Apparently the South Park version was animated especially for the film. As far as I am aware, it has never appeared in any of the television episodes

Texas Chainsaw (2013)

Beginning soon after the end of Tobe Hooper's classic shocker, a vigilante band of angry townsfolk surround the Sawyer farmhouse and in a desperate shoot out kill the whole family and burn the house to the ground.

Fast forward to the present day and a young woman (A very good Alexandra Daddario) learns of her inheritance of a large mansion in Texas. Once there with her friends, she learns the terrifying truth about herself as well as the realization that someone may have survived the farmhouse massacre.

The opening siege is lifted directly from Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects. However from there on we have a wholly original story proving the point that evil doesn't just wear a dead skin mask. It can wear mayoral robes as well.

A fast moving film that has plenty of gory moments including a guy being sliced in half with by Leatherface's chainsaw. The film takes another leaf out of Rob Zombie's book by painting Leatherface as a kind of absurd anti-hero, so come the climax you are just willing him to take his blade to more than one of the characters. Because of this change in tone and attitude toward the character the film loses the psychological horror of the 1974 classic and in a way becomes just another horror film, albeit a crowd pleasing popcorn muncher.

A few misfires aside, Texas Chainsaw is a lot of fun.

It was great to see so many of the original production have something to do with this film. Tobe Hooper produced and Gunnar Hansen and the late Marilyn Burns cameo. All three are all over the numerous docs and three commentaries on the extras packed Blu-ray.

It isn't in any episode of the TV show and was made specifically for The Aristocrats. If it wasn't, the content alone would probably make it unsuitable for broadcast on Comedy Central.

The last film I watched was Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, a second viewing of a beautifully animated, funny, and moving take on Carlo Collodi's classic fairy story.

The stop-motion animation works extremely well with the story revolving around an animated woodcarving, the voice cast is superb, with David Bradley giving Geppetto a tangible sense of grief and weariness, and Ewan McGregor, with a surprisingly youthful voice, is perfect as Sebastian J. Cricket.

Other cast members include people who have worked with del Toro before and some who are collaborating with him for the first time: Christoph Waltz, Ron Perlman, Burn Gorman, Tilda Swinton, Tim Blake Nelson, John Turturro, Cate Blanchett, and Tom Kenny.

It's quite a dark film, as is the 1940 Disney version (my favourite of the 'classic' Disney films), but that darkness makes the joyful moments even more delightful. Additionally, the songs are great and the setting, 1940s fascist Italy, makes the threat to the main characters very real and acts as a useful motivation for some of the antagonists. Of the songs, I think 'My Son', which Geppetto sings to Carlo, almost brought me to tears on both viewings, and will no doubt do it again.

If you have a Netflix subscription then I highly recommend watching this; if you don't and are generally a fan of Guillermo del Toro's films, then you should probably add it to your collection.

The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)

Boris Karloff plays a crazed scientist using the basement of his tavern which has been bought by a new owner to conduct experiments on traveling salesmen to turn them into supermen.

This is a madcap screwball caper on the lines of Arsenic and Old Lace from two years down the line. Everyone clearly has a screw loose including Peter Lorre as the local sheriff / doctor / owner of the local asylum - where they all end up.

Enjoyably daft.

Demolition Man. 1993.

Wesley Snipes plays the criminal Simon Phoenix, sentenced to be frozen and reconditioned, 36 years pass in a non violent future he wages a one man war. Sly Stallone know as the "Demolition Man" John Spartan who spent two years trying to capture his nemesis is thawed out and begin another cat and mouse game.

Bit of tongue in cheek humour with Sandra Bullock doing a history on the 20th century and idolising a police officer who liked to wreck buildings just to get the job done and upsetting his superiors alot. Bob Gunn is the chief of police who thinks of Spartan as a cave man who has no idea how the future is and has been reconditioned while being a block of ice, while taking orders from Nigel Hawthorne who helped rebuild society. Dennis Leary is the leader of the underground people who don't comply with the rehabilitation rules and plans a big heist....steal food from the those above him. Still a decent early 90s action packed film where swearing is abolished...F@ck That! :lol:

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The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)

It's been donkeys years since i last saw this and last night it was like i was watching a new film.

Although not one of Dario Argento's best works it does feature probably his daughter Asia's bravest performance in one of his films. Yet it's also severely flawed, over long and the final twist even i could predict long before it played out.

What struck me most was the idea of the Stendahl Syndrome. I'd completely forgotten the opening half hour at Florence's Uffizi Gallery and what the condition actually was and on viewing i was shocked as i experienced something similar visiting the same building.

What i know about art you can write on the back of a postage stamp. I've been to Italy several times and been in museum after museum and gazed upon Michelangelo's and Sistine Chapels until they became one and the same but something in that gallery in Florence completely took me over. The place was fascinating and had an indescribable power i can't explain. I've never been so captivated by artworks in my life. It was almost like i had two sets of eyes and one set was in my head with the other in the paintings. I went completely hazy and woozy, it was utterly disorientating and had to go out onto one of the balconies for air. Once i composed myself after several minutes i was fine for the rest of the visit and stayed until long after the rest of the tour group had left. However when i finally did leave i felt to hungry, as if i hadn't eaten anything for days, and ended up going straight into a Mcdonalds and eating three Bic Macs. I couldn't explain why i was so engrossed in the gallery to the people i was with. Such a weird experience.

Until i watched Dario's film last night i'd presumed i'd been affected by the heat or something but Stendahl Syndrome is a genuine condition caused by works of art. It was all i could think about really whilst watching the movie and i figure i'll always relapse into thinking about that day whenever i watch this in the future so won't pay as much attention to it as i should.

Apologies for gabbling away about something that isn't the film itself but it was a bit revelatory seeing the same thing that happened to me happen to Asia's detective in the film. Although as it's a horror thriller Asia's symptoms were let's say, more extreme and i definitely don't recall kissing a huge fish on the mouth.

The Day Mars Invaded Earth. 1962.

A Earth probe lands on a planet and aliens land on Earth taking over the body of a scientist and his family in preparation for a invasion.

Having Kent Taylor star in this is some what appealed to me as he was lined up to be the next Hollywood leading actor but never quite got there and was mainly drafted to B movies. Marie Windsor is the doting koving wife who seems to think something is wrong but is strangely brushed off. This does seem like a very low budget version of the Invasion Of The Body Snatchers but does have a entertaining plot to it and a decent basis on the invasion but can become a bit droll with some wooden acting and a bit of a confusing ending. Wouldn't say this was great but ins't terrible either.

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To be honest, your recollections of having a sensory overload and how the film made you recall a long-forgotten Italian holiday and your experiences after being in the Uffizi Gallery were probably the most interesting part of your review.

I never thought of it being a real thing that would happen to holidaymakers on a regular basis, just a fabricated plot point in one of Dario Argento's lesser films. Because what you wrote, I had a quick search online and found an article in the Telegraph from 2010 and the symptoms you described experiencing so vividly are apparently regularly seen in nearby hospitals:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...great-art.html

I'm sure I know where my Blu-ray disc is, so it's extremely likely I'll be re-watching the film this evening.

:thankingyou:

:ilovecultlabs:

In a way i think the strangest thing about it was that it happened to me. I'm not what you'd call an art lover, simply a tourist who visited somewhere famous to see famous art. I had no relationship to anything in there prior to the visit. I could imagine the paintings and sculptures of the greats having an effect on an art lover but not me. :lol:

It certainly had an effect on me that day.

Inspector Wears Skirts II

The Female Top Squad are back and this time they are joined by new recruits in which they pull practical jokes as well as maintaining their rivalry with the male equivalent. The main villains (Who only turn up at the end) are International Terrorists. Like the original this is a rather fun flick.

Return From The River Kwai

P.O.W's held by The Japanese attempt to escape from their captors. Starring Denholm Elliott, Timothy Bottoms, Christopher Penn and a film stealing George Takei, who plays the mean and sadistic Japanese Soldier who wants to take other from the sympathetic man in charge.

I was expecting this to have been around 2 hours plus so I was pleasantly surprised when it was 98 minutes. A good watch.

Wishmaster 4: Prophecy Fulfilled

More of the same really but with the added twist of the Djinn being hassled by others when it has issues fulfilling the finder's last wish. But again it's good when unsuspecting people have their wishes backfire. It's better than the 3rd installment but the 1st Film is clearly the best in the series.

Robocop

The 1987 original classic, don't think I need to go into the plot but it's still as good as ever but I'm glad it was done in the 80's because the remake proved that if it was done in the 90's or beyond, it could have been toned down.

This was certainly one I would have loved to have seen at the Cinema at the time without knowing what happens. Also the original Theatrical Trailer had The Terminator Theme.

Hackers

1995 Teen Film which sees rival Hackers, Johnny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie team up when they and their friends are framed for a crime. Haven't seen this one in a long while and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Especially the scenes where they try to one up each other. Fisher Stevens co-stars.

Also this Film has a rather decent Soundtrack.

BLOOD SUCKERS ( 1971 )
Peter Cushing leads a group of friends searching for a missing Oxford college professor in Greece. They soon realise he?s caught up in a web of superstition, voodoo and strange vampirism.
It?s well known this was quite a troubled production and it certainly seems like there are two or three different films edited together at times. But it does have a good cast ( including Edward Woodward, who appears in it for about two minutes ! ). And, of course, dear Peter Cushing is always worth watching.
Severin?s lovely looking Blu Ray also features the longest cut of the movie, including the previously lost full orgy scene, in all its hippy drippy glory.

BRIGHT HAIR ( 1997 )
Troubled schoolgirl Ann ( played by Emilia Fox ) stumbles upon a gruesome murder near her home, resulting in her dark moods and blackouts getting worse. As more murders ensue and her behaviour becomes more erratic and bizarre, does she know a little more than she is letting on?
Stumbled upon this one on Talking Pictures tv and thoroughly enjoyed it, right up to its gripping finale. Central to this is Emilia Fox in the lead role, who gives a terrific performance of a girl who clearly doesn?t know what is real or not.
Great direction and eerie sound effects help make this a little gem of a movie. Recommended.

The orgy scene is on the dvd i have. But as an extra rather than as part of the film.

I'm into art and try to do art that expresses my mentality, i've experienced this to a lesser extent than Dem on numerous occasions.
Not totally swooning or becoming detached from reality but seeing a piece of art and being overwhelmed by it, to the point where you think you need to move on as your brain is spinning out.

Some obvious ones were optical art, others were just being confronted by a picture that enraptured me, there was a extra large one by Titian that he did when his sight was going and the looseness of it caught me in a spell, seeing a Francis Bacon picture that made me recollect my childhood, or just being caught up in brushstrokes.

Maybe this is why i've always liked Dario's film and think it's one of his better later films.

You can't deny that art played a massive part in his earlier films, the gallery in Bird with a crystal Plumage, the Deep Red painting reveal of the killer, The sculpture at the end of Tenebrae.
That's why to me Stendahl seems like an important Argento film, it's more personal even if it doesn't always work at times.

Ah right - I was under the impression this was an extended scene. The back of the Blu ray states “now scanned in 2k from the original negative with additional elements from a recently discovered 35mm vault print - including the uncut psychedelic orgy sequence - for the first time ever” .

It's the film Hartford Davis totally disowned and even had his name removed from it.

Does he feature on any of the extras on your Blu...if there are any?

There?s an interview with his daughter Jean Hartford - Davis, as well as an interview with ( uncredited ) Francoise Pascal, sound recordist Tony Dawe, Hartford - Davis short film STRANGER IN THE CITY and author John Hamilton on Robert Hartford Davis, plus a couple of audio commentaries.
I?ve watched all the extras ( bar the commentaries ) and found them all very informative and entertaining.

Sounds good, Mojo. I'll have to look out for the Blu.

Is it Severin?

Here's the dvd spec from DvdCompare

Two Orphan Vampires (1997)

Two teenage girls, both of whom are blind by day, go to stay with a doctor who is investigating their problem, but when the sun goes down, they roam the streets and graveyards to quench their thirst for blood.

Two Orphan Vampires is almost a companion piece to Rollin's 1973 film The Iron Rose thanks to it's non-reliance on the usual Rollin tropes of nudity and bloodshed of which there's very little here. It's the lengthy cemetery scenes that remind of The Iron Rose and it's here that Rollin comes into his own. He allows his camera to linger lovingly among the graves often pausing to study specific aspects of the chilling surroundings - gravestones, iron railings etc. here Rollin uses the cemetery as an extra character, creating a wonderfully atmospheric ambience as the girls skip along the cold gravestones. The overall effect makes Two Orphan Vampires play in the realms of a surreal adult fairy tale.

As well as The Iron Rose the film does seem to use the same locations away from the graves as his earlier film Lost in New York, even the same railway sidings, it's this familiarity together with the obligatory cameo from Brigitte Lahaie that makes Two Orphan Vampires feel like a Rollin greatest hits movie.

Finally a special mention to debutants Isabelle Teboul and Alexandra Pic as the orphans. Unknown then and unknown now but both quite remarkable in this.

I watched two Friday the 13th films back-to back, New Blood and Jason Takes Manhattan. Picked up the UK F13th blu-ray set just for those 2 films (I already owned bds of the others). Watched with headphones whilst my wife was reading in the back of the room - we usually have similar tastes but I think Peggy would struggle with 3+ hours of Friday the 13th on just one afternoon. :) I've always seen these as two lesser entries in the franchise but I had great fun revisiting them. The big surprise was Jason Takes Manhattan, I've previously been very dismissive of it but today, I had a great time with it, really enjoyed myself. :)

Yeah - it’s part of Severin’s Cushing Curiosities Blu Ray set.
I’d never seen any of the films on this set before! ( apart from a crappy truncated BLOOD SUCKERS dvd from years ago ).
The Cushing BBC Sherlock Holmes episodes have been great too.
Definitely recommended.

Unseen Movie 30
 

A while back I posted a blog about doing unseen movies and I didn't title the comments as unseen...my bad, upto now seen 29 films that I have either seen bits of or never managed to watch all the way through, so slowly making my way through a big list.

Frances. 1982.

Jessica Lange portrays Frances Farmer. a young girl who pursues her dream of fame and fortune in Hollywood but has several outbursts and arrests and then involuntary incarceration in a mental institute and tries to go back to gain the limelight again.

I have never read the book so I can't compare it to the film, however having read on how she was treated being institutionalised, a few people have said that it was accurately portrayed and being pimped out and abused by staff. There was a rumour going around that Farmer was lobotomised and for a number of years that went around and was a false statement. Jessica Lange's performance is amazing to watch and and the film does tend to have some blink and miss moments or her naked body and a reporter approaching Farmer is she does sleep in the nude.

What makes this worth seeing is the acting. No one is bad but Lange and Kim Stanley are just superb (both were nominated for Oscars for this and never won). Stanley plays the loving, caring mother role to the hills as you see the darkness in her that she tries to cover up her daughter's mental health.

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CANNIBAL CAMPOUT - For god's sake never tell a cannibal you're pregnant, you'll end up in a gag that goes something like "now there's a womb with a view!". That gag appears in 'Cannibal Campout', and it's about as hilarious as the bit where someone mentions "I think I saw some blood on that cloth", and then ten minutes later says "yes, I've definitely found some blood this time." 'Cannibal Campout' is a relatively well known shot-on-video flick from the late eighties. Some college kids go on a camping trip and find that the woods are where a trio of comedy cannibals get their wretched kicks. Tonally, it walks a tightrope between mirth (a lot of it unintentional) and a weird sense of doom. Lots of shots of wind in the trees combine with cheap eighties synths, bad edits and wonky facial expressions to conjure a haze of meanings that aren't really there. Little throwaways like cannibals eating with their mouths full are cute, as is some of their banter. Look past the stiff acting and repetition and you'll find some really grotty gore waiting for you at the end. Watching it again after some years I quite enjoyed it, but like one of the characters says several times in a row, "we've got to get out of these woods."

DEVIL'S KISS - Pure Eurocine, by which I mean it goes for sexy horror thrills, ends up like a soap opera where nothing really happens but then somehow mesmerises with a load of dreamy nonsense. Some people are in a big gothic castle... etc. A sort of Frankenstein appears after a while. It's as snoozy as hell, but I liked it. It's a film of fragments, images that spin the mind before releasing it back to torpor. A dwarf dreams of a blue lit nude on horseback before Frankenstein strangles him. Earlier, Silvia Solar tried to seduce that same dwarf by undressing in a mirror. It didn't work, and neither does the scientist who looks like Peston and just happens to be telepathic. Characters occasionally stop the film to deliver little explanations - "looks like we hid the dwarf and the coffin in time, that's why no-one realises it's us - whew!" - when they're not spouting dialogue made up of cod scientific gobbledegook that verges on experimental theatre. The lack of tension and meaning should automatically consign it to the oblivion of duds, but it's all wrapped up in candlelight, crumbling archways and an organ drone soundtrack, plus of course there's some random nakedness for anyone who likes sleaze in castles. You could imagine Franco doing it, but it would be more warped and shorter.

Saw III (2006)

Continuing the story from the first two films Saw III is unfortunately over long at almost two hours. Concentrating mainly on the relationship between Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and protege Amanda (Shawnee Smith) as Angus Macfadyen has to negotiate a series of deadly traps in order to get to the person who killed his son in a hit and run accident.

The story is intricately put together and seemingly unrelated strands bleed into one another, it's all cleverly put into place like a yes, jigsaw. Unfortunately whilst watching it does seem like a film built on flashback after flashback which does become a little stale and negate any tension built up despite these flashbacks showing what happened following the first film. However it's the traps we watch Saw films for and once again they don't let you down, and here they are even more extreme. However none can compete with the crash course in brain surgery which once seen can never be unseen.

Unseen Movie 31
 

Capote. 2005.

Novelist Truman Capote reads about a family in Kansas that have been killed and he decides to work on a fictionalised novel of the killing and strikes up a friendship with one of the killers Perry Smith.

The story deals with this controversy between Capote and Smith with beautiful ambiguity, I have heard stories of Capote and his views on people and wasn't really expecting this to be any good but I was certainly wrong. Phillip Seymour Hoffman has pulled off simply cannot be overpraised, first he accomplishes a perfect imitation, the voice, the gestures, the walk. Then, within this caricature, he delivers a startlingly complex and subtle performance as the writer. Catherine Keener plays Nelle as the perfect assistant/friend, warm and caring but so perceptive and cruelly honest. Clifton Collins Jr.'s Perry is mesmerising, a vulnerable and sensitive and desperately yearning young man who knows he's no good. His confession is breathtaking, cold and yet devastating. From a slow start to a perfect film.

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Unseen Movies 32
 

Deep Impact. 1998.

A comet is is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth, a group of astronauts are sent up to explode the comet in space. When that fails, the Earth begins to prepare for doomsday.

This was in competition with Armageddon which shows near the same (I haven't watched Armageddon in a few years), comet on collision, people sent up to destroy it, one film shows the winners and the other film shows what can happen when the plans go to shit, yet people say their farewells to their loved ones.

Elijah Wood is the discoverer of the comet along with Leelee Sobieski who sends the finds to a professional astronomer who then doesn't quite make it to the destination and both are assumed dead, but only one is alive, that was a bit of usual politics mix up. Morgan Freeman is the U.S. President who seems calm but you can tell he is almost touching cloth. T?a Leoni has like strained father/daughter relationship with father Maximilian Schell and as they make up its it's like woosh "Surprise MotherF@ckers" with the comet that kinda got a bit of a laugh from me when it shouldn't. The acting is good and can never complain seeing Robert Duvall on screen, think this is the "now I have watched it fully, that's it" movie pile.

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Unseen Movie 33
 

Dead Man Walking. 1995.

Based on a true story of a nun who comforted a death row inmate who empathises with the killer and the families of his victims.

The film evolves round religion and justice, everyone says "Eye For A Eye", everyone wants to see justice done yet Sean Penn's character really wants to save his skin and soul yet manages to have the audience think did he really pull the trigger or did his accomplice do it all. Susan Sarandon plays Sister Helen who strikes up a friendship with the death row inmate and tries to be comfort for the prisoner yet is torn between her faith with supporting her new friend yet trying to be supportive with the families, who tries to get the actual truth and try not to judge a lot of people while dealing with a lot of hate.

This may have not bee a easy movie to make for director Tim Robbins...yeah the geeky guy from Howard The Duck movie from the 80s but somehow manages to pull it off and keep you guessing with Penn's character is guilty or not. This is certainly one to watch and re-watch again.

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I saw those two at the cinema, Mr.B.

One was good but way too serious whilst the other was laughable.

We also saw another death row film around the same tine called Last Dance. Another you don't watch for a good time.`
`
Films often came round in pairs in the 90's. Two asteroid films - Deep Impact and Armageddon, Two death row films - Last Dance and Dead Man Walking. Two volcano films - Volcano and Dante's Peak. And so on.

Watched Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. I had good fun with it despite the generally negative reviews. My wife also enjoyed seeing it. Afterlife was a better film so if you didn't like that, stay the hell away. :)

I did appreciate that it came up with a new villain and loved that you saw rather a lot of Dan Ackroyd playing Ray. It's not an especially funny film which may explain why many reviewers weren't keen on it. Not that jokes didn't land, more so that they rarely existed. It's certainly nothing groundbreaking but luckily it's still entertaining.

If I had to come up with a criticism, it would be that I found the squabbling family dynamic parts slightly tiresome. And there was a fair amount of that. I'd probably award 7/10, I'm sure it definitely helps the film if you happen to be a big fan of the franchise.

btw There's quite a lot in the trailers which didn't make it to the final cut so an extended version on home media would be appreciated.

Unseen Movie 34
 

Full Moon High. 1981.

A popular high school footballer goes to Romania and is bitten by a werewolf. Travelling back to the states he tries to come to terms with what is happening.

Another werewolf film jumping on the bandwagon of AAWIL and The Howling, yet this one is more comedy than horror with Adam Arkin playing the popular jock. I could have sworn I had seen nearly every daft comedy/horror parody going but when you fall asleep with YouTube on in the background and wake up and see bits of this then you have to go back and watch it. There is some tongue in cheek humour but nothing to make you laugh out loud, Kenneth Mars is credited but doesn't quite get a lot of screen time and Alan Arkin as one of the worst psychologist ever going.

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Tightrope (1984)

An excellent if less heralded thriller in which Clint Eastwood, who isn't afraid to explore the darker side of his persona - See Play Misty For Me and The Beguiled for more examples - in which he plays a detective on the trail of a serial killer.

What makes this edgier is the killer and the cop share the same kinky sexual tastes and haunt the same sleazy New Orleans night time world.

Director Richard Tuggle makes great use of the Louisiana locations and extracts excellent performances from Eastwood and Genevieve Bujold as a rape councilor. The themes explored are as dark as the neo noir atmosphere created in what is a top level psychological thriller.

I watched this at weekend and said same thing to guy at work today who was going to see it but didn't , asked me what I thought I also said if you liked last one you won't mind this but the jokes and humour where practically none existence, but overall it was decent enough to go watch on Big screen, I went to the late night showing and it was empty, less than 10 Ppl, im going cinema again this week to watch late night with the Devil, I've noticed it's barely playing anywhere, I know few ppl who fancy it and said they can't find cinema showing it, luckily it showing in Blackburn.

Is Late Night with the Devil the one that's basically a re-imagining of the BBC's Ghost Watch?

Yes guess it is.

It's a film based in a live studio setting, so yep I guess.
I think the vibe is what would happen if there was a live demonic possession case on a talk show, which is kinda different.
But yeah I guess everything has been done before.
To me it looks like a fun horror film, which is sparse these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeKYfneOH3o

I know Kermode is divisive but he seemed to enjoy it.

Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)

An excellent made for tv movie from Dario Argento that borrows from the master of suspense throughout from Rear Window and Strangers on a Train to Vertigo and Dial M For Murder.

It's obviously a homage to Hitchcock and film in general and is lovingly made by Argento (who can't keep from advertising his own output like The Card Player through posters and photos on walls of a local video shop) with good characters and enough exploitative sex and violence to remind the viewer of his seventies heyday and also prove doubters wrong with an efficient and thoroughly enjoyable Giallo / Hitchcock style film in it's own right.

I think "Do you like Hitchcock" is one of Argento's better later efforts.

I agree. Last night was my third time of watching. I much prefer it to any of the ones i've rewatched over the last few weeks except possibly The Card Player.

For me at least it's one of the top three of his post Opera output along with The Card Player and my personal favourite Mother of Tears.

Oh god I'd have to rewatch them all again, that would be hard work.
It's such a shame as I love his early films.

Post Opera I like Trauma, Two Evil eyes, Sleepless, Hitchcock and Stendahl as films I could happily watch and not have too many issues with.

All the rest I remember liking parts, but aspects annoyed me or I found them a bit dull.
Mother of Tears has some really good moments, but it's lacklustre and as a sequel to Suspiria and Inferno it's piss poor.

Dark Glasses i saw around Christmas and it was more coherent and better acted than a lot of his later films, it had a lot of connections to earlier works and was well made.
But there was no pulse, the killer was just a random bloke, there was tension but no real pay off in the finale.

The thing i want from an Argento film is a skewed view, something arty and striking, that's what got me into his films and made them different.
The lighting, mood, music, the elaborate unusual kills.

The Card player was a decent detective film but nothing more, it didn't feel like an Argento film to me.

It is a good crime thriller rather than an Argento classic. However when you've been making films for 34 years what new can be achieved that he hadn't done before? Had he copied other films he'd have been seen as derivative. Thinking Trauma here for one.

He's a bit limited in what he can achieve on meagre Italian budgets to make films which seem to have tens of producers in a clamour to generate some needed cash as he never really got the Hollywood break he deserved. See Romero as an example of another director in the same boat.

His other workaround that time - mid 2000's - was also less Argento than what had come before such as his two excellent Masters of Horror episodes Jenifer and Pelts.

Obviously then there's the film i reviewed which is clearly a Hitchcock homage with some Argento blood thrown in.

Giallo (2009)

I honestly don't have the dislike for this film that others have. Yes, it's nowhere near as good as Dario Argento's directorial canon up as far as 1987's Opera but on the whole it isn't a bad little horror thriller.

At times the film is deliriously seedy and borders on torture porn, but performances - even though the killer's voice kept making me think of Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen and his "You're my wife now" catch phrase - are fine with Adrien Brody and Emmanuelle Seigner always worth your attention. Meanwhile one or two of the set pieces are quite gripping.

Argento is nowhere near as creative as he used to be with his directorial flourishes and roaming camera work, but is this criticism necessary or would the film also be panned if he'd used well worn tracking shots from the past? Yet having said that, Giallo is still a nicely photographed film with impressive Rome location work and features some interesting on car camerawork.

I can accept the film isn't inspired in comparison to Dario's past movies, nor does it have a memorable score, so unmemorable i can't even remember it the day after, but viewed in the cold light of day as a Rome set serial killer thriller, a modern take on the seventies Giallo film, i'd opt for this over copycats like Amer The Editor or The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears any day of the week.