70's Italian Horror Part Fifteen

THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE

(1971)

Dir - Corrado Farina

Overall: GOOD

 

The first of only two theatrically released full-lengths from director Corrado Farina, They Have Changed Their Face, (...Hanno cambiato faccia, They've Changed Their Faces), is one of the more singular genre films to metaphorically examine vampirism.  Here, the undead may or may not be conventional bloodsuckers as they are never shown engaging in such garish activity, but many of the hallmarks are still alluded to.  The plot itself mirrors Bram Stoker's Dracula in a few ways, namely how a lower level employee, (a Renfield stand-in), is instructed to visit his allusive boss who never emerges during the daytime and whose remote estate is surrounded by unfriendly locals.  The main baddie played with disarming cool by Adolfo Celie is even named Giovani Nosferatu just to slam home the point.  Giuliano Disperati is sort of an Italian Roddy McDowall who gets caught up in the bizarre scheme which reveals itself to be a heavy-handed yet somewhat surreal essay on the populous, controlling aspects of consumerism.  Farina's pacing faces occasional issues in the second act, but the sinister and oppressive tone is expertly maintained, plus he and Giulio Berruta's script has plenty of amusing/disturbed ideas to digest.

 

SEX OF THE WITCH

(1973)

Dir - Angelo Pannacciò

Overall: WOOF

 

Suffering a double whammy of being both borderline incomprehensible and insufferably boring, director/co-writer Angelo Pannacciò's sophomore effort Sex of the Witch, (Il sesso della strega, Les Anges Pervers), is Euro-trash of the more rightfully forgettable variety.  All of the lousy hallmarks are there; sluggish direction including static shots of people walking and cars driving away, random/snore-inducing sex scenes, repetitive dialog exchanges in only one or two different rooms, abrupt editing, a terrible hippy rock band sequence for zero reasons, the same two pieces of music played in nearly every other scene, and a beyond overdone set up of a police inspector trying to figure out which shady relative is picking off their family members in order to gain access to a larger inheritance from a recently dead old guy.  The sleaze is more haphazardly thrown in there than anything, vaguely hinging on a perverse family secret which never goes farther than some of them occasionally behaving like degenerates.  None of it is likely to appall, arouse, or lest of all entertain anyone besides the most stubborn of low-budget, Italian horror apologists, but even they will have to admit that there is far better as well as far more enjoyably worst in such a league out there.  Also, the dog's name is Twinky and they kill it, so fuck this movie.

DAMNED IN VENICE

(1978)

Dir - Ugo Liberatore

Overall: GOOD

 

The final time that screenwriter Ugo Liberatore was also behind the lens, Damned in Venice, (Nero veneziano), is one of the more interesting Antichrist films made in the 1970s.  While the occasional bouts of romantic music are inappropriate, it is otherwise a more eerily surreal presentation than standard Euro-horror generally is.  The fact that it ends up being about Satan's offspring in the first place is not directly stated until the third act, though there are various clues given that are more obvious in retrospect.  Blind, well-meaning Renato Cestiè's soft focus visions of an up to no good, mustached man with a cane interject with various deaths for the family members of he and his persistently annoyed sister, (Rena Niehaus), all leading up to her virgin impregnation which mirrors the birth of Jesus in typical blasphemous fashion.  The movie is loaded with surreal sequences that certainly seem to be of supernatural origin, yet they may or may not be fictitious bouts of fantasy or actual events.  Some of them are downright shocking as well, including one of the final ones involving Cestiè's rather unconventional babysitting tactics towards his diabolical nephew.  The sleazy elements are less in abundance that most exploitative foreign films from the period and also come off as more creepy than unintentionally humorous.  As an Italian Rosemary's Baby/The Omen hybrid with various unique plot points, it stands out well.