSC format and, as such, represents both a subjective and objective improvement on the likes of the old Anchor Bay release, fine though it was in its day, in visual quality.
The second, for those in the Scandinavian countries, is that the release allows the opportunity to watch the film in the original Italian with subtitles in their language and, beyond this, to generally support the indigenous DVD industry.
The third, for the fan who wants the most authentic version of the film, is that this Deep Red corrects a couple of issue in the presentation of some previous releases.
While perhaps not as significant as the correction in Another World's release of Fulci's The New York Ripper – where a scene previously included as a coda on the Anchor Bay disc was correctly re-inserted into the main body of the narrative with the effect of making a character into more of a suspect / red herring as the filmmakers had intended – in being confined to the start and end of Deep Red, they are nevertheless very welcome.
The first, more minor correction, is the use of the original typeface for the opening credits. It is thinner than the one used by Anchor Bay, which now seems like a retrospective post-Suspiria creation. As such, it establishes Deep Red as less a predecessor to Suspiria than a successor to the Animal Trilogy or a film very much in its own right. A minor semiotic point, some may say, but a stimulating one that could be taken further nonetheless.
The second, which will likely provoke more discussion in fan circles, is that the closing credits no longer entail a false freeze-framing of the image and instead see a character continuing the gaze actively into a pool of blood. If some critics may say “so what” here, I can only reply that for fans, long used to suffering through cut and otherwise compromised versions during the days of video and even into the DVD era, this is somewhat equivalent to having a version of Truffaut's The 400 Blows which for some reason did not end on the famous freeze frame of Antoine Donael replaced by one which does, to preserve its author's intentions, however unfashionable these may be as a mode of analysis that may be in certain circles.
If I haven't yet had time to get onto the extras yet, it should already be clear that even if you have Deep Red already, you really need this new DVD as well...
Well, besides that choice is a good thing in itself, there are a number of reasons for getting this disc.
The first, for those in Europe and elsewhere whose players support the format is that the film is presented in PAL rather than NTSC format and, as such, represents both a subjective and objective improvement on the likes of the old Anchor Bay release, fine though it was in its day, in visual quality.
The second, for those in the Scandinavian countries, is that the release allows the opportunity to watch the film in the original Italian with subtitles in their language and, beyond this, to generally support the indigenous DVD industry.
The third, for the fan who wants the most authentic version of the film, is that this Deep Red corrects a couple of issue in the presentation of some previous releases.
While perhaps not as significant as the correction in Another World's release of Fulci's The New York Ripper – where a scene previously included as a coda on the Anchor Bay disc was correctly re-inserted into the main body of the narrative with the effect of making a character into more of a suspect / red herring as the filmmakers had intended – in being confined to the start and end of Deep Red, they are nevertheless very welcome.
The first, more minor correction, is the use of the original typeface for the opening credits. It is thinner than the one used by Anchor Bay, which now seems like a retrospective post-Suspiria creation. As such, it establishes Deep Red as less a predecessor to Suspiria than a successor to the Animal Trilogy or a film very much in its own right. A minor semiotic point, some may say, but a stimulating one that could be taken further nonetheless.
The second, which will likely provoke more discussion in fan circles, is that the closing credits no longer entail a false freeze-framing of the image and instead see a character continuing the gaze actively into a pool of blood. If some critics may say “so what” here, I can only reply that for fans, long used to suffering through cut and otherwise compromised versions during the days of video and even into the DVD era, this is somewhat equivalent to having a version of Truffaut's The 400 Blows which for some reason did not end on the famous freeze frame of Antoine Donael replaced by one which does, to preserve its author's intentions, however unfashionable these may be as a mode of analysis that may be in certain circles.
If I haven't yet had time to get onto the extras yet, it should already be clear that even if you have Deep Red already, you really need this new DVD as well...
Friday, 5 December 2008
Some nice Edwige Fenech pictures
Thanks for all the kind words about the blog and apologies for the paucity of updates this week. By way of compensation, here are some nice pictures of Edwige Fenech, looking glamorous as always...
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Giallo Fever is two years old
Just noticed that I started this blog two years ago. As long as you keep reading it, I'll keep writing it...
Immagini di un convento / Images in a Convent
With the titles proclaiming Images in a Convent to be an adaptation of Denis Diderot's La Religeuse, Joe D'Amato/Aristide Massaccesi's 1979 naughty nun entry initially suggests that it may be offering something a touch classier than his usual fare; the novel having previously been adapted most notably by Jacques Rivette in 1965.
The Diderot reference, however, soon proves little more than pretext or justification for that familiar D'Amato melange of sex, sleaze and sadism, though proceedings remain comparatively tame, tasteful and softcore until a gratuitous hardcore porno-rape sequence relatively late on.
The action centres round a convent built upon pagan ruins, whose legacy remains in the form of a horned statue that some believe to exert a malefic influence, and the impact of two new arrivals upon its inhabitants.
The first of these, Isabella, played by D'Amato regular Paola Senatore, is a rebellious young noblewoman whose wealthy and influential uncle wants her safely out of the way for less than spiritually pure reasons.
The second is a mysterious young man, found wounded in the grounds one day, who may or may not be the devil himself.
Under the influence of this unholy trinity events quickly get out of hand until it is time to call in the exorcist, as incarnated by Eurotrash stalwart Donal(d) O'Brien.
While not quite reaching the high standards set by Walerian Borowczyk's Behind Convent Walls or Gilberto Martínez Solares's Satánico pandemonium, Images in a Convent emerges as a superior example of nunsploitation, benefitting in particular from an effective score by frequent D'Amato collaborator Nico Fidenco that merges quasi-religious chanting with eerie synthesiser drones, attractive cinematography by Massaccesi anduninhibited performances by a cast who just about manage to be convincing as nuns with their abundant pubic bushes and natural breasts.
Released by Shriek Show on R1 NTSC DVD a few years back, Images in a Convent looks and sounds pretty decent overall, although the company's quality control problems continued to haunt them somewhat in the form of a straight 1.85:1 presentation instead of the 16x9 indicated on the case.
Likewise, while the notion of an authentic version of a D'Amato film may be somewhat oxymoronic given his penchant for inserting or excising material in accord with audience and other requirements, it can be noted that a short sequence around quarter of an hour in, where the horned statue takes possession of Sister Lacinia before she visits and makes love to Isabelle appears to be missing, according to Midnight Video ( http://www.midnight1.com/dvd.asp.)
These minor flaws are almost compensated for by the presence of an edited version of Roger Fratter's 1999 documentary Joe D'Amato: Totally Uncut on the second disc of the set. Running just over an hour, it charts the progression of D'Amato's career from his early days as a stills photographer (his first credit was on Jean Renoir's Le Carrosse d'or) to camera operator (including work on Mario Bava's Hercules in the Haunted World) and in-demand cinematographer to director and producer, with the genial, forthright and self-deprecating D'Amato's direct-to-camera observations on his business - focus on the audience and the box office, not the critics his essential mantra - illustrated by numerous excerpts from his extensive filmography.
With the rough look of the documentary excusable on budgetary grounds my only criticism - speaking here as a Eurotrash more than a porn aficionado - is that it gives more attention to the latter and less to the former.
Completists will thus also want the other part of the documentary to give a fuller picture; thankfully it is included on the Anthropophagous DVD.
The Diderot reference, however, soon proves little more than pretext or justification for that familiar D'Amato melange of sex, sleaze and sadism, though proceedings remain comparatively tame, tasteful and softcore until a gratuitous hardcore porno-rape sequence relatively late on.
The action centres round a convent built upon pagan ruins, whose legacy remains in the form of a horned statue that some believe to exert a malefic influence, and the impact of two new arrivals upon its inhabitants.
The first of these, Isabella, played by D'Amato regular Paola Senatore, is a rebellious young noblewoman whose wealthy and influential uncle wants her safely out of the way for less than spiritually pure reasons.
The second is a mysterious young man, found wounded in the grounds one day, who may or may not be the devil himself.
Under the influence of this unholy trinity events quickly get out of hand until it is time to call in the exorcist, as incarnated by Eurotrash stalwart Donal(d) O'Brien.
While not quite reaching the high standards set by Walerian Borowczyk's Behind Convent Walls or Gilberto Martínez Solares's Satánico pandemonium, Images in a Convent emerges as a superior example of nunsploitation, benefitting in particular from an effective score by frequent D'Amato collaborator Nico Fidenco that merges quasi-religious chanting with eerie synthesiser drones, attractive cinematography by Massaccesi anduninhibited performances by a cast who just about manage to be convincing as nuns with their abundant pubic bushes and natural breasts.
Released by Shriek Show on R1 NTSC DVD a few years back, Images in a Convent looks and sounds pretty decent overall, although the company's quality control problems continued to haunt them somewhat in the form of a straight 1.85:1 presentation instead of the 16x9 indicated on the case.
Likewise, while the notion of an authentic version of a D'Amato film may be somewhat oxymoronic given his penchant for inserting or excising material in accord with audience and other requirements, it can be noted that a short sequence around quarter of an hour in, where the horned statue takes possession of Sister Lacinia before she visits and makes love to Isabelle appears to be missing, according to Midnight Video ( http://www.midnight1.com/dvd.asp.)
These minor flaws are almost compensated for by the presence of an edited version of Roger Fratter's 1999 documentary Joe D'Amato: Totally Uncut on the second disc of the set. Running just over an hour, it charts the progression of D'Amato's career from his early days as a stills photographer (his first credit was on Jean Renoir's Le Carrosse d'or) to camera operator (including work on Mario Bava's Hercules in the Haunted World) and in-demand cinematographer to director and producer, with the genial, forthright and self-deprecating D'Amato's direct-to-camera observations on his business - focus on the audience and the box office, not the critics his essential mantra - illustrated by numerous excerpts from his extensive filmography.
With the rough look of the documentary excusable on budgetary grounds my only criticism - speaking here as a Eurotrash more than a porn aficionado - is that it gives more attention to the latter and less to the former.
Completists will thus also want the other part of the documentary to give a fuller picture; thankfully it is included on the Anthropophagous DVD.
L' Isola dei morti viventi / Island of the Living Dead
Whatever you may think of his oeuvre, there can be no questioning of the Bruno Mattei / Vincent Dawn's commitment to low-budget popular filmmaking.
How many other directors in their 70s would have been willing to go to the Philippines for work and adapt to using digital video? Jess Franco certainly meets the second condition, but hasn't ventured outside more familiar territories of late as far as I'm aware.
The shit is burning show
Vincent Dawn of the Dead
But far from being a case of too little, too late from someone who many may feel should never have made the transition from editor to director in the first place, Island of the Living Dead is a pleasing return to the give them what they want school of gore. It also manages, by way of filone expert Antonio Tentori's script, to throw in some allusions to the likes of Zombie, Erotic Nights of the Living Dead and the Blind Dead films whilst apparently taking on board more modern influences in the unlikely seeming form of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise given the name of the production company, La Perla nera - i.e. the black pearl.
We begin with a prologue set during the colonial era, in which a group of Zombie-referencing Conquistadores are overwhelmed by voodoo-using native, slave and pirate forces.
1600 / 1980 / 2006
Following this we cut to the present day as a mixed group of treasure hunters, led by one Captain Kirk, find their vessel developing engine trouble. As (mis)fortune would have it, an uncharted island is nearby, allowing them to limp into shallow waters and apparent safety.
Whilst the engineer - thankfully not named Scott, but Max - stays on board to carry out repairs, Kirk and the other five crew disembark and, splitting up into two groups, go to explore the island. Needless to say they soon encounter the zombies along with their mysterious supernatural masters...
If the use of digital technology benefits Island of the Living Dead in terms of scale, the computer game-ish quality it imparts to some of the effects perhaps doesn't sit too well with the physical abjection so important to the zombie idea, with the more traditional exploding heads and ripped entrails working better in this regard.
An old school make a mask and blast it with a shotgun type exploding head effect
Otherwise the main departures from the old school likes of Hell of the Living Dead are the absence of Ed Wood-esque use of stock footage (thank $deity) and a more progressive seeming mixture of characters. The females not being reduced to tits and a scream figures, instead kicking as much ass as the males, while the ethnically diverse nature of the crew - like related to the film's production and future markets - helps preclude the reduction of the non-whites to comic relief and / or outright racist ignominies.
Indeed, if there's anyone one feels particularly sorry for here it's the actors who formed part of Mattei's stock company in the last years of his life and career. In particular Ydalia Suarez and Yvette Yzon are the kind of 'exotic' beauties who could well have enjoyed Laura Gemser type careers had they just been around 30 years earlier, Yzon also tellingly appearing in Mattei's late WIP film, Anima Persa.
[Twitch Film discussion of Mattei's late films: http://twitchfilm.net/archives/008021.html]
How many other directors in their 70s would have been willing to go to the Philippines for work and adapt to using digital video? Jess Franco certainly meets the second condition, but hasn't ventured outside more familiar territories of late as far as I'm aware.
The shit is burning show
Vincent Dawn of the Dead
But far from being a case of too little, too late from someone who many may feel should never have made the transition from editor to director in the first place, Island of the Living Dead is a pleasing return to the give them what they want school of gore. It also manages, by way of filone expert Antonio Tentori's script, to throw in some allusions to the likes of Zombie, Erotic Nights of the Living Dead and the Blind Dead films whilst apparently taking on board more modern influences in the unlikely seeming form of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise given the name of the production company, La Perla nera - i.e. the black pearl.
We begin with a prologue set during the colonial era, in which a group of Zombie-referencing Conquistadores are overwhelmed by voodoo-using native, slave and pirate forces.
1600 / 1980 / 2006
Following this we cut to the present day as a mixed group of treasure hunters, led by one Captain Kirk, find their vessel developing engine trouble. As (mis)fortune would have it, an uncharted island is nearby, allowing them to limp into shallow waters and apparent safety.
Whilst the engineer - thankfully not named Scott, but Max - stays on board to carry out repairs, Kirk and the other five crew disembark and, splitting up into two groups, go to explore the island. Needless to say they soon encounter the zombies along with their mysterious supernatural masters...
If the use of digital technology benefits Island of the Living Dead in terms of scale, the computer game-ish quality it imparts to some of the effects perhaps doesn't sit too well with the physical abjection so important to the zombie idea, with the more traditional exploding heads and ripped entrails working better in this regard.
An old school make a mask and blast it with a shotgun type exploding head effect
Otherwise the main departures from the old school likes of Hell of the Living Dead are the absence of Ed Wood-esque use of stock footage (thank $deity) and a more progressive seeming mixture of characters. The females not being reduced to tits and a scream figures, instead kicking as much ass as the males, while the ethnically diverse nature of the crew - like related to the film's production and future markets - helps preclude the reduction of the non-whites to comic relief and / or outright racist ignominies.
Indeed, if there's anyone one feels particularly sorry for here it's the actors who formed part of Mattei's stock company in the last years of his life and career. In particular Ydalia Suarez and Yvette Yzon are the kind of 'exotic' beauties who could well have enjoyed Laura Gemser type careers had they just been around 30 years earlier, Yzon also tellingly appearing in Mattei's late WIP film, Anima Persa.
[Twitch Film discussion of Mattei's late films: http://twitchfilm.net/archives/008021.html]
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Dottor Jekyll e gentile signora / Doctor Jekyll Likes them Hot
Like the other couple of Steno films I've seen, the not dissimilar horror themed comedy Uncle was a Vampire and the anti-Magnum Force styled poliziotto La Polizia ringrazia, Dr Jekyll Likes them Hot incorporates a higher quotient of direct social commentary than is usual for filone cinema.
Indeed, incorporates is precisely the word here, with our Dr Jekyll (Paolo Villaggio) being the top troubleshooter for multinational oil and chemical corporation Pantac, with his and its every action - legal, illegal or borderline - motivated by the search for profit.
Though there is a lot of low humour here, as with the various nameplates listing the chairmen's qualifications including the extent to which they are figli di puttana in a sight gag borrowed from Villaggio's Fantozzi series, the board's subsequent discussions of of instigating regime changes in (fictitious) African countries and what to do with some otherwise unusable chemicals already known to have harmful side effects, have a more serious edge to them.
Some of the signs
One of the side effects of the chemical
Jekyll's ambitious new secretary Barbara Wimply (Edwige Fenech), who hangs on his every word, provides the answer to the latter: why not make the chemicals into chewing gum?
If the gum immediately corrodes the consumer's teeth, so much the better since Pantac can then sell them dentures.
The conspirators hit upon the idea of compelling no less than the queen to endorse the gum and accordingly summon and dispatch corporate mercenary Pretorius (Gordon Mitchell) and his team of hand-picked cut-throats to carry out the mission.
It is at this point that Dr Jekyll's grandfather throws a spanner in the works, by encouraging his evil nephew to take some of the old family recipe, the effect of which is to bring out the hitherto repressed nice side of his personality.
It's that man again...
This inverted Mr Hyde, complete with angelic countenance, then proceeds to scupper his alter-ego's plan, leading the other members of the board to want him dead. He also attracts the amorous attentions of Barbara...
Fenech doesn't really have a great deal to do in the first half of the film, which is very much dominated by the antics of Jekyll and Hyde, other than showcase her beauty in a number of outfits, some somewhat dated - her late 70s secretary with big glasses - and others more appealing - the maid outfit with which she infiltrates Buckingham Palace.
Though she is more prominent in the second half, she still keeps her clothes on most of the time, only briefly exposing her breasts before being saddled with a unflattering curly blonde wig and ditzy dubbing voice after her own inevitable transformation...
Really, however, it is clearly Villaggio's show. Not being familiar with his work and persona, I must reserve judgement on how well or badly Dr Jekyll Likes them Hot represents him compared to others, but certainly found his antics to pass the basic comedy test of being funny.
The film is relatively functionally shot, though this is perhaps better attributed to the general tendency of the comedy film, where the director is often better keeping things simple in order to showcase the performers, than any lack of imagination or ability on Steno's part. We may also note the relatively extensive use of location shooting rather than just stock footage combined with Cinecitta or Incir de Paolis studio sets, indicative that the veteran director was working with a decent rather than poverty-row budget.
Armando Trovajoli provides yet another quirky and endearing score.
Indeed, incorporates is precisely the word here, with our Dr Jekyll (Paolo Villaggio) being the top troubleshooter for multinational oil and chemical corporation Pantac, with his and its every action - legal, illegal or borderline - motivated by the search for profit.
Though there is a lot of low humour here, as with the various nameplates listing the chairmen's qualifications including the extent to which they are figli di puttana in a sight gag borrowed from Villaggio's Fantozzi series, the board's subsequent discussions of of instigating regime changes in (fictitious) African countries and what to do with some otherwise unusable chemicals already known to have harmful side effects, have a more serious edge to them.
Some of the signs
One of the side effects of the chemical
Jekyll's ambitious new secretary Barbara Wimply (Edwige Fenech), who hangs on his every word, provides the answer to the latter: why not make the chemicals into chewing gum?
If the gum immediately corrodes the consumer's teeth, so much the better since Pantac can then sell them dentures.
The conspirators hit upon the idea of compelling no less than the queen to endorse the gum and accordingly summon and dispatch corporate mercenary Pretorius (Gordon Mitchell) and his team of hand-picked cut-throats to carry out the mission.
It is at this point that Dr Jekyll's grandfather throws a spanner in the works, by encouraging his evil nephew to take some of the old family recipe, the effect of which is to bring out the hitherto repressed nice side of his personality.
It's that man again...
This inverted Mr Hyde, complete with angelic countenance, then proceeds to scupper his alter-ego's plan, leading the other members of the board to want him dead. He also attracts the amorous attentions of Barbara...
Fenech doesn't really have a great deal to do in the first half of the film, which is very much dominated by the antics of Jekyll and Hyde, other than showcase her beauty in a number of outfits, some somewhat dated - her late 70s secretary with big glasses - and others more appealing - the maid outfit with which she infiltrates Buckingham Palace.
Though she is more prominent in the second half, she still keeps her clothes on most of the time, only briefly exposing her breasts before being saddled with a unflattering curly blonde wig and ditzy dubbing voice after her own inevitable transformation...
Really, however, it is clearly Villaggio's show. Not being familiar with his work and persona, I must reserve judgement on how well or badly Dr Jekyll Likes them Hot represents him compared to others, but certainly found his antics to pass the basic comedy test of being funny.
The film is relatively functionally shot, though this is perhaps better attributed to the general tendency of the comedy film, where the director is often better keeping things simple in order to showcase the performers, than any lack of imagination or ability on Steno's part. We may also note the relatively extensive use of location shooting rather than just stock footage combined with Cinecitta or Incir de Paolis studio sets, indicative that the veteran director was working with a decent rather than poverty-row budget.
Armando Trovajoli provides yet another quirky and endearing score.
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