From acclaimed and heavily criticised British director Pete Walker came the 1978 movie The Comeback, a story in which a pop star plans to make a return to the industry after a bad relationship goes wrong. Starring a real life pop star Jack Jones who stars as Nick Cooper, the story to some level was close to home as Jones himself was planning a comeback album, of course his story was far different to Nick Coopers.
British horror of this era was somewhat tale in comparison to American and European horror, Pete Walker single handily changed this making British horror far more extreme, while this would now be welcomed it almost became the death nail for British horror with most of Walkers films becoming either heavily censored or completely banned like the movie Frightmare. The Comeback is one of Walker’s best received movies, but also the movie seen least of all of the directors work.
When the man who directed The Lift (1983) and Amsterdamned (1988) makes a movie, you better pay attention. Both movies traumatized a generation, possibly for ever, I still have friends too scared to step into an Elevator as a result of Dick Maas’ image of horror. Needless to say when I heard that Saint (aka Sint) was going to be shown at this years Frighfest, I was incredibly excited.
Four individuals have won a contest on social networking site all2gethr.com, the prize a trip of the lifetime luxury all expenses paid visit to New York, which includes their own private jet. To make good use of the trip, the host plays games with the winners based on their social networking activities, it’s at this point that things start to go wrong. The group’s activities very much effect what happens down on the ground, as failure to answer questions correctly or comply, could lead to the death of a family member or friend. Trapped 30,000 feet in the air, all the players can do is play the games, or live with their consciences.
Xavier Gens director of Frontier(s), new film The Divide finds a group of people trapped in a basement after the world above them is destroyed in some sort of assumed nuclear attack. When the explosions and buildings above have fallen down, the group find themselves unofficially competing for who is going to be top dog, in this new underground world.
If you had not heard of the movie Endangered Species you are forgiven, this is one of those movie gems that for seemingly unknown reasons has been “hidden” from the public for many years. I (having never heard of it) stumbled upon the movie late one Friday night in the 1990’s on satellite network TNT, and having spent a short time on the channel, and numerous screenings it disappeared again. In the US the movie is available as part of Warner Brothers “archive collection” DVD’s, not released to the public as a whole, but available as a special order. The film starts the late Robert Urich (Spenser For Hire) as a washed up cop, nursing a number of scars both physical and emotional, wanting time with his daughter in a new town. His character Ruben has a friend living in a small farming community and figures that this is an ideal place to start. Having been in the town only a short time it becomes apparent that something is not quite right, tension is among the town leading characters, and rumours of cattle mutilation are rife. Ruben’s friend Joe Hiatt (Paul Dooley) suspects government conspiracy, or possibly even aliens. As each day new cattle turn up mutilated, with no evidence of any tracks surrounding the corpses, Joe gets vocal about his views, when this leads to his sudden death its down to Ruben to solve a mystery and avenge the death of his friend.
Director Alan Rudolph has always been an interesting character; his movies however always seem very similar, particularly during the 1980’s. So this 1982 offering is a stark contrast from the glossy gangsters, and sleepy laid back nature of other movies of that era in his career. There is nothing glossy about Endangered Species its dark, gritty and incredibly unpleasant but at the same time addictive viewing. It’s a thriller movie, but with its heart firmly set in horror. You do have to say that with leading lights of Urich and Jobeth Williams, you cannot help but expect something a little “TV” like, and no disrespect to the actors, but I firmly believe its this stereotype that prevented the movie from getting the audience it truly deserves. While Williams was in the Poltergeist movies, you cannot deny that although they were horror movies, they did have a somewhat Disney feel about them. So combine this duo with images of peoples intestines bursting out through their stomachs, and it is quite a surprise.
Endangered Species reeks of menace; there is the aroma of threat in almost every scene of the movie. And it’s this unpleasantness that for horror fans makes the movie all the more appealing. Further unpleasant vibes emanate when you realise that although the movies events are fictional, that its roots are coming from something that is very much fact. Cattle mutilation was indeed rife in America in the 60’s and 70’s and no real solutions were found, only the odd leaked document, and rumours that seem to form mass opinion now. Endangered Species gives one solution to these terrible mutilations, but in offering a solution it leaves further questions. The movie is served well by its supporting roles; the rather interesting Peter Coyote turns up as a rather ruthless individual determined to meet his agenda. While Hoyt Axton, and GailardSartan offer roles as individuals who conspire.
Gary Wraight’s soundtrack is twenty years ahead of its time, its cutting edge, and very modern even 29 years after it was made. The majority of the movies fear factor is heavily indebted to Wraight’s score. Endangered Species starts strong and runs most of the running time this way, but after 90 minutes of threat and adrenalin-rushing storylines the movies conclusion is very much a damp squib. You almost feel as if you are watching a movie recorded on Videotape, and the tape ran out before the movies conclusion, it’s only the end credit sequence that assures you the movie has ended.
If you like your movies dark, and you like to really feel the presence of true unpleasantness in a movie, they you’ll really love Endangered Species, and despite its rather sudden and unfinished ending, it remains one of my favourite movies of the last 30 years.
Back in the early 1980’s the UK was rocked by fear; fear that the birth of the home video recorder was going to corrupt us all. In came the DPP (Department of Public Prosecutions) to spare us all. In the process of doing so a list of 72 movies was gathered together are referred to even to this day as Video Nasties. Terror Eyes AKA Night School made the list but was later removed from the other prosecuted movies.
Terror Eyes (a play on words) surrounds a school where one of the tutors has a tendency to be a little over familiar with his female students. While he wrestles with his past affairs, a killer is making their way round the neighbourhood dispatching local women by separating their heads from their bodies.
An awful lot of movies on the Video Nasties list do raise questions about the mentality of those making viewing decisions on, but in fairness I believe they had it pretty much right here. While aspects of the movie do seem incredibly tame by today’s standards, there is a significant feeling of menace in this movie that could have the potential to give more than a few scares. There is also a reasonably high body count, and a fair amount of prolonged menace.
I fall on the unusual side of reviewers in respect of this movie in that compared to a lot of other movies of the era I feel (when you can see it, I’ll explain later) that this is a superior offering for an American based movie. I will however concur that I do agree with 90% of other reviewers that the performance of a then unknown Rachel Ward is just diabolical, hard to believe that just two years later she would star in a television show that would eclipse most actresses careers at that time, and turn out a performance that would move the world to tears, this was of course the role of Megan in The Thorn Birds.
The film is technically missing from release across the world, the only way you are likely to see it is to come by an old (and I mean old) video cassette, or to scour the lesser known movie channels across the globe. Sadly absolutely no effort has been given to make the available prints of the movie clear, as a result the movie is incredibly hard to watch. Much of the movie is shot at night, and the lack of definition of the edges in the movie means that the darkness tends to invade more of the picture than you might like. In particular one scene in which Ward’s character is being perused you cannot see who is chasing her, not once.
The movies killings (what you can see of them) are fairly brutal; the movies score well crafted to accompany the murders, giving that touch of menace well in advance and after the killings. There are some really good moments in the film, such as when the diner owner slowly comes to discover what has happened to his waitress, there are so many false starts to this scene that when he finally makes the discovery you feel almost like your ready to explode. While at the time it did infuriate me, thinking back on the scene it’s actually a really clever plot device to build the suspense.
Rather interestingly about the movie as well as having an unexpected leading actress, you also had a rather unexpected director. Ken Hughes may not be a director that automatically flicks on light bulbs in your mind, but his previous movies included Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and James Bond spoof Casino Royale, both movies a million miles away from a video nasty slasher movie. Probably not much of a surprise but after the wrap he received from making this movie, he never worked in the movie industry again.
As I said there are lots of flaws with the movie, but there are also lots of good points too. It’s a predictable movie, but also one notch above similar movies of the time. Despite what you might hear about Terror Eyes, trust me this is one movie you need to check out for yourself, and draw your own conclusions.
As dreary as 1970’s And Soon The Darkness’ may have been, one thing you cannot escape is the ability it has to haunt you. It’s a familiar tale of tourists on holiday becoming separated, one of which ends up falling foul of something unpleasant. As human beings missing person’s cases trouble us, so the movie did play heavily on the minds of anyone who saw it. Penned by the creator of the Professionals Brian Clemens, and the inventor of Doctor Who’s Daleks, Terry Nation. Despite its emotional draw, and its uncharacteristic edginess for a British movie of that time, the film felt incredibly hollow, lots of pacing about and lack of substance, so it seems that the movie was perfect for a remake.
Continuing their stream of remakes Anchor Bay Films recent movie takes the story from the French countryside (which back in 1970 seemed alien and a million miles away) to Argentina. The story follows Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie (Odette Yustman) as American tourists preparing to end their cycling holiday in the country. Just one more night separates them from returning to normality, but a night on the town and a rather over enthusiastic Romeo causes them to oversleep and miss their connecting bus. After an argument between the two of them breaks out over sunbathing, Stephanie heads off leaving her friend in a remote location, but when Ellie fails to catch up Stephanie returns to where she last saw Ellie only to find she is gone. While the local police try to convince her that Ellie has just gone off with others for the day, Stephanie is adamant something has happened to Ellie, and the hundreds of missing person’s posters around the town do little to dispel her concerns.
This 2010 remake starts with a lot of promise, there is much more bonding between the two girls, the relationship far stronger than in the original. Add to this we have a much more adapted story, you’re allowed to like Ellie before she disappears, or not if you’re that way inclined. For at least half the movie this feels like a far better product, so much more finished than the original but sadly that is where the improvements end.
No sooner has Ellie disappeared and you can feel the weaknesses’ in the movie. One minute you have this cast iron strong storyline, the next you get all these loose ends that are never ever summed up. Elation turns to disappointment as the movie just continues down a darker path than the previous movie. Whole new plotlines are created but never explained, and as the movie draws to a close you have considerably more questions than answers.
Amber Heard does a reasonable job of keeping most of her clothes on for once, and as leading actress (and Executive Producer) she does a good job of making a like-able heroin, she literally fills the boots of the part she is portraying, and that in any movie is not always an easy task. Yustman also performs well, realistic in her behaviour, endearing as the movies principal victim. The final addition of the principal cast is Karl Urban who acts well, with a hollow character that is up until his final appearance in the movie, when acting school skills seem to have failed him. Indeed of all the cast there are no missing links, these are all good performers, and as a result the movies weaknesses’ certainly cannot land at the door of any of the performers. The direction is also very capable indeed.
After the end of a lengthy action sequence you feel relived, relived that the story is over and that you can at last move on to something far more promising.
While a better version of the movie as a whole, the story still lacks much and on this basis I’d actually rate it lower than the original, because at least the original feature was consistent.
There was a time when the ultimate baptism of fire for any future partner would revolve around how they reacted when I showed them Suspiria. If they could stomach Suspiria without the exclamation “you’re really f**ked up!” that the relationship had any chance of surviving. For the uneducated Suspiria is a harsh vivid depiction for horror, for the more educated it was probably one of the tamer movies I had in my collection.
Dario Argento’s 1977 horror movie has always been one of the greatest assaults on the senses of any horror movie. With its lavish sets, vivid ear trembling Goblin soundtrack, and gross out prolonged gore; Suspiria is a sceptical on any level. To look at it is a thing of beauty, even if the story itself suffers some flaws.The 21st Century has bought something new to visual entertainment, something that Argento’s spectacular movie was made for, the wonder that is high definition viewing.
The movie itself surrounds a young American woman who travels to an acclaimed school of dance in Europe. Susie Banyon (Jessica Harper) is immediately offended by the German manners she encounters, the taxi driver is rude and insensitive and her expected warm greeting at the school is just a locked door. But Susie witnesses something, a strange series of events, these events lead to the death of one of her potential classmates in a highly unusual manner. Susie’s stay is drenched in further unsociable behaviour, and more equally disturbing deaths. In a strange country, and the talk of witchcraft banded about like it’s perfectly acceptable, Susie’s stay slowly gets worse.
In 1977 and for considerable years after, few movies had quite the same effect as Suspiria. The movie clearly put Italian cinema on the map in respect of horror, and gave the very stagnant horror styling’s of American and British horror a much needed wake up call.This was a movie that ticked all the right boxes and gave horror movies across the world something they craved, a really good scare. Its amazing to think but it took over two decades for American cinema to catch up, now the sort of terror you receive in Suspiria is commonplace in cinema, but well ahead of its time.
Suspiria is quite unpleasant in its character depictions, everyone in the movie including the character of Susie is fairly unlikeable, all very blunt and to the point, with appalling attitudes and beliefs. The main negative result of this is that when characters die you are not particularly bothered. Its not all bad it’s the unpleasantness that also gives the movie part of its charm.
Onto the movies score, performed and composed by Italian Prog. Rock band Goblin. The wonder of their score is that you do not need to see the movie, only hear the music to get a glimpse of exactly how terrifying the movie is. Suspiria is a movie that’s main mechanism is its score, from heavy pounding electric guitars to haunting vocal whispers. Never has a movie been so well served by its soundtrack, take the soundtrack away and you have less than half a movie.
From a special effects perspective Argento delivers something quite spectacular, victims are slowly bleed on razor sharp wire, throats are ripped out, and hearts stabbed in ripped open chest cavities. While the blood effects are over the top, they are representative of the movies other vivid colours. Like the depiction of horror Argento was decades ahead of more popular horror cinema, to the extent that it has taken all this time for English speaking movies to catch up.
I wont lie, the acting needs a little to be desired, and its not even the fault of dubbing. It could however be on the part of Argento’s direction however, trying to take the viewer on a more ghostly experience by making the performances a little less animated than they should. You don’t quite get the impression that a couple of the characters are fighting for their lives, and this is in some ways an inexcusable flaw.
Praise put aside Suspiria does have a bit of a problem, and that is after an initial viewing it never quite lives up to the excitement of the first viewing (unlike a lot of other Argento movies), personally I have found Suspiria quite difficult to watch the whole way through for a few years now. It still impresses with its gore, overwhelms you with its soundtrack but needed something new to take it forward. That “new” is the wonder of Blu-ray, the experience is like a fresh one, the definition of colour has never looked so amazing, the clarity of vision a shining example of why high definition came about, I would go as far as to say that Suspiria on high definition makes a viewing experience that will take a long time for anything to catch up with it or equalled. Imagine taking something that already looked a step ahead of other high definition movies, then ramped the visual feast up a level. Few movies matched up to Suspira on DVD, now I find it hard to believe anything will match up to the movie in its Blu-ray format.Photographs cannot capture what has happened here, neither can text, but believe me when I say you’ll never see anything like this, and even if you are not a fan of the horror genre, you’ll find some redeeming features here.
Special Features:
Fear At 400 Degrees: The Cine-Excess Of Suspiria:-This talking head feature has some quality talking heads, but is head butted full force by the banal ramblings of Xavier Mendik a cult movie specialist. Mendik is the variety of soul who will chuck as many big words as he possibly can into a sentence, whether it’s a because of a severe dictionary beating, or whether its to sound impressive it just spoils what would otherwise be a quality release. Talking like he lives in the world of the tongue twister, (Peter Piper springs to mind) Mendik baffles then mispronounces as many works as he can, leaving a thick dirty taste in my mouth. The documentary is further hindered by the bizarre ratio it’s presented with. After a beautiful crisp clear widescreen movie, you then get this bizarre, poor quality print documentary that sits centre screen surrounded by borders.The legend that is Kim Newman, Patricia McCormack, Norman J. Warren, Claudio Simonetti and last but no means least Dario Argento adds the quality element to this otherwise odd documentary.
A very real audio commentary finds Kim Newman and Alan Jones discussing the movie in a very unscripted manner, some commentaries are put together almost scripted. Here you believe your listening to two great friends discussing a movie that in a number of ways has changed their lives.
Finally Suspiria Perspectives is a series of conversations with the characters outlined in the main documentary, its kind of like watching the edited bits not quite suitable for the documentary, but on the whole is just more elaborate discussion of the wonders of Suspiria.
Suspiria is available only in the UK at present on the Blu-ray format.
Few people really understand the influence of Italian cult cinema upon the world of the popular movie, many do not even realise there was a time that Italy knocked out hundreds of movies a year; I recently enlightened a mind when I explained the term Spaghetti Western, leaving the person in question quite surprised as to the roots of this often used phrase.While the movies of Italy focused on what was popular inAmerican cinema and copied it, seldom do you hear the reverse. America however frequently borrows heavily from Italy, Quentin Tarentino reaches into Italian cinema history to steal aspects for his movies, I think I can draw some reference for everyone of his movies that stems from Italy. So inspired is the director that this year we will see a remake of the Italian classic Inglorious Bastards, a movie he frequently raves about. Also this year we will see another Italian classic get the re-make treatment in Suspiria, originally directed by Dario Argento. The Italians realise talent when they see it, and the need to copy ideas that work; this brings me to the latest Shameless release Watch Me When I Kill (Aka il Gatto dagli oochi di giada, The Cats Victims, The Cat With Jade Eyes), this movies writer/director Antonio Bido was clearly so inspired by the Dario Argento movie Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) that the movie mimics it.
Watch Me When I Kill is a rare delight; it’s one of those seldom seen movies that is often discussed by fans of the Italian thriller genre. The trouble being that those lesser seen or less popular movies suffer terribly without careful preservation. Apparently the movie rather surprisingly was one of the highest grossing Italian movies of the 70’s, but unlike movies like the aforementioned Deep Red was not kept alive by the fans. Shameless Films struggled for months to hunt down the best source material, and get specialists in the field to give the movie some new life. I think this needs some praise as it’s a common thought that companies that buy movies to sell on their independent labels are assumed to be literally chucking movies onto discs willy nilly with little thought about quality. It was all the way back last summer that my contact at Shameless told me they were trying to get some better footage... If you want to be taken seriously in the world of DVD production then look to these guys on how to do a job properly, imagine spending half a year preserving a movie before you even know how it will be received?
Onto the movie, about time I hear you cry. What you have here is an effective little thriller, clearly shot on the hoof but with a reasonable amount of time piecing the story together. With Watch Me When I Kill the movie surrounds a shared secret, something that happened in the past that connects a group of seamlessly un-associated characters. The whole series of events begins with the murder of an old pharmacist one day while working in his store. Nightclub performer Mara (Paola Tedesco) stumbles across the scene of the crime, and by association puts herself in the line of danger. When old flame Lukas (the late Corrado Pani) comes into the picture, he starts to connect all the pieces of the puzzle.
Watch Me When I kill is like a typical blueprint whodunit style thriller (this specific type of Italian thriller has become known as Giallo), lots of random murders, and a whole bucket load of red herrings along the way to keep you guessing the movies killer until the very end.
The movie has dated far more than any Italian thriller I can think of, and I’m not referring to the print quality. It’s clear to anyone with the slightest knowledge of Italian thrillers that director Bido is trying to replicate the power of Argento. What Argento is clever to do though is hide tell tale signs that give indication to the movies age, so that with the exclusion iof fashion his movies could have been made anytime. Bido on the other hand throws ever bit of 1977 culture, and technology he can into the movie, meaning that by 1980 the movie already would have looked quite dated. This is not a digging criticism in fact it gives the movie a little charm, anyone researching late 70’s lifestyles would have a field day here; it’s really quite delightful to watch. When not focusing on the culture aspects Bido rushes around Padua, Tivoli, and Rome like you’re a tourist on a 24 hour break, I wonder how much the landscape will have changed.
There are not any real scares, or moments of fright in the movie; however this does not stop the movie from at times being quite disturbing. Using “state of the art” 1977 technology in one rather long scene Lukas takes his neighbour Giovanni Bozzi to a recording studio to dissect a tape recording of noises played down the telephone to the neighbour. The recording is not too pleasant on its own, but when the various aspects are broken down it gets a little more eerie.A movie could have been concocted off the back of this recording alone, and had you shown any signs of flagging on this movie then this would certainly alert your senses.
The story is pieced together quite nicely, with a good flow of action, mystery and a scattering of romance. For those who love those gritty moments of death, there is quite a healthy body count to keep you amused.
This is not a movie that should have been dubbed into English, it does somehow cheapen the movie, making all the actors come off as being a bit cheesy and just plain wrong, for the time you had a collection of reasonably respected actors and public celebrities, who now seem like amateurs due to rather lax dubbing techniques. Early on in the movie Mara drops in rather casually that someone had tried to kill her, the dubbing artists emotionless words make it sound more like she forgot the sugar. This is not a flaw on the side of Shameless but of the producers of the movies that ordered the dubbed version. It’s worth adding that few Italian movies would make sense in their native tongues, as cast members were often plucked from around the globe with no understanding of Italian, using the much mentioned now Deep Red, British actor David Hemmings was dubbed into Italian, but because vast portions of the original soundtrack were scrapped he was then dubbed back into English; in recent years as more of that movie has been recovered the issues of this have become far more obvious.
Sticking with Deep Red, there is this series of scenes that literally copy the movie with new eyes; shadowed figures, a table of totally random items, and false jumps. Just in case you were starting to think it was all copied, Bido curveballs you with a connection to another Argento movie, Suspiria. Musicians Trans Europa Express burst in with a Suspiria inspired soundtrack. The group did not only rip off Goblin/Argento hits, after the initial smack in the face of obviousness you get something far more subdued, almost dreamy, even beautiful.
Watch Me When I Kill is not necessarily a movie that you watch and become an immediate fan of, it can at times be fairly hard going. I chose to watch the movie twice, and knowing the movies hidden secrets the second time round I was more alert, more involved, and as a result I enjoyed it all the more; what went from pretty average rose a few levels in my opinion.
Special Features:
On Watch Me When I kill you get something quite unusual on a Shameless release, and that’s a very frank conversation with Antonio Bido as he talks about the movie in detail, and allows you through his words to see the movie through his eyes. The director is quick to try and put a halt to any Argento comparisons saying these are coincidental, and that if he copied anyone he was following Alfred Hitchcock. Bido also explains about the impact of the movie on Italian Cinema history, the failure of the stereo soundtrack, and the reason the print quality (now pretty well restored by Shameless) has not lasted well with time. On a nice touch the director also addresses his failures and his regrets.
After their previous commentary track, experts on all things Giallo “The Wilson Brothers” have put together a far more relaxed commentary track allowing you to enjoy move the movie and the text that accompanies it, still however managing to retain their unique sense of humour.
There are two trailers for the movie, both the American and International versions.
An alternate opening credits sequence gives an interesting spin on the movie.
There is a pictue gallery and trailers for other Shameless moviesincluding Strip Nude For Your Killer, Baba Yaga, Torso, Oasis Of Fear, The Designated Victim, and The Phantom Of Death.
The movie is available to buy in the UK from the end of February.
I absolutely adore Italian cult movies; I also rather enjoy the movies that UK based Shameless Screen Entertainment release, but imagine my delight when I discover that one of my all-time Italian thrillers Who Saw Her Die? Is getting a long overdue UK release, not just with a glossy print but with some long missing footage reinserted. It is like one of my greatest dreams come true, and luckily for me those nice guys over at Shameless sent me a copy of the movie to watch prior to its release on the 25th August, enough to tide me over until the movie is out to buy.
Made all the way back in 1972 Who Saw Her Die? Starts with one of the most disturbing openings I have ever seen, nestled in the beautiful snow filled French mountains you see a young girl enjoying herself with her nanny and her sledge. From out of the trees looms a figure of a woman with a veil covering her face. Grabbing the young girl, the woman proceeds to smash her skull in with a stone before burying her rather carelessly under the snow. Moving forward 20 years, we are teleported to Venice in the 1970’s; and the arrival of Roberta (Nicoletta Elmi) who has come to stay with her father Franco (George Lazenby) is about to cause history to repeat itself.
The movie is a product of the great Aldo Lado the mastermind behind Night Train Murders, and The Short Night Of The Glass Dolls, Lado is not necessarily the best know of the Italian directors especially to the casual Italian movie viewer, but familiar or not you’d certainly agree Lado’s movies have a certain style about them. Here Lado shows a side of Venice that the Italian tourist board would not like you to see, looking dowdy and dirty you can almost smell the dirty Venetian water, add to this a vision of darkness, rain, fog, and cloud cover that you do not think of when Venice enters your mind. Everything about Lado’s outlook of Venice is dark and sinister and not the image you get with movies like The Talented Mr. Ripley or Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now even though this is hardly sun filled; on the subject of the Roeg masterpiece I’d go as far as to say that I suspect that Roeg took a little inspiration from this movie as you can easily spot similarities between the two movies, while Roeg painted a harsh image of Venice, Lado’s version is far more extreme and explicit. Now don’t get me wrong, Lado’s vision is not all dark, there are some most beautiful scenes in the movie, for those with a passion for travel, history, and architecture this movie will make you want to visit Venice even more, what is carefully delivered however is the thought “be careful what you cannot see”.
Lado scored well with his leading man acquiring the services of George Lazenby (former James Bond) for a song due to his incredibly high debts (caused due to his dramatic over the top spending while filming On Her Majesties Secret Service), and while Lazenby was criticised for his poor acting on Bond and his lack of sex appeal, he was still a big enough name to ensure that Who Saw Her Die? Got a few more bums on seats in cinemas across the world. I should add that if you thought Lazenby lacked sex appeal before, seeing him naked here is not going to improve your views. Sex appeal or not, this movie does prove that the world was wrong about Lazenby and certainly here he proves himself to be a very capable actor. There is a little more Bond-age here in the casting of Adolfo Celi who starred as Emile Largo in the James Bond movie Thunderball. Celi or rather his character of Serafian a sort of Mafioso boss manages to dominate the entire movie, as a shadowy and untouchable criminal mastermind, a man with fingers in many pies. Fear not ladies it’s not a male dominated piece and the casting of enchanting Swedish actress Anita Strindberg with her devastatingly striking looks finishes the lead cast off perfectly, an actress who young in her career had already starred in two very successful Italian movies Lucio Fulci’s A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin, and Sergio Martino’s The Case Of The Scorpions Tail; few actresses have the powerful look of this actress, let alone the very capable acting skill as she plays a woman in mourning.
I have now seen Who Saw Her Die? A dozen times, and reviewed it now for the third time; what I love about the picture is that there is a wonderful power that the movie has, forget the horrible story of a child killer, and the further sideline of a depraved group of perverts; the movies great talent is that by the time I watch the movie again I have completely forgotten who the killer is, making Who Saw Her Die? A movie that you can watch again, and again. How many movies do you know that feel fresh with each repeated watching? And how many movies grow in power with repeated viewings? I won’t deny the first time I saw this movie I could take it or leave it, but now it makes its way to the top of my list for all-time favourite movies. From its gruelling story, its impressive visual delight by its director Aldo Lado, onto its rather impressive score by Ennio Morricone, this is an all round winner.
About The DVD
Shameless have again gone out of their way to preserve the movie well, it’s in my view a far superior print to the US Anchor Bay edition released some years ago, and greatly improved by the additional seconds of footage, and English subtitles over a couple of scenes previously un-dubbed and without text translation. At last I get to see what it is the creepy kids are singing about in an Italian variant of “Ring A Roses”.
As you progress through the movie there are a few things I had not noticed before, aided by what appears to be better framing. The movie boasts a 2.0 soundtrack, and a frame ratio of 2.35:1.
The cover features a front image of a hand holding a knife above a corpse the cover text reading “Before Don’t Look Now Came... Who Saw Her Die? But Who Will Survive To Tell The Tale?” As has become tradition with Shameless Screen Entertainment releases there is an alternate reverse cover featuring a child like picture with a photo of the character Roberta superimposed on it.
There are some trailers on the disc starting with The Designated Victim a release due on the 8th of September and a movie that has never been seen in the UK before. Strip Nude For Your Killer is a classic Giallo thriller by the director of The Nights Of Terror, another future release is Umberto Lenzi’s long unseen Oasis Of Fear also due out with the other two titles in September. As well as a look at the future there are trailers for Night Train Murders, What Have They Done To Your Daughters, and The Black Cat. There is also a trailer for Who Saw Her Die? That captures perfectly the magic of this spectacular film.
Of all the releases from Shameless this is by far my favourite, despite my love of The Frightened Woman, congratulations Shameless on bringing one of my all time favourites to DVD in the UK. You can purchase Who Saw Her Die? From the 25th of August.
In a time where laws were seemingly flaunted revolutionary British director Pete Walker had an answer to the question “What’s the world coming too?” His 1974 movie House Of The Whipcord, which is not I must add anywhere near as seedy as it sounds, finds young women who skate through their crimes with a slap on the wrists and a fine imprisoned in a country dwelling ran by the sinister Mrs. Wakeham.
Of all Pete Walker’s offerings House Of The Whipcord has to be the most tongue in cheek, with its main character, the vicious Mrs. Wakeham played by Barbara Markham being based on Mary Whitehouse, a notorious British character who wanted everything offensive to her to be put out of sight. Nothing was sacred from Whitehouse, whom being a normal mother took offence at Britain’s declining standards, or at least that was how she viewed it. The effect Whitehouse had on censorship in the UK is a story far too extreme to tell here, but Walkers puppet master approach to Mrs. Wakeham views is obvious and most striking, because rather like Whitehouse, Wakeham is naive, stupid, and misguided.
The set up of the movie is a nice idea, and centres around four characters Wakeham, Bates played by Dorothy Gordon, Walker played by Pete Walker regular Sheila Keith; and finally Justice Bailey (Patrick Barr) an aging, senile man who believes he is serving the public.Chiefly steered by Wakeham, this quartet carry out extreme ranges of corporal punishment and imprisonment on young women who poke two fingers up at the British legal system. A keen reader Wakeham seeks out cases in the papers of women who get away with what she sees as blue murder, arranging for them to find themselves at her custom built prison.
As a second element of humour Walkers tool to get inmates to the prison comes in the form of a supposedly suave and debonair man by the name of Mark E. Desade (get it? No? Same the name allowed) played by Robert Tayman, not that I go eyeing up other men but if this guy has anything at all going for him then I have been elevated to stud status by this movie, needless to say however Desade is obviously successful with his captives in order to keep a pretty full prison for Wakeham.
House Of The Whipcord is in the same vein as other Pete Walker movies, pretty harsh to say the least. Another trait they have in common is the unusual and often terrible casting and performances. Rather like Frightmare, and Die Screaming, Marianne; Whipcord sadly falls foul of having a number of terrible actors including Ray Brooks who literally plays the same character he has during his entire career (and that includes Mr. Benn), never a particularly good actor Brooks terrible performance literally reeks here. But it’s the casting of Karan David as Karen that creates the biggest laughs, pretending to be French is a road that this actress should never have pursued, and as the movie progresses it’s blatantly apparent that David lost track of exactly what nationality she was.
On the flip side of the coin Sheila Keith gives of a well rounded performance as someone both harsh, but capable of the same sort of tongue in cheek humour as the movies director, I’d go as far as to say that the character she plays of Walker was a self imposed homage by the director himself, even naming her after himself. There is a most wonderful piece where Keith and Bates are trying to flee the police, covered in blood and bruises when pulled over and asked if “Do you mind if I have a few words with you?” by a police officer, this moment so amusing it could come off the back of any Carry On movie, it’s a pure delight.
Incest raises a familiar head as it does in a number of Walker movies, here the relationship between a mother and her son is certainly moved into a very suspicious light, and anyone not seeing this is looking at the world through those famous rose tinted glasses. The worst factor is the sheer disgustingness of both the characters, the thought of them engaging in anything other than a platonic relationship extreme enough without them needing to be related.
While quite a predictable movie now, back in 1974 Walker used an awful lot of techniques in the movie that are now more commonplace, the result at the time was a shocking wakeup call from British horror. Though never banned when the whole video nasty furore in the UK was underway, it was conveniently arranged that House Of The Whipcord was not seen for a period of about 14 years from the beginning of enforced movie certification. It was not until Nigel Wingrove’s company Redemption formed releasing video’s of movies lost in the passage of time that House Of The Whipcord was not only seen again, but generated a new public love for the movie.
"If you ever watched La Dolce Vita wishing that Swedish sex siren Anita Ekberg would get out of the Trevi fountain, turn junkie, torture some pensioners and stalk young innocent nuns for kinky sex in a convent then Killer Nun is the film for you!"
Killer Nun tells the tale of Sister Gertrude(Enita Ekberg) a faithful daughter of God, but just prior to the movies beginning Sister Gertrude has been unwell, she had to undergo major brain surgery in order to aid a tumour. Now back at work Gertrude is not quite the same person, whereas before she was calm and serene now she flips out at the least thing; smashing false teeth and giving the elderly patients in her care heart attacks. Suddenly however her outbursts get worse, and the patients begin dying, can Sister Gertrude be controlled?
Killer Nun was one of the original video nasties, banned in the UK in 1984 when scum newspaper The Daily Mail decided to be the voice of the people and force government to impose radical censorship on over 70 movies (this was just the start). In the 1990's the ban on the movie was lifted, but the movie was released in an edited form. Now however and for the first time ever the movie is released fully uncut in the UK.
Surprisingly enough, and something quite unusual in any horror movie or exploitation piece of this type the movie is based on true events surrounding a German Nun who killed patients, and stole their worldly possessions, selling them so she could lead a less than conventional life, again all caused after an operation on the brain, this time though due to a metal plate being installed. Many of the incidents portrayed on screen did actually occur.
Killer Nun is also a surprisingly good film; I would go as far as to say a damn near excellent piece of Italian cinema. The story has great motion to it, none of the ridiculous sidetracking that occurs during a lot of Italian horror movies. Also having now watched it in its uncut I can honestly say i'm not sure what all the fuss was about, why did this movie get banned and for so long? I guess all I can put it down to is the references to the church, maybe the Daily Mail's vigilance started at the church with this movie.
Anita Ekberg is exceptional in the role, obviously a little older than in La Dolce Vita, all the movie you feel sorrier for her character than you do any animosity. Deeply troubled by her warped world, and her often skewered views Ekberg plays the role of the mad woman incredibly well. Other supporting cast include Warhole favourite Joe Dellasandrio, sex siren Poala Morra, Cassandra Crossing star Lou Castel and horror veteran Alida Valli.
The movie has a nice clean print, the downfall of its editing however that is has mixed language; as was the case with all Italian movies of this time period (the 70's) Killer Nun has been dubbed into English, however when the movie was restored it was impossible to gather the same vocal artists again so rather than dubbing the movie slips into Italian with English subtitles.
I saw Killer Nun back in the 90'swhen the ban was lifted and to be fair I was not overly impressed, however watching it this time round I found it a far more enjoyable experience, so much so that I have to say it is one of the more enjoyable Italian offerings I have seen for a considerable amount of time. The fact that the story is more thriller than horror, and there is no over the top sexual reference as is often the case with these nunsploitation films. Killer Nun is an enjoyable movie, with a rather clever final twist worthy of any blockbuster movie.
The movies soundtrack is a real winner by guitarist and vocalist Alessandro Alessandroni, not a name I was overly familiar with but one I'll be looking into now. The main theme is highly addictive, in fact so much so I find it difficult to get out of my head, despite its nun like simplicity.
The movie was directed by Giulio Berruti and sadly at least according to the internet movie database this seems to be the last work of the director's career, while his work was more varied than some there were few highlights other than assisting Mario Bava on the movie Baba Yaga.
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