MALATESTA'S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD – I first watched this in the aftermath of Thrower's 'Nightmare USA', when, like everybody else, I was inspired to track down a lot of obscure grindhouse titles I hadn't even heard of. Seeing it now, I'm surprised I haven't revisited it more over the years. Prior to the Arrow re-release I'd forgotten everything about it apart from Herve Villechaize's turn as some free associating hep cat, but I'm pleased to report that there are plenty of other splashes of outlandishness throughout this unique and colourful film. It starts out a bit like one of those post-HG Lewis flicks that used to be a Something Weird staple – wooden, badly edited but somehow intoxicating because of that lost seventies vibe. Here is an all American family, and they're working at a carnival. It's not really clear what they do, but they live in a caravan. It seems we're off-season, as there's not a great deal of carnival action going on, although there are quite a few interesting characters around – a fortune teller who looks like s(he) might hang out at The Factory, a smug and slightly sinister bald guy called Blood who runs the show, and Malatesta, the shadowy presumed mastermind behind all the weird stuff. I say 'weird stuff' because 'weird stuff' is essentially what 'Malatesta' becomes after the first few minutes, when what started out as a straight but creaky horror flick turns into a free wheeling dream narrative. The all American family flounder around in a landscape which increasingly looks like it was designed by foundation-year art students, a strange universe made of cardboard and bubble wrap where crowds of ghouls hang out in front of massive projections of slient films and hippies are randomly decapitated on big dipper rides. As Steven Thrower himself says in his introduction, it's really not about plot and story (although there is one, just – some square American's get cannibalised by a bunch of freaks), it's more an impressionistic flight of fractured imagery. Very much in the 'Nam era, post Manson vein that runs through early seventies grindhouse and gives some films of that era a shimmering, pot infused vibe of dissociation, and another flick which feels like it was made by a bunch of heads with surrealist ambitions who maybe wanted to turn a quick bit of cash – see also 'Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things', 'Death By Invitation', 'Warlock Moon', 'Messiah Of Evil', 'The Velvet Vampire' etc etc etc. Recommended if you like any of the above.
 |