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  #2161  
Old 18th October 2018, 03:45 PM
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[#08] Five Dolls For An August Moon
There’s an opening feint in Mario Bava’s Five Dolls For An August Moon that would have been a superior set up to the actual scenario, a retread of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, with a convoluted spin of an inventor fielding bids on a mysterious revolutionary formula. There’s deception after deception, and an assortment of beautiful, libidinous, duplicitous characters in typical giallo style. The first body’s journey to the walk-in freezer is creepy, draped in a clear tarpaulin, hung alongside carcasses of meat, but with each successive murder a blackly comic streak becomes prevalent, a jaunty tune accompanies, and it feels as if Bava is playfully getting his kicks where he can. Five Dolls For An August Moon feels effortless in its direction, the material just isn’t quite up to the standard of its director.



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[#09] The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail
The Case Of The Scorpion’s Tail is perhaps Sergio Martino’s most traditional giallo. The elaborately plotted narrative is a layered tapestry of characters and motives, cohesively knitted together. An explosive tragedy, featuring an amusingly inept plane sequence, results in a potential inheritance, an insurance investigation, and a series of shifty characters coming out of the woodwork. The comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock’s work are evident, particularly with the false heroine structure. A succession of misdirects feels inventive, cunning subterfuge that doesn’t leave the viewer feeling cheated. There’s an artful meld of beautiful locales, and breathtakingly violent murder set pieces, but in comparison to Martino’s other gialli, The Case Of The Scorpion’s Tail feels lacking.



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[#10] All The Colours Of The Dark
Sergio Martino directed numerous gialli, managing to infuse unique elements, making each a distinct experience. From the psychosexual take of The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh to the more procedural poliziotteschi hybrid The Suspicious Death Of A Minor. All The Colours Of The Dark is one of the more fascinating examples, melding occult elements and laced with paranoia creating a uniquely aberrant experience. Haunted with menacingly atmospheric dreams of a killer with piercing blue eyes, Jane seeks help. Traditional means don’t quite cut it, when the blue-eyed killer from her nightmares is in the psychiatrist’s waiting room, leading to Jane accepting an invitation from her neighbour to a black mass. It’s one of the most remarkable scenes from the film, claustrophobic and unnerving, and serves to heighten the paranoia for the remainder of the running time. The devil’s mark on the cultists looks as if applied with a child’s face paint kit, but any kind of budgetary or production issues are rendered null by the intensity of the film’s compelling psychosis.



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[#11] The Suspicious Death Of A Minor
Sergio Martino’s The Suspicious Death Of A Minor is layered in its delivery, blending elements of gialli and poliziotteschi. Despite the severity of the material, the plot centred around child sex trafficking, it has a light tone, verging into slapstick comedy at numerous points. Martino deftly navigates and knits the disparate genre conventions, but the 100-minute running time sabotages some of the more breathless set pieces. The characters are overly stylised, caricatures at times, the protagonist a detective with perennially broken glasses, the landlady feels the perfect match for Alphonso DeNoble’s character from Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice, grotesque, lacking in any kind of redeemable traits. It’s not Martino’s most accessible entry into the subgenre, but the hard-boiled, noir pastiche execution makes it one of the more fascinating.



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[#12] Death Laid An Egg
Satirizing the advertisement industry Giulio Questi’s Death Laid An Egg would deconstruct the popular giallo framework, delivering the conventional traits of the genre in an unorthodox way. The cycle of life is emphasised, from the embryonic opening to the bizarre futuristic chicken farm setting, playfully nodding to the cyclic nature of the genre’s trappings, no matter how subverted. Visually clinical, clean lines, arresting segmentations of the frame, a lack of the typical sleaze or violence, one set piece involving an accident with a feeding contraption leads to a far more subtle outcome than genre conventions dictate, Questi more interested in the psychology of his characters, the sociology in his dissection. There’s an uneven pace, it often feels as if the film is keeping the viewer at arms length with deceptions not just in the narrative, but the telling. Death Laid An Egg has a fascinating DNA, despite infrequent success with its formula.



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[#13] Eyeball
A typically lurid giallo from Umberto Lenzi, Eyeball features a killer stalking a tour bus through Barcelona, plucking an eyeball from each victim. Clad in a red raincoat and gloves, the killer’s look is effective, but not quite so much as the spectre of death that features on the film’s artwork. A trip to a theme park is an atmospheric and visual delight, but for the most part very little of Eyeball feels significant, lacking in style, and the flair of execution you would usually associate with Lenzi’s output. The film unfolds with an effortless pace, picking up in velocity as it heads towards a grisly killer reveal, in the film’s most ghastly set piece. Considered Lenzi’s last ‘true’ giallo, it’s interesting to note he would go on to a career as a novelist, writing murder mysteries featuring characters from the Italian film industry.

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  #2162  
Old 18th October 2018, 05:12 PM
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House on Haunted Hill (1999)



Watched this one the night after I watched the original. Didn't love it I have to be honest. The editor needs to take his ADHD medicine I quite like that the story was changed a little and that the house was previously an asylum where the inmates were experimented upon. I also liked the cast, everyone was pretty good, I always like Ali Larter and Famke Janssen and I was happy about Peter Gallagher being part of the ensemble. The set design was great too but the CGI and matte painting backgrounds were a bit rubbish!

That ending as well...

Two Evil Eyes (1990)



I've not seen this one for years, I was never a huge fan of it, but I picked up the new BD and gave it another try. Romero's story of a gold digging wife and her secret boyfriend defrauding her dying husband by hypnotism was really enjoyable and the last 20 minutes were genuinely creepy. However, Argento's story was just too grim and gorey for the sake of it and it left me feeling cold. It had one of the worst, anti-climactic endings I've seen in ages too!

I think I'll get re-watch value from The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar but I doubt I'll go back to Harvey Keitel manically strangling a cat any time soon.
I'm guessing I'm gonna lose that like from you for a bad recommendation

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  #2163  
Old 18th October 2018, 05:44 PM
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The Devonsville Terror.

In 1683 three young women are sentenced to death for witchcraft in Devonsville New england. moving on 300 years the ancesters of the puritans still live in fear of the witches curse, including the local doctor Donald plesance who has been cursed by a disease of maggots. the fears of the town then further increase when 3 women outsiders show up and they think that they are reincarnations of the witches.

I quite like this film from Bogey Man director Ulli Lommel. i remember first seeing it on Vhs on the VTC label back in the 80's and remember liking it back then. and It still entertained me again when i recently bought the 88 Films blu-ray.
I love films about witches and eventhough this isn't perfect it still has a nice spooky vibe going in throughout it's 80 or so minutes.
The witches deaths at the beginning of the film are very well done as well and include a woman being tied to a wheel, set on fire, and rolled down a hill. one cool death i must say.

Actress Suzanna Love also returns from the Bogey Man, but why does she have a ginger mullet? so unflattering.

one scene i did find amusing in the film is when a creepy guy in the town takes a shine to Suzanna and attempts to woo her by taking herbal tea around to her house and then doing a turn on the violin. her facial expression just says it all.

not a bad effort at all. and i hope that 88 Films can put out Ulli lommels Brainwaves next. another one that i havent seen since the days of Vhs.
78 out of 100. I would have given it 80 but deducted marks for Suzanna's terrible hair.
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  #2164  
Old 18th October 2018, 06:02 PM
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I'm guessing I'm gonna lose that like from you for a bad recommendation

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I didn't hate the film, it was very 90s which I quite liked. I just didn't love it!
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  #2165  
Old 18th October 2018, 06:02 PM
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Tried posting this last night but thanks to o2 network faulty connection wouldn't let me.

Pycho II 1983. Just noticed it did post im sure someone in o2 is messing with me
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  #2166  
Old 18th October 2018, 06:36 PM
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I didn't hate the film, it was very 90s which I quite liked. I just didn't love it!
Ah, just pulling your leg; it's all in love and fun

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  #2167  
Old 18th October 2018, 06:45 PM
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I don't know what to watch tonight, suggestions welcome!
I'll probably ignore them all and chose something on my own anyway...
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  #2168  
Old 18th October 2018, 06:46 PM
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What's your options?

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Old 18th October 2018, 07:18 PM
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Psycho III, 1986.

A musician on his way to L.A, a nun running away from her convent end up at Bates Hotel, a reporter wanting to do a interview with Norman about his past, soon mother begins to start her old tricks.

Perkins stars in and made his directorial debut in this third instalment which plays a bit of a homage to Hitchcock's original movie the way a actor falls down the stairs and a replica of a bell tower from vertigo and the grinning stare and the characters seem to re-enact from the first film.

Jeff Fahey is good as Duane, the musician turned helper who seems to have a different opinion on Norman and his past, Diana Scarwid plays the nun who brings out the softer side of Norman and can make mother jealous, Roberta Maxwell plays a good annoying part as the reporter who knows how to show up at the right moment., it does have its good kills and blood splat.

I can't really remember watching Psycho IV, is it worth watching and finishing off these films?
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Old 18th October 2018, 07:27 PM
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What's your options?

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Too many to list, I've decided to go 'exotic' and I'll be watching Jess Franco's Bloody Moon!
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