Attraction

Attraction

Genre: Experimental / Art-House / Avant-garde

Original title: Nerosubianco

AKA: Black On White / The Artful Penetration of Barbara

Director: Tinto Brass

Year: 1969

A motion picture for the stoned age

This bizarre piece of pop-art surrealism is an early work of Tinto Brass, best known for two infamous films in Caligula & Salon Kitty. It stars Anita Sanders (the 10th victim) as a married women who is followed around London by a black man who she has sexual fantasies about played by Terry Carter, best known for blaxploitation pictures such as Abby & Foxy Brown. That there is pretty much the plot (& I use that term loosely) for this 80 minute attack on the senses.

Attraction is the sort of film you could project on a screen at a night club and it would create a great atmosphere with its weird trippy nonsensical nature and strange scenes which are ever changing with its fast editing. The film is absolutely loaded with subtext of the big themes of the late 60s such as sex, drugs, freedom, the hippy movement, racism & paranoia. You get an almost commentary at times from what I'd guess was the previous generation looking down on these young adults with their fresh ideals. The mere thought of a women having sex with a black men in 69 would probably of upset many people.

For a man who once famously stated "I put two balls and a big cock between the legs of the Italian cinema!" the nudity shown during this film for the most part is always shown in a very un-erotic way which came as a surprise. Tinto's own political beliefs are on show when a love making scene is stopped by a man with a prohibited sign. We are then treated to nasty & gruesome war footage of people being slaughtered & tortured. It is a clear attack on the very idea of censorship & how the joy of love making is completely inoffensive, especially when compared to the brutality that we see on the news on a daily basis. 

The soundtrack is provided by organ heavy psychedelic rock band, Freedom, who were made up of two  ex-Procol Harum. The bands sound falls somewhere between early Pink Floyd & The Small Faces with their music soundtracking a large portion of this picture. These groovy tunes really helped me stay onboard with the picture. At times it felt like I was watching a psychedelic video made for their music rather than their music soundtracking an art-house flick. The band follow Anita Sanders around London as she fantasises about the black stranger. Because of this the band perform in all kinds of locations from shop windows, on top of buses, massage houses & even in trees. 

Despite its short 80 minute running time the pictures whimsical nature and insanely fast editing means that it begins to overload the senses and the films ideals begin to drag a little. I feel something like this would of benefited from being shortened to around the hour mark to keep its ideas constantly fresh.

A film like his could easily (& maybe should) be a pretentious mess, but looking back as someone fascinated by every aspect of the 60s from its music, to its fashion & its political themes it remained engaging for the most part & visually it was a treat for the senses throughout. 

Rating: ★★★½

Ricco the Mean Machine

Ricco the Mean Machine 

Genre: Crime, Poliziottesco, Gangster Film

Original title: Ricco

AKA: Cauldron of Death / Gangland / The Dirty Mob 

Director: Tulio Demicheli

Year: 1973

After serving time in prison Ricco Aversi is released & seeking revenge on the gang that murdered his father

Ricco The Mean Machine begins with a bloody shootout which shows a man being blown away at point blank range. It soon becomes clear that this is Rico's rather that has been killed & rico is hellbent on making his fathers killers pay. The character of Rico is played by Christopher Mitchum, the son of legendary 50s actor Robert Mitchum. With his blonde fringe he has an air of casual coolness about him though he does come across as emotionless with his big droopy eyes & then there's a scene where he shows off some martial arts skills that leaves a lot to be desired. He is serviceable to a point & likable enough to get behind but I couldn't help but think the film would of been so much better with somebody such as Tomás Milián, or even Ray Lovelock as the films leading man. 

Christopher Mitchum, forever in his fathers shadow & for good reason.

We're introduced to the character of Scilla (played by Italian genre film regular Barbara Bouchet)  as she's conning people by asking if they have any change for her counterfeit bank notes that her uncle is making at home, this whilst in a skimpy outfit to help seal the deal. She soon becomes Rico's girl & also partner in crime which leads to a fantastic scene where she distracts a car which is delivering a large shipment of money by giving us a fantastic striptease in the middle of the road, Rico throws both men over a bridge as they exit the car. Whilst I don't usually admire Barbara Bouchet compared to some of the other sexbombs of Italian cinema I can't deny that she looks fantastic as a redhead here in Ricco.

The star of the film is without a doubt Arthur Kennedy as the unimaginatively named Don Veto. An experienced actor who had played a big part in Lawrence of Arabia but to fans of Cult Italia he's also the Sergeant in Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. His portrayal as the gang mob leader who is feared for his ruthlessness really gives the film its best moments. Anybody who betrays him or dares step in his way will end up tossed into a chemical pit where they'll melt do death. In one scene his right hand man is caught sleeping with the Don's girl (the beautiful Malisa Longo) & is held down whilst they remove his penis with a flick-knife before disposing him in the chemical pit. It's brutal & graphic in its horrific nature, in fact so horrific that in some places the film was released as Cauldron of Death with a poster which boasted a tag-line that read 'tender flesh, burning acid' which surely must be conned people into thinking they were about to see a horror film.

Despite any shortcomings Mitchum may have as a leading man it doesn't hurt the film too much as its so brilliantly written with strong characters, memorable scenes & a solid Nando De Luca score. Director Tulio Demicheli who is a lesser known figure in Italian genre cinema with films such as The Two Faces of Fear & Sabata The Killer does a terrific job here balancing a well scripted revenge story with some harsh violence & keeps it moving at a pace that'll keep you gripped throughout. 

Rating: ★★★★

"Got any change?"

Terror Express

Terror Express

Genre: Exploitation

Original title: La ragazza del vagone letto

Director: Ferdinando Baldi

Year: 1979

Three thugs commandeer a couple of cars on a moving train and spread terror among the passengers.

Terror Express is a film often overlooked by Italian film fans in the Last House On The Left style of film, which for a few years almost became a genre of its own. Aldo Lado's brilliant Late Night Trains had came four years prior to this with its setting being largely on a train, though that film only used the train as a set-up for the revenge that came after. Terror Express (minus a couple of short scenes) is based completely on the train & it manages to sustain its nasty thrills by constantly moving, never taking a second to reflect & cramming in as much sleazy nastiness that it can in its short 80 minute running time. 

It's directed by Ferdinando Baldi who mostly had success with Spaghetti Westerns such as Viva, Django, he clearly understood what type of film was making with so much attention being geared towards the sex & violence that the film contains. 

The cast is one full of many faces that Italian genre fans will recognise even if they are unfamiliar with their names. Silvia Dionisio (once married to Ruggero Deodato) plays a hooker who works on the night train. The trio of well spoken thugs that take over the train contain Austrian actor Werner Pochath (The Cat o' Nine Tails, Ratman) & Carlo De Mejo (City of the Living Dead, The House by the Cemetery). Elsewhere on the train we have Venantino Venantini (Cannibal Ferox) & Czech actress Zora Kerova (The New York Ripper, Cannibal Ferox). I spent half the film thinking 'I know you from somewhere' whilst looking at various characters faces.

The film is written by a legendary figure here on Cult Italia, George Eastman. As well as acting, Eastman was a screen-writer that gave us films of such bad taste as Porno Holocaust & Bestialità so it is no surprise that Terror Express contains many ultra-sleazy scenes. First of all you have the three villains who at first appear to be more of a nuisance rather than a threat. They arrive for dinner with their loud music & are rude & obnoxious. Though things soon spiral out of control when they end up taking a gun from a police-man who is escorting a prisoner on the overnight train. From then on the characters become sadistic in their nature, taking over the train with violence and sexual abuse. 

In one scene, after Silvia Dionisio's character has been raped 3 or 4 times the prisoner is sent in to continue the rape. He turns out to be a sympathetic character and tries to fight back but is beaten by the thugs so the raped women decides to have sex with him after. There's also a man on the train with his family who sleeps with said prostitute and makes her wear his own daughters nightgown as he has incestuous feelings about his daughter. It is that kind of movie & I guess no surprise that it came from the insane mind of George Eastman!

In the UK the film was caught up in the video nasty scare of the early 80s when the Fletcher label release was seized by a number of police forces during raids. Though most probably the film was mistaken for Late Night Trains which was on their hit-list at the time.

Late Night Trains is still the go-to film if you want a exploitation film set on a train but Terror Express isn't far behind. The inevitable revenge in the final few minutes doesn't deliver the payback that these type of films perhaps should, but that aside this is sleazy, nasty, fast paced, fun & entertaining slice of exploitation cinema which deserves to be seen by more fans of this type of cinema

Rating: ★★★½

Phantom Of Death

Phantom of Death

Genre: Giallo, Horror, Psychological Thriller

Original title: Un delitto poco comune

Director: Ruggero Deodato

Year: 1988

Police Comissioner Datti is investigating the murder of a female doctor whose murderer seems to be a thirty-fivish year old man. Soon another murder follows: Pianist Robert Dominici's girlfriend is found killed. The killer also challenges Datti on the phone and says he can't be caught since he has a secret which makes him invulnerable. In the meantime the clues seems to point in strange directions

As you can see from the plot summary, Phantom Of Death is a convoluted film with moves into different directions as it goes along. It stars Michael York (Logan's Run, Austin Powers) as Robert Dominici who's girlfriend is murdered early on. He is a suspect & for a while it feels like the classic Gialli setup of a man under suspicion who has to do the investigating himself to find out the killer. The film up this point is pretty gripping, however they make the mistake of moving into a new direction far too early as the killer is revealed and the film progresses into more of a psychological thriller.

Also starring is the queen of Gialli, Edwige Fenech. She plays a fashion designer who is having an affair with Michael York's character and becomes pregnant (even in her early 40s Edwige is still looking fantastic). Then there's Donald Pleasence who is typically (& unsurprisingly) playing the ageing inspector who's doing his best to hunt down the killer. A partner of his is killed later in the picture and he runs around the town center screaming "WHERE ARE YOU, I'LL KILL YOU BASTARD!" which was just classic Pleasence.

The killings are pretty damn gory which is no surprise considering it was directed by Ruggero Deodato who's films rarely ever shy away from the brutal nature of violence. Though make sure you get the version that was originally released in Europe as there's a TV version which removed any said bloodshed leaving the film a much tamer affair.

I think I'd of preferred Phantom Of Death to of remained a more "whodunnit" kind of giallo as the first 40 minutes are pretty gripping and felt like it could of been one of the better late entries to the genre. Once the reveal of the killer is made the film begins to have pacing issues & despite the talent involved, the film slowly fizzles out to an anti-climatic finish. A mixed overall, yet one which has just enough going for it that I'd recommend it cautiously.

Rating: ★★★

Dario Argento's World of Horror

Dario Argento's World of Horror 

Genre: Documentary

Original title: Il mondo dell'orrore di Dario Argento

Director: Michele Soavi

Year: 1985

Documentary on horror/mystery film maker Dario Argento. Features an in-depth interview with Argento and covers his work from 1969 to 1985.

Having acted on a number of Argento related pictures and worked as second assistant director on Tenebre Michele Soavi was called upon to direct this mid 80s straight to VHS documentary about the great Dario Argento. Back then in the days the vast amounts of information we now take for granted on the internet this must of been a very welcome release for fans of Dario Argento. Even to this day there are barely any feature length documentaries that cover aspects of Italian cult cinema so for that reason, I'm glad it exists.

It looks at his entire career up to that point, largely focusing on Phenomena, Tenebre & Demons.  Unfortunately though, this is a very poor documentary. Running at 71 minutes I'd confidently estimate that over 50% of its running time is used up with clips from Dario's movies, including films which he worked on but didn't direct such as Dawn Of The Dead & Demons. Dario is a director that boasts so many unforgettable scenes from each of his films, though if I wanted to see them I'd of watched the actual films instead.

There are a few short interviews with Dario where he talks about why he makes movies "I want to be loved" & the sexuality of murder, but there simply isn't enough depth on show to wet anybody's appetite for knowledge. However, the documentary does have a look into the filming of a number of pictures which is pretty interesting in places. Seeing how much effort they put in to pull off many of the bug effects on Phenomena is pretty impressive today when it'd be created so easily with CGI. There's also a look into the practical effects & animatronics of Demons though the docs highlight, a look at how they shot the wonderful tracking shot ( the one that goes from one side of the building to the other & through the window) in Tenebre, remains fascinating.  

The biggest disappointment without a doubt is the lack of depth concerning what makes Argento the man & the film-maker that he is. There are mentions of the themes he uses but they are only just scratching the surface. The film feels a waste of a good opportunity to get get to know a bit more about the man that has given us so many unique pieces of cinema. 

Nowadays this documentary has been thrown in as a DVD extra on the Anchor Bay release of Suspiria, a bonus feature I guess you can have no complaints. but judging this as a stand alone documentary that was released on VHS for full price I can't imagine many being too pleased with what they got.

Rating: ★★

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire 

Genre: Giallo

Original title: L' iguana dalla lingua di fuoco

Director: Riccardo Freda

Year: 1971

In Dublin, a young woman is brutally murdered in her home by a maniac that throws acid in her face and then slits her throat with a razor. Her mangled body is later discovered in the boot of a limousine owned by the Swiss Ambassador

A giallo, set in Dublin? An interesting concept & I do enjoy seeing different cities from back in the day unfortunately the following piece of information tells you all you need to know about this picture.

"When the German Co-Producer Artur Brauner saw the finished film, he decided to skip a theatrical release in Germany, just due to the quality of the film which he wasn't satisfied with." 

This sums the entire film up in a nutshell. 

Director Riccardo Freda, who had made a couple of semi-successful gothic horrors in the late 50s to early 60s (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, The Vampires) really failed to ignite any kind of spark with The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, its poorly put together with shoddy editing, a terrible script & remains completely uninteresting throughout. 

In its defense I did see a pretty shoddy print of the film which was terribly dubbed but I can't imagine a pristine copy of this film being able to prevent pure boredom.

There were a few positives, the Stelvio Cipriani score was pretty solid & the amount of gore was surprisingly high (even for a giallo) but then you could argue that it was only inserted to try and cover up the fact the film has zero suspense. Then there was enough talent in the cast from Dagmar Lassander to Werner Pochath & Luigi Pistilli (playing an Irishman!) that it perhaps should of been a decent film but everything is so poorly executed that all their performances feel redundant. 

It's not very often I really struggle to finish a film, even the bad ones I usually find some sort of enjoyment value from but this is a case where the film drags on for what feels like an eternity & you ask yourself afterwards why you even bothered to finish it. 

Rating: ★½

Paddy Pistilli

Ironmaster

Ironmaster

Genre:  Action, Adventure  

Original title: La Guerra del Ferro

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Year: 1983

A tale that takes place at the dawn of history. The movie tells the story of a tribe that discovers how to fashion weapons out of iron and use them for their own survival. However, the creation of iron also causes the tribe to battle for possession of the new weapons.

With Conan The Barbarian being such a smash in 1982 it was no surprise that the Italians would want a piece of the action & make their own action adventure picture, of course on a much smaller budget. Ironmaster is a noble attempt at the genre but unfortunately, a very forgettable one. 

Director Umberto Lenzi (who must of had a go at every popular genre back in the day) doesn't really bring much to the table here, I often find his work very hit or miss & unfortunately this is one of the misses. The special effects are decent enough for this kind of picture. Sure monkey men in suits and lightning effects that appear to of been drawn on don't do the film any favours but for the most part the majority of ideas pass as at least serviceable. 

Sam Pasco stars as our macho hero here in his only acting credit. Well I say only acting credit, he also had a career as a bodybuilder & a a gay porn-star under the name of Big Max! Physically he is an impressive specimen but charisma-wise, leaves a lot to be desired & is unfortunately a million miles away from being Arnold Schwarzenegger, epecially with his emotionless acting and horrible delivery of dialogue. 

Sam Pasco, AKA "Big Max".

However, fear not! The big selling point for this film (you could argue it's the only selling point) is we have George Eastman playing the evil character of Vood who will kill everybody in his way to rule the land! 

Eastman is an actor that always gives his all in every film he appears in however bad a picture it is or however ridiculous his character may be you can always be sure to get Eastman bringing his A-game. As always he delivers the character of Vood with so much charisma that he really helps bring this otherwise dull film to life each time he appears on screen. His performance sees him kill off the leader of his tribe, escape from the angry tribe, witness a volcano erupt & accidentally create an iron weapon, thus essentially becoming the father of the Iron Age! Not done there we have Eastman vs boars, lions & men in ape costumes. All this backed up with classic dialogue such as "When warriors stop showing their power, it is the beginning of the end'. It is a classic Eastman performance even if the film is pretty much trash. 

If you dig George Eastman i'd say it's well worth a watch for him alone, if not, stay well clear as there is barely anything else to warrant its existence. 

Rating: ★★

George Eastman, creator of the Iron Age.