We're doing our GIALLOctober Fest again this year, covering a range of giallo films we have not covered before. Who Saw Her Die? , Don't Torture a Duckling, Death Walks at Midnight and many more!
I just saw a FANGORIA tweet about a new giallo called SONNO PROFONDO (Deep Sleep) and I have to say that after watching the trailer, it's very clear that someone knows their giallo history! Some great nods to Dario Argento and Mario Bava in here. :)
The films director - Luciano Onetti - only has this film under his belt as Director, but it seems like he may have a solid start based on what I've seen here.
I think everyone should make an effort to see the film and support his efforts!
The film is a mystery in a style that kinda reminds me of Argento. Very giallo / who-done-it, we see a murder happen, but we're not 100% sure who did the deed. We just know whoever did it...is seriously disturbed. GREAT FUN! :)
Alice, Sweet Alice is a great little film. Director Alfred Sole only made four films, but he's still producing today. (Castle TV series) It stars Linda Miller and a bunch of other "hey, it's that guy!" types, but the big go to for Alice is a super young Brooke Shields, though she's not around a long time. :::grin:::
This film is full of disturbing imagery and characters. The film's mask is damn creepy in and of itself. The famous Alice, Sweet Alice mask even makes a little appearance in V/H/S. :)
If you're looking for some good mystery, 70s horror and interesting visuals, you should check this out or re-visit this film at once!
I'm a huge fan of these BBC documentaries. Horror docs in general are very interesting with their inside looks at the genre and this one is one of the best I've seen. It's a look at Euro Horror that covers a little on the Directors and world events that helped shape European horror cinema.
Published on Nov 6, 2012
"Following his acclaimed 2010 BBC Four series A History Of Horror, Mark turns to explore the story of European horror, looking at how the genre came to reflect the continent's turbulent 20th century.
Mark Gatiss said: "What fascinates me about the story of European Horror is its sheer diversity, the sense that there's a parallel, but entirely separate story to the English language one.
"Europe is so much the home of Horror, with its myths of vampires, werewolves, witchcraft and the undead, yet it's like those myths were exported to Hollywood, leaving Europe the room to develop a new tradition as a way of processing its traumas, particularly the two world wars."
This is one of my favorite Argento movies that's not really an Argento Directed movie. For years, I assumed it was Dario at the helm here, but he just wrote the story. Michele Soavi actually Directed this one. Soavi was the Director of Cemetery Man and La setta. He has a fantastic kinetic camera style and seems to have a lot of fun with the camera. The story is rather deep and there are some hyper-strange scenes that make it a lot of fun to take in.
The idea is that the Teutonic Knights found a village that worshiped the devil - at least a few people in the poor village. So, of course, the whole village was killed and buried in a pit. And, what better way to ensure that that evil would STAY buried...than to build a church on top of it after dropping a massive cross on the remains? :) Years later, comedy ensues, of course.
Here we are in 1989. There are archivists and people restoring the church, priests who work in the church, visitors and little Miss Asia Argento - Dario's daughter - in one of the first roles for her dad. She's living in the church with the priests. Her Dad works in the church as the sacristan. These roles are always strange for me. The dad putting his daughter in roles where horrid things happen to her. It's always creepy to me.
The people restoring the art at the church and researching the library within it stumble on some information that may be of major historical importance. (When they are not trying to hump each other) This leads them down the road to sorting out the mystery of the church, but I'm not sure they will be happy with what they find.
There are all sorts of strange little scenes in this movie. A black priest who does archery for recreation when he's not getting reprimanded by the head priest. Asia and her abusive father and disinterested mother. The researchers and their whirlwind romance. And, several scenes where strange sounds and visuals come into play. It's a creepy set up. The scenes slowly work around to a group being shut into the church and unable to get out. And that's when everything gets ramped up to true, demon levels of brilliance.
The movie works for me on several levels. Some of it is due to the level of acting - real acting - present in this film. It's not the stereotypical, 80s Euro goofs here. We have people like Hugh Quarshie (Phantom Menace) and Tomas Arana (Gladiator) here and they do a great job. Of course, the second level of characters who come in to get trapped in the church are not as...seasoned. We start to get some of the B and C list folks in, but at that point it's fine - we just need them around to get possessed and dispatched in interesting ways. The performances are fun in and of themselves. Kids spouting facts and knowledge about the church, bitchy photo crews demanding to be released from the church when the lock-down happens and demonic possessions springing up due to scratches and cuts.
The story is a solid base for mayhem as well. A village with Satanic ties being wiped out by Christian Knights, only to be set free by mistake? And, a priest who doesn't want to stop the demon plague because he wants the city (and world) to pay for their sins. Great stuff. The build up does take a little while, but it's worth it. The strangeness of the whole of it makes me happy.
CRAZY stuff. Demonic possession, religious visuals, grand edits and bonkers items like people leaping through windows to escape. Stuff that makes you say, "What the HELL just happened?!" out loud. I mean, people are horribly killed one minute, then the scene cuts to something else...and it's like nothing happened. This helps to create a feeling of madness that helps sell the whole story.
There are also some uncomfortable scenes with the under-aged Asia Argento as she's peeked at and hunted by a possessed adult, then dragged off by her possessed father to be disciplined when she comes to him for help.
If you like strange Italian cinema, this film is for you!
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