The Antichrist

The Antichrist

Original Title: L’antichristo

Directed by: Alberto De Martino

Italy, 1974

Horror/Satan/Occult, 112 min

Distributed by: Optimum Releasing.

As far as satanic possession movies go there’s not too many of them tach come off as anything else than cheesy Exorcist rip offs. These past weeks I’ve seen several variants on the old possessed teenage chick story, and it’s fair to say that the most of them all fall into the same pitfalls and needless to say they all have the same familiar traits that we know all to well.

Current stuff like Manuel Carballo’s La posesión de Emma Evans (Exorcismus) 2010, Daniel Stamm’s The Last Exorcism 2010 or even Paco & Balaugeró’s [Rec]2 2009, all play by the book, and you know before the last act rolls through you will have seen bile, rolling eye whites, foul language snarled out by the possessed and in the most cases levitation. Needless to say these movies look fantastic, a lot has happened since William Friedkin unleashed his 1973 milestone movie based on Peter Blatty’s novel of the same name. But I still hold a naïve fascination for those movies released much nearer to that landmark of genre cinema, the stuff so painfully trying to cash in on the success of The Exorcist. I’m obviously talking about movies like Mario Bava’s Lisa e il diavolo (Lisa & The Devil) 1974 - also recut with alternate material to assimilate Fridekin’s movie under the name House of Exorcism, Amando De Ossorio’s La endemoniada (The Possessed) 1975 and Alberto de Martino’s L’antichristo (The Antichrist) 1974 to name a few.

Those movies, despite how they did at the box-office back then, have become somewhat cult classics by today’s standards. Back then they where painfully trying to get in on the action, and being so close to that original flick, I feel that they where lost at the time. Today it’s movies like these that I can appreciate as they tried to pull stuff off on minimal budgets and to some extent succeeded in mimicking the sensationalism of the original.

Since a terrible accident in her childhood Ippolita Oderisi [Carla Gravina] has been paralyzed from waist down. Her religious father Massimo [Mel Ferrer] is supportive and takes her on pilgrimages to various sacred places and statues of saints in hope of some miracle cure. Even Bishop Ascanio Oderisi [Arthur Kennedy] is concerned and holds masses to pray for Ippolita. Although when Ippolita’s brother Fillipo [Remo Girone] turns up at a party with his mate Marcello Sinibaldi [Umberto Orsini] desperately trying to match the two together, Ippolita pretty soon realises that Sinibaldi is a psychiatrist with a hidden agenda.

Convinced that Ippolita’s handicap is rooted in her background, perhaps in a former life way before that childhood accident, Dr. Sinibaldi persuades Ippolita to undergo some regression therapy hypnosis. That’s when the trouble starts. In her previous life Ippolita was a witch, also playing dual roles with a spiffy longhaired blonde wig, and this witch was burned at the stake for being in league with Satan. Obviously this demonic force takes a grip of Ippolita and pretty soon she can’t tell the awoken past life persona from the real Ippolita. Which is a great thing for us as this gives De Martino and his cinematographer Aristide Massaccesi – yes old loveable Joe D’Amato – an opportunity to mess around with back projection, mate screens and creating some pretty neat levitation, transformation and freaky special effect moments including a couple of really impressive imploding mirrors and television screens along the way.

Like any movie in the demonic possession realm Ippolita vomits bile, she spreads her legs and taunts everyone around her with her sexuality, makes sideboards and cupboards levitate around the room and decomposes with each day that goes until there’s only the demon present and almost no Ippolita at all. Finally the moment we have been awaiting is upon us, Massimo's brother, Bishop Oderisi, arrives to take on the age old nemesis of the church and the final battle commences… or wait it doesn’t because this movie holds yet another surprise for it’s audience.

In film theory some studies latch frantically onto what’s known as the image system, it’s at times so farfetched that it becomes almost more parody than anything else. One of my favourite passages in all the writings Russian filmmaker Andrej Tarkovsky left behind is when he discusses the reoccurrence of horses, apples and billowing fields in his work. After years of film students and academics trying to force their theories and interpretations of his “image system” Tarkovsky himself wrote that he simply liked the look of horses, apples and billowing fields. That’s fucking brilliant and such a smack in the face of over analytical bullshit. Which also is one of the reasons I write the crap I write on here, there’s no need to sneer at alternative low budget cinema, as it’s filled to the brim of the same symbolism, traits, storytelling and image systems that the acknowledged filmmakers and art house posers have been using for all time.

Getting back on track, it’s fair to say that the image system of The Antichrist has to be toads. Toads figure in several occasions throughout the movie and these toads are obviously associated with negative values, evil magical beasts and demonic creatures. The reason for this is of course the metaphoric value that they hold, the transformation from tadpole to full grown toad represents the resurrection, the rebirth. Much like the rebirth of the demon in The Antichrist. Then there’s the symbol value of strong feminine energy, clearly the energy of the female demon. It’s also a key part of the antichrist communion, where the torn off head of the toad serves as the body of Satan!

This is a great little movie. It’s entertaining as hell and takes several sudden turns. It has a lot going for it with the back-story that slowly lets out more information as it goes along. For a while I was sure that the Mel Ferrer relationship with Swedish starlet Anita Strindberg would be milked and become a sinister back-story where Ferrer had cheated on his wife with Strindberg before that terrible accident hence being projected guilt that had paralyzed Ippolita. There’s a small indication of oedipal jealousy in there, but nothing that really pays off apart from a few lines of possessed blasphemy and raunchy talk concerning her father and future wife’s sexual appetites. But it never goes for the guilt trip in that classic way. Instead the entire back-story arc is dedicated to the witch trial and execution. A parallel story that’s also reflected in the main narrative, such as the last minute redemption that turns former life witch Ippolita into the saint she visits at during the opening sequence. This opening sequence is mirrored in more than one-way during the movie’s climax, but you’ll just have to check it out to see in what way.

I find that Alberto De Martino’s script, co-written with Vincenzo Mannino and Gianfrano Clerici is satisfying as it uses what we've seen and brings something new with it - a very salty italian twist just the way we want it. This approach is nothing new for Mannino – writer of several character driven Poliziotteschi about Police Inspector Betti, commonly portrayed by Maurizio Merli and epic adventures also “in the familiar style of others” like Enzo G. Castellari’s L’ultimo squalo (Great White) 1981 or Ruggero Deodato’s I predatori di Atlantide (The Raiders of Atlantis) 1982, has been down that path on more than one occasion. But perhaps it mostly the movies he worked as co-writer on, stuff like Deodato’s La casa sperduta nel parco (House on the Edge of the Park) 1980, Lucio Fulci’s Lo squartatore di New York (The New York Ripper) 1982 and Murder-Rock: uccide a passo di danza (Murder-Rock: Dancing Death) 1984 that he’s most known for. Movies he primarily co-wrote with Gianfranco Clerici. Regular readers will know that I have something of a fetish for movies based on Clerici’s scripts, as I feel he very much indeed did write/work on some of the finest genre movies to ever come out of Italy.

Every demonic possession movie demands a grand entrance of Old Nick himself, and at least one moment that leaves it’s mark on the audience. The Black Mass where past life Ippolita engages in a satanic orgy is fantastic. I won’t spoil it for you but there’s a goat scene – which isn’t graphic at all, but fantastically suggestive and really brilliantly edited by Vincenzo Tomassi, who you recall edited all those Lucio Fulci movies. Tomassi brings a great flow to The Antichrist and it rarely feels as if it’s loosing pace, and there’s several brilliant juxtapositions you really need to see if you are into suggestive editing – and fucking amazing movies. Apart from the goat incident, there’s a hilarious moment where Ippolita flashes her lady parts to Bishop Oderisi, and his reaction is priceless, and just one of several splendid moments in The Antichrist.

I’ve hade the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai lying around for years, and it’s finally been a treat to actually put some images to the mental ones those tracks have been conjuring all these years. Needless to say the music is tremendously fitting when you have images to go with it.

Something I find intriguing about The Antichrist is the way De Martino uses, or rather not doesn't use his cast. There are some pretty damned good genre names in there, but none of them really get a moment to shine. Instead the whole movie does belong to Gravina who gives a grand performance in the lead. But it still feels kind of sore not to use the cast more than De Martino has. Mel Ferrer is about as interesting as drying paint, Strindberg more or less disappears from the flick after she once briefly get’s her kit off (next to an obviously bothered Ferrer who has to snog her next), the iconic Alida Valli is merely there for two small sequences and Kennedy, well he does his five minute bit and then fucks off. It’s odd and primarily saved by Gravinas dedicated performance.

As a little bonus for you if you want to get über-geeky, look out for bit part actor Ernesto Colli as the possessed man, he’s part of the mirror imagery I was talking about earlier, he's one of those faces you always remember and recognise in the large amount of movies he had bits in. And keep your eyes open when Filippo walks into the party after the opening segment. That blonde on his arm is another Scandinavian actress, this time none other than Ulla Johannsen! Doesn’t ring a bell? Well perhaps you remember her better as the naked chick with the machinegun in Enzo G. Castellari’s Ouei maledetto treno blindato (The Inglorious Bastards) 1978. There's iconic imagery if there every was iconic imagery!

Alberto De Martino followed The Antichrist with the Poliziotteschi Una Magnum Special per Tony Saitta (Blazing Magnum) 1976, held by many as one of the finest entries into that genre. It’s comes as no surprise to see that Clerici and Mannino wrote the script. Only three years later De Martino ventured back into satanic territory with Holocaust 2000, which wasn’t only a take on Richard Donner’s 1976 hit The Omen, but also sports a great performance from Spartacus himself, Mr. Kirk Douglas.

Image:

1.85:1 Colour.

Audio:

Dolby Digital Mono, 2.0 English dialogue.

Extras:

None.

Burial Ground : The Nights of Terror +/- 4 Seconds

This just in...

There's been a few days of turbulence in the inner circle. Turbulence concerning internet forum rumours that claim all current releases of Andrea Bianchi's seminal sleaze-zombie epic BURIAL GROUND: The Nights of Terror are missing a vital four seconds of gore. There's even a given play time for exact where the extra seconds of gore are to be found [40min, 58sec]. Taking variations in NTSC and PAL runtimes several sources have been checked, notes have been taken, discussions have ben had and comparisons have been made. Both amongst friends and my own personal research on the several versions I own of the movie on DVD - Keep in mind it's the DVD's that are being accused of lacking four seconds of gore.

It's fair to say that the US Media Blasters/Shriek Show, Scandinavian Njuta Films/Another World Entertainment and Dutch Japan Shock all use the same master elements. Despite a varied selection of framing, contrast and brightness, they all have damage in the same area in certain scenes.

I'm quite convinced that they all originate from the same master source. No hard evidence except comparing scenes, damage and watching movies for 40 years.

Which leads us to the rumoured, real uncut, Japanese TCC Video that has the now infamous four seconds of gore... for that is what is claimed by certain characters on movie forums. Four seconds of gore, supposedly a head crush.

Let me set this up for you: 39:00 (minutes into the movie) James [Simone Mattoli - our moustachioed friend] walks down a corridor only to find the corpse of the maid [Anna Valente] hanging out through the window. At 39:30 he's right up close to her and gags as he pulls back in shock. 40:00 after seeing the zombies below, he tosses her body out the window and she hangs from the nail hammered though her hand earlier like a human piñata as the undead pull at her legs. 40:30 they pull her loose and start to chomp into the dead maid. 40:47 James starts to pull back from the terror and closes the shutters. He let's the horror sink in and the movie cuts to an extreme closeup of the maids guts being torn out. Now somewhere in that mere two minutes of movie mayhem, [40min, 58sec] the missing four seconds are found on the Japanese VHS... oh did I mention that the four seconds are either essential gore or a head crush?

Take a look at the screen grabs below and see the real difference in the three DVD releases and the Japanese VHS.

I rest my case, the rumour is busted. There was no gore, no head crush, no secret moment that changes the entire viewing experience, but merely a tender moment where actor Simone Mattoli having a delicate moment, reacting to the atrocities he's witnessed. Four seconds of leaning back on the shutters and being a complete wimpy horror movie character.

Thanks to Jack J for taking the time to video his UNCUT Japanese vhs and posting it on the old You Tube.

Siege of the Dead

Siege of the Dead

Original Title: Rammbock

Directed by: Martin Kren

Germany/Austria, 2010

Drama/Zombies, 59min

Distributed by: Revolver Entertainment

Zombies. There’s two schools when it comes to the world of the zombie - Romeroesque shufflers or the 21st century reduxed rushing reapers of death – and the third, the classic Haitian zombies favoured by Lucio Fulci and last seen with Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow 1988 somehow seem to have vanished completely… Well in all honesty I don’t really give a damn. The old school zombies that I like the most – as I was indeed raised in the Romero period shuffle - or the modern day zombie that move fast and scare the crap out of their audience. Use them in the right way and you'll have an effective movie. One of the key's is realising that the human lives at stake are perhaps what are the most interesting, and not the actual zombies. Sure they are a threat, but on more than one occasion the terror outside is not half as intimidating as some of the people who are trapped together. Yeah I know, It’s always been a big point in Romero’s movies too, and luckily this is one of the traits that most good modern zombie horrors has latched onto.

A lone man, Michael, [Michael Fuith] returns to Berlin with the intention of returning his ex-girlfriend Gabi’s [Anna Gracznyk] key to her. His agenda obviously being to swoon her back and possibly play on her guilt to take him back… Instead he finds two handymen working with the radiator system in her flat, and no sign of Gabi what so ever. One of the handymen starts to have some kind of seizure and pretty soon he’s a full-fledged chalky-eyed zombie chasing Michael and Harper [Theo Trebs] into one of the small apartments even smaller rooms. It’s in there that they notice the commotion out in the courtyard, and see other tenants who too seem to have been caught up in the disturbance. They realise that they have to join forces to close the gate into their yard or else they will soon be invaded by the hordes that now roam the streets. Instead of the common man against man, it’s a slow drive as the few remaining tenants start to figure out how they can make it out alive, and in which way they can assist each other.

For some retarded reason – primarily to latch onto the George A. Romero universe – Kren and Hessler’s Rammbock was renamed Siege of the Dead. I missed this one for a while whilst rejecting Siege of the Dead for being yet another obvious “..of the dead” cash in. But it’s not. This is a very original piece, a German zombie flick that really hits the spot. It’s a fascinating, terrifying and interesting movie that deserves much more attention that it actually received, and now it’s available on DVD, there’s no reason to miss this little gem any more.

Small everyday details are what make this movie such a brilliant little piece. Michael’s almost anal determination to keep things normal, like when he gives Harper a bollocking for bending Gabi’s forks into weapons - a slingshot and ammo, or how he’s determined that each call to that damned cell phone he’s dropped in the stairwell outside the locked apartment door is Gabi calling to see that he’s OK… a determination that forces them out of the flat, on to the ledge only to face the clawing zombies and run right back into the flat, chased back into the most cramped back room where escape seems impossible. Also the way they put the zombie infestation into proportion as the news name it “our own, German 11th September”. The emotion associated of that state of anxiety is fairly easy to tap into and works grand for the movie.

Early on there’s a theme of alienation introduced when Michael shouts to the police officer in the yard for help. The police officer looks up and snarls a bloody grinned snarl that is very symbolic. When the law have lost control of the situation – the shit has hit the fan. A while later Michael stands on a rooftop gazing out over the city of Berlin whilst pillars of smoke raise to the skies. A metaphoric moment that echoes the bombed out destruction of Berlin sixty-six years ago, a time that Germany was wrecked and left to their own devices, a deep scar of alienation.

Claustrophobia is also a very effective tool used in Siege of the Dead, the locations get smaller and smaller as the movie goes forth, at one point Michael finds himself hiding in a cupboard with hardly enough room to lift up his arms, and Harper is isolated in the tiniest of crawlspaces when the two men have important insights into how to survive the night – metaphorically things have to become really bad before they can get better and these two instances are such moments of the movie. Harper realises he holds a potent weapon, Michael is about to have his world thrown over and only after staring death in the eye can they appreciate the insight they gained.

Benjamin Hessler, screenwriter of Siege of the Dead is a promising name and I can’t wait to see where he goes next. Despite being his debut feature, Siege of the Dead is a fascinating, entertaining and intense movie that delivers in many ways. Even though it is all about Michael and his quest to be reconnected with his girlfriend Gabi, the interesting twist is that Michael isn’t such a likeable character. He’s rather unsympathetic. Not that he’s evil or a bad guy, he’s just not really likeable, and the complete opposite of what you would expect the protagonist of a zombie movie to be like. He’s short, he’s quite obnoxious, he’s clumsy and he’s in all honesty a pretty odd character. Which is an ingenious move by Hessler – as this creates something of an ultimate underdog, this chubby, unlikeable persona with his almost stalkerish approach is fascinating and obviously this creates a natural interest in him. I invest in his character and I want him to be reunited with the girlfriend he longs for. Which he finally is, and then the movie takes a completely different road.

Where Michael spends the longer part of the movie thinking only about himself and his quest, he changes path when he finally is reunited with Gabi. In no way does this scenario take place in the fashion he expected, but rather the opposite and this changes him. It takes his character arc onto a different path, something that I really found fascinating as character development is rare in zombie movies. Characters usually stay polarised in their sphere throughout the entire movie – I’m not saying that it never happens, as it is becoming more and more common, hell there’s even a TV serial where this happens more or less every week, but in low budget features, it’s still a rarity.

Siege of the Dead was a really entertaining movie, an unpredictable movie, and a movie that I find to bring something new to the table. Stuff like Yann Demange’s brilliant Dead Set, or Marc Price’s Colin 2008, brought new novelties with them - although Colin was way to long, a pit fall Siege of the Dead avoids and almost comes off as to short, and I’m longing for more when the movie ends –I feel that Siege of the Dead is onto something. There’s an emotion in the movie that’s not found to often and that seemingly unlikeable character – who obviously becomes likeable when the moment of truth comes around – is a fascinating way to go.

Image:

16x9 anamorphic widescreen

Audio:

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, German dialogue, optional English subtitles.

Extras:

None.

The Diabolical Dr. Z

The Diabolical Dr. Z
Original title: Miss Muerte
Directed by: Jess Franco
Spain/France, 1966
Horror, 84min
Distributed by: Mondo Macabro

Repeated viewing of Jess Franco movies will (or should, if you are paying attention) result in the recognition of certain patterns, threads and themes that reoccur in many of his works. The Diabolical Dr. Z is one such movie where familiarity is found, more specifically the avenging woman theme with the most famous possibly being Sie tötete in Ekstase (She Killed in Ecstasy) 1971. On both movies Franco used a ”woman out for vengeance” plot most likely influenced by Cornell Woolrich’s The Bride Wore Black, a novel that not only inspired Jess Franco, but also the likes of Umberto Lenzi, Hitchcock and Truffaut.

A criminal, Hans Bergen, aka The Sadist Strangler [Guy Mariesse] escapes from death row – the papers report of his breakout and flight warning locals to be on the lookout. Safe inside his mansion, Doctor Zimmer [Antionio Jiménez Escribano who also starred in Franco’s first feature, the comedy Tenemos 18 ãnos (We Are 18 Years Old) 1959] reads of the daring getaway of this sinister criminal for his daughter Irma [Mabel Karr] and their servant Barbara [Lucía Prado]. Before you can say juxtaposition, the doorbell rings and they all freeze… But if you where expecting Bergen to enter the house and hold the Doctor and family hostage you got another thing coming, because here the tables are turned and Bergen becomes one of Dr. Z’s laboratory specimens.

In front of the board at the International Neurologist Congress Dr.Z presents his research and proclaims that he can manipulate the brain and make the most violent animal the most gentle – and vice versa – and that the time has come to take his research to a new level and experiment on humans. Not mentioning that Bergen the Sadist Strangler already has been cured. Obviously the board strike down upon him as Howard Vernon’s Dr. Vicas ridicules and rejects Dr. Z’s request! Crushed by their reaction Dr. Z suffers a fatal heart attack and with his dying breath, he begs Irma to take over his research… the ball is set in motion.

Dr. Philippe Brighthouse [Fernando Montes – who also starred in Gritos en la noche (The Awful Dr. Orlof) 1962] comforts Irma in her grief and also takes the advantage of bedding her in her weak condition - something I’ll get back to later on. The two go to the obligatory Franco nightclub scene and watch an erotically charged act featuring Miss Death [Estella Blain] and a mannequin. Irma takes the first steps towards claiming her revenge, and whilst trading places with a hitchhiker she’s just killed, she is hideously disfigured when the flames of the car she’s trying to torch flare up in her face.

The fancy robotic operating table of Dr.Z comes back into action as Irma and her slave Bergen turn Barbara one of her puppets, They then take to reconstructing Irma’s burned face on which she impressing enough operates on herself. It’s another obvious referent to Franco’s breakthrough feature The Awful Dr. Orlof and there are several others to be found if you are keeping count, and yes Bergen is the Morpho of The Diabolical Dr. Z. With her new identity, Irma kidnaps Nadja – Miss Death’s real name – who has become romantically engaged with Dr. Brighthouse! As Nadja is strapped to the table and has her brain manipulated by Irma she too becomes a mannequin of death and Irma can start to claim her vengeance on the men who ridiculed and drove her father to his grave. It is time to unleash Miss Muerte!

Like many Franco movies The Diabolical Dr. Z is closely related and intertextually linked to The Awful Dr. Orlof. There’s several nods to that important movie, like the operation mentioned above, there also great one when Dr. Zimmer goes to the International Neurologist Congress and declares that he, just like Dr. Orloff and his former research, is also about to take a grand step forward if only… and that’s one of the big brass keys to Franco’s movies set in this niche. The “if only”, if only the board would have accepted his request to expand his research into human subjects then there wouldn’t have been any problems and the world would most likely have ended up a better place. But instead we find a bitter daughter determined to make the men who ridiculed her father pay, pay with their lives. It’s the same with She Killed in Ecstasy, if only they had let Dr. Johnson [Fred Williams] continue his experiments, he wouldn’t have become so depressed, wouldn’t have snuffed himself and Mrs. Johnson [Soledad Miranda] wouldn’t have had to kill them all.

I really like The Diabolical Dr. Z., I find it to be one of the best early Franco works. It's in there among his so called Pop-Art movies and it's easy to understand why. I love discovering small details that find their way into these early movies. Not just intertextual referents, but also small details like the members as the International Neurologist Congress where the American representative has a patch over his eye – just like Europeans had been portrayed in US movies, here the Yanks get a poke with the stick.

It’s odd when you go back to older Franco movies like The Diabolical Dr.Z, because they sometimes - especially this one - make me appreciate what a great director he really was [is] and where he could have gone with his career. Not that the direction his career went was a bad one, but there’s a bitter sense that there was yet more great masterworks in there if only he’d had the funding which it required. Then again this would indefinitely have resulted in us loosing all those low budget masterpieces of sleaze, trash and surreal Franco moments.

Franco fans will know that Jess Franco likes to cast himself in his own movies. The Diabolical Dr. Z is no exception and here he gives a great performance as Inspector Tanner - a police inspector depraved of sleep due to his infant children at home - really brings some classic Franco quirk to the part. The older detective, Inspector Green, is Daniel White who you know as the composer of oh so many Franco scores. There’s like a genuine comedic quality to his reoccurring parts. In many ways it’s like watching a twisted Woody Allen portrayal, where he’s plagued with some neurotic fetish, rambling back and forth through the narrative. Just keep an eye on what he has on his desk in the first police station scene… Looking at the movies Franco shot at the same time period its perhaps no surprise that there’s a comedic element to his performance, both the Sci-Fi flick Cartes sur table (Attack of the Robots) 1966 and the spy action movie Lucky, el intrépido (Lucky the Inscrutable) 1967 as they both feature heavy spoofish and comedic takes on the two genres, and as I mentioned early on, his first feature was a comedy toned movie.

The camerawork & lighting of D.P. Alejandro Ulloa - who also shot stuff like Lucio Fulci’s Una sull’altra (One on Top of the Other) 1969, Sergio Corbucci’s Vamos a matar compañeros (Companeros) 1970 and Luciano Ercoli’s Le foto prohibite di una signora per bene (The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion) 1970 to mention a few – is absolutely outstanding. The entire sequence on the train as Nadja seduces and finally murders Dr. Vicas [Howard Vernon] is textbook stuff. It should be lifted from this movie and shown to aspiring filmmakers for all eternity. The lighting, the tension, the atmosphere, the fragility of him slowly disrobing her as she gently prepares to strike him down with her poison laden fingernails… it’s a magic moment.

The murders are really a treat. Not only the above mentioned train sequence, but also the splendid capture and gassing of Dr. Moroni [Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui] as Bergen wears a creepy mask and mocks Moroni as he suffocates in the back seat. Then the final one, Dr. Kallman [Cris Huerta] who is lured into trouble as Nadja lies in the middle of the road. He stops, picks her up and then flips the table on both her and Irma when he reveals that he knows all about the brainwashing robot and techniques that go into creating the puppets, because he’s studied Dr. Z’s research… I won’t spoil how it goes, but it is riveting stuff!

Looking at the storytelling angle of The Diabolical Dr. Z, there are several things that stand out. This is Franco using his David Kuhne pseudonym and Jean-Claude Carrière (who went on to become one of the most acknowledged French screenwriters ever) at their finest - well it’s all objective isn’t it, and for me as a Franco fan, this is a fine moment – and here we find storytelling crafts coming into use. After the death of Dr. Z a short amount of time is spent creating empathy for Irma, she doesn’t want to go back to the old house as it will be “lonely in the big house without him”, Dr. Brighthouse backtalk’s the other members of the congress – which helps us take sides with Irma, and then when she pulls back out of her bedroom, startled by the empty wheelchair of her father we can understand her sadness. Instead she takes refuge in the arms of Dr. Brighthouse, which leads right into the next splendid little trick. By having him be a double-dipper being entangled with both Irma and Nadja, it creates a neat little triangle drama and builds a tension that we take with us into the final act, as we know Irma, Nadja and Dr. Brighthouse will have to come head to head before it’s all over. Great stuff and a delight to watch unfold.

Two last comments on the final moments of the movie. It would be fair to say that the quick fix is a trait of Jess Franco; he doesn’t waste time when the end is reached. The Diabolical Dr.Z plays exactly but that trait, the moment after the police settle the score the movie ends, but for one final quirk. The ending where Inspector Tanner, who miraculously after a good nights sleep away from the children who have been depriving him of sleep figures it all out and arrives on the scene of the crime at the exact right moment to set it all straight, certainly rings of a certain humour just like I mentioned previously. The final scene of the film, an open question, a last provocation, a last shock if you wish, as Nadja is consoled by her lover Dr. Brighthouse she raises her hand to his cheek and we will never know if she strokes his cheek lovingly or if those poison claws take one final victim. It’s a fantastic ending to a fantastic movie.

The Diabolic Dr.Z is a fantastic Franco movie. It’s possible that due to it being shot in black and white or the lack of required nudity and sleaze inhibit it from being recognised for the masterpiece that it is. For it is a masterpiece of a movie. A movie that is more of a Horror Noir with Gothic elements than the stuff we associate with Jess Franco. If anyone asked for a crash course to the movies of Franco, then The Diabolic Dr. Z would definitely be amongst my top five must-see titles for any one boldly entering the world of Jess Franco.

Image:
Black & White – Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio:
Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, optional English or French dialogue, with English subtitles

Extras:
Mondo Macabro usually fill up their discs pretty damned well. This one is no exception as the disc contains the Jess Franco episode of Eurotica, an alternative opening sequence, Trailers, Galleries, production notes and stills. Finally there are the mandatory trailers for other Mondo Macabro titles.

La Sindrome di Stockholmo

I’m having trouble finding time to write about movies for ye’ old blog right now, so I thought I’d share some olden goldies' with you.

First off, here’s an interview I did with Dario Argento way back in the day, fifteen years ago. When I was studying film at Uni, I wrote my bachelor thesis on “The Modern Film Techniques Used in the Films of Dario Argento”. This was in 1994, a lifetime ago, but still then I was pushing my way through the mainstream sewer proclaiming that genre cinema be taken seriously. That book, or rather a semi pretentious, but dead fucking serious 60 page booklet was an important piece of work for me, so important that I even had 20 copies printed and sold them in the video store that I worked in. I managed to sell 17 of them, two I still have, one was given to Argento. I’ve toyed with the idea of bringing it up to date as my texts end on Trauma in 1993. Oh! I just remembered that I know a guy who runs his own publishing company…Anyways, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Argento in person three times, once when I handed him the book and talked very briefly, a second time when I was an assistant on a filmed interview for a movie show I used to edit, and the third time when I again went along with my mate who had the movie show, although this time I wormed my way in and got my own interview for Art Video Club, the video store who's newsletter/fanzine I used to write, edit, layout and fuckinmake come to life once a month after I stopped working there. The way things where looking the movie Argento had with him to the festival was looking like a triumphant return to Giallo form...

Think of it as a time capsule I’ve just opened for your delight, and I've tossed in some pics of a painfully overweight me too - but it's a decade and a half ago and I can laugh at them now! Enjoy or weep - it's up to you!

Parts of the interview below figured in DELIRIUM [The Essential Guide To Bizarre Italian Cinema] Issue 5 1997.

Saturday 16th November 1996

Jason: So here you are again, back at the Stockholm Film Festival. The last time we saw you was in 1993 and the screening of your film Trauma. A lot has happened since then. You have returned to Italy and you have made two new movies. You have collaborated with another great horror director. Your name - and projects - have been featured frequently in the genre magazines, but could you give us a short summary of the last few years in your own words.

Argento: Well after Trauma I return to Italy and begin with the pre-production for this movie La Sindrom di Stendhal which you have seen here today, and then I started a project with [Lucio] Fulci, but as you know he passed away. The film La Maschera di cera which we finished this year with a young man, Sergio Stivaletti as director, who I have worked with many times before. And now I am here in Stockholm with my new film La Sindrome di Stendhal.

Jason: The feeling that I got when I watched La Sindrome di Stendhal this morning was that you have returned back to a more European style, and that La Sindrome di Stendhal actually felt more like an Argento movie than your earlier movie Trauma. This movie felt more like Profondo Rosso or even Opera. Was your return to Italy an artistic improvement or a kind or “recharged batteries” boost on your work.

Argento: Yes, La Sindrome di Stendhal was a better movie because in America the director is, in these type of movies, the director is a very small person. You have lots and lots of people on the set and the director somehow almost disappears. Star actors are very rude, actors assistants are also rude, the people who pay are rude, difficult people to work with who I didn’t know too good.

Jason: Was this rudeness and control difficulties a problem on the movie you made previous to Trauma, Due occhi Diabolici?

Argento: No, No. This movie The Black Cat, which I like, its one of my best I think, I made as part of an episode movie with George Romero and it was a smaller production so I had more control over what was happening.

Jason: On the subject of The Black Cat, most of your films are based on articles or fields of interest that you have furthered with your own interests and ideas into your movies. The Black Cat is originally a novel by Edgar Allan Poe, so was this your homage to Poe or where there other players on the table?

Argento: I actually have a black cat, and he is always disturbing me when I work, so when I was working on Opera, I one day said to him, “ I will put you in my next movie. The next movie you will be the star.” George [Romero] and I had discussed for a long time to make an episode film based on Poe’s novels, and there was the opportunity for me to work with George, make a film in America based on Poe and my cat could be in the film.

Jason: During your time in the states, you also featured in John Landis comedy/horror Innocent Blood, how come you turned up there. It surprised me at least.

Argento: John [Landis] is an old friend of mine, and he asked me if I wanted to do a small part, in his newest film, which I did. I was a nurse at the end of the film. But as we said earlier that I had a very big crew on Trauma, John had almost nobody. So I start to help him. John was setting the camera, directing, shooting, all over all the time. So I decide to get the actors to read their lines to help John. But everybody just says Fuck you!, so I get shocked, and ask the next person to read, they say Fuck You! Everybody saying Fuck You. So yes I did the part to help John but people were so rude.

Jason: If we return to La Sindrome di Stendhal, you have apart from returning to Italy, used an almost complete Italian crew. I am in specific thinking about the choice of Ennio Morricone for the soundtrack and Pepito [Guiseppe Rotunno] as your photographer. It feels almost as a deliberate move to go back to the style of your earlier giallo movies where the photography and the music where very important to your films.

Argento: Ennio is an old friend of mine so it felt natural to ask him to do the music for my film, and we made the film in Italy so I wanted to use an Italian crew. It was fun working with Pepito because he hates steady-cam, and every time we planned a shot I said, and here I want to follow with the camera like this, and Pepito goes “ oh, no, not the steady-cam. I hate the steady-cam”, (laughter). No, it was good.

Jason: Something that has always fascinated me with your movies, is the camera work and how you combine both the visual effects with direct on camera action. Such as the camera crawl over the house in Tenebrae, or the bullet through the head sequence in Opera. But I noticed in La Sindrome di Stendhal that you have a rather frequent use of computer simulated graphics, as in the scenes where Asia [Argento] walks into the surrealistic paintings and the scene where the camera follows some pills being swallowed. How do you feel about these new techniques, now that computer graphics are staring to become a constant part of major pictures?

Argento: I like the possibilities that the computers can give you; you can trick people to see things that aren’t there. I feel that they are a really good tool. You don’t have to be stuck in one setting or one special studio.

Jason: I know that you collaborated with [Lucio] Fulci shortly before his tragic death, and there are loads of rumours circulating about the film, the script, etc. etc. Could you tell me anything about this project?

Argento: First I must tell you, Fulci and I we were not friends for many years. We were friends a long time ago and once, maybe fifteen years ago, I said to him, as a joke that he had copied my movies and he got angry and said that I had copied his. I said no, no, you copied me, and then we said OK, we’re not friends any more. But then for maybe two years ago at the Fanta Festival, I saw this small old man in a wheelchair. Oh he was so old, and grey, and I asked people, “Who is he? Who is this old man?” And people answer me, Why that’s Fulci. You know he was very sick at the time, and poor. He lived outside of Rome in an old house that almost fell down. He was so sick he couldn’t use his legs and couldn’t afford the money for an operation. He was so sad, and bitter. So I didn’t tell him, but we collected some money, without telling him, and helped him pay the operation and a house in Rome. After the operation he could walk with a cane, and he said to me that he was so happy now. Living in Rome he could go out and eat every night he could go to the cinemas, when he earlier only could get old videos and couldn’t go out. So he was very happy, and then we started talking about this dream he had always had. He wanted to film The Mummy. But the script was no good. So he wrote the script to La Maschera di cera and we started the pre-production but just as we are ready to start, he died. It was sad, very sad, because he was so happy at the time, living in Rome, getting out eating, seeing films, very sad. We finished the film with Sergio Stivaletti as director, and it is finished in Rome now. So we will see.

Jason: I must ask about a few rumours that I want checkout with you. First it is said that you directed a TV commercial for the car company Fiat. Is this true? Secondly, the fashion show Trussardi Accion, is supposedly a fashion show based on the opening sequences of Suspiria, you know, the first murder and all, is this true or just a rumour?

Argento: Erhm, yes I did make an advert for Fiat...

Jason: Why? What made you turn to television commercials?

Argento: You see it was before I was gong to make Opera and I had these dreams for some special camera effects, you know the raven attack in side La Scala, many of the steadycam moves, thing like this. Now to try out all these ideas, I made the commercial for Fiat, and they pay (laughter). We shot the film on locations in Australia, terrible place, and in Rome. So all the camera effects you see in this film are made for the Fiat advert, and were all used in the film.

Jason: And the fashion show...

Argento: I directed a show for my friend Nicola [Trussardi] who worked with me earlier, but it wasn’t Suspiria, no no. It was just a show, we did things like have rain falling on the audience (laughter) and, loud music, flashing lights, but it wasn’t Suspiria.

Jason: Finally I have ask you, I know that you don’t like these questions but what are the future plans, will we be seeing a third instalment to the “Mothers trilogy”?

Argento: Not now, no. Future plans, hum, I have many, we will see, maybe... (laughter)

Jason: Then again that’s probably part of the mysticism surrounding the films, there’s no third part, no explanation to the mothers being there they just are and always have been. Well I know we are running out of time here and I would on behalf of myself and all Art Video Club Members thank you for taking the time out to talk to us, Thank you and I hope that your cold gets better.

Argento: (laughter) Thank you, thank you.