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Paranoia

April 4, 2015, 9:33 am
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ORGASMO
PARANOIA
Italy
D:Umberto Lenzi.
P:Salvatore Alabiso. SC: Umberto Lenzi, Ugo Moretti, and Marie Claire Solleville. DP: Guglielmo Mancori.Music: Pierro Umiliani. E: Enzo Alabiso. Art D: Giorgio Bertolini.
Cast: Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, Colette Descombes, Tino Carraro, Lilla Brignone. 




Helen West is newly widowed and rich as sin. She wants to escape the glare of publicity and so moves back to her remote villa in Italy. Soon after returning, a young man named Peter Donovan appears in her life. He has car trouble outside her gate and before too long, works his way into her bedroom. Soon after that, Peter's sister Eva shows up and the two young people encourage Helen to give up her inhibitions and so she begins to drink and take pills in excessive amounts. Increasingly, Helen is driven to the brink of suicide as Peter and Eva dominate her every move. Ultimately they succeed, but they too pay a high price.


Here's a film that differs radically when comparing the English and Italian language versions. The Italian print removes most of the nudity and any sign of the lesbian relationship between Baker and Descombes . There is also an entire subplot with Baker's character involved in the actual murder of her husband that is completely missing from the US print (no doubt removed to maintain viewer sympathy for all the grief Baker's character experiences). Without question the English language version is the one to see as the amount of sordidness, which is important to show how low Baker sinks to, is of tantmount importance to the film's denouement. Umberto Lenzi had a special relationship with Carroll Baker as he featured her in a variety films, allowing her to play both predator and prey. Although she'll never receive praise for her film work in Italy, fans who know better, appreciate this excellent body of work. She always dubbed her own voice which allowed her to get the best out of each part. Here she takes chances with a role that is far from glamourous. I've never been a fan of Lou Castel, but here his worm-like appearance works well. He becomes increasingly crazed as the film progresses, ultimately revealing a total amoral side to his character. Of all the Lenzi-Baker collaborations, this is their best.

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Murder Obsession

April 11, 2015, 9:39 pm
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L'OSSESSIONE CHE UCCIDE
UNCONSCIOUS aka FEAR aka THE WAILING
Director: Riccardo Freda. Sc: Riccardo Freda, Antonio Corti,
Fabio Piccioni. Music: Franco Mannino. Cast: Stefano Patrizi, Anita Strindberg, John Richardson, Laura Gemser, Martine Brochard, Silvia Dionisio.



Michael Stanford is an actor who decides to return home and visit dear old Mom. He brings along his girlfriend Deborah (Silvia Dionisio) and invites his director Hans, lead actress Beryl (Laura Gemser) and assistant director Shirley (Martine Brochard). Upon arriving, they meet creepy Oliver (John Richardson) and of course, Mother (Anita Strindberg, still looking good and proving that silicon implants do hold up over the years). Almost immediately strange things start to happen as Beryl is strangled in her bath and Deborah dreams of Black Magic rituals. When people start dying (in very graphic, bloody fashion) it's made to look like Michael has gone off the deep end (he supposedly killed his father when he was younger). Michael finally discovers that his Mother and her lover Oliver, were behind the murders. In fact, Oliver is so disgusted with it all, he commits suicide. Deborah turns up at the end just in time to discover that Mom has killed Michael and she too is trapped and about to become the next victim.

This film definitely takes the kitchen sink approach to plot elements. It features a little bit of everything, from a traditional stalk and slash killer to a Mother only Norman Bates could love to Black Mass and mind control. All that plus large amounts of nudity and gore show that Freda was far from over the hill when he made this film. Freda must have been in a bad mood when he made this one as no one survives to the end except Strindberg, giving the performance of her career as the Mom from Hell. Pulchritude is at an all time high in this one especially Silvia Dionisio (who looks like Olivia-Newton John). The U.S. video version edits out her second dream/Black Mass sequence, either because a real chicken gets beheaded or because there's an embarrassingly fake spider that makes the ones in MESA OF LOST WOMAN look terrific by comparison. The film telegraphs its shock sequences such as when a character is seen cutting wood with a chainsaw, you just know that implement will make a return appearance with far more gruesome results. Franco Mannino's score veers from grandiose orchestral themes to sleazy synthesizer beeps that ruin whatever mood he was trying to maintain. 
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A Quiet Place to Kill

April 18, 2015, 7:28 pm
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PARANOIA
A QUI PLACE TO KILL
Italy 1970


D: Umberto Lenzi
P: Bruno Bolognesi for Tritone Filminstria & Medusa Distribuzione//St & Sc: Rafael Marchent, Marcello Goscia, Bruno Di Geronimo, Marie-Claire Solleville//DP: Guglielmo Mancori//E: Enzo Alabiso & Antonio Ramirez//M: Gregory Garcia Segura//Art D: W. Buran//Makeup: Mario Van Riel
Cast: Carroll Baker, Jean Sorel, Luis Davila, Alberto Dalbes, Marina Coffa, Anna Proclemer, Liz Halvorsen, Hugo Blanco, Jacques Stany, Rossana Rovere, Calisto Calisti, Manuel Diaz Velasco.



Helen (Carroll Baker) receives word from her ex-husband Maurice (Jean Sorel) to join him at his villa in Majorca, Spain. When she arrives, she finds out that it was actually Constance (Marina Coffa) who summoned her. It seems she knows that Helen attempted to kill Maurice when they were married and she wants to enlist Baker's help in knocking him off again. The tables turn on Constance when during the attempt, it is she that is killed instead. Constance's daughter Susan (Anna Proclemer), arrives to discover her mother's fate and instantly suspects Helen and Maurice of foul play. The joke turns out to be on Helen as Maurice and Susan are actually lovers and it was they who planned Constance's and now her death (in a car crash). Just when these two think they have pulled it all off, Constance's body (wrapped in chains and tied to an anchor) is found.


Here's a film that never shuts up. The US released version is an edited TV print and so spends all of its time trying to be clever and forgets about the exploitation items, like nudity and violence, that makes this genre unique. Fortunately, the unedited export version has come to light and it contains the exploitation goodies. This is more reminescent of a TV episode of COLUMBO, where you spend the first half of the show setting up the murder, and the last half involving a detective who solves the crime. We are also stuck with all that sixties baggage—bad fashions, crappy rock and roll music score and set design by Target. Sorel and Baker were sleepwalking through their parts—she comes across as innocent and Sorel as the bad guy, only to reverse their positions by film's end. Camera angles consist largely of static, talking-head shots, doing nothing to relieve the audience's boredom. Part soap opera, part travelogue of Majorca, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL is just that, too damn quiet.
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Death Carries a Cane

April 25, 2015, 11:42 am
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PASSI DI DANZA SU UNA LAMA DI RASOIO
DEATH CARRIES A CANE aka THE TORMENTER
Director: Maurizio Pradeaux. Sc: Arpad De Riso, Maurizio
Pradeaux, Alfonso Balcazar, George Martin. Music: Roberto Pregadio. Cast: Susan Scott, Robert Hoffmann, Anuska Borova, Simon Andreu, George Martin.





Kitty (Susan Scott) is waiting for her fiance Alberto (Robert Hoffmann of SPASMO) at a tourist observatory when she sees (through a coin operated telescope) a young woman being brutally knifed to death. The killer is wearing the standard attire (black gloves, black overcoat and hat) and so can't be identified. Even after telling her story to the police inspector (George Martin, in a plastered-down, jet-black toupee that makes him look like a lounge singer from Hell!), no one seems to believe her. We are introduced to the rest of the cast, and a more likely group of suspects and red-herrings I've yet to witness. There is Alberto, who knew the first victim and is often caught knifing faceless clothing store dummies (he's a performance artist and this is part of his act). Marco (Simon Andreu of NIGHT OF THE SORCERORS), who is a composer and worked with soon to be victim #2 for a future concert appearance, Sylvia (Anuska Berova) and her twin sister Lydia (also played by Berova), the latter hates ballet music which just happens to be the profession of the victims. Sylvia's creepy looking boyfriend (Luciano Rossi, he played the hunchback in D'Amato's DEATH SMILES ON A MURDERER) is even shown stabbing at a store window display of straight razors (the killer's weapon of choice). Finally, the killer walks with a limp and uses a cane (hence the film's title) and we indeed see Alberto and Sylvia using one early in the film. As you would expect, the cane has no bearing on who the killer is. It comes to a climax when the killer is shot down while trying to finish off Kitty in a greenhouse.


With all those characters to play with, the film easily fills its 89 minute running time spreading around the suspicion. I have a high tolerance for ETC, but a film like this, tests even my low standards to their very core. DEATH CARRIES A CANE is so bland, so cliche-ridden, so awful yet so entertaining that it ends up getting an average rating in spite of all that.  No one, either in front of or behind the camera, distinguishes themselves in any form. Even Roberto Pregadio's patented thriller score seems to have no effect on the film when it is heard. George Martin had a hand (or was it a middle finger?) in the script and one wonders if he was responsible for the dialogue his character spouts such as the time he asks a fellow co-worker to, "Get me the files of all the deviants and sex offenders with leg disabilities." I don't know about you, but those bastards are really organized! Finally, I can't even recommend the film's copious amount of female nudity because (except for Susan Scott), the actresses who appear here needs breast implants to distinguish them from the male cast members. Boredom is a crime no film should inflict on its audience, unfortunately, DEATH CARRIES A CANE is guilty, guilty, guilty! 
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THE 1990s GENRE BOOTLEGGING SCENE, OZ STYLE!

May 3, 2015, 2:27 pm
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The 1990s genre bootlegging scene, Oz style!
By Michelle Alexander

A long time ago in an era far, far away (i.e. the 1990s), before fans of cult and otherwise obscure-to the-mainstream movies had the luxury of their favourite titles readily available on Blu-Ray or for instant download, those of us in Melbourne, Australia had to make do with plenty of ropey, grainy, censored prints (jarring jump cuts eliminating most of the gore were the bane of just about every Italian cannibal and Fulci VHS release here) , and forget about rocking up to your nearest video store and walking out with the likes of Cannibal Holocaust, Last House on the Left, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,  The New York Ripper and anything Ilsa,as all had been refused classification by the Australian censorship board (the first three finally had their ludicrous bans lifted in the mid 2000s, but the Ilsa films still remain ‘forbidden’ in this country). Also, many desired titles (Burial Ground, The Church) were simply not available as they hadn’t been distributed here. As writer John Harrison lamented in issue 15 of the legendary Australian zine Fatal Visions, 


“Unfortunately Melbourne has yet to establish anything that could be considered an ultimate video marketplace to compete with those overseas (take a look inside any issue of Filmfax or Psychotronic to get an idea of the length and breadth of weird and wonderful titles available in the U.S.)”.


However, if one was up to some persistent detective work, they would be able to find all of the above titles, uncut and uncensored, via local mail order outfits Phantastique Video and The Graveyard Tramp, or, if you were willing to risk the wrath of Customs, buy or swap off a myriad of international operations such as European Trash Cinema, Something Weird, Midnight Video, Cinefear Video (still going strong today!), and the infamous Video Search of Miami.


And how did I discover the world of bootlegging? When the world cinema TV channel SBS screened a letterboxed, uncut subtitled print of Deep Red in September 1994, the film completely blew me away. The stunning visuals, cinematography and Goblin soundtrack left me awestruck and wanting to seek out more of the director’s output immediately. I’d caught the Eurohorror bug, and began renting every Fulci, Deodato, Bava and any other movies of this ilk I could find, never mind that many were cut-to-shit and  residing forlornly on the bottom shelves gathering dust and major sunbleaching (the same tapes that collectors now happily pay hundreds of dollars for). 


Certain ‘unscrupulous’ video outlets would stock the odd banned dupe, such as Salo - the absurd history of its banning and unbanning here is headache-inducing and deserving of its own article. My local video store, Sunshine Video Ezy, proudly hosted the entire Faces of Deathseries in their ‘Documentary’ section, by all accounts particularly popular rentals.


In the mid to late 90s I was a regular visitor to record fairs held around Melbourne and while wandering around one held at the Royal Exhibition Buildings in early 1996, I stumbled across a stall which looked vastly different to all the others selling boxes of vinyl records – the table was covered with dubbed VHS tapes of uncut and unavailable horror titles in Australia, as well as imported Goblin and other Eurohorror CD soundtracks. A VCR set up was even playing The Church, which I’d been dying to see. I had arrived at Phantastique Video, the aforementioned horror/cult/trash mail-order service, ran by Gregg Lewis from the mid 1990s-early 2000s. Gregg was manning the stall that day, along with Adam Lee, who helped stocked Phantastique with its jaw-dropping range of titles - everything from uncut Fulci, Franco and D’Amato to XXX fare to those banned cult classics mentioned earlier.  Being low on cash I was only able to purchase a copy of Last House on the Left, but I made sure to take a catalogue before I left and over the years would have spent thousands of dollars on everything I wanted to see (seeing The Beyond and Zombi Holocaust uncut was a revelation – no massive splices chopping out eyeball and cranium violence!).


Discovering Phantastique was a major stepping stone for me and in that same year I found inner-city store Polyester Books’ stash of bootlegged tapes at the back of their store, which gave me access to my first viewing of Cannibal Holocaust. Needless to say I was shocked and stunned by Ruggero Deodato’s brutal masterpiece – the film has lost none of its power even after at least a dozen subsequent viewings – and the tape’s nth generation quality and Spanish subtitles only added to its devastating effect, giving it a ‘snuff movie from bedlam’ feel.



Another fondly-remembered Melbourne mail-order (and subsequent online) store of note was John Harrison’s ‘The Graveyard Tramp’, specialising in dupes, ex-rental tapes, books, magazines, posters, and KISS memorabilia. Along with top-quality service, John always offered a consistently varying range of product, including a great mix of local and international zines.


As I obtained most of my tapes from contacts within Australia, I only ever ordered from overseas one memorable time – from Video Search of Miami. VSoM had a 60 page catalogue offering a mouth-wateringly vast range of product. I was a little apprehensive about having to initially pay a $10 ‘non-refundable initiation fee’ but figured it was worth it as I naively assumed I’d be getting, at the least, decent quality copies and service. I ordered a few titles including the ‘Argento Collectors Package’ (a compilation tape consisting of two Dario Argento interviews and a fashion show he directed for Italian television in 1986). Several weeks later Australia Post delivered the tapes to my door, and I immediately loaded up the VCR with the Argento cassette. And much to my surprise instead of the Argento programmes appearing on my TV screen I got some European porno flick instead!  Fortunately the other cassettes had the content they were meant to have, but I was far from impressed. Not only with the ‘mix-up’- but with the horrid, barely watchable muddy quality of the dubs. I never expect perfect quality from bootlegs, but after paying extortion, I mean a ‘membership fee’ and more than above-average prices I expected better.  Needless to say, I didn’t waste my time ordering from Video Search of Miami again, especially as I never even received the courtesy of an apology.


In the late 90s, still considered the dawn of the World Wide Web, early genre message boards such as the Mortado’s Page of Filth forum allowed fellow collectors to meet and organise their own trades, which provided another avenue for me to add to my tape collection (and meet some more great like-minded folks along the way as well).




In the Noughties and beyond, the introduction and subsequent popularity of DVD’s, torrents, streaming video and Blu-Ray discs has effectively eliminated the chase of tracking down the right contacts to search for formerly elusive films, save for the most obscure titles. Pretty much everything I used to have to wait weeks for though the post, or spend years searching for, is now available within minutes online. Which of course is fantastic for accessibility and convenience, not to mention the far superior quality of Blu-Ray compared to VHS, but the sheer thrill of scouring random video outlets and discovering lonely copies of Bloody Moon, Murderock andDario Argento’s World of Horror emblazoned with $1 Weekly Hire stickers, pouring over the goodies in mail-order catalogues, and reading about formerly mythical films not touched by the mainstream horror press like the early works of Michael and Roberta Findlay in ‘labour of love’ zines, is something that can never be replaced.    
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THRAUMA

May 16, 2015, 11:32 am
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TRHAUMA
TRAUMA
REVIEWED BY DENNIS CAPICIK
Italy, 1980.

D: Gianni Martucci
P: Alberto Marras for Lark Cinematografica & Joint Working Group//St & Sc: Gianni Martucci, Alessandro Capone & Gaetano Russo //DP: Angelo Bevilacqua//E: Enzo Alabiso & Antonio Ramirez//M: Ubaldo Continiello.
Cast: Ronny Russ, Dafne Price, Roberto Posse, Timothy Wood, Franco Diogene, Per Holgher, Silvia Mauri, Anna Maria Chiatante, Gina Mancinelli.



Although labeled in many genre reference books as a giallo, Gianni Martucci’s TRHAUMA has more similarities to the then popular stalk-and-slash craze, which, thanks to the enormous popularity of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978), dominated box office receipts at the time.  If it’s not glaringly obvious by the misspelled title card, TRHAUMAis pretty much the rock-bottom of the genre – albeit with a few oddball and sleazy characteristics to keep it mildly entertaining – so it’s easy to see why it was pretty much dismissed in most circles.

A disheveled man (Per Holgher – credited as L’Essere / “The Being”) with a disfigured blind eye roams the crypts of a large Italian villa, who, in his spare time, is also constructing a large toy castle made entirely of Lego (!).  As he secretly works away, a wailing cat in the background is soon ‘hushed-up’ when he removes its head with a large sickle – but don’t worry, folks, it’s all very unconvincingly done.  In the meantime, a group of well-to-do socialites – including a photographer named Paul (Timothy Wood), his model Olga (Anna Maria Chiatante), a wealthy industrialist (Franco Diogene) and his newest “secretary” (Gina Mancinelli), and also Carlo and Silvia (Roberto Posse and Silvia Mauri), an unhappily married couple – are all visiting Andrea (“Ronny Russ” / aka Gaetano Russo)’s country villa, which seems to be a thorn in the side of his wife Lilly (“Dafne Price” / aka Domitilla Cavazza).  As Andrea and Lilly bicker over this “shack”, which he purchased instead of getting something fancy on the Côte d’Azur, his guests make themselves at home around the large outdoor pool.  As night falls, everyone becomes the target of the resident madman obsessed with kids’ plastic building blocks, but who is that mysterious figure taunting him with new boxes of Lego…?

As wacky as the above premise sounds, the set-up is about as simplistic as it gets, and the second half is simply one extended stalking sequence.  Like any low-budget flick, characters simply gather together to more conveniently get bumped-off, but, as in many earlier gialli, this is an especially unpleasant bunch, with plenty of dirty secrets and hidden agendas.  At one point, Paul blackmails Silvia with compromising photos of her taken while she was having a lesbian tryst with Olga, and, during the requisite photo shoot, Paul urges Olga to “throw away the dress”, as she prances through the woods in her birthday suit.  Andrea is probably the most pathetic of the group: a degenerate gambler who is obviously financially supported by his wife, but is an asshole to boot (”You’re crazy if you think I’ll continue to finance your megalomania!” exclaims Lilly). 



Characterization is certainly not the film’s main impetus, and, in typically clichéd fashion, when Olga goes missing, they all decide to “split up” and search for her in the surrounding woods.  Although gore is minimal, there is one uncharacteristically nasty scene of “The Being” having his evil way with Olga’s corpse in an open field – incidentally, this unpleasant scene was edited out of the French Canadian VHS release, entitled DÉMENCE– which seems to have strayed in from another film.  During TRHAUMA’s extended finale – in an obvious nod to Italian Gothics – Lilly is pursued by “The Being” as she runs through the villa in her negligee; but unlike many of its contemporaries, the film’s sudden and very cynical ending is quite surprising.  But we never do get an explanation about that damned Lego!

It’s quite incredible that it took fully three writers (namely Alessandro Capone, director Martucci and star Russo) to slap this together, and the slapdash approach is evident almost immediately as Ubaldo Continiello’s irksome disco tune (“Come on, dance…”) plays over a black screen and generic credits; some prints contain psychedelic, rainbow-colored brush-strokes in the background.  Incidentally, most of Continiello’s score is also taken from Ruggero Deodato’s earlier The LAST CANNIBAL WORLD (a.k.a. JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, 1977), which further exemplifies the unoriginality of this entire decidedly lowly production. 

Director Martucci only directed a grand total of five films, including BLAZING FLOWERS (1978), which is arguably one of his best efforts; an entertaining and highly exploitable poliziescostarring Euro action cinema icons George Hilton and Marc Porel.  One of Martucci’s last efforts – again with star Gaetano Russo – was The RED MONKS(1988), a relatively bland horror cheapie put together during the fading days of Italo-horror, which gained some unexpected popularity due to the controversial – and confusing – “Lucio Fulci presents” moniker it got saddled with.



As for TRHAUMA, this is a poor imitation of the burgeoning slasher craze of the time, which, although utterly bizarre at times, wears out its welcome rather quickly.   
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OBSESSION: A TASTE FOR FEAR

May 23, 2015, 5:50 pm
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1988 PATHOS-SEGRETA INQUIETUDINE
OBSESSION-A TASTE FOR FEAR
Director: Piccio Raffanini. Sc: Lidia Ravera, Piccio Raffanini. Music: Gabriele Ducros. Cast: Virginia Hey, Gerard Damon, Gioia Scola, Carlo Mucari, Dario Parisini, Eva Grimaldi, Kid Creole.





Diane (Virginia Hey, from MAD MAX 2) is a photographer, who, though difficult to work with, is considered the best. She is always striving for the offbeat and weird which includes her pick of models and what they wear. Her choice of Teagan (a muscled up androgynous woman who looks like Stallone with tits) eventually leads to murder when the model is killed during a bondage tape sent to Diane. The opening credits read, "To the one I love." A cop, who is a walking cliche, named Arnold is assigned the case and he takes an instant dislike for Diane and her entire lifestyle (but that doesn't stop her from trying to get him into bed). Diane's ex-husband produces bondage tapes and is the most likely suspect (meaning of course he's innocent). When Teagan's roommate Kim (a big, beautiful black woman who's as bald as Telly Savalas) is murdered and taped, George (Diane's ex) is able to use his sophisticated equipment to reveal who the murderer is.

Giallo-BLADERUNNER style. A marvelous film that I could watch repeatedly and never tire of. Along with DEATH LAID AN EGG, this is one of my favorites. It's a true winner in the style-over-content parade. Although it doesn't call attention to itself, the film is set in a not too distant future where drugs and bi-sexuality are the norm. This is a film that needs to be played with the volume turned way up as the score by Ducros is a sonic delight. The SF trappings are just that, but certainly help to put across that feeling of off-centeredness. When Diane and Kim go to a gay nightclub looking for a friend of Tegan's, you'll think you've entered a Ranexerox Comic (and damn if there aren't drawings of that character by Liberatore on the curtains). Look for Eva Grimaldi in a wordless cameo as one of George's toys/models.


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FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET

June 6, 2015, 3:42 pm
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QUATTRO MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO
4 FLIES ON GRAY VELVET
Italy 197
D: Dario Argento.
P: Salvatore Argento for Seda Spettacoli & Universal Prod.//St & Sc: Luigi Cozzi, Dario Argento Mario Foglietti//DP: E: Francoise Bonnot//M: Ennio Morricone//Art D: Enrico Sabbatini
Cast: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli), Jean-Pierre Marielle, Aldo Bufilandi, Calisto Calisti, Marisa Fabbri, Oreste Lionello, Fabrizio Moroni, Corrado Olmi, Stefano Satta Flores, Costanza Spada, Francine Racette.





A musician named Robert Tobias (Michael Brandon), is being followed by a mysterious stranger whom he accidently kills. During the altercation he sees someone up above taking photographs. At first he thinks blackmail is the photographer's motive, however he soon realizes that it's much more serious. His wife Nina (Mimsy Farmer) leaves him after their maid is killed. As more and more people around him die, Robert discovers from the police the last image seen by his recently deceased new girlfriend. Going home he finds Nina has returned and wearing a pendant containing 4 flies. Just as she is about to kill him (he reminded her of the father she grew to hate), Robert's friend God (the aptly titled ex-Italian Olympic champion, Bud Spencer) arrives and saves him. Nina ends up getting decapitated in a car accident.


There isn't much left to say about Argento these days as he's now been accepted into the critical mainstream. This film still holds up and is a good indicator that more ambitious work (ie PROFUNDO ROSSO) was just around the corner. Michael Brandon has been criticized (and rightly so) for his rather bland portrayal, however Mimsy Farmer has NOT received near enough credit for her role. Her screaming, raging psycho-freak-out at the climax is Scream Queening at its finest!
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The Evil Eye

June 9, 2015, 12:24 pm
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LA RAGAZZA CHE SAPPEVA TROPPO
THE EVIL EYE
Italy 1962
D: Mario Bava.
P: Massimo De Rita for Cosmopolis Films, Galatea SPA, Coronet and Les Filmes Marbeuf//St & Sc: Sergio Corbucci, Ennio De Concini, Eliana de Sabata, Mario Bava, Franco Prosperi & Mino Guerrini//DP: Mario Bava//E: Mario Serandrei//M: Roberto Nicolosi (Les Baxter US version)//Art D: Giorgio Giovannini//Costume: Tina Grani Loriello//Makeup: Euclide Santoli
Cast: Leticia Roman, John Saxon, Valentina Cortese, Dante Di Paolo, Robert Buchanan, Gianni Di Benedetto, Jim Dolen, Lucia Modugno, Virginia Doro, Luigi Bonos, Chana Coubert, Adriana Facchetti, Milo Quesada.



Nora (Leticia Roman) arrives in Rome to visit her Aunt Ethel who isn't feeling well. When Auntie dies that night and Nora experiences a wild chain of events that lead to her witnessing a murder, the police, along with Dr. Bassi (John Saxon), are skeptical since there is no body. She ends up staying with friends of her Aunt's, Laura Craven (Valentina Cortese) and her husband. Nora also learns about a series of murders that took place over the past ten years, dubbed The Alphabet Murders (the victims last names followed along like the letters of the alphabet). More murders occur before it is revealed that Laura herself is the killer (she also did in her sister) and it's not the "heroic" doctor who saves her, but Laura's near-to-death husband.



Although THE EVIL EYE is usually mentioned as the precursor to the Giallo cycle, that honor should really go to Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. THE EVIL EYE is more akin to Alfred Hitchcock's fifties films, with Leticia Roman playing the Doris Day role, and John Saxon as Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart (in fact the Italian Title of THE EVIL EYE translates as THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, which is no accident). Both are bland in their appearance and actions and it is the flamboyance of the killer that makes the film memorable. The film definitely benefits from the fact that Bava acted as his own cinematographer. The B&W imagery utilizes light and shadow to effective extremes. When the Aunt dies in her bed in the middle of a thunderstorm, it acts as definite foreshadowing of Bava's technique utilized in a similar situation in BLACK SABBATH. Finally, a note about the fact that two, quite different versions of this film exists. The US print emphasizes comedy throughout, using different takes and sometimes even reshooting scenes emphasizing slapstick pratfalls and overacting. No doubt the "geniuses" at AIP required such stupidity. The European version is much bleaker and noirish, with no lessening of tension through comic relief. There are scenes unique to both versions that makes one wish a best of both prints could be created for the definitive viewing.
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Nude Girl Found Killed in the Park

June 21, 2015, 1:33 pm
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RAGAZZA TUTTO NUDA ASSASSINATA NEL PARCO
NAKED GIRL FOUND KILLED IN PARK
Italy 197
D: Alfonso Brescia.
P: Luigi Mondello for Luis Films & Dauro Films//St & Sc: Alfonso Brescia, Antonio Fos, Peter Skerl, Gianni Martucci, Enzo Gicca, & Aldo Crudo//DP: Alfonso Nieva//E: Rolando Salvatori & Roberto Fandino//M: Carlo Savina//Art D: Cruz Baleztena
Cast: Robert Hoffmann, Irina Demick, Pilar Velasquez, Howard Ross, Philippe Leroy, Adolfo Celi, Patrizia Adiutori.



Catherine's father takes out a million dollar life insurance policy and promptly drops dead. She begins receiving mysterious phone calls claiming her father was murdered. The insurance company sends Chris Buyer to investigate the man's death and he decides to get to know Catherine a little bit better. She invites him to her home where he meets her mother (who still carries on conversations with her dead husband) and sister Barbara (who is a nymphomaniac). He learns that Catherine has a bad heart and any sudden shock might prove fatal. All this comes into play as Barbara is found murdered, the threatening phone calls increase and Catherine claims to see her father walking the halls at night. As the film comes to it's conclusion, you have to wonder if Catherine will survive the night.


Al Brescia (aka Al Bradley) is my nominee for the worst Italian director. Name me one film he directed that reveals the least bit of talent (while his BEAST IN SPACE is trashy fun, it still proves my above point). As you can tell, Brescia is not one of my favorites. About all he succeeds at here is instructing the cinematographer to photograph Irina Demick so she looks like Barbara Steele from one of her sixties Gothic movies. Much like George Hilton, if Hoffmann is the star, you can bet your ass he's the guilty party. Here he's allowed to overact so his Mr Nice guy act doesn't fool you for a minute. Howard Ross as a mute (but still sleazy) stableboy has a sultry love scene with nymphomaniac Pilar Velasquez that is one of the few highlights of this film. Both Adolfo Celi (who was great in WHO SAW HER DIE?)and Philippe Leroy phone in their roles. Screenplay writer Martucci would go on to direct his own thriller in 1974 called THRAUMA. The most successful element of this film is the score by Carlo Savina. What a shame his work is so totally overlooked when it comes to soundtracks released on CD. Be wary of versions of this film that cut out the prologue set in WW2. It is vital to understanding the film's denouement.
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So Sweet So Dead

June 27, 2015, 4:20 pm
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RIVELAZIONI DI UN MANIACO SESSUALE AI CAPO DELLA SQUADRA MOBILE
Sales Title: SO SWEET, SO DEAD
U.S. Video Title: THE SLASHER IS A SEX MANIAC
D: Roberto Montero (Bianchi)
P: Eugenio Lorimonte for P.C.R Produziono & Produzioni Cinematografiche//St & Sc: Luigi Angelo, Italo Fasani, Roberto Montero//DP: Fausto Rossi//E: Rolando Salvatore//Music: Giorgio Gaslini.
Cast: Farley Granger, Sylva Koscina, Silvano Tranquilli, Annabella Incontrera, Femi Benussi, Chris Avram, Krista Nell, Susan Scott, Angela Covello, Fabrizio Moresco, Andrea Scotti, Irene Pollmer, Luciano Rossi, Ivano Staccioli, Nino Fotti, Jessica Dublin, Philippe Hersent.



Rich society women are being killed off in a number of gruesome ways. The reasoning behind their deaths appears to be infidelity as photos of the women involved in illicit affairs are left at the scene of each crime. Inspector Capuana is assigned to the case and it's obvious he'll receive no help from the victims' aristocratic husbands. Professor Cassali suspects a jealous homosexual but Cappuana sets his sights on morgue attendent Gastoni. As the murders continue, Cappuana, in a last ditch effort to flush out the real killer, arrests a mentally deficient man who claims to have committed the murders. Cappuana plan works as the real killer is offended by being associated with a mental inferior and is flushed out into the open. But not before the inspector allows the madman to bump off his own wife since he discovered she too had been unfaithful to him.



Roberto Montero Bianchi, father of director Mario Bianchi, had a prolific career in all the major Italian genres, such as Western, Crime and Horror. This film was his most delirious, out of control film and unlike say, Ferdinando Merighi, who had a great cast for LA CASA D'APPUNTAMENTO and refused to exploit it, Montero does not make that same mistake here. The actresses who play victims here read like a who's who and are all featured in various stages of sex and death—ultimately what this genre is all about. Montero is by no means an artist, but his offbeat visual absurdity reaches overload in the SO SWEET SO DEAD version where the killer, in black gloves, mask and hat is seen in broad daylight, running down the beach chasing future victim, Femi Benussi. In Montero's defense, that's more a fault of the lab transfer as in other versions of this film, the scene is darkened to simulate night time. Farley Granger's performance is usually singled out as one of his worst (no arguement for the first 90% of the film's running time), but the last sequence where he allows the murderer to kill his wife before sending him to Hell, redeems an overall perfunctory delivery. For the film's 1976 re-release in the U.S., William Mishkin added hardcore sex sequences featuring Kim Pope and Harry Reems and retitled the film PENETRATION. To date, this version has never surfaced.
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Hatchet For a Honeymoon

July 10, 2015, 9:08 pm
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Il Rosso Segno Della Follia
Hatchet For A Honeymoon
Italy 1969
D: Mario Bava
P: Manuel Caño for Pan Latina Films, Mercury Films & Peliculas Ibarra & Cia SA//St & Sc: Santiago Moncada//DP: Mario Bava//E: Soledad Lopez//M: Sante Romitelli//Art D: Jesus Herrero//Costumes: Jose Tresserra//Makeup: Elisa Aspach & Piero Mecaccia.
Cast: Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander, Laura Betti, Jesus Puente, Femi Benussi, Antonio Mas, Alan Collins (Luciano Pigozzi), Gerard Tichy, Veronica Llimera, Fortunato Pascuale, Jose Ignacio Abadaz, Silvia Lienas, Monserrat Riba.



John Harrington has inherited his dress designing business from his mother. He is also a psychopath who has murdered 5 women on their wedding night. Each death allows him to relive a childhood trauma in more detail. He continues to kill until he meets Helen, a model at his shop. John's wife Mildred is a horrid shrew who won't give him a divorce, so he ends up murdering her too. Even after her death, Mildred continues to be seen by her friends as she haunts John and keeps her promise that she will never leave him. John only needs to kill one more woman to discover what it was he saw many years ago that has so affected him. Helen seems to be that final victim as the film reaches its haunting conclusion.


Often considered the runt of the litter when it comes to Mario Bava films, the problems can no doubt be traced to its Spanish production origins. Stephen Forsyth, who looks like John Phillip Law, plays the part of a guy who knows he's crazy but doesn't really care in a very effective manner. Because of Laura Betti's performance as the castrating bitch/wife so well, you almost feel sympathy for Forsythe and he's a killer! No doubt the reason for such fine performances is related to the script writer, Santiago Moncada. He was a prolific workhorse in the Spanish film industry writing screenplays for Jesus Franco, Javiar Bardem and many others.  Unlike most Giallli, the mystery relies not on who the killer is (that's revealed within the first five minutes), but why. Bava can't resist an in-joke or two (Forsyth is watching KILL BABY KILL on his TV set), but other than the effective cinematography, he's just going through the motions as far as direction goes. 
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The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance

July 19, 2015, 7:36 am
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La Sanguisuga Conduce La Danza
Sales Title: The Bloodsucker Leads The Dance
Italy 1975
U.S.Video Title: The Passion Of Evelyn
D: Alfredo Rizzo
P: TO Ro Cinematografica//St & Sc: Alfredo Rizzo//DP: Aldo Greci//E: Pierra Bruni & Gianfranco Simonelli//M: Marcello Giombini//Art D: Vanni Castellani//Costume: Maria Luisa Panard.


Cast: Femi Benussi, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Krista Nell, Patrizia Di Rossi, Luciano Pigozzi, Mario Del Rosa, Barbara Marzano, Caterina Chiani.



It's Ireland, 1902, and a penniless troup of actors are invited to perform at Count Monarch's castle. The group of thespians consist of wimpy Samuel, nymphomaniac Cora, and the titular lead, Evelyn. They are given an inhospitable welcome from the castle's servants as they all seem to be hiding something. In a short time various members of the acting troup are murdered with everyone acting suspicious. Meanwhile, the Count has fallen in love with Evelyn as she reminds him of his long lost wife. More murderers occur before the police show up and discover the killer's identity.


It's not often I see a film with practically no redeeming features, but The Passion Of Evelyn comes close. The first murder doesn't even occur until an hour into this film's running time and by then, the vast majority of the audience may have already given up and gone home. While we are waiting we do get several sexual encounters between the various cast members but unless you get off to the pairing of Luciano Pigozzi and Femi Benussi (a ludicrous matchup not seen since Joe Spinell and Caroline Munroe in Maniac, 1980), even that bit of activity comes across as uninspired. The dubbing here is also excrutiating, in particular the voice actor used for Giacomo Rossi Stuart who sounds quite constipated. Patrizia De Rossi (who also goes by Patrizia Webley in her sexier roles) is the single attraction, but only to those of us who never quite got over the fact that we weren't breast fed as a child.
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European Trash Cinema #6.5!!

July 23, 2015, 8:38 pm
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Most people don't realize that when I was producing ETC the magazine, I also produced a few newsletter editions! Well, thanks to the generosity of Joshua Thomas Gravel, I can offer folks a chance to download and read this rare blast from the past!! It's sad that even I didn't remember publishing this (I have another half issue in my possession, but not this one). So, if you're interested, here it is! ETC # 6.5
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The Debut of ETC Soundtrack Round Up!

August 5, 2015, 8:41 pm
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A big thank you to Rob Talbot for coming through with the debut (and hopefully many more) Eurotrash Soundtrack column. During the days of ETC Magazine I roped the legendary John Bender into contributing a soundtrack column...and then promptly had to cancel the magazine due to distributors screwing me over. Thanks agan Rob for reviving this idea.

Exciting times, folks.

Thanks to the resurgence of vinyl and the ease of procurement offered by the internet, there's really never been a better time for fans and collectors of this stuff. Sure, you could say that the “thrill of the hunt” of days of yore has been diminished, and that the current trendiness in various hipster circles is occasionally irksome when you can be pretty sure that most of them don't know jack (or really care) about the films themselves. But if it wasn't for these factors we simply wouldn't have anywhere near the breadth of amazing stuff that's being reissued on vinyl these days. That said, let's not forget that Italian companies like Beat and Dagoredhad already been churning out hundreds of these beauties on CD and vinyl for decades before any young beardy types had even heard of them. Or had beards.

Brit label Death Waltz have been causing quite a stir with their lavish reissues over the past couple of years, and are still doing good work. June saw the release of Carlo Maria Cordio's score for 1981's Grim Reaper pseudo-sequel Absurdin a gatefold double vinyl edition carrying some eye-popping new artwork – complete with embossed intestines! And, what's more, the double-LP is rounded out by the inclusion of all of Cordio's cues for Pieces. Last month brought with it vinyl reissues of Alexander Blonksteiner's fine Cannibal Apocalypse score and that good old Beat Records compilation Lucio Fulci's Horror & Thriller, both with the most gorgeous sleeve art that they've ever had.



Back in March, DW joined forces with newish kids on the block One Way Static Records for two editions of Riz Ortolani's legendary Cannibal Holocaust OST, one on red vinyl with new Graham Humphreys art and one on green and burgundy vinyl in a black gatefold sleeve bearing the film's distinctive logo. Belgian-based OWS have released far fewer Euro scores than Death Waltz (last year's Cannibal Ferox and Nekromantik being the only others so far), but mid-August will see them release Michael Holm's score for both Mark of the Devil movies on one LP, and, believe it or not, on cassette! The bad news is that they seem to be nearing sell-out on these before they've even been released, so I 'd advise against any procrastination if you want a piece of that action.



Okay, so there's the flashy, show-offy stuff from our newfound hipster-friendly chums, but what of the game's old stalwarts? Well, for Beat Records it's business as usual with recent CD releases of, amongst others, Franco Mussida & Franz Di Cioccio's OST for obscure 1982 historical comedy Attila flagello di Dio (Atilla, Scourge of God),  Francesco De Masi's 1971 spy score FBI operazione Pakistan, and Armando Travajoli's score for 1979's Edwige Fenech-starring Steno smutfest Dottor Jekyll e gentile signora (AKA Dr. Jekyll Likes Them Hot).



Beat's compadres at Digitmovies also continue to be prolific, with the score for 1975 sex comedy Peccati in famiglia (Scandal in the Family) by the brothers De Angelis becoming available on CD for the first time, along with Stelvio Cipriani's über-loungey work for 1971 Lorenzo Artale drama Edipeon - Il Sapore Della Pelle.

Old hands Dagored have also been busy, with a veritable rake of classics out over the past few months that includes Morricone's Spasmo (with three different sleeves to choose from), Cose avete fatto a Solange? (clear red vinyl – careful who you show the cover of that one to!), Escalation (yellow vinyl), Comandamenti per un gangster, and The Big Gundown. They've also re-unleashed Stelvio Cipriani's La Polizia Ringrazia(Execution Squad) into the world, and Claudio Gizzi's Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Dracula OSTs, both on red vinyl, as is Nicolai's La dama rossa uccide sette volte (The Red Queen Kills... ahh, you know that already.)

Other newer players worthy of your attention are the Australian Omni Recording Corporation. They're responsible for one of my favourite acquisitions of the year thus far -  namely the first vinyl issue since 1972 of Gianfranco Plenizio's beautiful La gatta in calore,released back in April. 2015 has also seen them do the same for Morricone's II sorriso del grande tentator (The Devil is a Woman) and A Quiet Place in the Country, along with Berto Pisano's delirious Kill!And all with vintage sleeve art to die for.



So, exciting times indeed. Enough stuff out there for us to all to live like Euro soundtrack kings. Hey, who needs food, gas or electricity anyway?


by Rob Talbot
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Unearthed! Now available till they are gone, ETC #3!!

August 30, 2015, 10:05 am
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Digging around in storage I found 10 copies of ETC #3. It sports a beautiful Stephen Bissette cover from DEEP RIVER SAVAGES and highlights the issue's interview with Umberto Lenzi. Not available on the website, this is the only place you can get one (at least till these are sold out) so don't delay! Price is $10 plus $5 shipping. (overseas  airmail is $10). Inside you'll find reviews of BLOOD LUST, CLICK YOU'RE DEAD, EYEBALL, THE ICEBOX MURDERS, LA MORTE VIVANTE, NIGHTMARE CONCERT, LE PASSAGE, SHARAZ, SMILE BEFORE DEATH, THE SUNDAY WOMAN, TRUE STORY OF THE NUN OF MONZA, WEREWOLF IN A GIRL'S DORMITORY, SWEET MOVIE and many more, a detailed Umberto Lenzi Filmography and interview with the man, an episode guide to the unreleased VALENTINA TV episodes (based on the comic strip by Guido Crepax), 2 reviews of Michele Soavi's THE SECT and an interview with Soavi himself! WHEW!! just click on the link below the cover repro.




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7 Cadavers for Scotland Yard

September 6, 2015, 8:51 pm
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7 Cadavers for Scotland Yard
Sette Cadaveri Per Scotland Yard
Spain
D: José Luis Madrid
P: Sandro Amati & José Maria Tellez for Cinefilms S.L. (Madrid) & International Apollo Film (Rome)//St & Sc: José Luis Madrid, Jacinto Molina & Tito Carpi//DP: Diego Ubeda//E: Luis Puigvert//M: Piero Piccioni//Art D: Juan Alberto Soler & Bruno Cesari//Costume: Tony Randaccio//Makeup: Manolita Novda.
Cast: Paul Naschy (Jacinto Molina), Patricia Loran, Renzo Marignano, Orchidea De Santis, Franco Borelli, Miguel Minuesa, Terestita Castizo, Isidoro Novellas, Carmen Roger, Victor Iregua.



A homicidal maniac is stalking the denizens of the flesh pits of London. The police have named him Jack The Ripper because of his prediliction for killing prostitutes with surgical precision. After the death of Peter Dockerman's wife, he becomes a suspect by the police. The Inspector on the job enlists the aid of his friend, Professor Winston. Meanwhile, the killer has resorted to sending severed body parts of his victims to the police in an effort to mock their lack of success in capturing him. Although the police are after him, Dockerman continues to work behind the scenes trying to uncover who the real killer is. Ultimately he's successful, however Peter almost loses his life during a scuffle with the insane murderer.




Director Madrid (who's also made The Horrible Sexy Vampire) is one of the more inept practioners of his craft. His films are always a chore to watch, with continuity usually the first casualty. I have to believe his lack of talent is the reason the film's editor can't match up scenes from one camera angle to the next. Paul Naschy plays the red herring (which is a cheat because it would have been much more interesting if he had indeed been the killer) role in a surly manner and there's not much reason to empathize with his character's attempt to prove his innocence. There are also endless shots of him walking the streets of London which is supposed to impress us that yes, some of the exteriors were shot there, but the tedium with which they are executed defeats this purpose rather quickly. It's pretty easy to guess who the killer is early on so the film's value as a who done it goes south rather quickly. Orchidea De Santis as the wife of Professor Winston has even less to do than usual which is a shame because when given a chance, she's more than just a pretty face. 
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The Psychic

September 13, 2015, 8:30 am
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SETTE NOTE IN NERO
Export Title: Murder to the tune of Seven Black Notes
US Title:THE PSYCHIC
D: Lucio Fulci
P: Cinecompany//St & Sc: Lucio Fulci, Roberto Gianviti,
Dardano Sacchetti//DP: Sergio Salvati//E: Ornella Micheli//M: Bixio-Frizzi-Tempera//Art D: Luciano Spadoni//Costume: Massimo Lentini//Makeup: Maurizio Giustini
Cast: Jennifer O'Neill, Gianni Garko, Marc Porel, Gabriele Ferzetti, Evelyn Stewart, Jenny Tamburi, Fabrizio Jovine, Riccardo Parisio Perrott, Elizabeth Turner.



Virginia has a psychic experience and almost wrecks her car. The vision she saw involved a man with a limp, burying a woman alive behind the wall of a villa. Later on she discovers that particular villa is owned by her husband and when the wall is opened up, a woman's skeleton is revealed. Her husband is arrested for murder since he was involved with her years earlier. Meanwhile, Virginia sees the man with a limp from her vision and tries to discover his link to the crime. The psychic experiences continue, revealing more and more clues to what happened in the past and what will happen to Virginia, her husband and the man with the limp in the future.



Because Fulci followed this film with ZOMBIE, THE BEYOND and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE PSYCHIC tends to get overlooked by fans and critics alike. Which is a shame because it's an excellent thriller, with a very complex plot that relies on Fulci's sensitive direction (not something he's known for) to maintain viewer interest. His use of zooms and quick cuts to inform you that a vision is about to take place, is a clever device that helps keep confusion to a minimum. Actress Jennifer O'Neill does a fine job as the psychic who almost misinterprets what she experiences to the detriment of her own life. Gianni Garko, as her husband, comes across as a man victimized by circumstances, who, when the time is right, reveals his true nature. I also enjoyed Evelyn Stewart as Garko's take charge sister. She pumps some much needed energy into a gloomy scenario. Fulci cribs from himself here (the opening death scene is a more graphic variation on the ending he used in DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING) in places, but shows he still had valid contributions to the genre (something he abandoned later on for THE NEW YORK RIPPER).  You really should give this one a chance.
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TRASHMAN ON THE PROWL #2

September 19, 2015, 10:41 am
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TRASHMAN ON THE PROWL #2


TORINO CENTRALE DEL VIZIO 1979
Directed by Bruno Vani, [Uncredited: Renato Polselli]
Dialogue: Renato Polselli
Music: Stelvio Cipriani-CAM
Cast: Rita Calderoni (Helen Valdez), Raul Martinez (Mirko), Tony Matera

REVIEWED BY ROBERT MONELL

A quick look at the IMDB director’s filmography of Renato Polselli says a lot about his odd career. An interesting start in the crime-giallo genre, some key 60s Gothic horrors, forays into comedy, spaghetti westerns, sex drenched violent giallos, quasi experimental return to Gothic horror, porno-mondo affairs, impoverished crime thrillers and a final descent into the hardcore swamp.

 1983 Teresa altri desideri (supervisor)
 1980 Quando l'amore è oscenità (as Ralph Brown)
 1979 Torino centrale del vizio (uncredited)
 1978 Casa dell'amore... la polizia interviene (as Ralph Brown)
 1974 Mania (as Ralph Brown)
 1973 Revelations of a Psychiatrist on the World of Sexual Perversion (as Ralph Brown)
 1973 Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel trecento... (as Ralph Brown)
 1972 Delirio caldo (as Ralph Brown)
 1972 La verità secondo Satana (as Ralph Brown)
 1966 Mondo pazzo... gente matta!
 1965 Sheriff Won't Shoot
 1964 Le sette vipere (Il marito latino)
 1964 Il mostro dell'opera
 1963 Avventura al motel
 1962 Ultimatum alla vita
 1961 Solitudine
 1960 The Vampire and the Ballerina
 1957 Solo Dio mi fermerà
 1954 Il grande addio
 1952 Delitto al luna park
 1952 Ultimo perdono



I first saw this as a vhs dupe of an Italian TV broadcast. For this review I managed to view it via the US MYA DVD (retitled LUST], which has better color (the video was virtually drained of color), is somewhat sharper and is subtitled in English, the last being essential since there is a lot of complicated dialogue/narration. Still, It’s in pretty rough shape and rather soft throughout. Not that this is essential viewing for Eurocrime fans or even Polselli collectors, but it is a rather mad, compelling oddity. The kind of film which remains almost totally unknown outside of European Trash Cinema circles and had dropped off the map for decades before the MYA DVD release.



Polselli’s career as a director started in 1952 with two films released that year, the second of which, DELITTO AL LUNA PARK sounds like a crime-giallo entry from its title, cast (Renato Baldini, Franca Marzi, John Kitzmiller) and looks like one from its poster, depicting a somewhat frightened looking woman wearing a red dress (danger!) descending a staircase as a group of rather sinister faces float in the background. What does it all indicate? I don’t know since the film hasn’t surfaced on English language video/disc anywhere. There may be an Italian video, but I’m not aware of one. If there is, please notify me as I’d be very interested in seeing a possibly significant giallo or at least a lost Eurocrime title. Polselli’s career really begins eight years later with the vampire film L’AMANTE DEL VAMPIRO (1960), featuring Walter Brandi as an ugly vampire who becomes handsome when he isn’t drained of blood by his female vampire lover. He roams the area, draining victims, then arrives at the castle where he is fed upon by the beautiful countess. A vicious cycle, but who is dominating force here? Helene Remy is also featured as a dancer who becomes the vampire’s current interest. Released in English as THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA, there aren’t any ballerinas or ballets, just a group of leotard clad starlets jazz dancing to upbeat nightclub tunes. This was first major filming of a screenplay by the important, prolific Italian screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH, LIBIDO, THE WHIP AND THE BODY, THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK), who worked in numerous genres, writing some of the key Italian horror films of the 1960s and most important giallos of the 1970.  In his first horror film Polselli evidenced some talent at creating a potent gothic atmosphere and utilizing stylized camera work to tell his story. The film borrows shots and elements from Dreyer’s VAMPYR, Lon Chaney’s THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and other classic horror films but at  least has the sense to utilize superior models. Disregarding for the moment such fare as AVVENTURA AL  MOTEL and SHERIFF WON’T SHOOT, one skips ahead to the even more experimental mix of gothic and exploitation, Il MOSTRO DEL OPERA, a 1964 remixing of another ugly vampire figure, sexy dancers and delirious mise-en-scene. But his career really kicks into high gear with the outrageous giallo sexploitationers LA VERITA SECONDO SATANA (1971) and DELIRIO CALDO (1972), both featuring Rita Calderoni is various states of undress, sexual torment and emotional dysfunction. Mickey Hargitay stars in the latter as demented police psychologist who is helping the local cops look for a serial killer, who turns out to be ….himself! A classic giallo, stuffed with 70s sex and gore, complete with a black gloved killer, this film finally got a much welcome deluxe DVD release from BLUE UNDERGROUND, complete with two versions of the title along with interviews questioning Polselli and Hargitay on the film’s production. The director and actor would team up again with Rita Calderoni in the completely off the rails BLACK MAGIC RITES aka Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel trecento..., a mad 1973 vampire epic which features a witch (Calderoni) in love with a reincarnation of Count Dracula (Hargitay). At least that’s what I THINK is going on. No one has succeeded in deciphering this non-linear enterprise which combines the best of Ed Wood with the worst of Alain Resnais.. But it sure is NOT boring. It has since come out on Bluray from REDEMPTION-KINO DVD, which is probably the best way to experience this colorful historical nightmare.



 In 1973 Poslelli seemed to completely abandon all convention and good taste to make the rather vile RIVELAZIONI UNA PSICHIATRA SUL MONDO PERVERSO DEL SESSO, which I reviewed in my Trashman On The Prowl column in ETC #15. With hints of bestiality and worse, this fake Mondo effort features a psychiatrist who presides over a group of neurotics who recount horrid sexual misadventures which give us way too much intimate information. As I wrote in my review “this is one sick puppy” (and his later OSCENITA (1980) is even sicker). Orgies, rape, necrophilia, random perversions, more animal stuff, more incoherence, more ugly photography, with Polselli favorite Isarco Ravalioli(who goes all the way back to L’AMANTE DEL VAMPIRO) presiding over the decidedly messy proceedings. These things make Pasolini’s SALO (1975) look like restrained and responsible art filmmaking in comparison. Which brings us to TORINO, CENTRALE DEL VIZIO, a kind of follow up to CASA DELL’ AMORE, LA POLIZIA INTERVIENE, made a few years earlier with Polselli “working” with the obscure Bruno Vani, a dubious writer-director who is actually credited with directing TORINO…. Polselli, apparently took over from Vani, who also contributed footage to the equally frenetic, and seimi-incompetent, earlier crime thriller. Like CASA DELL AMORE, TORINO… features Tony Matera and brings back Polselli muse Rita Calderoni as Helen Valdez, an ex hooker who has been involved with a ruthless drug cartel which drops international caches in by helicopter. She knows where the drop is which makes her a target for the mob when she decides to resign and retire with her journalist husband, Mirko (Raul Martinez). But this is the Mob, and as the saying goes….  you’re either in, or in the way.

Opening in media res with a car chase through the city, the action then abruptly cuts back to the meeting of our lovers as they water-ski, dance and relate their stories via a bizarre narration, at least the English subs are bizarre. “ It was me, Helen..” “It was you.”,  “The day she died like a bitch there, under the castle.” “In those shitty streets… where I first saw you.” And so forth… . Since Polselli is credited with the dialogue these nonsense lines might very well have come from the pen of the man who wrote the equally (deliberately?) incomprehensible BLACK MAGIC RITES… . The car chase continues as Polselli cuts to all kinds of architectural details around town. One memorable zoom shot moves back from a close up of a sewer grate, pans up and zip zooms into a close up of a church spire (Jess Franco is outdone here). Cut back to Mirko chasing Helen and goofy looking Tony Matera as they try to outrun him in their dune buggy. Remember the dune buggies in Mario Bava’s BAY OF BLOOD (1971) and Riccardo Freda’s TRAGIC CEREMONY … (1973)? Something was up with dune buggies in 1970s thrillers. I guess Steve McQueen’s famous car chase from BULLITT (1968) was also a commercial influence. The zip zooming action gives way to more waterskiing, more mobsters moving in on Rita, who gets choked with her own hair at one point, more beatings for Mirko. All this continues for around an hour until a final confrontation between the bad guys, armed with pitchforks, and Mirko and Helen, armed with garden rakes! An upbeat narration ends it all by informing us that, “It’s the merry-go-round of life.” Yes, it is … in a way. A few arty compositions and the crazy dialogue are all that remain of the memory of Polselli’s earlier, more interesting work. He appears to have been totally burnt out at this point by the effort to keep up with the commercial realities of the rapidly changing market.



The one Polselli giallo I would really like to see, MANIA (1974), is the one which appears to be the most elusive of all.

  © Robert Monell--2015
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Crimes of the Black Cat

October 3, 2015, 11:33 am
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Sette Scialli Di Seta Gialla
Sales Title: Crimes of the Black Cat
Italy 1972
D: Sergio Pastore
P: Edmondo Amati for Capitolina Produzioni Cinematografiche//St & Sc: Alessandro Continenza, Sergio Pastore, & Giovanni Simonelli//DP: Guglielmo Mancori//E: Vincenzo Tomassi//M: Manuel De Sica//Art D: Alberto Boccianti//Costume: Luciana Marinucci//Makeup: Eugenio Ascani//Color.
Cast: Anthony Steffen (Antonio De Teffe), Sylva Koscina, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Jeanette Len, Renato di Carmine, Umberto raho, Romano Malaspina, Annabella Incontrera, Liliana Pavlo, Isabelle Marchal, Shirley Corrigan.



Francoise runs a model agency that is experiencing a rather serious problem. Her models are being killed off, one by one. Their death is the result of being scratched by a cat whose claws are spiked with curare, a deadly poison. The victims are given a yellow silk shaw that causes the cat to attack. A blind composer named Peter is drawn into the crime when his girlfriend Paula is killed. He discovers the owner of the cat is a drug addicted ex-circus performer and when Peter offers to supply her with heroin, she agrees to reveal who is in charge of deciding which model will be the next to die. More murders occur before the killer is revealed and takes a fatal plunge from Peter's apartment window.



Sergio Pastore's only contribution to the Giallo, his career began in 1967 with the crime film, Omicidio a Sangue Freddo and ended with his death in 1987 while working on Delitti (the film was finished by his wife, Giovanni Lenzi, aka Jeanette Len). It's a shame as he definitely had a talent for setting up unusual set pieces (the shower of glass that crashes down on Steffen in an abandoned factory) and displaying graphic gore when need be. In fact, it's the extremely violent murder sequence set in a shower—imagine Hitchcock's Psycho filmed in color and featuring the type of gore you find in a Lucio Fulci film from the late seventies—that has gained this film a sort of legendary status. That's a real shame as it's only one small part of this film's overall excellence. For once, Pastore and his fellow screenplay writers came up with a way to excuse the general poor performance usually given by Steffen, make his character blind. Now there's a reason why his character appears stiff as a board! And though Koscina was beginning to show signs of age, the denouement revealing her character's deformity is a shocking highlight in a career that usually only required to look beautiful. One of the better efforts of the genre.


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