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Post by jkdunham on Sept 3, 2008 19:45:30 GMT
Been bingeing in my spare time too - mostly old Euro-stuff;
The She Beast (AKA Il Lago di Satana, La Sorella di Satana, Revenge of the Blood Beast, etc.), 1966, Michael Reeves, UK/Italy
There's a story you've probably heard about Vincent Price challenging Michael Reeves on the set of Witchfinder General (I may be paraphrasing slightly); "Young man, I have made eighty-odd films in my career. How many have you made?"
And Reeves replies, "Two good ones."
It's a great line but bearing in mind that one of those was The She Beast, he may have been overstating his case just a little bit. That said, the film does show all kinds of promise and has some lovely moments. Ian Ogilvy's in it, obviously, as is Barbara Steele - well, for a bit anyway. Oh, and you've got to love that witch.
Lycanthropus (AKA Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory), 1961, Paolo Heusch, Italy/Austria
Well-handled werewolf mystery set in a remote reform school for wayward young ladies. Much less trashy than the US title suggests. Carl Schell (the lesser known of the acting Schells) plays the hero who may also be the monster and Polish-born Barbara Lass (Roman Polanski's missus before Sharon Tate) adds the necessary glamour.
Lady Frankenstein (AKA La Figlia di Frankenstein), 1971, Mel Welles, Italy
Enjoyable Spaghetti horror romp which is never really sure if it wants to be a Hammer film, an old Universal monster movie or an exploitation flick - consequently you get a castle dungeon laboratory well-stocked with bubbling pyrex and sparking coils, and the odd naked woman being interrupted in flagrante and thrown into the river. Joseph Cotten is the American 'guest star', turning in a dignified but rather weary performance as the misunderstood Baron then getting killed off fairly early on. Rosalba Neri is the titular, in every sense of the word, daughter of Frankenstein and makes a pretty good job of it I must say. Stalwart supporting cast includes euro-regulars Paul Muller, Herbert Fux and Mickey Hargitay. Music by Spaghetti western legend, Alessandro Alessandroni who added the bells and whistles (literally in most cases) to many of Morricone's classic scores. Director Welles also turns up in The She Beast.
Nightmare Castle (AKA The Faceless Monster, Gli Amanti d'oltretomba, etc.), 1965, Mario Caiano, Italy
Horrible disfigurement isn't a look that everyone can carry off but the ubiquitous Barbara Steele manages it here without batting an eyelid (or at least without batting the one that was burnt off). Paul Muller plays another deranged scientist who isn't about to let the odd unfaithful wife or meddling psychologist get in the way of his experiments to discover the secret of eternal youth (apparently you need a heart and some jump leads... I'm not sure, you'd have to ask him really...). A trifle stagey and melodramatic but some nice, surreal dream sequences lend it a certain something and the ending is great in a mad sort of way. Another solid euro-cast filled out by Rik Battaglia and the lovely Helga Line. Impeccable euro-credentials in fact with a score by Il Maestro Morricone and photography by 'fagioli western' mainman Enzo (E.B. Clucher) Barboni.
Black Sunday (AKA La Maschera del demonio), 1960, Mario Bava, Italy
Moody and gothic as all fuck - crypts, secret passages, creepy coaches, an Inn Keeper's daughter and two Barbara Steeles! Incestuous, vampiric witch wreaks terrible revenge on the descendents of those who wronged her and nailed a demon mask to her face (but not necessarily in that order). Sheer class.
Demons, 1985, Lamberto Bava, Italy
A chip off the old Bava block, ably assisted by Dario Argento, Lamberto does good here - even if Italian horror had changed a lot in the 25 years since Bava snr. made his debut. Crass, tasteless, badly dressed... Demons is the 1980s! It insults your intelligence, affronts your senses (Billy Idol, Go West and Motley Crue on the soundtrack) but still leaves you grinning inanely. This is Big Fun and some of the dialogue is priceless. The only real drawback being that most of the best characters (and there are some great ones, not least Tony the pimp) get killed off quite early on leaving the film to be overrun by annoying teens. Dario Argento's other daughter stars as one of the less annoying youngsters.
Werewolf Woman (AKA La Lupa mannara), 1976, Rino Di Silvestro, Italy
Nowhere near as much fun as a film also known as Naked Werewolf Woman should be. Annik Borel thinks she's the reincarnation of a naked werewolf woman so, first chance she gets (and at every available opportunity thereafter) she takes her clothes off, shags some bloke, then kills him. But is she really a lycanthrope, or is she just a slutty nutter?
Don't get me wrong, it's all here; the full-frontal nudity, a bit of cheap gore, the half-arsed 'plot', but overall it's a fairly joyless affair. As naked werewolf women films go, I've seen better.
La Terza Madre (AKA Mother of Tears), 2007, Dario Argento, Italy
Bringing things right up to date (nearly) Italo-horror wise, I'm still trying to digest Argento's The Third Mother (i.e. the long-awaited, by some of us, final instalment of his 'Three Mothers' film cycle begun way back in 1977 with Suspiria). There are those who hold that Argento 'lost it' some time ago - around the time Demons came out in fact - so can this be seen as a return to form? Well, it lacks the twisted fairytale quality and bold, colourful stylings of his earlier films but taken on its own terms (which is really all you can do with Argento I find) I rather enjoyed it. Sometimes reminiscent in its gorier moments of Lucio Fulci, it's nevertheless unmistakably Argento. Yes, the acting and the dialogue are often a bit ropey. Do I look bothered? No real surprises in the cast - Daria Nicolodi's in it, as is No. 1 daughter, Asia, and there are a few nice turns from the likes of Udo Kier, back from Suspiria.
Really need to watch this one again.
Ghost Ships of the Blind Dead (AKA El Buque maldito, Horror of the Zombies, etc.), 1974, Amando de Ossorio, Spain
A couple of models are marooned at sea as a publicity stunt. It's all good fun until they drift into a mysterious fog, encounter a ghostly galleon and are never seen again. A bunch of non-actors go looking for them.
The third, and by no means the best, of the 'Blind Dead' films, this only really comes alive with the appearance of the Blind Dead themselves. The skeletal Templars are just so creepy, I love 'em.
Music by Anton Garcia Abril, who also scored a few eurowesterns.
The Fury of the Wolfman (AKA The Wolfman Never Sleeps), 1972, Jose Maria Zabalza, Spain
Yet another of Paul Naschy's umpteen outings as Waldemar Daninsky. What it lacks in coherence, it more than makes up for in ludicrousness.
Returning from an expedition to Nepal or somewhere, Daninsky (we learn in delirious flashback) has been bitten by a Yeti and now bears the mark of the pentagram - although it actually looks more like a pentagon if I'm any judge of geometry. Either way, it's not long before he's on the turn and the rest, as they say, is hysterical.
The Witches Mountain, 1972, Raul Artigot, Spain
Spanish horror films, even the lesser ones, just seem to have something about them. This one makes little or no sense and often takes place in near total darkness but I enjoyed every minute.
A woman arrives home to find that a little girl has stabbed the cat, seemingly because it was bothering her pet snake. Next thing you know, the woman's got a can of petrol in her hands and everything goes up in flames. While you're still trying to work that out, the same woman appears again at the flat of her boyfriend (who she's clearly only seeing because of his moustache). He dumps her rather unceremoniously and goes off to investigate some mountain. He'll be sorry. Turns out he's some sort of investigative photographer and he soon teams up with some writer woman (who doesn't seem at all put out when she catches him taking pictures of her sunbathing topless - at least not once he's explained that it's alright because he's an artist) then they're off up the mountain for a stay in a less than accomodating hotel and a weird abandoned village. Much strangeness ensues, accompanied by some really fucked up music. It's great!
Director Raul Artigot was also cinematographer on Ghost Ships of the Blind Dead.
Stars Patty Shepard, Monica Randall, Luis Barboo and full supporting Spanish cast. One of the best performances though comes from Victor Israel as the hotel owner, only narrowly overshadowed by John Gaffari's moustache which effortlessly steals every scene it's in.
Other films I've watched recently, in no particular order, include; Countess Dracula, The Day of The Triffids, Dario Argento's prime-era giallo Profondo Rosso, and The Vault of Horror. This last was shown (uncut for the first time on British TV apparently) as part of Film Four's recent 'Frightfest' season, the rest of which I managed to miss completely.
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