#Italian sci-fi

[70sscifiart]

Italian poster art for The Bermuda Triangle, 1978

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Starcrash (1978)

[kosmos2999]

Saturday’s Late Night Sci-Fi Cinema (Special Double Feature)

Cosmos: War of the Planets (1977 film)

Italian theatrical (left) and one of the many international release (right) posters

Main cast:

John Richardson as Captain Fred Hamilton Yanti Somer as Meela Massimo Bonetti as Vassilov Aldo Canti as Etor Craig Kelly (as Romeo Constantini) as Commander Armstrong

Production staff:

Directed by: Alfonso Brescia (as Al Bradley) Story by and screenplay by: Alfonso Brescia (as Al Bradley), Aldo Crudo (as Al Crydo), Maxim Lo Jacono (uncredited) and Jacob Macci (uncredited) Cinematography by: Silvio Fraschetti (as S. Fraschetti) Special effects by: Aldo Frollini (as Aldi Frollini) Edited by: Larry Marinelli (as Lawrence Marinelli) and Carlo Reali (as Charles Really) Music by: Marcello Giombini (as Marcel Giombrini) Produced by: Luigi Alessi (as Louis Aless) (executive producer) and Doro Vlado Hreljanovic (executive producer) Production company: Nais Film Distributed by: Picturemedia Limited Original release date: September 23, 1977 (Italy) YouTube channel: Filmix

In a distant time, where most of mankind is putting their unconditional trust in technology, Captain Fred Hamilton has a different attitude.

He is now at Orion Space Complex before its commander facing a charge of insubordination for slapping one of his superiors.

The reason: he refuses to take orders from the WIZ Computer System.

The Commander Armstrong decided not to punish him by now because he thinks Hamilton's mindset will be useful at missions in outer space. And orders the Captain and his crew from the Starship MK-31 to repair a 100 year-old satellite.

After the success of the repair mission, Captain Hamilton receives another order: To track the origin of a signal that interferes with all radio and video communications of planet Earth.

The MK-31 arrives to an alien planet to be received by two flying saucers ready to the attack.

The crew took down one of them and received a direct hit from the other. They had to make a landing on the planet.

In there, they found a race of humanoids who are under the slavery of a giant robot.

It seems the Captain and his crew are the last resort for both Earth and that alien world.

Cosmos: War of the Planets is an Italian space opera film from 1977. Its original title is Anno Zero: Guerra Nello Spazio (Year Zero: War In Space in English). Directed by Alfonso Brescia under the pseudonym of Al Bradley.

Fascinating fact:

A Star Wars rip off that gets its release a few months after the release of Episode IV: A New Hope.

War of the Robots (1978 film)

Italian theatrical release poster (left) and a cover art for one of the many international VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray releases (right)

Main cast:

Antonio Sabato, Sr. as Captain John Boyd Yanti Somer as Julie Malisa Longo (as Melisa Long) as Louis Aldo Canti (as Nick Jordan) as Kuba The Alien Jacques Herlin (as Jacques Herlein) as Professor Carr Ines Pellegrini (as Mickey Pilgrim) Ian Pulley as The Autoritarian Leader Roger Brown (uncredited) as Commander King Licinia Lentini (as Lilian Lacey) as Commander King's Assistant

Production staff:

Directed by: Alfonso Brescia (as Al Bradly) Story by and screenplay by: Alfonso Brescia (as Al Bradly) and Aldo Crudo (as Alan Rawton) Cinematography by: Silvio Fraschetti (as Cyril Franks) Special effects by: Aldo Frollini (as Allan Forsyth) Edited by: Mariano Arditi (as Mark Arnold) Music by: Marcello Giombini (as Marcus Griffin) Produced by: Luigi Alessi Production companies: Nais Film and Koala Cinematografica Distributed by: Picturemedia Limited Original release date: April 21, 1978 (Italy) YouTube channel: Timeless Classic Films

The Professor Carr developed a machine that could give to the ones who own it such a great power to create life but it could also can lead to disastrous results.

At that time, an UFO has infiltrated the planet Earth's security system bringing in a gang of alien robots that kidnapped the Professor and his assitant, Louis.

In the Space Station Sirius, Commander King gave orders to Captain John Boyd and his crew of the Spaceship Trissi to pursue the UFO and rescue the couple of scientists.

There is also an urgent need to rescue the Professor. He is the only one capable of turning off a nuclear reactor. If it is not done, the Station and a nearby city would be destroyed in an explotion.

In the pursuit, they have to face more UFOs. After a intense battle with the saucers, they land on the planet Antor.

There, the crew of the Triss meet a dying world and their inhabitants. They established a friendship with Kuba, the leader of a tribe of slaves who agree to go with them to fight against their tyrannical masters.

Captain Boyd and his crew are about to be witnesses of the true nature of the Professor and his assitant in order to save the future.

War of the Robots, is an Italian space opera film from 1978. Its title is a translation of the original title La Guerra Dei Robot. Directed by Alfonso Brescia under the pseudonym of Al Bradly.

Fascinating facts:

It is not a sequel of Cosmos: War of the Planets. It was produced with much of the production crew, actors and props from the aforementioned movie, but its storyline is different.

The name of Trissi it's also the name of Trissi Sports. The same company in charge of the design and making of the spacesuits.

[astolfocinema]

Planet of the Vampires (1965) --------------------------------- dir. Mario Bava cin. Antonio Pérez Olea, Antonio Rinaldi cs. Italy, Spain

[666frames]

Autopsy / The Victim (1975)

[kekwcomics]

WAR GODDESS (Terrence Young, 1973)

A Spaghetti-Fantasy movie: a Spanish-Italian-French co-production.

[mirobraz]

Agostino Arrivabene. Prefica Mutante | 2014.

[sloshed-cinema]

Phenomena (1985)

Dario Argento often doesn’t know how to conclude a narrative, but he sure as shit knows how to end a movie. The last ten-odd minutes of this sci-fi giallo are top to bottom bugnuts wild, a fresh twist coming out of left field every 90 seconds. Oh no! There’s a crazy guy! Wait, it’s the lady who is crazy! Holy shit that pool of maggots and corpses makes the one at the end of Poltergeist seem like a pleasant resort water feature! Oh, it’s a little kid! WAIT, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR FFFAAAACE!?! Oh, she’s gonna escape! Psych, the boat’s gonna blow up! Swim away to safety! Oh, I guess Swiss lakes are totally flammable! Here’s a guy to save he—oops no head! Jennifer is screwed! Chimpanzee ex machina! Oh I guess now it’s over. None of it makes sense, but it all kind of delivers on what was set up during the course of the film, and we get plenty of lady cackling to accompany it. Pure camp from a director who knows how to make gore look wild with the best of them.

For all of the trauma inflicted on her especially in the conclusion, Jennifer Corvino certainly recovers quickly. She is a stoically curious presence here, wandering in a dreamlike state (awake or asleep) through the halls and over the roofs of the Richard Wagner Academy. She is inquisitive like Susie Bannion in Suspiria but lacks her fairy tale quality, and is vulnerable like Betty in Opera, but without the catatonic terror. This boarding school is almost as mean as the Freiburg Tanz Akademie, with cruel and manipulative tyrants teaching the unruly girls. Less eclectic in its set design, it is also more modern rather than timeless, the girls obsessed with The Bee Gees and Richard Gere. In a way, Jennifer Connelly is a porcelain doll for Argento’s film to manipulate, responding to scenes and situations as if just awakening from a slumber, still a bit hazy. Lacking the full agency of a Susie type, it’s a good thing there’s a chimpanzee armed with Chekhov's straight razor to come to her aid. Armed primates: now there’s a truly terrifying thought.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says 'insect'.

A nationality/country is named.

Jennifer falls down.

The killer assembles their weapon.

BIG DRINK

The killer claims a victim.

Voiceover narration of some variety begins.

Someone's head goes through a glass pane.

[e-adlirez]

Help.

Is there an order you're supposed to read the Geronimo Stilton books in???? If so which one's the first???

Well, yes there is an order to the books, but you can read them in any order you want! If you wanna read them in chronological order tho then uuuuhhhhhhh depends on the language you read them in because publishing orders differ depending on the language.

Since you said you’re gonna read them in Italian, uhhhhhhhhhhh I’m not entirely sure because I don’t read the books in Italian (unfortunately) and the Geronimo Stilton official website doesn’t have their Library of Alexandria of a catalogue of the Italian main books for some reason (if I’m reading stuff correctly) :/

Soooo ye just grab whatever’s at the thrift store and read away HAHAHAHAH the rest of the fandom I believe can give you book recs if they feel so inclined

Welcome to the Stilton fandom, my friend, hope you enjoy the madness brainrot :3

[l-ultimo-squalo]

Rats: Night of Terror (1984)

[70sscifiart]

This 1980 cover art Grande Enciclopedia della Fantascienza has a classic example of the space helmet reflection. I wasn’t able to find the artist credit, though.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Starcrash (1978)

[kosmos2999]

Saturday’s Late Night Sci-Fi Cinema

Assignment Outer Space (1960 film)

Italian (left) and American release posters

Main cast:

Rik Van Nutter as Ray Peterson (IZ 41) Gabriella "Gaby" Farinon as Lucy (Y 13) David Montesor as George the Commander Archie Savage Al (X 15) Alain Dijon as Archie (Y 16) Franco Fantasia as Sullivan

Production staff:

Directed by: Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony Daisies - Italian version) (as Anthony Dawson - American version) Screenplay by: Antonio Margheriti (uncredited), Ennio De Concini (as Vassilij Petrov), Jack Wallace (American narration only) Cinematography by: Marcello Masciocchi Special effects by: Caesar Peace Music by: Lelio Luttazzi and Carlo Savina (uncredited) Produced by: Samuel Z. Arkoff (executive producer) Hugo Grimaldi (executive producer) Presented by: Fred Gebhardt Production companies: Titanus and Ultra Film (Italian version), American International Pictures (American version) Released by: Titanus (Italy), A Four Crown (US) Original release date: August 1960 (Italy), December 13, 1961(US) YouTube channel: Sci-fi-London

In December 17 of the year 2116, Ray Peterson, reporter of the Interplanetary Chronicle of New York was sent aboard the Spaceship Bravo Zulu 88 to the International Satellite Zulu Extra 34.

His mission is to write a story about the check-up of infra-radiation flux on Galaxy M12.

What should be a routine procedure suddenly changes. Before the spaceship crew were leaving to Base 12 on Mars, they tried to communicate with the Spaceship Alpha 2, but they get no answer.

They assume its pilot is dead.

During the passage to the red planet, they have to attend an emergency with Spaceship Metro Sierra 13.

After landing on the Martian moon, Phobos to rescue the only survivor of the Metro Sierra 13 -- who was dying -- the Commander received an order to move to the Interplanetary Base on planet Venus.

Their mission there was to intercept the Alpha 2. This ship is out of control and has two photonic deflectors activated creating an intense heat shield capable of destroying all life on planet Earth.

It's time to Peterson to prove his worthiness despite the Commander and some others of his fellow crewmates see him as "a leech".

Assignment Outer Space is a 1960 space opera film. An English dubbed release of the original Italian movie, Space-Men. Presented in its original color format.

Fascinating facts:

This is the debut of Antonio Margheriti as a director.

To simulate the effect of weightlessness due to the lack of gravity in space, actors were instructed to move in slow motion. Actor Archie Savage aced this technique because he was also a dancer.

In the US, it was released almost a year after its original Italian release in a double feature with an black-and-white American film presented on this blog on April the first, The Phantom Planet.

[brokehorrorfan]

Planet of the Vampires’ original motion picture soundtrack is available on vinyl for the first time via Death Waltz Recording Co. Priced at $35, the score is composed by Gino Marinuzzi Jr.

The album is pressed on "Aura Splatter" colored vinyl, limited to 2,000. It's housed in a gatefold jacket featuring artwork by Graham Humphreys. Shipping is expected to begin in June.

[kekwcomics]

ORROR #14 (Edifumetto, 1978)

Art: John M Burns

Crikey! I'm gonna have to ask John about this next time I speak to him!