Movies Serious Movie Discussion

[Highway99]

3 days into 31 Days of Halloween...Am emerging myself in Italian horror as best I can this time.

So far:

10/1: Opera (1987)
10/2: The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)
10/3: Inferno (1980)

10/4: Black Sunday (1960)

10/5: Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) (amazon prime's copy of this is well nigh unwatchable and I can barely count this on my list as having seen it. Especially after seeing the beautiful images from this high def trailer https://www.kinolorber.com/product/hercules-in-the-haunted-world-blu-ray)

10/6: Planet of the Vampires (1965)

 

[europe1]

10/4: Black Sunday (1960)

Black Sunday is a bit to languid narratively for its own good even for a Giallo film but, my god, holy shit does it look visually stunning. I especially like that moment when (good) Barbara Steele first appears, towering stately on a hill with chin high, illuminated by the flickering light of the thunder-bolt, and for a split second, you believe that it's the evil witch which has already returned to life. And if you disagree:

10/5: Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) (amazon prime's copy of this is well nigh unwatchable and I can barely count this on my list as having seen it. Especially after seeing the beautiful images from this high def trailer https://www.kinolorber.com/product/hercules-in-the-haunted-world-blu-ray)

Hercules in the Haunted World has the dubious distinction of being one of only two legitimately good Peplum films in existence. That whole genre is just the worst. The other example is Hercules versus Moloch which has some major B-movie big dick energy going on.

10/6: Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Planet of the Vampires is even lusher and more fantastical then Black Sunday. It's my favorite Bava film behind The Girl Who Knew To Much. It's so highly evocative of the mysterious deadness of an Alien world. Alien cribbed a fair chunk of inspiration from it. I especially like that scene where they discover the alien vessel and uncover all the skeletons in the mists. I also like how much the female protagonist contrasts with her male colleges. Just the lushness of her face and her hair makes for such a market contrast against the male crewmembers stiff, almost robotic appearance.

 

[Highway99]

Black Sunday is a bit to languid narratively for its own good even for a Giallo film but, my god, holy shit does it look visually stunning. I especially like that moment when (good) Barbara Steele first appears, towering stately on a hill with chin high, illuminated by the flickering light of the thunder-bolt, and for a split second, you believe that it's the evil witch which has already returned to life. And if you disagree:

Hercules in the Haunted World has the dubious distinction of being one of only two legitimately good Peplum films in existence. That whole genre is just the worst. The other example is Hercules versus Moloch which has some major B-movie big dick energy.



Planet of the Vampires is even lusher and more fantastical then Black Sunday. It's my favorite Bava film behind The Girl Who Knew To Much. It's so highly evocative of the mysterious deadness of an Alien world. Alien cribbed a fair chunk of inspiration from it. I especially like that scene where they discover the alien vessel and uncover all the skeletons in the mists. I also like how much the female protagonist contrasts with her male colleges. Just the lushness of her face and her hair makes for such a market contrast against the male crewmembers stiff, almost robotic appearance.

Planet of the Vampires was my favorite of the three. Visually beautiful, and in addition to Alien, the movie also shares the claustrophobic paranoia of The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers

 

[Highway99]

10/4: Black Sunday (1960)

10/5: Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) (amazon prime's copy of this is well nigh unwatchable and I can barely count this on my list as having seen it. Especially after seeing the beautiful images from this high def trailer https://www.kinolorber.com/product/hercules-in-the-haunted-world-blu-ray)

10/6: Planet of the Vampires (1965)

10/7: Death Walks on High Heels (1971)

10/8: Screamers (1979)

10/9: Macabre (1980)

 

[europe1]

10/7: Death Walks on High Heels (1971)

10/8: Screamers (1979)

10/9: Macabre (1980)

Of these the only one I have seen is Screamers. Which... is a real dud. How can you take a gillman movie and have no idea what to do with it? It reads like one of those movies that was cut-together from different scripts, directors and editors. Totally aimless which is really disappointing because sleazy Italians with exotic locales, beautiful babes, and ghastly creature-costumes should be B-movie gold.

The only fun thing about it is the insinuation that Barbara Bach dumped James Bond to go hang out with these guys.

 

[Highway99]

Of these the only one I have seen is Screamers. Which... is a real dud. How can you take a gillman movie and have no idea what to do with it? It reads like one of those movies that was cut-together from different scripts, directors and editors. Totally aimless which is really disappointing because sleazy Italians with exotic locales, beautiful babes, and ghastly creature-costumes should be B-movie gold.

The only fun thing about it is the insinuation that Barbara Bach dumped James Bond to go hang out with these guys.

Well, its one of the few Italian jungle movies that doesn't slaughter animals willy nilly, which is a something I reject for a few reasons.

 

[europe1]

Well, its one of the few Italian jungle movies that doesn't slaughter animals willy nilly, which is a something I reject for a few reasons.

Those immoral, unskilled maladroits didn't have the talent of Lucio Fulchi who managed to get sued over allegedly killing dogs in Lizard in a Woman's Skin and then had to drag in his special affects artist into court to prove that he didn't.

Spoiler: It's really fucked up

But yeah, the fact that they did stuff like that just for a movie is fucking dark. It's kind of fascinating really that people were so callous back then that they'd just go along with the killing of animals for entertainment purposes. Says a lot about the societal mores. Animals weren't given empathy. Reminds me of in old Hollywood movies where they'd use trip-wire to make horses fall over (and then get fatally injured in the process).

 

[Highway99]

Those immoral, unskilled maladroits didn't have the talent of Lucio Fulchi who managed to get sued over allegedly killing dogs in Lizard in a Woman's Skin and then had to drag in his special affects artist into court to prove that he didn't.

Spoiler: It's really fucked up

But yeah, the fact that they did stuff like that just for a movie is fucking dark. It's kind of fascinating really that people were so callous back then that they'd just go along with the killing of animals for entertainment purposes. Says a lot about the societal mores. Animals weren't given empathy. Reminds me of in old Hollywood movies where they'd use trip-wire to make horses fall over (and then get fatally injured in the process).

Celebrated stuntman Yakima Canutt developed that tripwire system.

But as you alluded, ultimately its a cheap trick like real sex in movies...You fall into the paradox of trying too hard while not trying hard enough.

 

[Rocco Siffredi]

Black Sunday is a bit to languid narratively for its own good even for a Giallo film but, my god, holy shit does it look visually stunning. I especially like that moment when (good) Barbara Steele first appears, towering stately on a hill with chin high, illuminated by the flickering light of the thunder-bolt, and for a split second, you believe that it's the evil witch which has already returned to life. And if you disagree:

.

looks nice but man that is a dumb fucking movie. Took me 3 times to finish it but I did.

 

[Highway99]

10/7: Death Walks on High Heels (1971)

10/8: Screamers (1979)

10/9: Macabre (1980)

10/10: A Blade in the Dark (1983)

10/11: Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

10/12: The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)

 

[europe1]

10/10: A Blade in the Dark (1983)

You know, watching these Italian giallo flicks, you kind of get the impression that these directors made these movies not due to filmmaking or artistic reasons or anything like that, but due to weird and fucked-up sexual fetishes that they had no other way of fulfilling. A Blade in the Dark is basically the movie which confirms this theory. I mean, like 99% of this movie is just scintillatingly gorgeous babes being wide-eyed with terror as they're haunted by a knife-wielding rapist killer. Then a sex scene murder happens and the next jawdropping beauty gets brought in to get knifed knifed.

It's like Inferno but without all the supernatural hullabaloo and eerie worldbuilding that goes alongside it.

SYMBOLISM!!!!!

Not that I would ever be into that sort of stuff or anything.

<puh-lease75>

10/11: Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

I haven't seen this movie but honestly I think pretty much all of Sergio Martino's films suck. He made the aforementioned Screamers, for instance. Even stuff like All the Colours of the Dark, which is often touted as his best flick, is just painfully languid and woefully fails to nail the occultist menace the heroine is set against.

'xecpt Hands of Steel, obviously.

10/12: The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)

Talk about a bait-and-switch title! At least Bava knew to throw that stuff in there when he made The Whip And the Body.<45>

Honestly, this is the film I remember the least of from Argento. I remember really digging it... but nothing else, which is pretty weird since I tend to have a fairly vivid memory of his movies.

 

[Highway99]

You know, watching these Italian giallo flicks, you kind of get the impression that these directors made these movies not due to filmmaking or artistic reasons or anything like that, but due to weird and fucked-up sexual fetishes that they had no other way of fulfilling. A Blade in the Dark is basically the movie which confirms this theory. I mean, like 99% of this movie is just scintillatingly gorgeous babes being wide-eyed with terror as they're haunted by a knife-wielding rapist killer. Then a sex scene murder happens and the next jawdropping beauty gets brought in to get knifed knifed.

It's like Inferno but without all the supernatural hullabaloo and eerie worldbuilding that goes alongside it.

SYMBOLISM!!!!!

Not that I would ever to into that sort of stuff or anything.

<puh-lease75>



I haven't seen this movie but honestly I think pretty much all of Sergio Martino's films suck. He made the aforementioned Screamers, for instance. Even stuff like All the Colours of the Dark, which is often touted as his best flick, is just painfully languid and fails to nail the occultist menace the heroine is set against.

'xecpt Hands of Steel, obviously.

Talk about a bait-and-switch title! At least Bava knew to throw that stuff in there when he made The Whip And the Body.<45>

Honestly, this is the film I remember the least of from Argento. I remember really digging it... but nothing else, which is pretty weird since I tend to have a fairly vivid memory of his movies.

I need to check out Hands of Steel...lol

I'll probably forget a lot about Cat O Nine Tales as well. Its good and I love Karl Malden, just not memorable.

I've got one more giallo lined up, then I'm switching gears to fill in some of the gaps that remain in the Cushing/Lee/Price catalogue I've missed.

 

[europe1]

fill in some of the gaps that remain in the Cushing/Lee/Price catalogue I've missed.

Well that trio made so few movies that there can't be many more holes left to plug.

 

[Highway99]

Well that trio made so few movies that there can't be many more holes left to plug.

Lol yeah, I've probably seen more movies with Vincent Price than any other actor and I still have plenty to choose from. And I don't think I could see all the movies with Christopher Lee in them even if I had a lifespan akin to Dracula.

 

[Highway99]

10/13: Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)

10/14: The Tingler (1959)

10/15: Dan Curtis' Dracula (1974)

 

[europe1]

10/13: Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)

It's always amused me how Fulchi used to proclaim himself a political marxist filmmaker when the only film he ever did with anything remotely close to a social message was this one. And it's not even a particularly marxist message! Rural superstition bad! Church superstition bad!

But Don't Torture a Duckling is pretty good. Though those special effects... are of varying quality, let's say.<45>

Some of his most panoramic visuals as well.

I would also like to keep applauding Barbara Bouchet for appearing naked in every film she ever stared in.

10/14: The Tingler (1959)

Another William Castle riot. I remember greatly preferring House on Haunted Hill though. The Tingler probably has the best "theater gimmick" of his films though.

10/15: Dan Curtis' Dracula (1974)

Never seen it but Jack Palance as Dracula sounds like a riot.

He could never be as evil as he was in Shane though.

 

[Highway99]

Fulci's wife committed suicide and was disallowed a proper Catholic burial as a result, so his message in that movie was 'Fuck the Catholic church"

Jack Palance had a sort of constipated look on his face most of the time. But his Dracula was much more monster than suave or debonair seductor.

 

[Rimbaud82]

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Rewatched this masterpiece last night. Having just spent the weekend in Vienna wandering through museums, art galleries, ornate rooms and generally living a luxurious existence I was very much in the mood to show this film to my gf.

Perhaps the most impressive thing of all is that Kubrick has managed to craft one of the finest historical films of all time with what is surely one of the worst Irish accents ever put to screen...However, Ryan O'Neals bizarre accent does, in a roundabout way, point to one of Barry Lyndon's most impressive qualities. It's a truly awful Irish accent, but one reason it sticks out so obviously is that in typical Kubrickian style, everything else in the film is recreated with such obsessive, meticulous detail. Everything from the settings, interiors and costumes to the portrayal of societal norms brings the world of the 18th century aristocracy to life so vividly that it’s as if Kubrick had brought us back there in a time machine.

On my first watch a few years ago this was the quality which was most obviously apparent. The cinematography and visual composition is just on another level. As is well-known by now Kubrick even used state-of-the-art camera lenses designed for NASA so that he could capture interior scenes, lit only by candlelight. They look incredible, but the outdoor shots look immaculately framed as well. You can almost take a scene at random and it would compare favourably to paintings of the era. Of course this was a deliberate effect.

On my second watch this visual richness is every bit as prominent, but I found that I also appreciated the subtlety of Kubrick’s characters a hell of a lot more the second time around. On the first watch I enjoyed the plot as well of course. It’s an excellent tale of a stereotypical “Irish rogue” (Ryan O’Neals accent excused of course) dueling, lying, gambling and cheating his way to the very top of European society. From rural Ireland to the parlours and games rooms of fine society back again. It’s a wonderfully scathing portrait of the empty, vapid, world of appearances that is the 18th century aristocracy. A world that will soon vanish as time marches on into the 19th century.

However, this time round though I began to appreciate some of the subtleties of motivations and emotions of the various characters much more. This is frequently masked by the decorum required by high society, where everything must be subdued to preserve the outward appearance of genteel respectability. Underneath this surface of polite civility and carefully chosen words (though the mask might slip at a few points) there is a lot more to be read. I would definitely rank this as one of Kubrick’s absolute best.

 

[europe1]

and generally living a luxurious existence I was very much in the mood to show this film to my gf.

Notice how he never followed up on this point! I sense some tension in the Rimbaud's household. Stay strong bro! Don't let your relationship fall apart over one movie!

, but I found that I also appreciated the subtlety of Kubrick’s characters a hell of a lot more the second time around.

Ah heck yes this movie is just replete with subtle moments of characterizations.

Barry Lyndon really can be quite a shit at times (never can forget that time he blew tobacco-smoke in his wife's face). But he's also a person of profound personal wants and desires. Namely, his desire to have a child and find a father-figure.

The movie starts with his father being killed in a distance while he was a child. Then we're introduced to him sitting between a statuette of a child with his cousin (eww!).

The two people he shows most affection for (save his son) are his father figures, Captain Grogan and Chevalier du Balibari.

Now, hold onto your... Austrian hotel chair because I'm about to go all conspiratorial, tin-foil hat on this story.

Watching Barry Lyndon... I've grown kind of obsessed with the idea that the narrator is lying about Barry Lyndon's own thoughts and desires.

Now I can't quote the movie verbatim but I would like to present these two instantes of examples of my well-funded, non-crazy paranoia.

The first is the time where Barry stays the night with the German widow. As soon as he rides away, the narrator dismisses the occurance between the two as a tawdry little thing. Something disreputable, a fulfillment of base desires.

But... looking at Barry and the German widow's interactions... honestly, up until that point in the movie, Barry had never looked happier! And the widow seem to really dug him too! I don't think at all it's a coincidence that she's cresting a baby as they have their moment of intimacy since a son is what Barry desires the most and spending this night with her and the kid only enforced the fact that what he really wants is fatherly bliss.

Basically, the voice-over guy completely misread the emotional profoundness of the situation. He looked at it through the lens of a genteel, upper-crust aristocrat where non-marital one-night-stands are by definition disreputable and tawdry.

The second example is when Barry meets the Chevalier. The voice-over guy claims that Barry starts crying due to the "splendor of his appearance, the nobleness of his manner, and the friendliness of his voice."



But... the Chevalier doesn't display any of those qualities! He's just some pudgy guy whose sitting these eating his lunch! And he's not especially friendly with Barry either until Barry starts to weep and he embraces him.

Basically... the voice-over guy highlights the Chevalier's "aristocratic" aspects as to why Barry reacts so strongly to him. When, in fact, it's the opposite, he's just some unpretentious Irishman who Barry instantly recognizes as another father-figure. Not an aristocrat, but a card-cheating rouge just like himself.

Again... the voice-over guy takes the viewpoint of the 1800's century genteel culture. He's judging Barry after those cultural mores and therefor often impart the wrong message about Barry's nature!

In conclusion: I would like to say that I'm not crazy. In fact, I'm the only one whose not crazy!

 

[Yotsuya]

Just finished Heaven's Gate for the first time. Not a 100% masterpiece like Barry Lyndon, but that cinematography though... Incredible combination of naturalism and expressionism using mainly natural light combined with scenery and set pieces that seem almost unreal. Can't recall anything quite equal right now.