Giallo Archives - Screen Wolf

Opera (1987)

Posted on October 22, 2024October 22, 2024 by fenrisfil

For tonight’s review I’m returning to the world of Italian Giallo horror. This time to perhaps it’s greatest master Dario Argento and what is sometimes called his “Final masterpiece”. It was his most expensive film to date and perhaps his most ambitious. Ronnie Taylor provides the Cinematography and Brian Eno the soundtrack. The movie stars Cristina Marsillach, Ian Charleson and Urbano Barberini. If you’ve seen my previous Giallo reviews you’ll know the deal with Italian dubbing. Basically there is no fighting it, no matter how much you prefer subtitles. Even the Italian language versions are dubbed. Indeed Charleson would have been speaking in English on set (So on the English dub his lips actually do sync).

While not technically an adaptation of Phantom Of The Opera, the movie, this movie is heavily influenced by it. This is the story of Betty, a young Opera singer thrust into the limelight after an accident injures the lead in a production of Verdi’s Macbeth. She is stalked and abused by an deranged fan determined to kill anyone close to her so he can have her for himself. More than that though, he will force her to watch him committing these murders. But there is more to this stalker that just a fan, he has been in Betty’s nightmares ever since she was a child.

The Raven Himself Is Hoarse

Some movies are difficult to fit a synopsis into one paragraph. Not the case here. The premise is very simple on the surface and yet the film itself makes it feel much more complicated. This is because frankly this film is a bit of a mess. The individual parts are actually very good, but they are put together in ways that don’t always compliment each other. The most obvious example here is the soundtrack. Obviously the movie features a lot of Opera, but it also has soundtrack composed by experimental musician Brian Eno. These two would be fine, but then almost as a theme tune for the psychopath the movie throws in a number of heavy metal songs by the band “Gow”. Metal and horror can work together for sure, but mixed with the rest it’s just a little strange.

The story has a similar situation. The main plot is straight forward, but there are bits and pieces on the peripheral that just seem thrown in. When Betty is rescued by a young girl from her apartment block crawling through the old air conditioning vents it feels incredibly random. It feels like a character that should have been more involved earlier, but wasn’t. Similarly with Betty’s agent, she is called in as someone Betty obviously trusts and thinks can help her with her incredible situation and yet we don’t really get any kind of feeling of that relationship. Betty’s childhood dreams have a big reveal involving her mother and her relationship with the killer. This turns out to be very much a Lady Macbeth reference (The character Bety is playing in the Opera). That’s a neat idea, but it barely seems to be actually explored in the movie.

Of Direst Cruelty Make Thick My Blood

This is Dario Argento, so the truth is we aren’t tuning in for the plot. We’re tuning in because he is a master of visual horror. So the question is, does the film live up to those standards? Absolutely. It’s actually possibly his most impressive film visually (Though it’s been a while since I’ve watched the “Three Mothers Trilogy”). The use of the ravens are pretty unique, especially when we get the ravens-eye-view shots and their use in the plot is pretty cool. The Opera house setting works well too. The most memorable visuals though are the murders. The idea of forcing his victim to watch with the razor blades on her eyes is terrifying, though it’s only done twice in the film. The bullet through the spy hole in the door is a great scene too. It was predictable, but done so well that didn’t matter.

Even though I criticized the disjointed nature of the story, the actual elements are not bad in themselves. What I think was the issue is Argento had too many ideas and tried to squeeze them in. This took him years to get the script to a filmable place. Apparently earlier drafts were far too long and some of the scenes were so graphic that they would only be able to release the film in Japan. That was according to Argento himself. It’s not that he had bad ideas, he just had too many of them and ones that he just couldn’t get away with. I particularly like the poetic irony of Betty’s mother being a Lady Macbeth like character. Though a twisted, psychotic one (Rather than encouraging killing out of ambition).

Out, Damned Spot

Overall, this is a good horror that just feels a little weird in places. Dario Argento fans won’t care though. It delivers on all the things you expect from the writer/director. Those less accustomed to the director and giallo in general may find the movie a little too weird or possible even a little too bloody. Modern audiences likely won’t find the latter, but will find it weird especially if they aren’t used to the Italian dubbing style. However, if you’ve seen other Argento movies, I feel confident you’ll enjoy this. I give it a very strong 6.5/10 and a recommendation.

Blood and Black Lace (1964)

Posted on October 15, 2024October 15, 2024 by fenrisfil

No October Horror Challenge would be complete without at least one stop over to the world of Giallo, Italian horror. For tonight’s movie I’m watching a movie from one of the legends of the golden age of Italian Horror Mario Bava. I’ve only seen one of his movies before (Black Sunday), which is probably my loss. That movie was in black and white, so this is my first colour Mario Bava horror. This has been on my list for a long time, so I’m looking forward to it. Ubaldo Terzano is the movies cinematographer. Carlo Rustichelli provides the score. The movie stars Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Claude Dantes and Dante Di Paolo.

Set at a classy fashion house, Blood and Black Lace tells the story of a murder mystery that evolves into a killing spree. The catalyst is the murder of model “Isabella” (Francesca Ungaro) by someone in a white, featureless mask, a black fedora and a trenchcoat. It’s not so much the murder itself, but rather that the next day someone publicly discovers Isabella’s secret diary. It’s clear the diary could lead to the killer, but it seems everyone has their eye on it and their own concerns. It seems this won’t stop at a single murder. Police investigator “Silvestri” (Thomas Reiner) is on the case and everyone appears to be a suspect.

Every Frame A Painting

The most important thing to note about this movie is it looks fantastic. The use of both colour and contrast make this a piece of art in it’s own right. Ubaldo Terzano’s cinematography is fantastic, with a lot of truly original touches that felt fresh even though I was watching a 60 year old movie. The use of colour was a feast for the eyes. This movie along with “Peeping Tom” showed that those more aggressive tones of 60’s cinema actually could be used incredibly effectively for a horror film. That also means they do still come off as quite original since the approach to colour has changed so much since that period. Modern colour is realistic, but this was like a painting.

Italian Horror always had a tradition of style over substance and this is no exception in its priorities. However both are of a higher standard than the average Giallo film. The plot here is a murder mystery and it’s a slightly above average one. It is though definitely the weakest aspect of the movie. With less graphic kill scenes this wouldn’t even really be a horror. Those scenes are in the movie though and they are brutal for the period. It even had the Italian tradition of an eye poking, but done in a way that the gore was merely implied. Given the limitation of 1964 effects that is for the best (And a relief to me, I’m not a big fan of eyeball gore). Brutality aside, the murder scenes are the most artistically filmed of the lot. They are each a work of art in their own right.

Sound And Vision

Acting wise, the only stand out for me was Eva Bartok as Countess Cristiana Cuomo. The rest were fine, but forgettable. The soundtrack by Carlo Rustichelli is also quite notable. It reminded me a lot of Henry Mancini’s 1962 work on Experiment In Terror. Like a lot of Italian horror soundtracks, it is perhaps not the most fitting the mood. Instead, it is something you could listen to by itself. In this instance it does enhance the sensory feast this movie provides, but does little to help the plot or characters.

The script and acting are pretty average here. This isn’t a film that wins you over with the story or personalities. Instead it’s the audio/visual spectacle. The cinematography and use of contrast and colour especially raise this up. The murder scenes are exceptional and still feel original many years later. This is worthy of a 7.5/10 and a strong recommendation and a must see for Giallo horror fans.

City Of The Living Dead (1980)

Posted on October 26, 2023October 26, 2023 by fenrisfil

Tonight’s October Challenge Review is the 1980 Italian Giallo Horror “City of the Living Dead” (A.k.a. “Gates of Hell”) from one of the main maestro’s of the genre Lucio Fuici. This one was recommended to me last October and so I slotted it in to this years challenge. Written by Fuici and Dardano Sacchetti, this zombie movie features a classic Fabio Frizzi soundtrack. So classic, I recognised several of the tracks, despite not having (To my memory) seen the movie before. Yes, I often listen to horror film soundtracks for fun.

The has a multi-national cast with Christopher George (American), Catriona MacColl (English), Carlo De Mejo (Italian) and Janet Agren (Swedish) taking up the lead roles. This was a pretty common approach for Italian Giallo movies in the 80’s since they wanted to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.The actors would quite often be speaking in their native languages and then everyone would get dubbed after. The result being that some characters would always appear better dubbed than others. You get used to it and the tactic paid off as these movies became international cult classics.

The Dunwich Horror.

The main setting for this movie is the town of Dunwich. The name is a tribute to the Lovecraft story, but this isn’t an adaptation of the Dunwich Horror, instead this town was built on the ruins of Salem (Which in reality is still standing, so you just have to ignore that). A priest hangs himself, breaking down the barrier between this world and the world of the dead. Meanwhile in New York during a séance, “Mary Woodhouse” (MacColl) experiences a traumatic vision of the priests death and what will result from it. The impact of the vision gives Mary the appearance of being dead. She remains in that state long enough to almost be buried and is only saved at the last minute. Her saviour is journalist “Peter Bell” (George), a character quite reminiscent of Carl Kolchak from the Night Stalker series.

Together they set off to Dunwhich to try and prevent the dead rising en mass on All Saints Day. Although not directly mentioned, the movie is set mostly during Halloween. In Dunwich, meanwhile, all hell is breaking loose (Literally). A couple are murdered out in a romantic parking spot by the undead priest. Another girl is found dead after an encounter with the priest with a local vagrant is blamed for the crime. The now dead Emily also starts to turn up along with a few other recently deceased. As Peter and Mary reach Dunwich they team up with psychiatrist Jerry (De Mejo) and his patient Sandra (Agren) and must find a way to close the gates of hell.

Powers Of The Living Dead.

This is a film where the plot and the characters are secondary to the general atmosphere and the moments of shock. A lot of the characters act like the zombies hunting them, standing around and waiting to die. Even the more active ones act sort of dumb. Mary and Peter quickly arrive in the cemetery where Father Thomas is buried but then go off with Gerry and Sandra to give them an off screen exposition dump and then get sidetracked saving a child whose parents have been killed. By the time they get back to the cemetery it is All Souls Day and the invasion of the living dead has begun in force.

Speaking of the living dead, these ones have unique abilities. First of all they tend to teleport, because I guess it’s a lot scarier than just shambling after people. They basically have two modes of attack too, one is grab the back of peoples heads and pull their brains out (Particularly dangerous when combined with the teleporting). Their other attack is to stare at people until they throw up their own insides. It’s a strange set of abilities but these zombies are very consistent in using them. As daft as it sounds, that is basically establishing rules for the fictional world so it”s not a bad thing… Just a very strange thing. Eventually Gerry figures out that the Zombies have a weakness to being stabbed in the gut by things. Seriously, no one else tries to fight back in any way until Gerry gets all stabby.

Maximum Fuici.

Being a Lucio Fuici movie, nothing is done quickly. When a woman is forced to vomit out her insides, we see pretty much every foot of guts come out of the poor unfortunate girl. In another scene in which a man falsely suspected of murder is killed with a drill. The build up to the actual death seems to go on forever, making you wonder if he will get a last minute reprieve from his fate. He does not. Earlier in the film when Mary is mistakenly put in a coffin to be buried, Peter hears her screaming, but not sure what it is almost walks away several times before eventually realizing what has happened. All these scenes drag, but they drag with them the tension of the moment. To be honest, I think Fuici drags this out a bit too much, but it still works to some extent.

In the case of the gore though, this is largely what people turn up to a Fuici movie for and he makes sure to deliver it. From the vomit scene, to the swarms of maggots and rats, to the many, many victims of the rear brain attack and the particularly graphic drill through the face (The one murder not directly caused by zombies). It’s all there in full colour. But the creepy atmosphere is there as well and it should be obvious from the choice of town name (Dunwich) that Fuici is going for a bit of a Lovecraftian atmosphere and he succeeded pretty well. The constant fog is a good part of it, but there is also things like the cracks in the walls (and even in the end credit) suggesting something evil creeping into the universe,

Conclusion

Before hitting the conclusion, I just want to mention how much I like this soundtrack. It’s very 80’s for sure, but that’s not a bad thing. It has a relentless beat to it, like an evil slowly plodding after you. This is accentuated by discordant patterns and screeching noises in the creepier moments like the world is falling apart. It fits perfectly with the movie. It has a few catchier riffs in it too. Although this kind of music was fairly common for the era, it makes a nice refreshing change from the more standard horror music I’ve been hearing throughout October.

Ultimately this is a very “Cool” Horror, but objectively not a particularly good one. If you can get your kicks from the atmosphere and the gore and just accept the nonsensical plot and ridiculous way the characters tend to act then you will have a good time. It basically has “Cult Classic” written all over it. It’s a movie that you’ll easily forget the plot within a few days, but you will never forget the kills. In short it’s a Lucio Fuici movie! The soundtrack is a 7.5/10 but the movie itself is only a 5.5/10, though it is a high one (Just short of a 6). It’s not for everyone and definitely don’t watch it over dinner!