MURDER OBSESSION

Nightmare sequence

MURDER OBSESSION (aka Murder Syndrome/Fullia Omicida/1981). Director: Riccardo Freda.

Michael Stanford (Stefano Patrizi) is an actor who hasn't seen his mother, Glenda (Anita Strindberg), in quite a few years. He comes to her castle -- where she lives with a majordomo named Oliver (John Richardson of She and One Million Years B.C.) -- for a visit and invites a few of his colleagues: the director Hans Schwartz (Henri Garcin); his assistant Shirley (Martine Brochard); a leading actress named Beryl (Laura Gemser); and Michael's girlfriend, Deborah (Silvia Dionisio). Apparently Michael killed his father, William (also Patrizi), a famous conductor, when the latter was beating his mother. Michael spent time in an institution and remembers little of the incident. But even he wonders if he is responsible when someone starts assaulting the people in the castle with definite homicidal intent.

Stefano Patrizi and Laura Gemser

Murder Obsession is one of those schlocky Italian horror psycho-shockers with way too much thunder and lightning, an obnoxious synthesizer soundtrack (except for the classical music which provides moments of blessed relief), bad overwrought dubbing, and a convoluted plot line with zany twists, one of which you can certainly see coming. There is a dream sequence for Deborah that seems absolutely endless and features spiders, bats and monks (and which turns out to not be entirely a dream), and at one point some poor soul gets a chainsaw in the throat. The final scene -- invoking the Pieta -- is suitably macabre, but otherwise the movie is not memorable. Riccardo Freda also directed The Ghost and Caltiki, the Immortal Monster, among others; both films are much better than this one.

Verdict: Throw in a castle and some gore and you've got a movie. *1/2. 

PLOT OF FEAR

Eli Wallach and Michele Placido

PLOT OF FEAR (aka E tanta paura/1976). Director: Paolo Cavara.

A series of murders are tied in to a sex club that was run by a man named Hoffmann (John Steiner of Shock) as well as a (true-life) dark children's book. Inspector Lomenzo (Michele Placido) questions a private detective named Struwwel (Eli Wallach) who is being hired for protection by some of the other members of the now-defunct club. A young prostitute who was hired for a party at the sex club and who supposedly died of fright may be part of the puzzle -- or not. As Lomenzo questions other people involved in the case, he encounters Jeanne (Corinne Clery), who was at the party where the prostitute died, and their relationship turns sexual. Now he has to wonder how far involved she was in what happened and in the current series of killings. Plot of Fear has a convoluted plot a la Dario Argento, but where that director's work at its best could be mesmerizing, neither this movie nor the direction of Paolo Cavara is in the same league. The storyline verges on the incomprehensible as well, and the denouement makes little sense. The movie has some suspense, however, and Michele Placido makes an attractive and likable leading man, with a pretty Clery more than competent as his lover and suspect. Eli Wallach gets several good scenes as the detective, but Tom Skerritt, as Placido's superior officer, is on camera for maybe a total of three minutes; he did Alien three years later. The picture has no real style and the non-gory murder scenes are not filmed with any elan. Paolo Cavara also directed the similarly mediocre and confusing Black Belly of the Tarantula. Michele Paolo was a busy Italian actor who later appeared in the homoerotic Ernesto.

Verdict: Mediocre, nominal giallo. **. 

KANOPY VIDEO

The Watch List on Kanopy

KANOPY VIDEO.

There's a new free streaming video service available, and all you need is a library card (U.S.) and to belong to a library that is linked to the Kanopy service. Kanopy has literally thousands of films available for watching on line, and it includes everything from gory grind house zombie movies to classy and well-known foreign films by famous international directors and everything in between. Movies I've recently watched on Kanopy include Mario Bava's Five Dolls for an August Moon, the Israeli LGBT short Summer Vacation, a documentary on Debra Paget and Sudden Fear with Joan Crawford, among others. The service is free, but you are only allowed to look at ten movies per month

The next time you go to your library's web site, or go there in person, you can either look for or ask about the link to Kanopy. When you search for a movie, you may also see "e-video" and an arrow, which generally indicates that you can watch the movie online.

So check and see if your library offers Kanopy. If it does, all you need do is enter your card number and start an account with your email and password. And then you can watch Purple Noon, The 400 Blows, Ashes and Diamonds and The Bicycle Thieves, not to mention Italian giallo films, weird exploitation movies, Hollywood star documentaries, and much, more more. 

DARIO ARGENTO

DARIO ARGENTO. James Gracey. Kamera Books; 2010.

This interesting book looks at the oeuvre of Italian giallo  specialist Dario Argento, beginning with his work on The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and on to the appropriately named Giallo. Gracey is obviously a big fan of Argento's but he can also see the man's flaws and can readily confess that Phantom of the Opera is "an absolute mess of a film." Gracey divides the discussion of each movie into general comments on the production; the pictures'  themes; notes on its technical style; and the verdict on each movie. There are also sections on Argento's work for television and the films that he has produced, such as Demons. He recognizes Deep Red as one of Argento's most memorable films and also admires Trauma much more than others do (I think Trauma is easily the equal of Deep Red.)  Although there are times this sort of resembles a term paper, for the most part Dario Argento is a worthwhile, informative, and well-written study of a flawed but talented director's career and work. Contains an insert of black and white and color photographs.

Verdict: Recommended for fans of Argento. ***.

AUTOPSY

Mimsy Farmer and Barry Primus

AUTOPSY (aka Macchie solari/1975). Director/co-writer: Armando Crispino.

A doctor named Simona (Mimsy Farmer of Four Flies on Grey Velvet) works in a morgue in Rome. She encounters a woman named Betty (Gaby Wagner), who is apparently involved with Simona's playboy father, Gianni (Massimo Serato of Constantine and the Cross). When Betty is found murdered -- with the unknown killer trying to make it look like a suicide -- Betty's brother, Paul (Barry Primus), a former race car driver who is now a priest, shows up and winds up investigating this and other murders with Simona. Neither the priest nor Simona seem too tightly wrapped, however, with the former given to sudden rages and the latter developing a hankering for the priest (!) even though she has a sexy boyfriend named Riccardo (Ray Lovelock). Despite its title, Autopsy is not as bloody as other Italian horror-mysteries of the period, but it could be considered a nominal giallo film. The movie is absorbing and fast-paced for the most part but it bogs down in the final quarter, with a dragged-out finale, although there is an exciting rooftop confrontation at the very end. Crispino also directed the equally weird The Dead Are Alive, but Autopsy is somewhat better.

Verdict: At least there's the Roman scenery. **1/2.

THOSE BLOODY ITALIANS

This week Great Old Movies takes a look at Italian horror films, specifically those bloody "giallo" movies or gialli (the plural).

"Giallo" simply means yellow in Italian. (You would think it would denote the color red for blood, but the term derives from Italian pulp-type fiction with yellow covers.) But giallo has come to mean a certain type of mystery film or thriller. It has a broader usage in Italy itself, but elsewhere it denotes a specific type of shocker. There is usually an unknown maniac (or at least someone who acts like a maniac but may be quite sane and cunning) on the loose killing several victims in often flamboyant and vicious ways. There is a gruesome emphasis on the deaths. And a convoluted plot that may lead decades back into the past to explain motives or bring the killer to light.

Gialli were influential in some ways on the American slasher films that followed, although these tended to have much more simplistic plot lines. One could also argue that Brian De Palma, who made very classy "slasher" films at the beginning of his career, was as much influenced by Italian gialli as he was by Hitchcock.

Probably the first great giallo director was Mario Bava, whose Blood and Black Lace was very influential on later films, including those by the second great giallo director, Dario Argento. (Argento should certainly have been represented in this week's films, but when I put in my DVD of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage it proved to be defective. However, type in his name in the search bar above and many of his films will come up.) Argento helmed such gems as Deep Red and Dario Argento's Trauma, both of which are masterpieces of the genre.

THE FIFTH CORD

Franco Nero and Pamela Tiffin

THE FIFTH CORD (aka Giornata nera per l'ariete/aka Evil Fingers/1971). Director: Luigi Bazzoni.

After a New Year's Eve party, a young man named John Lubbock (Maurizio Bonuglia) is attacked in a tunnel by an unknown person and nearly killed. Investigating the case is reporter Andrea Bild (Franco Nero of Killer Mermaid), who has an ex-wife, Helene (Silvia Monti), a little boy, Tonio, and a girlfriend named Lu (Pamela Tiffin of The Pleasure Seekers), and who drinks way too much for his own good. Then there is a series of murders, with a doctor's wife being the first victim (in a well-handled sequence), as we hear an unidentified person on the soundtrack talking about how much he likes to kill people. The Fifth Cord is a non-bloody giallo film that has a nice look (thanks to cinematographer Vittorio Storaro) but which doesn't compare to the best of Dario Argento. The story is completely confusing (Nero's thick accent doesn't help), and the motivations of the killer seem ridiculous (and homoerotic in a strictly old-fashioned sense). There is one very creepy and suspenseful scene when the little boy winds up alone in a house with the lights out and is stalked by the killer. Wolfgang Preiss plays the inspector on the case and Edmund Purdom is a minor character. Nero began a long relationship with Vanessa Redgrave when they worked on Camelot; they married in 2006.

Verdict: Second-rate giallo with some interesting aspects. **1/2.

BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA

Giancarlo Giannini

BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA (aka La tarantola dal ventre nero/1971). Director: Paolo Cavara.

Inspector Tellini (Giancarlo Giannini) investigates a series of murders in which people are paralyzed with a drug and then are stabbed in the belly, in much the way a wasp kills a tarantula (to explain the title and little else). Black Belly of the Tarantula is a very confusing picture with an awful score by Ennio Morricone, who was clearly not much inspired by the material. Stefania Sandrelli plays Anna, Tellini's wife, who figures in the moderately tense finale, and also in the cast are Barbara Bach, Barbara Bouchet, and Claudine Auger [Twitch of the Death Nerve] as women connected to s spa and modeling agency. Gianinni, who went on to much, much better things in a long career, gives an okay if somewhat disinterested performance as a cop who wants to get out of the business (even as the actor probably wanted to get out of the movie). Black Belly is not an especially intriguing nor admirable example of the Italian giallo film. In fact, one could rightly state that the best thing about the movie is its title. A much, much better horror flick for Giannini was Mimic. 

Verdict: Blah dubbed thriller which wastes everyone's talents. **.  

THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES

Barbara Bouchet

THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES (aka La dama rossa uccide sette volte/1972). Director: Emilio Miraglia.

The inhabitants of Wildenbrook Castle are supposedly under a legendary curse where every hundred years a bad sister murders the good sister and several others. Speculation about this curse was started by a very old painting depicting a "red queen" murdering another queen dressed in black. When their grandfather dies, it precipitates a series of vicious murders centering around three sisters: Kitty (Barbara Bouchet of Casino Royale), Franziska (Marina Malfatti), and Evelyn, who has supposedly gone to America. We learn early on that Evelyn is dead, but who is that who is dressing up like the Red Queen and killing people she encounters, especially those associated with a fashion house where Kitty works? A police inspector (Marino Mase) works the case and his suspects include Martin (Ugo Paglial), who takes over when the original managing director is stabbed to death; model Lulu (Sybil Danning); Martin's crazy wife, Elizabeth (Carla Mancini); and others. A couple of the murders are fairly inventive, but the picture has no style whatsoever, although it does have some suspense and holds the attention if you're in the mood for a second-rate giallo. An Italian-West German co-production. Miraglia also directed The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, which was better.

Verdict: Beware those cackling queens! **1/2.

THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS

Franco Agostini and Giampiero Albertino

THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS (aka Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer?/1972). Director: Giuliano Carnimeo (Anthony Ascott).

A performer named Mizar (Carla Brait) finds a woman's body in the elevator of her building. Not much later Mizar herself is forcibly drowned in her apartment's bathtub by an unseen killer. In spite of this Jennifer (Edwige Fenech) and her friend, Marilyn (Paola Quattrini), move into the murdered woman's flat. One of the chief suspects for the murders is Andrea Barto (George Hilton), who is manager for this and other apartment houses. Jennifer is befriended by a neighbor named Sheila (Annabella Incontrera), who lives with her elderly father, a violinist (George Riguad). (It is made clear that Sheila is a lesbian who is attracted to Jennifer, but she is not exactly "predatory" as she has been described in write-ups of the film.) The masked killer breaks into Jennifer and Marilyn's apartment, but doesn't manage to kill them just yet. Most sensible people would move out of the apartment as fast as possible, but Jennifer needs to stay there so that the rest of the plot can be played out. The Case of the Bloody Iris holds the attention, but the murders will not be gruesome enough for some viewers. Fenech [The Sins of Madame Bovary] has a mostly European following, and seems competent enough as Jennifer, although Gampiero Albertino and Franco Agostini perhaps offer more flavorful performances as Police Commissioner Enci and his assistant, Redi.

Verdict: Acceptable giallo film, **1/2.

THE CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT

Shirley Corrigan and Anthony Steffen

THE CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT (aka Sette scialli di seta gialla/1972). Director: Sergio Pastore.

Blind musician Peter Oliver (Anthony Steffen of The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave) overhears what appears to be a murder plot while in a restaurant. A drug-addicted woman, Susan (Giovanna Lenzi), is being forced to participate in several murders that are very cleverly achieved. With the help of his major domo, Burton (Umberto Raho of That Man in Istanbul) and lady friend, Margo (Shirley Corrigan), Peter tries to trace Susan's trail and uncover who is behind the murders. Other characters include Francoise (Sylva Koscina of Deadlier Than the Male), who runs a modeling agency; her lover, Victor (Giacomo Rossi Stuart); the blackmailing Helga (Annabella Incontrera); and her lover, Wendy (Liliana Pavlo). There is a harrowing sequence when Peter is lured onto a roof with gaping holes in it, and a rather disgusting, overly gross lady-gets-slashed-in-the-shower sequence that is out of sync with the rest of the movie. The Crimes of the Black Cat holds the attention and has interesting aspects, but it hasn't much style. Anthony Steffen appears to have been dubbed by Edmund Purdom.

Verdict: Reasonably absorbing giallo film. **1/2.

SEVEN BLOOD-STAINED ORCHIDS

SEVEN BLOOD-STAINED ORCHIDS (aka Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso/1972). Director: Umberto Lenzi.

Someone is murdering women in grisly ways and leaving behind half-moon shaped medallions. When Giulia (Uschi Glas) nearly becomes the next victim on her honeymoon, the police decide to let everyone but her new husband, Mario (Antonio Sabato), think she's dead. Assuming she will be safe enough, Mario embarks on his own investigation after Guilia tells him she first saw the half-moon medallion with an American man at a hotel she then owned. The killings continue as Mario tracks down a heroin addict named Barrett (Bruno Corazzari) who thinks he can identify the American. But every lead only seems to cause frustration. Inspector Vismara (Pier Paolo Capponi) thinks he's found the killer, but the true murderer is only revealed at the climax. Seven Blood-Stained Orchids is quite entertaining, with some gruesome if not too repulsive murder sequences, one involving a power drill that reminds one more of the American slasher films that would follow. Umberto Lenzi also directed the very weird Spasmo. If you're hoping to see something stylish like a Dario Argento film, you'll be disappointed, but at least the movie doesn't bore.

Verdict: Enjoyable minor giallo. **1/2.

THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW

Craig Hill and Lino Capolicchio

THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW (aka Solamente nero/1978). Director: Antonio Bido.

Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) comes to Venice to visit his brother, the priest Don Paolo (Craig Hill), who lives in a small town on an island near the city. Haunted by an incident where a young woman was murdered years ago, Stefamo's memories are awakened by a series of new murders. Stefano begins an relationship with Sandra (Stefania Casini of Suspiria), whose own stepmother (Laura Nucci) becomes one of the victims of a fiendish killer. The Bloodstained Shadow is a reasonably intriguing Italian thriller/giallo film whose murders are not quite as gory as in similar films, but we do have the sequence when a woman's head is thrust into a fireplace and is engulfed in flames. Other characters, suspects, and victims include a midwife, Signora Nardi (Juliette Maynial); Count Pedrazzi (Massimo Serato), a music teacher whom Don Paolo accuses of fiddling with his young male students (a sequence which given recent events in the Catholic church may raise some eyebrows); and  Dr. Aloisi (Sergio Mioni), among others. After a few red herrings and twists, a satisfying conclusion unmasks the killer and also provides a mostly believable motivation. The film's production is greatly enhanced by location filming and the brooding shots of mysterious Venice and environs. Craig Hill [Detective Story] was a B movie leading man and TV performer in the fifties and sixties who later did much work in Italy. Juliette Maynial was most famous for Eyes Without a Face. 

Verdict: Has its flaws, and it's not especially stylish, but it's one of the better giallo films. ***. 

A BLADE IN THE DARK

Anny Papa and Andrea Occhipinti

A BLADE IN THE DARK aka La casa con la scala nel buoi/1983). Director: Lamberto Bava.

Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti) is working on a score for a horror film directed by Sandra (Anny Papa). His friend, Tony (Michele Soavi), lets him stay in a large and beautiful villa that he manages, and Bruno quickly encounters two women, Katia (Valeria Cavalli) and Angela (Fabiola Toledo), both of whom are horribly murdered on the estate. Bruno also has a girlfriend named Julia (Lara Lamberti), about whom he becomes suspicious. Investigating, Bruno discovers that their deaths may have something to do with the picture that Sandra is working on. A Blade in the Dark boasts a highly tense and suspenseful approach, although most viewers will see the ending a mile away. The murder sequences are sadistic and gruesome. The music by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis is very reminiscent-- in fact, downright imitative --  of the scores by Goblin for such Dario Argento films as Deep Red. A Blade in the Dark imitates Argento's films with its half giggling-half crying maniac and the convoluted plotline, but it's not in the same league as that director's work. Nevertheless, Bava, the son of Mario Bava, manages to hold the viewer's attention and keep him riveted during key sequences. In this picture, at least, Bava is clearly influenced by his father, Argento, and even Brian De Palma. Actor Michele Soavi also directed horror films such as Stagefright (1987).

Verdict: Real creepy movie with several very bloody sequences. ***.

DARIO ARGENTO AND THE ITALIAN GIALLO FILM

Dario Argento

DARIO ARGENTO.

Why do I like many of the films of Italian horrormeister Dario Argento, and dislike others just as much? Part of this is Argento's over-reliance on gore (although this can be very effective in some movies) and his acceptance of screenplays that, to be charitable, need a lot of polishing that they don't always get.

On the other hand, if you study Argento's films, especially his great ones, you can easily see that the Italian giallo filmmaker is miles ahead of the hack (no pun intended) directors of "mad slasher" schlock like, say, most of the Friday the 13th films and their ilk. His films generally have plenty of style, and his best movies are undeniably creepy and suspenseful and have some kind of (slightly demented) mind behind them, as well as some bravura sequences.

Argento never got mainstream respectability, like Hitchcock, but Argento is not in Hitchcock's league as a filmmaker. Some of his fans are simply interested in the gory shock scenes (Argento tends to cater to them too much) even though there are those of us who also enjoy the twisting plots and tense moments that are virtually in all of his movies. As Argento got older, he perhaps tried too hard to capture the young American mad slasher/splatter movie crowd even though he was capable of far greater things. Argento has never quite fulfilled his potential despite such memorable films as Deep Red and Trauma. (Argento's first film was the creditable The Bird with the Crystal Plumage in 1970).

Argento's other films are of varying quality. Great: Sleepless. Good: Phenomena; The Card Player; Cat O'Nine Tails. Mediocre: Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Bad: Do You Like Hitchcock?; Giallo. And there are others.

Argento's films were clearly influential on such diverse movies as The Eyes of Laura Mars and 88 Minutes, among others. Argento, who is now seventy-five, last directed Dracula 3D, and his next film will be the serial killer thriller The Sandman.

Below you will find reviews of some of Argento's other movies, as well as a write-up on a book about the director and his work.

THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE

A dramatic moment in Evelyn

THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE (aka La notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba/1971). Director: Emilio Miraglia. 

This zesty Italian horror film combines several sub-genres to good if weird effect. First we learn from the very first that the "hero," Lord Alan Cunningham (Anthony Steffen) is a serial killer who brings prostitutes to his mouldering castle so he can slay them. Alan proposes to Gladys (Marina Malfatti) the first night that he meets her, and she winds up ensconced in the newly refurbished manor as Lady Cunningham. Then the movie becomes a ghost story as she and others swear that they see the spectre of Evelyn, Alan's first wife, haunting the castle. If that weren't enough, the picture metamorphoses into a whodunit as someone (other than the obvious suspect, Alan) begins wiping out the rest of the cast one by one. Poor Aunt Agatha (Joan C. Davis), in the film's most vomitous scene, becomes pet food for the family foxes. Suspects and victims include Albert (Roberto Maldera), Evelyn's sleazy brother; George (Enzo Tarascio/Rod Murdock), Alan's cousin; family retainer Farley (Umberto Raho); and the handsome family physician, Dr. Timberlane (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart). While at times Evelyn plays like bad softcore porn, it is quite absorbing, unpredictable, and suspenseful, although you may still be a bit confused when the movie is over.

Verdict: Like an Italian verismo opera on uppers. ***.

GIALLO

GIALLO (2009). Director: Dario Argento.

Linda (Emmanuelle Seigner) is horrified to learn that her sister, Celine, a model, is the latest in a line of women kidnapped by a disfigured, unknown maniac. She teams up with an American F.B.I man working in Rome, Inspector Enzo Avolfi (Adrian Brody), to try to save her sister and trap her abductor. This is Dario Argento treading water, as the film is well-acted [hard to figure how or why Brody wound up in this but he's made other bad film choices after winning an Oscar for The Pianist in 2002] but not very absorbing or interesting. Argento has made much, much better films than this, but at least it's slightly better than his tedious 2005 telefilm Do You Like Hitchcock? Brody also appeared in Predators, Hollywoodland --which showcased him much more as an actor -- and the most recent King Kong, all of which, despite their flaws, are better than this disappointing "thriller."

Verdict: Not the Argento you remember. **.