CURTAINS 83'

Curtains, a virtually unknown Canadian slasher by a virtually unknown cast and crew, well the director was the cinematographer on one of the Ilsa of the SS films.

This almost forgotten film finally has received it's proper treatment to Blu Ray, Curtains was kept in hiding for years on VHS to DVD transfers and talked about in small circles. The bleak winter atmosphere, creepy dolls on rainy back woods roads, a killer in an old woman mask with a sickle and a scary mental breakdown performance by Samantha Egger (The Brood).

An overbearing director charges six beautiful women to stay with him in his dark secluded mansion  for the weekend to bear everything in an audition for a role in his upcoming film. Jealousy ensues and the women back stab and betray each other until they die off one by one. The lavish death scenes are cruel, like a Giallo and the pace is formidable for a slasher, but the unconventional twist at the end demands a re-watch to follow characters motives.

Curtains was shot in 81 and released in 83 but it feels like a mid-70's horror film, in terms of atmosphere and cinematography. 8 out of 10

Top 70's Horror

There are easily a good 100 or so horror films from the 70's that can overthrow most modern horror in terms of suspense, gore, social commentary, innovativeness and most of all atmosphere.

There are the obvious 70's horror films like John Carpenter's  Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist then there are the 2nd tier of 70's horror like Black Christmas, George Romero's Martin, and Suspiria.

Hollywood has laid waste to most of these good names with remakes, rehashes and re-hacks that most common horror viewers are unaware that The Hills Have Eyes, Last House on the Left or The Crazies are remakes.

My unconventional top 70's horror is as follows (By unconventional, I mean you might not have heard of it)

Blood Spattered Bride (72)- Carmilla Karnstein story, A newlywed wife undergoes twisted sexual abuse from her perverse husband and feels trapped. She stumbles (in the most odd introduction of characters) upon Carmilla, a forgetful and lost, beautiful young woman who brings dominating sexual and bloody havoc to the household. Strong surreal moments and excessive blood letting, unpredictable ending very impressive for the early 70's. Highly recommended 10 out of 10. A perfect horror film in every sense.

Shockwaves (77)- The quintessential Nazi Zombie film, starring Peter Cushing. A boat is shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island, that is the old experimenting grounds of SS killing machines. They awake from their slumber and kill again. Fantastic cinema photography, the suspenseful build up to the killings is treated as fair and intelligent to the viewer, equivalent to Carpenter's delivery in Halloween. The ending is very disturbing and leaves a grim feeling, superior film that deserves more attention. 8 out 10.

Rabid (77)- Another David Cronenberg gore-fest. Adult star Marilyn Chambers under goes radical plastic surgery after a motorcycle accident then its all "body-horror" meets Night of the Living Dead. Odd deaths that involve a tentacle from the armpit. Comparable to Romero's The Crazies with trigger-happy Military vs.Quarantined Citizen. Chambers proves her acting abilities outside the adult world as the terrorized and unknowing murderess. 9 out of 10.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death (71)- Early 70's ghost story, is Jessica loosing her mind? Beautiful cinematography, thick atmosphere that you can cut with a knife and a haunting minimalistic score.. A post mental Jessica and a few friends getaway to the country in a creepy house with an orchard that needs upkeep. They find a beautiful seance-loving hippy squatting in their new house and the towns people are scabby octogenarians that pose an immediate threat. Gorgeous film, atmosphere with a capital "A". 10 out of 10.

Tourist Trap (79) - Early David Schmoeller (Puppet Master) peculiar night-time slasher,sick drive-in horror finally on DVD. Originally and inappropriately released as a PG film. Stranded teens encounter help from a local man (Chuck Conners) and take lodge at his creepy wax museum and have a run-in with his demented brother, a maniacal telekinetic mannequin hording-villain, unlike anything ever scene in horror. Weird and unique death scenes, bizarre ending that stuck with me for years. 9 out of 10.

 

Silent Night, Night Bloody (74)- Crazy people used to reside in an old house, have they resided there all these years? Watch for the beautiful sepia toned asylum flashback. The House on Haunted Hill remake lifted this scene. 7 out of 10.

Isle of the Damned (76) aka Who Can Kill a Child. Hitchcokian elements inspire this evil child horror film. Low on gore, heavy on suspense.  The first documentary style segment is unnecessary however the film build and builds as the town closes in on the unsuspecting couple. 8 out of 10.

Baba Yaga (73)- AKA The Devil Witch. A young female photographer cross paths with Baba Yaga, the mythos of an evil witch, at 3AM on a foggy night in a  grimy cab (not spooky at all) . After wards the photographer's camera becomes cursed and is an object of murder. Poor dubbing, great imagery, cool concept of photographs within the story telling. Very psychedelic. 8 out of 10.

Daughters of Darkness (71) Harold Kumel directs this big budget, Vampire, Euro-Horror with a classy finesse, more dialogue driven and focusing on the drama and turmoil of another married couple with a Countess that comes in between their marriage. 9 out of 10.

Vampyres (75) Part Vampiress Gothic-Horror and part lesbian-erotica. Two beautiful young females lure men and women back to their castle to commit seduction and murder. Gained a cult following. Great restored copy by Blue Underground. Not for the Squeamish. 9 out of 10.

Private Parts (72) One of the most strange love scenes in any film ever, (spoiler, man + blow-up doll) but don't let that scare you.  Paul Bartel's Private Parts is a creepy hotel horror with even creepier tenants, more of a bizarre character study than actual scares. Great restoration and much better than Howard Stern's film Private Parts. 8 out of 10.

Torso

This particular Italian slasher features a large roster of beautiful college girls that get killed off particularly quickly, with little time for any character development or attachment. But Torso sets it self higher than most other films of this nature. The killer, a dapper and perverse psychopath, donned with a gray ski mask and a handsome silk neck scarf creatively eliminates each victim in the oh-so elegant ways of murder that the scenes are gore-tacular artistry.What makes Torso stand out amongst slashers films with the same premise is the odd camera angles and perspectives, which could have been an influence on John Carpenter for Halloween and I think even more so for Alexander Aja's High Tension. Halloween is praised for its credit for what it did for slasher films but I think credit should established to Italian director Sergio Martino ( Your Vice, All the Colors of the Dark) .

Concerning the blood and gore of the film, for 1973, hack-sawing limbs off of dead corpses and close ups of blood pools slowing draining in the muddy water while a minimalistic score seems pretty bold for the time and place of where this film was in the world of horror. Fortunately, the recent release of Torso on DVD may increase popularity along with the rise of in popularity of the Giallo genre, one would hope a 70's gem like this could be talked about in the next decade as one of the great contributors to horror. 9 out of 10

Pete Walker's Frightmare

 

After watching hundreds of horror films you become desensitized to well, just about everything, the only good that could come out of horror desensitization is when you see a good horror film, that actually IS good you say, "well dammit, I should tell someone about this one." Frightmare was a treat. Any film about cannibalism should either not take it self seriously or freak the hell out of you but Frightmare was directed, with a bit more finesse and written and acted so well that not only was it taking the subject matter very seriously but it had a simmering tension that came to a conclusive ferocious boil at the end. I have become a recent fan of British horror director Pete Walker, with The Confessional, House of the Whipcord and the wonderfully disturbing Schizo and I love all of his films. 8 out of 10.

 
Pete Walker is a criminally underrated master of horror or better yet, horror-dramas. His films usually are lengthy, a bit wordy and are shot with a by the numbers standard but the way he tells his stories with editing and how the actors flesh out the complex scripts mixed with great scores make each and every one of his films something to be sought after. Frightmare is a great start to his catalog but another gem to be held on par is his psycho-thriller masterpiece Schizo.

Black Belly of the Tarantula

1971 was a good year for the Giallo genre. All Giallo films have the haunting score, a good majority by  Ennio (genius) Morricone, and most Giallo's have the bold camera tricks, black gloved killers, colorful back drops, excessive blood-letting and oh-so-beautiful victims, but director Paolo Cavara (Mondo Cane) had the right elements with the film to make it one of the best of the genre.

The story's perspective isn't the typical Hitchcockian framed man caught in the middle of a murder while proving his innocence but instead follows a brooding inspector, who lost heart in his profession, yet follows the killer's bloody trail. The victims are viciously killed by being debilitated with a poisonous needle in the back of the neck and then cut open by a scalpel in the stomach. Black Belly has the right elements to transcend similar films within the genre by its ominous and hypnotic tone. The atypical cheese that comes with 70's European horror films is not present and the end leaves you feeling melancholic. (Which was also present concerning context in Dirty Harry of the same year) If you like Hitchcock or even the 70's films from Brian De Palma you should start you Giallo viewing with this particular film. 9 out 10.

Lady in a Cage

In the early 60's Hollywood churned out films that would fall under the title of "hag-horror" or older women-in-peril films. The genre's explosion began with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and most of those films starred the aged and heavy handed Joan Crawford (Straight Jacket). Lady in a Cage was the lesser known of the genre but the social commentary that it held then, still holds an impact now. The violence and mean-spirited villian's were an an exaggeration of what society could be like in a world where people turn a blind eye to blatant crimes of violence in broad daylight.

The old woman in peril (Olivia DeHavilland) viciously battles mental abuse and physical attacks from a Preaching Wino, a Aged Prostitute and three grimy beatnik hoodlums (one of them being a young and handsome James Caan) while imprisoned in her own house, in an elevator (the cage) on a hot summer afternoon. Films like these spawned into a more bizarre type of films called "roughies" in which the damsel in distress became a young beauty instead of easy targeted elderly.  Notable "Roughies" were Bad Girls go to Hell and Defilers which pushed sex and violence towards women even further. 9 out of 10

Cult Italian Siren Edwige Fenech

Edwige Fenech, the gorgeous Italian, raven haired, doe-eyed, Christmas Eve born beauty, has been a great contribution to Italian horror films and thrillers and even a few Euro sex-comedies since the early 70's. Her striking features have captivated European audiences for years and finally in the wake of her films being released on DVD (in the past 10 years) American audiences are being swept away as well. Fenech came out of retirement and got face time in a short cameo in Eli Roth's Hostel 2.

Edwige's wide range of characters varies from a damsel-in-distress, sultry temptress to a voluptuous villain-ess. In most cases within her roles the character is in various states of undress with psychedelic backgrounds and trippy music that was common place in Italian horror. It is rumored that Italian director Sergio Martino had a difficult time working with Fenech, not at her fault, but at the cast and crew around her, her apparent beauty would make the cast and crew nervous.  Let's give her a 10 out of 10 also.

Select Filmography:

Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I have the Key
All the Colors of the Dark
Case of the Bloody Iris
The Seducers
Strip Nude for Your Killer
Giovanni: Long Thigh
Hostel 2

Give it to the Italians!

Giallo's are unlike anything else in the world or horror.

The rich colorization, hyper-editing, odd camera angles'& POV's, beautiful woman, psychedelic murders, non-linear story telling and red herrings and oh, the titles of the films, the titles alone are a story on there own. Combining these rich artistic elements can either make a normal horror viewers head spin and shake your fist at the screen or only cry out for more.

The Godfather of this movement came from Mario Bava. He exploded on the scene in 1960 with moody and thick atmosphere black & white supernatural masterpiece Black Sunday, then moved into rich color and lighting with Black Sabbath and Blood and Black Lace. These films had the suspense of a Hitchcock film but also incorporated a level of Art House horror by paying attention to special set and lighting details.

In 1970 Dario Argento, who was heavily influence by Bava, redefined the Giallo films with Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The financial success of that film created a frenzy of Italian film makers to shoot more colorful and gory films. Which launched the success of other Italian film-makers such as Sergio Martino and Lucio Fulci and then later Lamberto Bava (son of Mario) and Michele Soavi, who many credit his film Dellamorte Dellamore 1994 to be the last of the true Giallo films.

 Thanks to the cult following of these films, many of the reputable films have been beautifully transferred to DVD and and have come out of obscurity. Now, Giallo fans can clutch onto copies of their favorite Italian Slashers that have the clarity and color treatment those films deserve.

Recommended Giallo's and Supernatural Italian Horror.

Black Sunday
Black Sabbath
Blood & Black Lace
The Whip and the Body
Twitch of the Death Nerve
Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Cat O' Nine Tales
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Suspiria
Inferno
Tenbre (Unsane)
Opera
Two Evil Eyes
Macabre
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only Have the Key
The Strange Vice of Mrs.Wardh
Case of the Scorpion's Tail
Case of the Bloody Iris
All the Colors of the Dark
Black Belly of the Tarantula
Torso
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
Seven Blood Stained Orchids
Who Saw Her Die?
What Ever Happened to Solange?
The House with Laughing Windows
Short Night of the Glass Dolls
The Beyond
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Don't Torture a Duckling
Stagefright
The Church
Dellamorte Dellamore

Top 10 Horror

Too many to mention, I'll just pick 10 that have been a part of my soul for a while.


1. Horror of Dracula (58)

 This Hammer Horror film is gorgeous and intimidating. Featuring the fearsome Christopher Lee as the Count and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.

2. Carnival of Souls (62)

 Haunting low-budget early 60's ghost story horror, shot Bergman-esque, full of thick mood and atmosphere.

3. Rabid  (77)

David Cronenberg's second feature, Marilyn Chambers is a carrier of an accidental experiment. She infects her victims with an under arm piercing tentacle. The military moves as a threat and attempts to contain the murdering and madness in this masterful 70's body horror mind-fuckery.

4. George Romero's Martin (77)

George Romero's Vampire/Anti-Vampire Story in old town Pennsylvania, possibly Romero's best work.

5. Spider Baby aka The Maddest Story Ever Told (68)

 Bizarre Cannibal family also part black-comedy starring an old Lon Cheney and a young Sid Haig.

6. Dead and Buried (81)

 Early 80's big budget gore masterpiece created by the crew who did Alien, atmospheric sleeper that gained cult status.

7. Tourist Trap (79)

 Early David Schmoeller (Puppet Master), sick drive-In Horror finally on DVD. Killer psychic-villain, unlike anything in horror cinema before.


8. Alice Sweet Alice aka The Communion (76)

 70's Gothic Horror, shot in New Jersey, a beautiful rare gem in 70's irreligious horror. Director Alfred Sole executes this complex slasher exceptionally well and unconventionally reveals the killer's identity 3/4 of the way in the film. A must see for slasher fans.

9. Psycho (60)

 There is nothing more, one can say about the awesomeness of this film. It is fearsome and perfect, Psycho is like a fine-jeweled king walking amongst peasants when concerning other slashers.

10. American Werewolf in London (81)

 Before CGI bullshit, there was a day when make up artists won Academy Awards. American Werewolf in London has blood for blood, bone for bone-cracking bone the single best Werewolf transformation scene in  cinema. Thank God for Rick Baker.