#all giallo horror movies are italian but not all italian horror movies are giallo

[goryhorroor]

horror sub-genres: giallo

[ladamarossa]

Murder Obsession (1981)

[aloneandforsakenbyfateandbyman]

So I just finished watching most of the Giallo/horror films Carroll Baker made during her time in Italy from 1967- 1975, and I loved all of them! They all have their own lurid, stylish, and gruesome retro charm.

The first four posters are her film collabs with director Umberto Lenzi, the fifth pic is her on the set of So Sweet, So Perverse with Lenzi and Trintignant, and the last three films were directed by Romolo Guerrieri, Corrado Farina, and Luigi Scattini, who were some of the finest B-movie directors in Europe.

So how did a famous Old Hollywood actress like Carroll Baker ended up filming sleazy Giallos in Italy? As seen in Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, many American actors would bitch about having to go to Europe for work (aka DiCaprio’s character).

She was blacklisted by creepy producer, Joseph E. Levine, after he tried to control her career with an iron fist, cheat her out of money, and possibly tried to sleep with her for roles. After a divorce and the snub from Hollywood, Carroll made the right move by going to Europe, becoming fluent in Italian, and networking with local directors.

Carroll’s Italian films were panned in the USA, as stuffy Americans film critics saw her venture as a downgrade from working with the likes of Elia Kazan, George Stevens and John Ford. In reality, many Old Hollywood movies seem dated and sterile, whereas Euro cinema of the 60s/70s retains a fresh, artistic, innovative vibe even today and a dedicated cult following.

She said of that period of her career:

"I think I made more films [there] than I made in Hollywood, but the mentality is different. What they think is wonderful is not what we might ... it was marvelous for me because it really brought me back to life, and it gave me a whole new outlook. It's wonderful to know about a different world."

[watchmorecinema]

Why you should watch foreign films.

They're good. Bong Joon Ho (director of Parasite) says it best.

Movies are a great way to experience other perspectives and cultures. Foreign films are made differently from films you're used to. The style, the editing, the way plots unfold, it's all going to be different in interesting ways. Some examples:

Giallo films (Italian) might have nonsensical plots but they're more focused on emotion and spectacle. You're Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have The Key might be a mess of a story but it's a wild ride of the type you don't find in America.

Japan has a lot of movies about the horrors of nuclear war and proliferation. Godzilla, Akira and Grave of the Fireflies could not have been made in America. When America makes a movie about nukes we get Oppenheimer, a movie about the people who made the bomb and not the people that suffered under it.

Korea has some amazing thrillers like Oldboy and Memoirs of a Murderer. America remade Oldboy and it was not nearly as good.

These are all broad strokes of course, but the point is that other countries have a lot to offer and you're missing out on so much if you're scared off by subtitles. The way I figure is that 95% of the world's population doesn't live in America, so why assume 100% of good movies come from there?

[whoiwanttoday]

Guys, it is not quite the official start of Halloween yet (don't worry, I plan to keep you well informed as to when it is. It's coming up. Just weeks away) but we are in the prelude to Halloween officially this weekend. First, my friends and I have started organizing our planned Halloween season watch lists, it's an online event called Hooptober which is basically a movie scavenger hunt where we have to watch a bunch of movies to fit various criteria. We won't start watching until Halloween is upon us. Tonight though, Joe Bob Briggs is doing a 12 hour movie marathon that feels like a good prelude to the Halloween season. We are looking forward to it and seeing if old people can stay up all night (spoiler, we won't. We suck. We're old) and Rhonda Sheer will be there, which is a throw back to USA's Up All Night, a show that was on Fridays and Saturday from 11 PM to 5 AM when I was a kid. She was one of the hosts and we all thought she was kind of hot and kind of funny. So it's exciting she'll be on tonight.

All of that is some lead in to me posting Edwige Fenech who I promise you is related to all that. She was the queen of Giallo in the 70's. Giallo is an Italian genre that means yellow because old Italian pulp fiction used to be printed on yellow pages, so much like we called Pulp Fiction that because of the type of paper used, they called it Giallo because of the type of paper used. Giallo is a distinctly Italian genre in so many ways. It is half murder mystery and police procedural and half slasher movie. Some skew more horror than others but it's an important horror subgenre that gave us the slashers of the 80's. What makes it so Italian though is that the plot often makes no sense, they often don't seem to care about the plot at all. What they care about is all the people are extremely sexy and sophisticated in a way only Europeans can pull off in the 60's and 70's. America might have had the money but we'd never have that subtle class they all had. Which is wild for such trashy movies. They are always beautiful to look at, it's kind of the whole point. Pretty and vacant in many ways. This is why the genre drives me nuts, sometimes it forgets to even solve the mystery. This is why others love it, pure vibes and beauty. Fans of cinematography and set design tend to love Giallo. It also is famous for, as all Italian films are at the time since they were the kings of European film, having the most beautiful women you have ever seen. Like even in bit parts. All of this means that I have always thought my friend @kat-eleven might like some Giallo if given a chance. I have recommended Suspiria every year for a decade at Halloween. She always refuses because she said, "While I like the sound of those brutal killings, Italian 70's style backhanded sexism, and pretty colors, I just don't think there are any attractive women in all of Europe so I am not interested". That brings us to Edwige Fenech, who I watched one of her many Gialli the other night and was like, "I feel like Kat is wrong. I think she is actually very beautiful". So I sent Kat some posts on tumblr to prove it and you know what? This once that contradictory Canadian agreed I was right. As a matter of fact she said she might watch an Edwige Fenech movie. Which brings us full circle. For my big Hooptober list have thrown in a few Edwige Fenech movies that I haven't seen but are supposed to be among the best she is in, so I can tell @kat-eleven which is the best one. So this is all a prelude to Halloween season when I will be knee deep in Edwige Fenech because I am such a good and giving friend. Maybe she'll get a second post then. Today I want to fuck Edwige Fenech.

[forthegothicheroine]

New-to-me (horror) movies seen in 2023: Phenomena (1985)

@goryhorroor ’s challenge: Horror with bugs

What the fuck. What the fuck.

Jennifer loves bugs, and they love her. They love her so much they make mating calls to her and sometimes obey her commands, making her either a Batman villain or space royalty from Jupiter Ascending. There's also a black-gloved killer stalking her school, Donald Pleasance in "I'll act in anything" mode, a friendly chimpanzee in what appears to be painful estrus, and something chained up that breaks its chains to kill. Also a roommate who expresses the desire to sleep with Jennifer's dad, right to Jennifer's face.

I found this early Dario Argento film while looking through the giallo collection on Shudder, which proves how limiting genre terminology can be. It is indeed a pulpy Italian mystery film, but it's like no other I've ever seen. You can see the seeds of Argento's eventual fall from cinematic grace here, but you can also see why he was considered so revolutionary at his height. Take Suspiria, dial down the art direction and dial up the madness, and this is what you get.

Jennifer looks exactly like Sarah from Labyrinth because she's played by Jennifer Connelly, and it's not exactly an Oscar-winning performance; still, there's something very adorable about a gothic heroine who dotes on bees and calls out "I love you! I love you all!" to a swarm of flies. Here's another pitch for Phenomena: What if Carrie wasn't the killer? Her teachers try to lock her up and say words like "schizophrenia", but if I'd just seen a student threaten her bullies with so many bugs they block out the sky, I think I'd give her straight As while cowering- or start working towards a Nobel Prize.

In great giallo tradition, the final twist is a bit silly and provides evidence only at the very last minute, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thoroughly entertained. And hey, any movie that involves "Murder in the Rue Morgue but the ape is the good guy" as a subplot is automatically interesting!

[neon-green-reagent]

50 Underrated Horror Films: Part 4

What in absolute hell. We made it to part 4? Well, here we go then! Oh, also, links to the other parts: One : Two : Three

Undead : Starting off with an absolute banger. This is an Australian zombie apocalypse film. If you're familiar with Ozploitation cinema, then you know how nutso it can get, and this is a perfect example of just that. The action sequences are wild crowd pleasers, and the plot twists until it nearly breaks off.

Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory : I realize that sounds like porn. Just stay with me. It's a giallo! With a werewolf! For me, this was like finding the holy grail. Best of both worlds, truly. With... not the best looking werewolf, but this is an older movie, so cut it a little slack. It turns into a fun mystery with that special Italian flavor to it.

The Outwaters : Everyone was talking about Skinamarink. No one was talking about this. It has a similar conceit. To make a horror film that defies the idea of plot. It starts like your average found footage, then becomes a drug trip straight to the depths. It really does feel like witnessing a cosmic horror story where the horrors are, indeed, impossible to describe.

Tomie : This is the first of me cheating and actually recommending way more than one film. The Tomie film franchise is a series of loose adaptations of Junji Ito's manga of the same name, and there are nine at the moment. They get wild and weird, and they explore parts of Tomie that even the manga doesn't cover. Female monster! You need these in your life.

Murdercise : Low budget silliness trying to be throwback 80s and mostly just being hilarious and noticeably cheap. I love that. It's stupid and seems like the kind of movie that was a blast to make. I definitely felt like I was laughing with them and not at them, which made it feel really charming. A great one for a dumb movie night.

Zombie Death House : Zombies in jail! Directed by John Saxon who strangely didn't case himself in the lead like some vanity project. Rather he plays a character I have dubbed "Colonel Herbert West" if that sounds at all appealing. I mean, it clearly was to me.

Dead Birds : There aren't a ton of horror films that crossover with westerns, so this is a rare gem. A bunch of outlaws take refuge in a deeply disturbed location, and things get super dark.

Satan's Princess : A neo-noir detective story with supernatural evil at its core. Imagine if Angel Heart was dumber and way cheaper looking. With Robert Forster giving a really fun performance and an ending that had me laughing out loud.

Werewolf Bitches from Outer Space : Do you love Troma movies? Do you wish they were worse? Do I have the film for you! With scenes that were clearly filmed without permits. Random bystanders interfering with the production. Terrible werewolf masks. And pizza sex? It's a laugh riot.

Butterfly Kisses : A genuinely upsetting found footage movie that understands exactly how to use the urban legend format. There's a beastie out there that, if you stare at it, it will imprint on you like a baby duck. Then if you blink, it gets a little closer. Try to imagine how long you can go without blinking.

To Die For : Wanna watch a really shitty, late 80s Dracula? Here you go! It's dumber than a box of rocks. No one's motivations make any sense. Dracula seems like kind of a jerk despite being a romantic figure. But most of the actors are hotties and know the silly movie they're in, so it comes out fun in the end. Oh, and no one can agree when it came out. But rest assured I don't mean the one with Nicole Kidman.

Home for the Holidays : Made for TV Christmas slasher! Starring Sally Field. With a whole lot of family drama, which makes it feel authentically connected to the holiday. Merry Christmas! It's March. Ahem.

Welcome to Hell : Heavy metal horror strikes again. This time, a black metal band impregnates and kidnaps a groupie for their dark ritual. She escapes, but they're hot on her trail. The ending is nothing short of a religious experience. WINK.

Isolation : If Alien took place on a farm. With mutant cow fetuses. I swear, there is science that makes some sense of that. And it's not a comedy, I swear! It's actually very nasty with some wonderful body horror.

Dr. Crippen : Based on a real crime of passion and clearly cashing in on the Psycho craze. It's a strange one to recommend, because it's based on a true event, and the movie leans pretty hard in the bad doctor's favor. But it's worth it if you're a fan of Donald Pleasence. He gets to be his strange, little self and also be the star for once.

Tamara : What a mid-2000s romp this is. A good girl gets treated like garbage and goes bad in a witchy-demon-spell kinda way. Jenna Dewan as Tamara is perfect in every way. Gives me the gay.

Dark Harvest : Don't be like "oh, I've heard of that, didn't that just come out last year?" Yep, and everyone ignored it. When it was pretty fucking great. Set in a cursed town that openly sacrifices their kids to a fantastic monster by the name of Sawtooth Jack. His head is full of candy. Like. Go watch it.

Night Screams : Regional 80s slasher where a guy dies getting his face grilled. I'm pretty sure that shouldn't have killed him. And there are like three killers by the end? Did it before Scream, just saying. Enjoy the vibes on this one.

The Third Saturday in October Part Five and Part One : Speaking of slashers. These low budget gems came out last year, and there was a cute, little gimmick to it. You're supposed to watch five, then one. It simulates growing up pre-internet. You walk into the video store, and all they have is part five. You decide to rent it, even though you've never seen the first one. Then a week later, you find one. This really worked for me. Gave me nostalgic feelings. Please, if you watch them, try it this way.

The Vampire Doll : What if Japan made a Hammer film? Well, here it is. With one of my favorite tropes: a super cute couple investigates the horrors!

Night Feeder : Genuinely the best shot-on-video horror film I've ever seen. It actually fooled me. I thought I was watching a bad VHS rip, but no, this was not shot on film. It's stylish, clearly better than you'd expect, weird, dark, and has a really bad rock band in it.

Older Gods : Low budget and full of heart and also Lovecraftian horrors. If you're reading this and care, to me it felt as if someone wrote an original story around Azathoth. Which is cool, because no one ever uses him in anything. Also, if you're like, "so what does that mean?" It means that reality is up for debate in this one.

Cheerleader Camp : One of those that people clamor for when you talk about movies that still need a proper physical media release. I see why. It's extremely fun with its tongue lodged in its cheek. It uses every slasher trope and laughs hysterically while doing so.

Below : I love my underwater horror, and this delivers wonderfully. Haunted submarine, dude. But honestly, that wasn't the scariest part. The plot was cool, and I enjoyed the mystery, yeah yeah. But more to the point, everything that can go wrong... does. Imagine being trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a giant, metal coffin. BRR!

The Werewolf and the Yeti : How many werewolf movies are on this list? Uh, shut up. As I was saying, this is great. Paul Naschy brings a massively enjoyable werewolf flick our way again. With all his swashbuckling charm. By the time the yeti shows up, so much awesome shit had happened that I forgot he was supposed to fight a yeti. I mean...

Subspecies : And how many vampire movies are on this list? SHUT UP I SAID. Anyway. Another where I mean the whole series. All of them. Radu, the main villain, is a joy. Michelle's story arc is super dramatic and full of that Interview with the Vampire angst. Special mention to the second film, which goes all out with the gore effects.

The Hills Run Red : A horror movie about horror movies. A lost film has gained a cult following, and a bunch of dumb college kids decide to track it down. You can guess how that goes. William Sadler steals the entire movie when he shows up. Babyface also has iconic slasher energy.

Abby : This one's underrated because the filmmakers got sued by the guys that made The Exorcist and lost. This is essentially the black version of The Exorcist, and it's so good that I'm depressed we'll never get a great release of it. Carol Speed is amazing as Abby. William Marshall, Blacula himself, is in it. Track this down and get mad about it with me.

The Appointment : What the hell is this. Even I'm not sure. Edward Woodward crashes his car. I mean, I don't know what else to say about it. The film ramps up the tension and dread until a ridiculously Rube Goldberg thing happens, and you have to experience it.

Frostbiter : Another of those movies made with ten cents and a lot of gumption. A bunch of people wanted to make Evil Dead II, and so they did that. They even put an Evil Dead II poster in the cabin they filmed in, so that you wouldn't even wonder about what inspired it. Also, special mention to the chili song.

Hell's Highway : Have you ever seen a movie that was really cheap and goofy, but you could see EXACTLY how it would've looked if they'd just had the money? This is that movie. Every special effect fails. Everything's so awkward and odd. But you can tell what they MEANT for it to be. So bad it's good and then some.

Dance of the Damned : Vampire. Sorry. So this one is about a vampire who wishes he could stop living eternally, because it sucks to live that long and be so alone. He finds a sex worker who is also feeling like she wishes things would just end, and they share their pain with each other. Way better than it has any right to be, mullet and all.

The Werewolf of Washington : Werewolf. I really am sorry. Dean Stockwell plays a truly adorable werewolf. And nothing about it is meant to be taken seriously at all. Gives An American Werewolf in London a run for its money in the goober department.

The Curse of Kazuo Umezu : From the man who brought you The Drifting Classroom comes... this! It's a pair of strange tales. One about a vampire, fuck, I'm sorry. And one about a haunted house that even the narrator can't figure out what's going on. Horror anime!

Lo : A young man has recently lost his love. She was dragged to hell. That old chestnut. So he summons a demon named Lo to try to get her back. With a twist that'll make you go, wait, I thought this was a comedy?

The Spider Labyrinth : This one recently got a really nice release, and I'm so glad, because it's bonkers. A young fella is sent to Budapest to find a lost professor. Instead he finds a cult. Uh oh.

End of the Line : Apocalypse horror that turns your brain inside out just a bit. A religious cult has decided it's the end of the world, and they start executing innocents so they'll "go to heaven." Are they brainwashed or is the world actually ending? You decide!

Off Balance AKA Phantom of Death : Just barely a Phantom of the Opera riff. A pianist discovers he has a rare genetic disorder that threatens to cut his career short. Also, he's kinda losing it. Starring Michael York, Donald Pleasence, Edwige Fenech, directed by Ruggero Deodato, oh my GOD!

The Lure : Killer mermaids. Well, sirens. Kind of a mix. It's also a musical. And about how awful the entertainment industry is for young women. It's also super gory, and they eat people. Truly little else out there is like this.

Redneck Zombies : What do you want me to say? It's a Troma film. It's called... that. I'm pointing. I'm pointing at the title. That's the movie. Just... Right? Yeah?

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats : Another of those gialli that is really just And Then There Were None. But the nice part is that Italy likes to get more sexual, violent, and fucking awful than Agatha Christie ever dreamed. This one also takes place in an old theater, so the vibes are choice.

Mary Reilly : I always include at least one entry in these lists that begs the question, "how did this become underrated?" And obscure, that too. When it's a Jekyll and Hyde retelling with an emphasis on the gothic and lush, starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich? By the way, I heard people hated it because of Roberts' terrible Irish accent. Damn, dude, I've heard way worse, fake accents than that. Anyway, this is fantastic. Watch it.

The Forest : One of those slashers where I thought I understood what I was getting into, but I did not. There's a man living in the woods who went postal on his cheating wife one day. The ghosts of his family are also haunting the woods. And he's a cannibal who feeds a guy his own girlfriend. I need other people to watch this so that I can be assured it was real.

Autopsy (2008) : I put a year, because there are around 800 horror films with that title. To further narrow it down, it's the one where Robert Patrick plays basically Herbert West fused with Mr. Freeze, and Jenette Goldstein is his nurse, and they chase a bunch of college kids around for science. Kind of a pitch black comedy with torture porn aspects, and I loved it.

Glorious : A guy gets trapped in a public restroom, which is horrifying enough. Then a cosmic horror god starts talking to him from a bathroom stall. He gives him the assignment of helping to stop the end of the world. The god is J.K. Simmons, and the whole thing is a delightful bottle movie.

Nightmare Detective : From the director that brought you Tetsuo: The Iron Man... Do I have your attention? Comes the Japanese Nightmare on Elm Street! That's oversimplifying, but that is my elevator pitch. It involves all sorts of dream powers and psychic battles that will blow your socks off.

House of Lost Souls : Directed by Umberto Lenzi, which means it feels as doobery as Ghosthouse. It's about a hotel desperate to decapitate you, and it has the silliest dialogue and acting known to man. Special mention to psychic powers being cited as a "rational explanation."

The Cleansing Hour : A priest who livestreams fake exorcisms has to rumble with a real demon. Super fun character piece where a conman has to look his sins dead in the eye. Truly obsessed with this one. Also, super fun demon effects. With Kyle Gallner, everyone's favorite scream king.

Deathrow Gameshow : What if Airplane was super violent? Or The Running Man was a dumb comedy? This hits the sweetest spot, where the humor is idiotic and the violence is cartoonishly nasty. This will speak to the sort of person, like myself, who wants their comedy to be indigestible for most audience goers.

Double Blind : This is a very recent release. A diverse group take part in a double blind drug test. Things go so extremely bad. I won't give anything away, because part of the fun is the unfolding chaos.

I can't believe I managed to do that again. Enjoy! I hope you find some new favorites from this list.

[open-hearth-rpg]

#RPGCovers Week Eleven Blurred Lines (2021) Guilherme Gontijo

While I’m a fan of horror and I dig some giallo films, there’s something about the best of them– the ones which work disconcertingly with color and staging– which makes me anxious, disoriented, and occasionally nauseated. Yet still I watch. 

My favorite of these are the ones with a male protagonist, who would usually be positioned as heroic, being stalked and threatened. I love that reversal of position. 

Blurred Lines is a solo, giallo-inspired zine rpg. The interior graphic design’s amazing and if you’re at all interested, you should check it out. But it was the cover which caught my eye and took me down the rabbit hole.

I love how it echoes the elements and feel of giallo without definitively referencing a specific poster or promo image. We have the bold contrasting colors and likewise the strong contrasting faces, split and blending with uncertain lines. Add to that the use of eye imagery, a strong component of various giallo (and later Italian pure horror directors). 

Finally there’s the bent font, with a literalism to the artistic representation and the stark white border on the bottom of the page. It limits the image and echoes a movie poster or even the cinema itself.

[lilaclunablossom]

Deep Red Review

I saw Dario Argento’s 1975 movie Deep Red (or Profondo Rosso) for my October horror marathon. The first giallo movie I’ve ever seen. I saw it in Italian, with subtitles.

If you don’t know what giallo movies are, they’re Italian slasher movies famous for being extremely violent. However, what I didn’t know before watching this, is that they’re also very plot-focused mystery stories. In fact there aren’t even many violent scenes in this movie, but when they happen, they’re gruesome.

It’s written by Argento, and Bernardino Zapponi. A jazz musician named Marcus, played by David Hemmings, witnesses a murder in his apartment building from outside, and becomes obsessed with finding the culprit. There’s also a reporter named Gianna, and his best friend Carlo who’s also a musician. Like most mystery stories, the set-up is pretty simple, but the plot builds up in many ways.

I didn’t really take away any themes from my viewing, but after seeing someone else’s analysis, it’s clearly at least somewhat focused on the idea of gender and sex. I kinda don’t like how Carlo is a common archetype of the only gay character being mentally unwell. It’s really my only critique of this amazing movie, but I feel like Carlo’s character is still mostly handled with empathy. And maybe it has some meaning that’s going over my head, I don’t know.

The acting is great, as far as I can tell with the language barrier. I could really feel the passion from Gabriele Lavia, who plays Carlo. The thing is, even aside from the language barrier, most, if not all of the dialogue, is ADR. I guess it was common for giallo movies to ditch the original audio for artistic effect? I dunno, but it doesn’t bother me when I don’t even know the language to begin with. I saw a couple people on Reddit saying it’s “unwatchable,” which is really funny.

I really love the way this movie looks. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something shot with the lens and film they used. It has such a specific film grain that’s so cozy, but strange. The locations and set design are equally as atmospheric. I love the place Marcus and Carlo go to talk a few times, with the Ancient Greek-looking statue.

The soundtrack, mostly done by Italian prog rock band Goblin, is fucking insane. There’s a lot of variety, but what stands out most is some SUPER groovy and aggressively psychedelic jazz/rock fusion. It does sound scary at times, but the soundtrack overall is just SO much fun to listen to. The movie isn’t afraid to play fun tracks during horrific violence, too, which creates an interesting apathetic feeling toward the characters.

I can’t wait to eventually see how other giallo movies stack up to this one. Deep Red is an audio-visual masterpiece, and a super fun introduction to the genre. 4.5/5

[nitrateglow]

Halloween 2023 marathon: 9-11

The Slumber Party Massacre (dir. Amy Holden Jones, 1982)

A serial killer breaks free from jail, but the local high school population could not care less. There's sex to be had and joints to be smoked at the latest slumber party. Anyone not invited to the party either aims to crash it (the horny high school boys) or stay at home trying not to think about how uncool they are (the new girl who's better at basketball than her catty peers). All will be drawn together once the killer makes his way into town with a handy power drill that totally won't be used inappropriately.

I saw this movie for the first time earlier this year and immediately fell in love with its goofy charm. Apparently, it was written to be a parody of slasher tropes. The movie isn't played for broad comedy, but the humor is ever present in both overt and subtle ways. There's also a blend of cattiness and affection between the female characters that reminds me of the sorority house dynamics of Black Christmas, and the dialogue is often hilarious.

However, for all the humor, there are some creepy moments. The Driller Killer's "love" monologue is skin-crawling-- even if it is followed by a glorious parody of "the killer should be dead but isn't" trope.

This is one I love showing to other people. Everyone usually falls over laughing by the end, so it's a great group movie, but even alone, it's a fabulous time. You can currently catch it on Tubi for free.

Eyes of Laura Mars (dir. Irvin Kershner, 1978)

Controversial fashion photographer Laura Mars starts having psychic visions of the murders of her associates right as the crimes are being committed. She and everyone she knows become suspects of the slayings. The police find it particularly interesting that Laura's photos, which pair high fashion with images of murder and violence, resemble the subsequent crime scenes. Confused and feeling guilty, Laura teams up with cynical investigator John Neville, hoping to track down the killer before she or anyone else she loves becomes the next target.

This is a new-to-me horror film I caught on Tubi. All I knew about Eyes of Laura Mars is that it was directed by Irvin Kershner, a journeyman filmmaker best known for The Empire Strikes Back, and written by John Carpenter (though tampered with by many before shooting began). The movie is essentially an American spin on the Italian giallo genre. You have the familiar setting of the fashion world, sexy models who become murder victims, a hapless protagonist drawn into the mystery, and some very nasty kills.

There's a lot I like about this film, but in the end it didn't completely work for me. Maybe it's because unlike the best giallo, the movie doesn't have that otherworldly, psychedelic vibe that makes an audience able to swallow the sillier parts of the story. This is a very grounded, gritty presentation of New York City, making the more outrageous things in the film (like the unexplained psychic powers) stand out and not in a good way. Faye Dunaway's performance also verges into unintentional camp, with her wailing like she's in a 1940s melodrama much of the time. And I love melodramatic 1940s movies with appropriately overheated performances, but when the rest of your story is trying to be more realistic, that approach just takes me out of it because it doesn't gel. (Don't even get me started on the final twist, which I can't decide if I find laughable or clever.)

And yet, this is hardly a bad film. What frustrates me so much about it is that there's a lot that's pretty great. The supporting characters aren't the deepest in the world, but they are likable, so when they got picked off, I actually felt something. The movie also has an appealing time capsule element in its presentation of NYC during the height of the disco era. The fashions and the music are dated in the best way.

Despite my complaint about Dunaway's campy moments, Laura Mars is an interesting protagonist. She takes her art very seriously despite the derision she receives from her critics. She doesn't allow anyone to push her around, be it her boozy ex-husband, hostile reporters, or the police. She clearly loves the models, make-up artists, and other associates who work with her, and Dunaway does well lending a genuine sense of bereavement to the character as her social circle gets picked off one by one. However, I feel like the movie doesn't do much with her and she doesn't really have an arc.

I just really wish this film were a better version of itself. However, I can definitely see myself rewatching it someday, so maybe knowing the twists will make me better appreciate what is there. I don't know.

The Curse of Frankenstein (dir. Terence Fisher, 1957)

From adolescence, Baron Victor Frankenstein has had one dream: to cheat death. He and his research partner Paul Krempe delve into the mysteries of life, managing to reanimate a dead dog. Paul is satisfied with this achievement, but like a Disney Princess, Victor wants more. Like, creating a superbeing from bits and pieces of corpses more. This does not end well. At all.

It isn't spooky season without some Hammer Horror. I really have a hard time picking a favorite Hammer film, but The Curse of Frankenstein is definitely up there. Peter Cushing is so perfectly amoral and charming as Victor Frankenstein. I love Colin Clive in the Universal movies, but Cushing is my favorite in the part.

I've always admired how this movie sets itself apart from the Universal series without overdoing the opposition. The Universal movies were influenced by 1920s German expressionism, whereas the Hammer films go for more of a Victorian gothic meets explicit (by 1950s standards) sex and gore vibe. The sets and costumes are always wonderful in these films. I really love Cushing's glorious jackets, particularly the emerald green one.

<spoilers down below-- beware!>

Curse is also interesting for its frame narrative with Frankenstein telling the story from prison the hour before he is to be guillotined for his crimes. No one believes there was ever a creature and Victor wants everyone to know that, hey, he didn't commit ALL the murders. What's most fascinating about the frame story is the way it presents Paul, Victor's former tutor and research partner. Throughout the story, Paul is an unheeded voice of conscience tormented by the crimes Victor commits to achieve his goals. It's also implied Paul is in love with Victor's fiancee Elizabeth, and that this passion ignites further resentment against Victor on Paul's part because Victor clearly does not care about Elizabeth at all but is going to marry her anyway.

The film ends with Victor begging Paul to tell the authorities about the Creature, but Paul acts as though Victor is insane or just making it all up. He doesn't want to save Victor-- but is that because he wants to see justice done? Or is he also tight-lipped because he wants to secure Elizabeth for himself and knows she'll feel too duty-bound toward Victor (who supported her and her destitute aunt during Elizabeth's childhood) to break off the engagement unless the groom-to-be is, well, headless? It's a wonderfully ambiguous touch and it makes Paul more than just a nagging moral center.

<spoilers over>

Anyways, this is a perfect Halloween movie. Don't miss it if you've never seen it!

[tvguidancecounselor]

TV Guidance Counselor Episode 630: Evan Dorkin

This week Ken welcomes artist, writer and comic book legend Evan Dorkin to the show.

Ken and Evan discuss living the dream, low bars, being disgusted by your own personal failings, Spring Break, hating Florida, how nobody actually grows up in Staten Island, being an artist, 80s punk, never leaving your home, being Jewish in an Italian neighborhood, Ska, Bim Skala Bim, accents, being too hung over to see your name in the  credits of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, kids getting their shoes stolen at punk gigs, Kevin Shields ordering food, The Cars, Suicide, Milk and Cheese, Space Ghost, music on TV, pre-MTV days, Rockworld, the legend of Steranko, meeting girls, the introduction of surrealism to America, big egos, John Romita, Jack Kirby, Superman the Animated Series, how great Paul Dini is, Batman The Animated Series, Dwayne McDuffie, Freakazoid, Supergirl, why nobody but Kal-El can be from Krypton, how TV writing is all puzzle solving, continuity, Tik Tok's second life of Eltingville, Bibo, collecting comics, the Marvelization of DC, going to comic cons in the 1970s, dark and gritty, Comic Book Fascists, Beasts of Burden, Dario Argento, Giallo, wanting subtitles over dubbing, how anyone can make a movie, loving horror films, Trick R Treat, character design, Bouncing Boy, minutia, the internet, fan fiction, Alex Toth, wearing your influences on your sleeve, lost dark episodes of Superman The Animated Series, audiences and love of Halloween, screenplays, storytelling, Metal Men, being freaked out by failure and being neurotic, self sabotage, failed pilots, letting people down, Patreon, dealing with health issues, and the struggle of being a creative person trying to make a living. 

Check out this episode!

[goryhorroor]

I always thought in giallo was because everyone included it but someone in the reddit comments for the horror reddit page said something smart “giallo movies are italian but all italian movies are giallo,” so oops removing suspiria

[hekateinhell]

okay wait if you're looking for blorbo soft thoughts can i PLEASE tell you about this 6th grade girl who is currently in my summer camp like she is this tiny little thing but she's OBSESSED with italian giallo horror films like she will NOT stop talking about them, she listed it as her "fun fact" on the "get to know me" thing we had all the campers fill out and i immediately was like "oh this kid is awesome" and the second i asked her about it she spent the full lunch hour infodumping about italian horror to me and ANYWHOOOO the entire time i was just thinking "if armand was ever allowed around children this is exactly the kind of influence he'd have. i bet the neighbors ask him to babysit and come home to find their kid obsessed with incredibly niche 70's foreign horror" asdgfhjds i just think armand deserves to hang around Weird Kids more often!!!!!

OMG ASHLEY I'M YELLING this is so on point!

And I'm dying because yk I may have mentioned it in passing several months on here several ago but I had started on this human AU last summer that was basically Louis as a single-dad lawyer in his early to mid-30s and Armand's the teenager next door he hires to hang out and keep an eye on little Claudia after school. And then Armand starts flirting with him and Louis has an epic crisis of faith and eventually lives are ruined. I didn't trust this fandom not to have a heart attack over it lmao so I never continued but idk, I guess I already crossed that milestone of upsetting the antis recently so I'm thinking about it again!

All that to say I have so many ideas of Armand hanging out with kids! Showing them his big anatomy and biology textbooks and making a game out of charting the path of the circulatory system. Assisting them with making cookies in the kitchen -- Daniel taught him better after those first couple weeks (and in my AU I want Louis walking into his fancy ass "I took that cheating rockstar for everything he was worth and then some" divorce kitchen and seeing Armand and Claudia mix chocolate chip cookie batter while some broody Norwegian death metal plays in the background before unexpectedly cutting to Beethoven). Movie nights with Armand absolutely consist of a mix of niche horror, surrealist German shit from the 1920s, and wacky ass 80s cartoons.

[ghoul-slime]

53 & 57 🖤🦇

53. 5 things that make me happy

5. Horror! This is probably my biggest favorite thing ever. I'm a massive horror movie fan, especially of anything from the 70s and 80s. My apartment is full of horror memorabilia, and my favorite is probably my collection of original horror posters from the 80s. I absolutely love horror comedy and Italian splatter horror/giallo films and when I'm not at work or at a concert, I'm probably somewhere around LA catching a screening of something on 35mm. I'm most looking forward to a Lucio Fulci double feature of House By the Cemetery and City of the Living Dead at my favorite revival house theater next month. Seriously, if you're ever in LA and wanna know good horror spots, hit me up!

4. My job, somehow, makes me really happy. There are definitely ups and downs but overall I'm love my field. I work in collections management/archives at [music museum name redacted] and it is a lot of fun. I get to build exhibits, do archival and conservation work, and work with cool collections. I'm happy I get to work in the field I got my degree in and I'm always learning. And if weren't for my job I wouldn't be into Ghost! I got introduced to them working on something in the collections and fell in love right away.

3. Physical media! This goes hand in hand with horror and my archives background, for sure. I have a huge VHS collection and I collect movies on DVD and blu as well. I also love vinyl! One of my favorite work projects was cataloging and preparing a collection of over 1000 16mm and 35mm films for digitization. These are films that exist nowhere on earth except for in the cans in the archive. I think physical media is SO important, especially with how uncertain streaming can be. (This is a whole huge topic that I will spare you the rant for).

2. Live music! Love concerts and have been going to them since I was a young teenager. Saw Ghost three times this tour and between now and the end of the year I'm going to see Sleep Token, Amigo the Devil, Katatonia (twice), and Goblin doing a live score to the movie Demons. Live music hits in the same way film screenings do, of course the movie and/or shows are amazing, but there's something so affirming about being in the same room as dozens/hundreds/thousands of other people who love the same so very much.

1.Ghost! Of course. They are my absolute favorite thing in the world right now. It's actually been pretty much exactly one year since I got into the fandom. I've been in fandoms forever and ever, but this one I fell for SO hard and it feels like it just fits so perfectly. I got back into fic writing after a long time, met some amazingly cool people, went to three rituals at/near the barrier, and just have been overall super energized by my love for the band and the fandom. Their music, all the background/lore, their message, THE GHOULS, everything just hits exactly right.

57. favourite animal(s)

Am definitely a lover of any and all animals but absolutely love weird sea creatures. Giant isopods, ocean sunfish, whale sharks. Favorite terrestrial animal is probably an opossum!

Here's some of my horror/Ghost collection while I'm in the middle of Halloween decorating:

[adamwatchesmovies]

A Bay of Blood (1971)

A Bay of Blood is probably more appealing to horror historians and/or Italian Giallo films than casual viewers. It isn’t quite a proper slasher film but you can see its influence upon the Friday the 13th and later entries in the Halloween franchise - some of the deaths we see here are recreated almost shot-for-shot in the latter. Though its pace is slower than it should be and there are too many characters to keep track of, its mystery is engaging and the body count shocks.

Wheelchair-bound Countess Federica Donati (Isa Miranda) is strangled to death by her husband Filippo Donati (Giovanni Nuvoletti). Moments later, he is himself murdered by an unseen assailant before hiding the body. In the morning, the police discover the dead countess but a note suggests she committed suicide. As the investigation continues, several people begin converging on the property either because they hope to inherit it or want to buy it from the new owners. With a mysterious killer on the loose and everyone’s greed running wild, the bodies begin piling up.

There are A LOT of characters in the film: real estate agent Franco Ventura (Chris Avram) and his lover Laura (Anna Maria Rosati), the creepy groundskeeper Simone (Claudio Volonté), an insect enthusiast named Paolo Fassati (Leopoldo Trieste) and his wife who cares nothing for him, Anna (Laura Betti), the countess’ daughter Renata (Claudine Auger) and her husband Alberto (Luigi Pistilli) as wekk as four teenagers who happen to be visiting the bay - Louise (Brigitte Skay), Sylvie (Paola Montenero), Luca (Guido Boccaccini) and Bobby (Roberto Bonanni). I’m sure someone could remember every face and all of their relationships without taking notes but I wasn’t. This is the kind of movie that needed to cast one Black guy, give someone else an eye patch, a third one some weird verbal tick, etc. Unless you already know how everyone relates, you’ll lose track. Further complicating things are your expectations going in. This is not the story of a lone madman picking off one person at a time for mysterious reasons. Nearly everyone in this story is a potential suspect because they’ve all got murderous urges and several people act upon them. We have all of these conspirators working independently, hoping to take ownership of the bay. In the middle of a scheme, someone will suddenly get decapitated because they're hindering someone else’s plan. Meanwhile, you’re still wondering who murdered Mr. Donati…

A Bay of Blood does an excellent job of keeping you guessing. From their first interaction, you don’t know if Simone and Paolo are potential suspects or just red herrings. Neither appear to have a motive for killing so it could be that if either one of them is a murderer there also happens to be a lunatic messing around with everyone else’s plans. This decision wouldn’t even come out of left field in this film. The teenagers are randomly there so why not?

Director Mario Bava does not give us a protagonist to latch onto. No character is “safe” until the very end. This further obscures the killer/killers’ identity/identities (let’s not assume only one person murdered Filippo) and makes it even more difficult to keep track of everyone. The gore (quite well executed considering the time and low budget) and sudden deaths are more than enough to keep you entertained but this is one of those instances where knowing a little bit about the plot going in would benefit viewers greatly. I can easily see some people getting frustrated by the opaque mystery and dismissing the whole thing. Back in the day, it would’ve been because of the (then) shocking amount of violence. Now, it might be because the ending comes out of nowhere. I have some affection for the final "twist", but it could’ve been foreshadowed better.

If A Bay of Blood interests you, I suggest you set aside an entire evening. Watch the movie, then read an online synopsis, then watch it again with some sort of commentary to "get it". I know that’s asking a lot. Too much for some people but if you are interested in learning the history of horror films, A Bay of Blood is an important stop along your journey and it’s worth doing right. Even if you just watch it once, you’ll still be engaged by the twisty plot, perplexed by the numerous red herrings, and shocked by its violence. (English dub, November 1, 2020)

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Footprints on the Moon (Bazzoni, 1975)

This is a movie I’d made a mental note to see years ago when I’d come across some particularly striking screencaps. Seeing it now on Severin’s Blu-ray release, it certainly lived up to that impression, looking even more stunning than I’d anticipated. I suppose it wouldn’t have been too great a surprise had I looked up the credits beforehand, as we get none other than legendary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro on DP duty, going all out with the colours and making the most of the Turkish locations in which most of the movie is set. Now, I’d slotted in this movie this month as I’d been itching to watch more giallo, but this is probably on the fringe of the genre furthest from overt horror, as if director Luigi Bazzoni (who previously collaborated with Storaro on the similarly gorgeous Fifth Cord) wanted to strip away most of the violence and purify the genre into a psychological study. So it is perhaps not ideal Spooky Season viewing outside of some nightmare (or flashback?) sequences and some late bloodletting, although the results feel like a cross between the work of two other notable directors, one of whom has dabbled in more Spooky Season fare than the other.

On the less spooky side, the way this frames a sense of psychological unmooring and detachment against unfeeling surroundings brings to mind the films of Michelangelo Antonioni. In particular, the earlier sections in Rome with the gleaming modern buildings have some of the same science fiction quality of Red Desert and L’Eclisse. (I watched the Italian cut, which on top of classing things up probably invited this comparison further. Perhaps the American cut with its English audio would make it play closer to the rest of the genre.) On the more spooky side, the sense of narrative drift and the appreciative exoticism with which this views its Turkish locations brings to mind such qualities common in Jess Franco’s work. The relationship between the psyche and one’s surroundings, particularly in terms of architecture and décor, is a common theme in giallo, but what I think makes this closer to the work of those two directors than to the rest of the genre is that I find that most giallo externalizes psychological fracturing, whereas this movie and those other directors almost clamp it down. In one you’re pushed to scream, in the other you’re shushed into silence.

If anything, I wished this almost worked on the level of pure drift, like an ouroboros of mood, unreconciled clues and psychological unease, and I find the denouement a little unsatisfying, if only because it puts and end to the proceedings. But I can see myself warming up to this further in the future, with more time to drift along with the movie.