(1962)
Dir - Romano Ferrara
Overall: MEH
The low-key, French/Italian co-production Planets Against Us, (I pianeti contro di noi, Le monstre aux yeux verts, Planets Around Us, Hands of a Killer, The Man with the Yellow Eyes, The Monster with Green Eyes), is structurally in line with many of the alien takeover B-movies from the era, minus the Cold War fear-mongering. The first of only four directorial efforts from screenwriter Romano Ferrara, it has Michel Lemoine posing as a mysterious man wearing dark gloves who is irresistible to women and simultaneously at various scientific sites across the globe, particularly when rocket launches are conducted. It is clear to the audience right away that Lemoine's aloof mannerisms and emotionless demeanor signify that he is not of the human race and the plot plays out as various government agencies try to capture him while every woman that he meets becomes hopelessly smitten with his devilish good looks. A silly story to be sure, but one that is played straight by Ferrara from behind the lens. Minimal incidental music is used which gives it a less campy tone than one would expect, but the pacing is still typically sluggish for something clearly working within a minimal budget.
(1964)
Dir - Jean Josipovici/Ambrogio Molteni
Overall: MEH
A stagnant giallo precursor, Death on the Fourposter, (Delitto allo specchio, Sexy Party, Crime in the Mirror), brings the swinging 60's Italy scene into an old dark house framework. Several attractive people hold up in a remote castle for the weekend, they play a couple of games to make each other's promiscuous nature come to the forefront, and then some of them start dying in ways that are neither exciting or frightening. The assortment of characters largely look and act alike so it is difficult to tell them apart and when the bodies start dropping, they spend the bulk of the movie swearing that they saw something or someone while nobody believes them, followed by everyone laying around being bored. This latter sentiment is certainly transferred over the audience who have nothing thrilling to invest in here. A couple of familiar faces such as John Drew Barrymore and Michel Lemoine are present, the hip, jazzy soundtrack is fitting early on, and co-directors Jean Josipovici and Ambrogio Molteni at least utilize their Gothic abode for all of its natural atmospherics. None of this is enough to make it anything besides easily forgettable though, as if the movie forgot how trashy, sexy, and/or spooky it was supposed to be along the way.
(1966)
Dir - Mino Guerrini
Overall: GOOD
An above average Italian melodrama that was later remade as a ridiculous, sleazy gorefest by Joe D'Amato in 1979 under the title Beyond the Darkness, The Third Eye, (Il terzo occhio, Il freddo bacio della morte, The Cold Kiss of Death), is one of many genre films to star Franco Nero and Erika Blanc in the leads. Based on a story by producer Ermanno Donati who had a number of horror movies under his belt for about a decade at this point, the narrative has deliberate elements of Psycho such as the early death of supposed main characters, Nero playing an insane mama's boy who becomes compelled to kill while imagining that she is still alive, and some fitting, Hitchcockian suspense sequences in the third act. Director Mino Guerrini does his best to maintain a gripping pace with a talky script and a mostly single location, helped by Alessandro D'Eva's atmospheric and nifty cinematography. The film's treatment of insanity is as sensationalized as any B-movie from the era and quite silly in the process, plus there are a handful of macabre, exploitative details to heighten the camp, (closeups of taxidermy, overall nasty behavior, scantily clad women, etc). A masterpiece it is not and all of these elements were long familiar even at the time of its release, but it is well put together and not without its fair share of ghastly style.
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