Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975)

 

I had to produce a video in defense of one of my favorite giallo films (...with one of the hardest titles to speak about in public...) STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER  ( Nude per l'assassino ) from 1975. A wild ride I really enjoy PACKED with giallo goodness and J&B!  And....the lovely giallo Queen Edwige Fenech.

GIALLOctober 2020: Eye in the Labyrinth (1972)

 Looking at a little giallo nugget that seems to be well loved in the Giallo Community.

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The Sublet (2015)

QUICKIE REVIEW: THE SUBLET

Well well well....here we go again with the "Hmph....that was actually pretty good," from me, but there it is...it was pretty good, actually.

Now, I don't want to give too much away here. It can be tricky with these movies.

So, Joanna and Jeff have a baby, lots of new pressures in their lives due to it, and have just moved into a sublet that proves to be a perfect pressure cooker for the stuff they are dealing with. They fall deeper and deeper into the new baby fire as they try to make Jeff's career as an actor work with Joanna as a full time stay at home mother - a job that is filled with daily pressures as it is.

But....is theirs the only sadness the sublet has seen? Is their pressure strictly related to the items listed above...or is there more to it?

I'm sure the trailer gives a lot away. :::grin:::

Basically a one-set-show, Tianna Nori and Mark Matechuk do grand jobs in what could laps into soap opera territory with ease. They get the new parent free fall right. This is really due to the script from Alyson Richards and director John Ainslie. Things get more and more strange as the movie goes on and what started off as a rather simple tale devolves into something more and more complex and off-putting as things go along. 

( I love when the detectives arrive - a fun performance from Mark Ettlinger and Jeff Sinasac! )

All in all, this was a fun watch! Currently on....you guessed it! SHUDDER!  :)

HORROR SHOW VIDEO: Independent Horror Films

Hey there Horror Fans! 

Well, I'm giving a new format a try for the HORROR SHOW VIDEO SERIES. I'd love to have your feedback. One thing off the bat that I can see here is the audio sync and overall time of the video, but both of those items will be addressed next round.

We're coming up to the SPOOKY season and I have many more of these videos planned. This new, quick-and-dirty format will help me to get more content out to you in a timely manor.

With that said, ENJOY!

Hellmington

Part police procedural, part cult horror, and part crime drama, HELLMINGTON brings a lot to the table. And, like a large feast spread before you, you're going to like a lot that there, but you're also gonna wanna pass over some of what's offered up.

From IMDB:
A detective investigates her father's dying words; the name of a girl who has been missing for 9 years.

As usual, I'll kinda lead with this I wasn't thrilled with, but that others may love.

They had a heck of a story rolling that kept me engaged and thinking the whole time through, but where they veered off with it at the end didn't appeal to me 100%. That being said, I'm pretty sure it's a personal thing and that it's something that may change with an additional viewing. (Scheduled for the near future)   It's not like they made it a comedy at the end or something, but it just was a choice that had me scrunching my face up for a moment muttering, "Really? Hmmmm....ok..."  I guarantee that people will call me crazy for that.

Moving on.



What an engaging film this was! The characters were really well fleshed out, the relationships made sense, and the pace was great. Nicola Correia-Damude was great in the lead and managed to play it with a grace that sold it. She could have been overdramatic and big with it, but went into the realm of "dead inside and broken", then on task wonderfully. I have to look for her in THE BOYS on Amazon where she plays Elena. Michael Ironside is grand as usual and his performance is super solid. The supporting cast is all on par, turning in solid performances and believability that was really needed in order to care about a serious film like this. I've seen other films aim for this level, but the acting comes off as that of a college drama 100 play. This is professional all the way and helps to draw the audience in.

Hellmington was written and directed by Justin Hewitt-Drakulic and Alex Lee Williams which always interests me. I've written a comic with a friend of mine ( Gothic/horror/romance tale TAKING EDEN - shameless plug ) and that was a challenge to coordinate the path and characters. Then to take the story and direct it with someone else....it just must be challenging on many levels. But, the combination works and works very well in this case. The duo nail a fantastic flow and hit the PROFESSIONAL LOOK target without question. The film is beautiful and dreamy in parts and raw and gritty in others. The soundtrack backs the visuals beautifully as well. The whole package works like a charm!

Lastly, the overall plot. Gripes aside, this story had a lot to love for me. I am a big fan of something going naturally astray from the path. When you are moving along and think things are going to go a certain way, only to have them change, then change again in a naturalistic way (not jarring and awkward) it makes me happy. Films like LAKE BODOM and...keeping the lake theme....LAKE MUNGO did this and really brought a smile to my face. It's almost like a surprise party.  Hellmington does this, though some of the elements are eluded to in the trailer....




So, is the film worth a watch. Oh yes it is! I was super happy with the way things turned out on the whole and I'm looking forward to giving it a rewatch.  Totally worth a viddy!!!!

Bloody Ballet

Ok, I'm going to come out and say the one "flaw" that I had with BLOODY BALLET (2017) - the plotting was strange and confused. I was scratching my head through the whole film. "Wait...we're back at this guy? But...ok....  Oh...and now we're back with her? Gees...ok..." :::sigh::: That being said...I really enjoyed everything else immensely!

The aforementioned plot revolves around a woman in the ballet and a man doing...ghost research? ANYWAY...people start dying in horrible ways. Don't get your hopes up for a bloody ballet - there isn't one. And, if you choose to give this a watch, stick with it through the one of two parts where it seems to be running off the rails. They get back on track rather quickly. Moving on!

I'm not 100% sure they were going for this (though, if they weren't, they nailed it like a blindfolded bullseye!) , but they nailed the "70's girl think she's going mad as people die around her in horrible ways at the hands of a creepy killer" film style that I love. They really hit many of the marks.



She visits her psychiatrist trying to work out answers.
She keeps getting reports that her friends and fellow ballerinas are dead.
And, she wonders if her past is playing into all of it - the gruesome murder of her parents at the hand of an unknown killer.





It's 70s Italian thriller style perfection from this American thrill. The film also slips some wild synth score nuggets into the mix that drives the vibe home expertly.

And they go for it on the gore front as well. They really go for it. There are some nasty little bits and some creepy crap scenes that really made me smile.  Bloody Ballet manages to slip through several genres rather expertly - the main thing that held my attention all the way through the film.  Slashers, ghosts, some gialli love...all twisting around a little psychological horror. It was a lot of fun!






The cinematography is fantastic and the production quality is grand. The acting is solid and fights through the storyline flaws managing to make the film work even if there are some odd holes and disjointed story connections. I totally get what they were going for and by the end I did find myself nodding and shrugging like, "Why...they got there..." , but there were some funny WTF moments in there for me.



All in all, BLOODY BALLET was a lot of fun. It felt like my VHS days. Well worth a viddy!

Oddly, I couldn't find it on IMDB.

GIALLOctober: The Killer Reserved Nine Seats (1974)

GIALLOctober continues with THE KILLER RESERVED NINE SEATS from 1974


A fantastic WHO DONE IT giallo mystery.

Sadly, due to a few real life situations, GIALLOctober wasn't as big as I thought tit was going to be. I still have a few videos in mind to take on, but I'm not going to be able to do the lineup I had originally wanted. Ah, life. :)






And...as a special bonus...a silly little BEHIND THE SCENES vid! :)

GIALLOctober: EYEBALL (1975)

GIALLOctober Video Series - EYEBALL (1975)

The video series keeps rolling along as I talk about EYEBALL from 1975. What a wild film this was. I really dug it.

Comments welcome!

Giallo A Venezia (1979)

If you like your gialli sleazy, naked, and gross, have I got one for you! GIALLO A VENEZIA from 1979 is all that and then some!

Jeff Blynn is the untra-hip Inspector Angelo De Pol and he just got a case that has him pealing eggs and waving his hands around like crazy. :::grin:::  I'm not sure what Jeff was up to in the film, but his character eats eggs throughout as he tries to sort things out. He's the only thing bigger than his constant hand gestures is his amazing hair. But...I digress.

Fabio (Gianni Dei) and Flavia (the stunning Leonora Fani) are found dead near a canal and there are several odd points in the crime scene that get the giallo crime gears moving. The story itself is rather straight forward when the film starts, but it takes a few grim turns that make this film a challenge to watch. See, we find out in flashback that ole Fabio is a bit of a pervert. He loves being watched when making love to his wife and the stakes keep getting higher and higher as he turns his flailing sex life around by acts of violence and swinging. Flavia loves him, so she plays along, but her enjoyment drops rapidly as the stakes are raised.


We're "treated" to some really sleezy and naughty sex scenes that reveal some of Director Mario Landi's sexy cinema movie stylings. A  failed sex attempt leads to a lengthy masturbation scene which dives RIGHT into rape. We have explicit wife sharing in a theater and a really, REALLY nasty murder scene involving a prostitute, a classic mirrored sunglasses killer,  and a pair of scissors that was one of the most sexually violent scenes I've seen. The film leans more towards a sex thriller, really.

The only thing that really made it worth a watch to me was the De Pol character and the madness that surrounded him. I mean...the friggin eggs all the time was a strange character highlight. It's just bonkers. And when he comes up with theories, he gesticulates and emphasizes with his hands so much it's a beautiful distraction. And lastly, it seems like he has one outfit that he wears all the time. Very wild.

As a giallo, Giallo A Venezia is not high on my re-watch list. I doubt I will ever watch it again. It's a fine mystery and the story is well done even if it's SUPER dark and disturbing. However, it does fit the gialli criteria for VIOLENCE and SEXUALITY, so if you have a strong stomach and like your crime giallo packed with sex and hip organ music, this is the film for you.

Death Laid An Egg (1968)

DEATH LAID AN EGG has to be one of the most odd of the gialli films. There's a special level for some of these films. They have all the aspects you'd expect to see in a giallo film, but they also have a few extra bits and bobs that push things into a very strange space. That's Death Laid an Egg for sure.

We have a group working on a sort of...super chicken project. They are trying to create the perfect chicken on this high tech chicken farm. We have the husband, Marco (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and wife, Anna (Gina Lollobrigida) - scientists working on the project. And they have a lovely little beauty staying with them - the alluring Gabrielle played by Ewa Aulin. Of course, a love triangle forms and things go off the rails rather quickly. However, there are other aspects of the film that come up that are just...bonkers. Chicken talk turns to wild ramblings about chickens in smoking jackets. The "perfect chicken" is created at one point, but it's a headless, legless, living chicken mass that's a mutant. Very odd. The music is odder still - discordant and grating. It really helps to create a on-edge atmosphere.

All the odd chicken madness aside, it's actually a rather interesting little mystery with a lot to offer. Big thanks to the DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS PODCAST for their coverage of the film in their three part, art giallo series FOOTPRINTS IN DELIRIUM: Exploring the Art Giallo! If you have not heard it, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It's fantastic. (linked above)

GIALLOctober Episode II: Violent Giallo

Hey there Horror Fans!

GIALLOctober continues with a look at some more violent giallo films by Mario Bava, Aldo Lado, Sergio Martino, and Juan Piquer Simón.

You can also view this directly on YouTube or directly on Vimeo.




I'm so sorry about the keying quality. It turns out my new green screen location is not going to be so great. I have this episode and one more in the can already, but afterwards I'll be back in better form with less flickering on me!

Eye In The Labyrinth

Now this was a fun little giallo for sure! I'm not going to say a whole lot about this one for fear of spoiling it.

EYE OF THE LABYRINTH is the tale of Julie (played by the enchanting Rosemary Dexter) and her search for her missing husband. She follows a series of clues and the guiding hand of Frank (the awesomeAdolfo Celi of Bond villain fame)  that eventually leads her to a lovely beach house occupied by an odd little cast of characters including the curvy Sybil Danning (billed as Sybil Dunning) and SUSPIRIA's Alida Valli.

The film is a complex "who-done-it" that worked really well for me. Poor Rosemary Dexter is really put through the ringer on her hunt - slaps and unwanted affections abound. The story zips along and things unfold in a fun way. Trope upon trope is piled on to wonderful effect. Characters interact with each other in nasty and fun ways as the tensions build to the thrilling conclusion.




The look of the film is grand. We're treated some some lovely vistas and a fabulous beach house that I'd love to visit. The actors and actresses chew the scenery and move through the story in a highly entertaining way. All in all it's one of my favorite mystery heavy giallo films.

I definitely have EYE IN THE LABYRINTH on my re-watch list. It was a fun one.

Worth a viddy! Check it out!

Trailer does have some spoiler elements in it - be warned! 

GIALLOctober: Welcome to the Video Series!

It's that time of year!

THE HORROR SHOW presents
The GIALLOctober Video Series! 


You can video the video here, on YouTube, or on VIMEO. Please leave a comment! :)

In this series, we'll be covering some of our gialli favorites. Every week, we'll be releasing one or two videos giving a high level overview of a group of giallo film favorites with a given theme.

The Themes
The themes will be rather broad and we'll try to keep them spoiler free, but we'll give fair warning if a spoiler or two creep in around the edges. The planned themes are:

THE STRANGE
THE VIOLENT
CRIMES AND KILLERS
THE CULT OF EDWIGE FENECH
MY FAVORITES TO DATE
MODERN TAKES ON THE GIALLO GENRE

We'd love to here from you! Please leave a comment on the video or here on the blog!

Eye of the Cat (1969)

Well, EYE OF THE CAT is not really horror - despite it's tag line of "Terror that takes you beyond any you've ever known!" ((not true at all)) , but I had so much fun watching it that I thought I'd include it here on the blog anyway! :::grin::  Plus, it was written by Joseph Stefano of PSYCHO, PSYCHO IV, THE OUTTER LIMITS,  and the SWAMP THING TV series, so he's in the family. Thank you to Agent Dee for the recommend!

EYE OF THE CAT tells the story of Wylie (Michael Sarrazin), a pretty boy drifter/hippy type that happily humps around with various ladies and crashes with them at their places until something better comes along. The something better here is Kassia Lancaster (Gayle Hunnicutt) who has a plan to use Wylie to get his rich and sickly Aunt Danny's (Eleanor Parker) money and estate. Wylie's brother Luke (Tim Henry) takes loving care of the Aunt, but Wylie was always her favorite. Much TOO favorite...really. :::cringe:::: And Kassia is just evil, saying that after Wylie gets his Aunt to change the will, she'll simply killer her, then they can live happily ever after. What could possibly go wrong?





Wylie's deathly afraid of cats and his Aunt has about twenty of them! hehehehe

The film is a fantastic product of it's time. It's a fun time capsule of 1960's San Francisco. As a former resident, it was fun to see the old City and Sausalito in the year I was born.

Eleanor Parker as Aunt Danny

It's a fun character study as well. Sarrazin is a ton of fun as this drifter hippy cool guy and this whole attitude towards the situation reflects the way he goes through life as well. Hunnicutt is fun as the vampy, evil mastermind behind the plan. It's fun stuff for sure. But, I was really mesmerized by Eleanor Parker. She was stunning! She was 47 when this film was made and I believe she overshadowed the lovely, 26 year old Hunnicutt, though she was enchanting as well.

Gayle Hunnicutt

I had forgotten that Hunnicutt was in another favorite of mine, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE in 1973.










The story plays like a Hitchcock story and it's very engaging for being so simple. I was thinking that it might be able to slip onto my GIALLO list, but it's really pretty far away from that particular sub-genre, though there are some themes at play that....hell...I'm going to go ahead and add it to the list! This has enough giallo elements to consider it one of the fringe giallo style films for sure.

If you like story based, character study films, you'll want to check out EYE OF THE CAT for sure!

The Night of the Hunted

More Jean Rollin goodness here with THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTED. It's funny, now that I've seen several Rollin films and get his style, I'm liking them much more right out of the gate!

NIGHT tells the story of Elysabeth played by the stunning Brigitte Lahaie. She's wandering through the woods when Robert (Vincent Gardère) drives up and spies her. She's wearing a nightgown with no shoes and seems to be completely lost and slightly crazy. He manages to get her into the car and takes her back to his house when he finds out she can't remember anything. Nothing at all. It turns out her short term memory is shot and that she forgets things shortly after hearing them. (I believe that is short term memory damage)

Now... slightly shifty Robert wants to help her, of course. She's a mess and scared of what's as you do - and hold her close. After about 4 seconds of contemplation, he makes love to her passionately. heh   He has to do leave the apartment for work, but writes down his name and number and who he is so that when he gets home, she'll be able to place him as the man who lives in the apartment.




Shortly after he leaves, a man and woman show up to spirit Elysabeth out of the apartment and back to the odd, sterile clinic that she had made her way away from the night before.
happening to her.  But...you know...she's gorgeous and afraid and begs for him to make love to her -

The clinic is helping a group of people with the same memory issue and has them all there doing tests and treatments to fix them. But, is there something else going on as well? I don't want to say much more, though there really isn't a whole lot to spoil. There are the usual tropes in here, but the main fun is in the look and feel of the film, the acting, and the poetry of it, really.

For some reason, REDEMPTION video put this on their ZOMBIE COLLECTION 3pack! heheheh . This is not a zombie movie, though there are times where Elysabeth and her friend Solange are zombie-like in their movements. 


In typical Rollin fashion, the characters wax poetic about life and their situation and that makes me happy. Beautiful people stare off into space and recite prose that is just so very French and lovely. And there are strange little happenings like the aforementioned lovemaking between two strangers and a scene involving a bowl of soup later that is all at once heartbreaking and slightly humorous. There's a fever dream quality that I enjoy as well. People drift along as if sleepwalking. And the clinic is shown to be this massive high rise tower, but once you are inside it seems small and claustrophobic.


Then there are some unintentionally hilarious bits here and there like the doctor from the clinic shouting, "I want them alive!" right before firing several rounds at them with his gun. hehehehe . I loved that.

The film is a sad and poetic drama with some horror elements here and there - some of which are VERY horrific indeed, but it leans more towards THE IRON ROSE than towards THE LIVING DEAD GIRL or THE GRAPES OF DEATH on the Rollin scale. More story and character development than scares. I still enjoyed the film and was super happy to add it to my watched Rollin list.

If you are a fan of Jean Rollin and have missed this or if you love French cinema or dreamy dramas, you'll want to make time for THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTED for sure.