1960s Italian Horror Part Twelve - (Riccardo Freda Edition)

THE WITCH'S CURSE
(1962)
Overall: MEH

Riccardo Freda's The Witch's Curse, (Maciste all'inferno, Maciste in Hell) begins as countless other horror films do with a bunch of ignorant villagers burning a woman alive as she curses them for centuries to come.  It is in fact part of the peplum brand of film in Italy though, the cinematic Maciste character going all the way back to the 1910's.  It is neither the first clever pairing of the two genres or the first to utilize such a setting, serving as a quasi-remake of the 1925 film Maciste all'inferno.  A good chunk of screen time is dedicated to lead body building actor Kirk Morris flexing and lifting heavy things as he is dressed like a He-Man action figure and facing-off against the forces of evil in all of his sweaty glory.  The surrounding locale in which he does so in the actual Castellana Caves in the Apulia region of Italy is impressive, as are the numerous sequences using a heard of cattle, oodles of extras flaying about in torment, giants, and battles with various ferocious animals.  Silly nonsense through and through, yet amusing for what it is.

 

THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK

(1962)

Overall: WOOF

 

For the first seventy minutes of Riccardo Freda's The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, (L'Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock), things move along in a standard if not altogether unexciting manner.  Despite some pacing issues that are common with such films, the big mystery concerning Barbara Steele's possible madness, her title character husband's genuine madness, and just what all the ghostly goings on and undoubted depravity was building up to is compellingly conveyed enough.  Freda uses numerous clever, slight-of-hand directorial touches and stages some tense moments that establish an appropriately eerie mood that is less camp-fueled than the material deserves.  Sadly, this becomes a disastrous example of an ending completely undoing everything that came before it.  While the almost laughably grotesque subject matter concerning necrophilia and the like is fun in a shocking-for-the-times way, the end reveal is so insulting that such would-be enjoyment is evaporated.  Considering that Steele allegedly took ten days off of Federico Fellini's seminal 8 1/2 to film this, she probably would have been better off simply hitting the beach instead. 

 

THE GHOST
(1963)
Overall: MEH

If you have ever wondered what an Italian, Gothic horror, badly dubbed version of Les Diaboliques with Barbara Steele in it would be like, your questions are answered in The Ghost, (Lo Spettro, The Spectre, Lo Spettro del Dr. Hichcock).  Director Riccardo Freda teams up with Steele again after working together on the previous year's The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, even using the name "Dr. Hitchcock" once more for a different character, meaning "the ghost" himself, played here by Elio Jotta.  Beginning with a seance and a priest saying some nonsense about the Devil being real, neither of these elements have anything to do with the following story and merely provide a macabre jumping off point.  The atmosphere is sufficiently creepy with scattered about skulls, a couple of moments in a crypt, and some well-mannered ghostly set pieces.  The ending explains everything in plainly-dubbed English to the point that a two-year old could understand it, but it at least does not derail the entire film.  Pacing wise though, it is as slow as any other low-budget big of Euro-horror from the era and a plentiful number of edits would have kept things moving at a more agreeable clip.

 

DOUBLE FACE

(1969)

Overall: MEH

Director Riccardo Freda's closed out the 1960s with the Italian/West German co-production Double Face, (A doppia faccia, Das Gesicht im Dunkeln); one of numerous krimi films churned out at the time period which ran concurrently with the emerging giallo sub-genre.  As was sometimes done as a marketing ploy, the story here bears no resemblance to any of Edgar Wallace's works despite how it was advertised as a tie-in to Berlin's Rialto Film's batch of the author's adaptations.  Instead and in typical fashion for low-budget Euro productions, several people were credited with the story and/or screenplay, one of them being none other than Lucio Fulci.  Scoring the naturally unsettling Klaus Kinski in the lead, (who had been making a steady career with such appearances), serves as a red herring since he is portrayed more as the victim than the diabolical culprit.  Yet because of course, Kinski clashed with Freda on set and allegedly caused the latter to proclaim the notoriously difficult thespian as "The Crown Prince of Assholes", which would have been a fitting title for the actor's tombstone.  As far as the movie itself, it is poorly paced, almost non-existent on action, and forgettable save for a snappy theme song from Nora Orlandi.

1950s Italian Horror Part One - (Mario Bava Edition)

I VAMPIRI

(1957)

Dir - Riccardo Freda/Mario Bava

Overall: MEH

Both Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava can be credited with ushering in the Italian horror movie in the sound age since I Vampiri, (The Vampire, The Devil's Commandment, Lust of the Vampire), was the first such vehicle produced at a time when the country's film industry was exponentially booming, yet genre pictures such as this were not on the menu.  Freda and Bava, (the latter who acted as cinematographer, uncredited special effects supervisor, and director on the last two days of shooting), convinced Titanus Studios executive Goffredo Lombardo to let them make a horror film in less than two weeks and on the cheap once Freda produced a script in one day.  Set in the modern era to avoid period costumes and filmed on pre-existing sets, the results show both the rushed production and lack of budget.  Still, decrepit scenery and a mad scientist laboratory are atmospheric additions, the story borrows from familiar sources such as the legend of Elizabeth Bathory, and on the make-up effects side, it utilizes some of the same camera tricks that the legendary 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde did.  A historically important milestone in European horror, but it lacks the mood and flair of the filmmaker's later works and is understandably a mediocre first attempt at Gothic Euro-horror.

THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED

(1958)

Dir - Mario Bava/Paolo Heusch

Overall: WOOF

 

Recognized as Italy's first science fiction film, The Day the Sky Exploded, (La morte viene dallo spazio, Death Comes From Space, Death Comes From Outer Space), is essentially a stock footage montage that is interjected with characters in a control room panicking.  A precursor to Michael Bay's blockbuster turkey Armageddon, the story concerns an incoming meteor shower that threatens the entire planet, causing apocalyptic destruction before scientists and astronauts figure out a way to stop it.  Completely sterile melodrama is haphazardly tossed in to provide it with some sort of human element, but a couple's heartfelt reunion, a ladies man trying to smooth over a woman, and one guy snapping under the pressure by proclaiming that mankind has doomed itself due to our building of nuclear missiles, it all come off as an afterthought just to have some more dialog exchanges to break up the recycled disaster footage.  Though Paolo Heusch was officially credited as director, various cast and crew members proclaimed that cinematographer/special effects man Mario Bava was mainly in charge of the proceedings.  Thankfully there are a few above-average camera angles and shots that are eerily lit due to Bava's always keen eye for visuals, but this is an inconsequential saving grace to a relentlessly boring movie with no other redeemable qualities.

CALTIKI - THE IMMORTAL MONSTER

(1959)

Dir - Riccardo Freda/Mario Bava

Overall: MEH

Riccardo Freda and again cinematographer turned co-director Mario Bava join forces to unofficially remake The Quartermass Xperiment for a European audience.  Caltiki - The Immortal Monster, (Caltiki, il mostro immortale), was another historically noteworthy film in Italian cinema, being one of the country's early sci-fi outings that gave the careers of both Freda and Bava another push into genre terrain.  Unfortunately though, the film itself is dull, mundane, and derivative of its Hammer source material.  Some of the dialog and one random car crash are laughable in a way that is likely not intended, plus the American dubbing does not help the accidental awkwardness any more than bad dubbing ever does.  Bava handles a number of special effect shots and though he is clearly working with unconvincing miniatures and a Doctor Who worthy monster, these scenes are cleverly shot in heavy shadows that, (along with being in black and white), do enough to hide the budget constraints.  It is also a nice touch that a Mayan curse element is brought in as a foundation, though plenty of "superstitions natives and greedy white men on jungle expeditions resulting in their doom" cliches are also present.

1980s Italian Horror Part Six

IL MEDIUM
(1980)
Dir - Silvio Amadio
Overall: MEH

A formulaic haunted house mystery and the penultimate work from filmmaker Silvio Amadio, Il medium, (The Medium), packs in some spooky atmosphere and set pieces despite its repetitive plotting and typical, low-budget pacing issues.  Co-written by Claudio Fragasso and a far less ridiculous endeavor than his more infamous directorial efforts, the story was apparently inspired by Amadio's real life fascination with the occult and it features the standard motifs of supernatural occurrences happening to characters who no one believes after the fact, a bratty little kid, arbitrary ghost activity, a paranormal expert, a psychic medium, (as the title would suggest), and not one but two seances.  Said sequences are done effectively with otherworldly ambiance and disembodied voices providing the soundtrack as cinematographer Maurizio Salvatore shoots everything in barely-visible candlelight.  Unfortunately though, the majority of the movie is a bore with uninteresting characters and an overly talky screenplay that endlessly slows things down.  Ergo, it is merely passable in fits and starts and blows its potential to be an ultra moody bit of creepiness.

 

MURDER OBSESSION

(1981)
Dir - Riccardo Freda
Overall: MEH

 

For his final film Murder Obsession, (Follia omicida, Fear, The Wailing), Riccardo Freda came out of retirement after a nine year break allegedly as a means to generate finances and interest in a World War I project that never came to fruition.  It is easy to see why, as the resulting movie is an unmitigated disaster and one that several of the personnel involved have rightfully disowned.  Based on a short story from Fabio Piccioni that was also turned into an adult comic book, the rights were sold years earlier to Dario Argento, who utilized elements from it for both The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Deep Red.  The movie gets off to a rocky start, establishing a far-fetched premise where a working actor allegedly murdered his father when he was a kid and presently exhibits uncontrollable bouts of rage as well as an overall douchebagy persona.  Also baffling is that his mother, girlfriend, and a fellow co-star are all different levels of enamored with him as Stefano Patrizi portrays such a lousy character with a complete lack of charisma.  Cristiano Pogany's cinematography is halfway moody and some of the violence is unintentionally funny, but it is a meandering mess, edited to the point of incomprehensibility and miserably dull in the process.

 

ALIEN TERMINATOR

(1988)

Dir - Nello Rossati

Overall: MEH

 

Another Euro-export with at least one misleading title, Alien Terminator, (Top Line), is a quasi Romancing the Stone/jungle adventure hybrid with an extraterrestrial angle haphazardly thrown in as well.  Director/co-writer Nello Rossati, (here credited under the Americanized pseudonym of Ted Archer), and actor Franco Nero had recently collaborated the previous year on the official Django sequel Djanto Strikes Again, but this is a more meandering genre mash-up that fails to land anywhere.  Nero looks particularly rugged as a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic writer and his harsh, Italian accented, English delivery makes some of the busier dialog difficult to follow.  Speaking of Italian accents, George Kennedy is jarringly dubbed by a non-American actor, but he only has a few scenes and gets killed off early on anyway.  Even though Nero locates an underground UFO in the first act, you would only know it by the colossal amount of time that the characters spend talking about it as he runs around trying not to get murdered for over an hour.  No actual aliens noticeably show up until the last twenty minutes, but once they do, the movie finally becomes a campy hoot.  It is too little, too late to makeup for the sluggish crawl to get there though.

1970s Italian Horror Part Twenty-Five

TRAGIC CEREMONY
(1972)

Dir - Riccardo Freda
Overall: MEH

Tragic Ceremony, (Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea, Extracted from the Secret Police Archives of a European Capita, Trágica ceremonia en villa Alexander), was the penultimate film of Riccardo Freda's directing career and it blows a conventional premise with a bombardment of confused obstacles.  It has the bog-standard set-up of several young, attractive people who are on some kind of vacation/joyride/retreat, only to get stranded somewhere unwholesome for the night, but Freda and screenwriter Mario Bianchi cannot keep their story remotely straight, let alone compelling.  The perpetually naked Camille Keaton stares off into space for most of her scenes and several moments happen where gruesomely murdered bodies are discovered by the people who then take a nap or just lackadaisically relax in the sunny grass soon afterwards.  The macabre, bloody showpiece of the film, (taking place during a Satanic ritual being interrupted), is bizarrely staged and and more laughably perplexing than interesting.  Visual window dressing such as a Gothic castle, gore, and ghastly make-up are nice, yet on top of the aforementioned issues, the plot is meandering, the pacing is typically cumbersome, and the acting is flat.

 

NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS

(1975)

Dir - Aldo Lado

Overall: MEH

 

While Aldo Lado's take on Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring fares infinitely better than Wes Craven's insultingly abysmal piece of shit The Last House on the Left, Night Train Murders, (L'ultimo treno della notte, Last Stop on the Night Train, Late Night Trains, The New House on the Left, Second House on the Left, Don't Ride on Late Night Trains), still proves to be unnecessary if adequately done exploitation.  On the plus side, Lado shies away from graphically showing the story's most grisly aspects, giving the audience just enough on-screen information to loathe the movie's villains and to fully comprehend the disturbing nature of the material.  In place of overt ickiness and violence though, the pacing suffers as nothing of any considerable concern happens until past the halfway point.  This allows for us to get to know the two innocent victims who are just returning home to visit their parents on Christmas, but is also bores us with "Lemme tell ya what the problem is with the youth of today" squabblings from minor characters, a nearly five minute opening title sequence set to awful music, and a first act of nothing more than people being late for a train, trying to find a place to sit on a train, and then being asked if they have tickets to ride the train.

PENSIONE PAURA

(1978)

Dir - Francesco Barilli

Overall: MEH

Francesco Barilli's return to giallo after a four year directorial break was the moody yet narratively void Pensione paura, (Hotel Fear).  Barilli admittingly took on the project for financial reasons, clashing with one of the film's four credited producers Tommaso Dazzi during shooting.  The results are messy in this respect as the plot detours at regular intervals even if it stays atmospherically on track.  Taking place in a dilapidated hotel where dubious guest wait out the war by sexually harassing the establishment's lone employee whose mother has recently died, it has a dour tone that is enhanced by excellently haunting music from Adolfo Waitzman and occasionally stylish cinematography from Gualtiero Manozzi.  Unfortunately, Barilli's pacing is problematically listless and the story meanders endlessly with Leonora Fani's sheepish protagonist going about her daily business and getting regularly interrupted by pushy perverts who gradually get picked off by a mystery person in a trench coat.  The ending is both unsatisfying and random, but it does allow for Fani's traumatized character to settle into a life of delusional melancholy that is in keeping with the movie's melancholic agenda.

1970s Italian Horror Part Twenty-Four

THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE
(1971)

Dir - Riccardo Freda
Overall: MEH

Giallos were already a dime a dozen by the time that Riccardo Freda took a swing at one with The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, (L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco).  As the genre always insists, the dark-gloved killer is kept secret until the final confrontational showdown between them and the main, good guy protagonist, (Luigi Pistilli's police detective in this case), and numerous tricks are played on the audience to throw them off.  The blood is also tomato soup red and the kills are gruesome, which are both fine and swell elements to such movies.  As typically convoluted as the story is, the final reveal is probably one of the least exciting in any giallo, yet what really disappoints is how dull it all plays out.  The grisly murders are spread out too far and most of the victims are people who are barely important to the plot.  This is actually a case where Freda could have afforded to go a little more overboard for entertainment's sake, something that Dario Argento for one excels almost to a fault at, if we are to compare.  Freda and cinematographer Silvano Ippoliti do pull off some flashy camerawork here or there, but the director himself dismissed the final product to the point of removing his actual name from the credits, instead going with his own Alan Smithee pseudonym Willy Pareto.

 

AMUCK!

(1972)

Dir - Silvio Amadio

Overall: MEH

His second of two giallos cranked out in 1972, Amuck!, (Alla ricerca del piacere, In Pursuit of Pleasure, Maniac Mansion, Hot Bed of Sex, Letter and Whips), finds writer/director Silvio Amadio working with Farley Granger as well as Euro-queens Rosalba Neri and Barbara Bouchet.  More sexually-tinged than stylistically garish or cartoonishly plotted, (though it still busts out the convoluted details in its final moments), it bypasses the black-gloved killer/endless red herrings cliche, instead answering the central mystery at the onset of the third act.  That said, there is still a rug-pull in the last few minutes, be it a foreseeable one that finds the shady, degenerate behavior of Granger and Neri's hedonistic couple to be as steadfast as it was promised.  A slow motion, lesbian sex scene and characters who are privy to manipulate, harass, and fall in love with each other make this an erotic offering in lieu of copious amounts of bright-red blood-shed.  Still, the sluggish pacing and anti-climactic nature of the material is likely to leave most viewers checking out of the proceedings at regular intervals.  Well shot, melodramatically performed, and refreshingly against the giallo type in several respects, it also whimpers instead of dazzles along its route.

LA BESTIA IN CALORE

(1977)

Dir - Luigi Batzella

Overall: WOOF

Italian filmmaker Luigi Batzella's entry into the laughably stupid Naziploitation genre was the fittingly lousy La Bestia in calore, (The Beast in Heat).  Mixing recycled war footage from Batzella's earlier movie Quando suona la campana with unwholesome, (Is there any other kind?), torture and rape scenes, it manages to be as redundantly boring as it is sleazy.  Pornographic in nature with full genitalia and the mutilation of such genitalia being a main ingredient, the presentation is so obnoxious in its shock-value that it just becomes an embarrassing experience for all involved.  Macha Magall seems to be going through the motions as the naked, despicable Nazi mad scientist/henchwoman, having none of the icky charisma of Dyanne Thorne in the also repugnant Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS series.  Poor Salvatore Baccaro gets it worst of all though as the full-frontal, title mutant rapist who raves and grunts with exaggerated duck lips in his animal cage.  When all of the nasty X-rated mayhem is not front and center, the plot line takes over and it is inconsequential enough to completely ignore.  Something about both sides of the war trying to sabotage one side while getting information from the other, plus everyone on screen is either forgettably one-note or just an unrepentant asshole anyway.  In other words, the movie is ugly trash from front to back.