ARCANA (1972)-In Italian with English subs, letterboxed print. FINALLY, a stunning looking print of this outstanding horror mood piece from Giulio (DEATH LAID AN EGG) Questi. YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM! Mrs. Tarantino (Lucia Bosé) is a widowed wife of a poor migrant worker from Sicily, killed in an industrial accident in Milan. She lives alone with his creepy, deranged son (Maurizio degli Esposti), working at home as a fake clairvoyant exploiting a squalid crowd of ignorant, bigot, repulsive yet rich people looking for supernatural advice. They are swindled mercilessly by the mistress not endowed with relevant psychic powers: but her son is, and he's not going to use them for any good despising and abusing both his mother and her customers. A striking, cryptic, surrealistic black tale of incest, violence, rape, witchcraft, filth, misery, superstition and marginalization set up in a bleak industrial environment. The hypnotic sound theme during the rite scene is an original recording of a shamanic rite held in Macedonia taken by the director. Lucia Bose barfs up live frogs, Tina Aumont also co-stars.
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EL DIABOLICO (1977)-In Spanish with English subs. "El Diabolico" - is an unique western in movie history. It deals with a satanist sex-crazed maniac with supernatural powers that gives to him the strange medallion. With very few dialogues and good atmosphere this movie looks perfect especially the scenes with hanged rotting corpse of the Carlos East's protagonist that are being shown throughout the film. Dave Boland (Carlos East) wears a strange medallion and robs the bank. He also takes the banker's daughter with him. Then he rapes her and put the satanic mark on her body. He was caught and was prepared for hanging. At moment before hanging Dave uses his supernatural power and makes a local shoe-shiner his accomplice. While running from sheriff Dave was injured and after some time dies. But before his death Dave gives this medallion to shoe-shiner Oscar and asks him to take revenge in the name of Satan. So he does it and also continue to rape and kill women never forgetting to leave satanic mark on their bodies...
LUNA DI SANGUE (1989)-In Italian with English subs. Part of the Lucio Fulci presents series of gore/sleaze horror films. This one is directed by Enzo Miloni. Sort of thriller, slow but with some very gory murders. See a PENIS BLOWN APART with a Gun!!!!!!. Jaques Sernas, Jessica Moore, Pamela Prati and Zora Kerova star. .A woman(Barbara Blasko)who is the sole heir to a vast fortune is to be driven insane so others can get their hands on her wealth.I have to agree with the previous reviewer from Switzerland."Luna di Sangue" is extremely boring and relentlessly talky thriller.There are three or four gore scenes in the film including fairly nasty decapitation by scythe,which was later shown in Fulci's "Cat in a Brain".Enzo Milioni's giallo "The Sister of Ursula" at least wallowed in graphic sleaze with its dildo killer.
DYNASTY OF DRACULA (1979)-In Spanish with english subs, excellent Mexican Gothic epic horror/fantasy novel in the manner of the good old days of film making, similar to the great realisation of Vlad The Impaler or the Hammer Film outputs. Lots of bit players in beautiful costumes and location shots outside of studio walls. The one thing that bugs me about this film are the silly looking bat models. But the rest of the movie is really a great pleasure. The Inquisition drives a stake through the heart of the evil Duke Antonio in 1585, burying him a cursed grotto. 300 years later, vampire Baron Von Helsing (!) and the Duke's immortal lover return: they want to purchase the hacienda where the grotto is located so they can resurrect the Duke . Local doctor Ramiro (Fabián) and priest Father Juan team up to eradicate the troublesome vampires.
PROFILE OF SATAN (1969)-IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBS. Director: Juan Logar, Stars: Eduardo Fajardo, Manuel Gil, Ricardo Palacios. Extremely obscure Spanish horror film from the 60s!!Tells the story of how Satan's influence on mankind over history has resulted in everything bad that has ever happened. And it's really, really subtle about this message too as it intersperses newsreel footage of war and assassinations in case you can't quite connect the dots with the didactic dialogue.
THE DEVIL'S CROSS (1975)-IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED PRINT. Finally a great looking copy with English subtitles for this Paul Naschy scripted film by John Gilling! The multi-layered narrative begins with a series of opium induced visions within the mind of writer Alfred Dawson. He imagines the legendary medieval Templars pursuing a damsel through a forest. In order to recover from his opium addiction he takes a trip to Spain where he encounters the very superstitions which have caused his mental imbalance. He finds himself stalked by a sinister figure in a black hood who murders his friends and acquaintances along the way. It is gradually revealed that the figure is the devil himself, and Dawson ends up accused of the series of killings.
FEROZZ THE WILD RED RIDING HOOD (2011)-IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBS. Director: Jorge Molina, Stars: Dayana Legrá, Roberto Perdomo, Ana Silvia Machado. OH MY! A young, attractive widow is protected from her vicious mother-in-law, by a male relative who practices Satanism, and lusts after the old woman's sexy adolescent granddaughter. This is a strange, gritty take on the classic children's story of Little red riding hood with references and changing of rolls except this film is defiantly not for children. The film starts off with the manipulative grandma making one of her three sons rape one of his wives the then dies during the act form a heart attack. This causes the grandma to faint form shock after which she stays bed bound in another house on the farm. This sets up the story and it then focuses of the young grand daughter who is probable about 13 and her sexual struggles as she comes into womanhood. This film is full of sexual scene including fully naked women bathing, and a rape scenes. These points aside this film is an interesting adaptation of the classic.
THE VAMPIRE OF DUSSELDORF (1965)-IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED HD PRINT. Director: Robert Hossein, Stars: Robert Hossein, Marie-France Pisier, Roger Dutoit. A brutal murderer was widely known in the 1920's in Germany, nicknamed The Vampire of Düsseldorf (hence the title). He got captured and he appeared to be Peter Kürten. In this version of events we follow Peter committing his crimes. A laborer who pretends he's from high society. There's much attention for the unstable political situation in the days of the Weimar republic. There are fascist everywhere, burning books, beating people up, etcetera. I found this film surprisingly stylish. Robert Hossein (who wrote and directed the film, and played the lead) was by then already an experienced film noir director, who knew how to capture the attention with silence, as he did in La Mort d'un Tueur. The street scenes at night are quite marvelous. The camera movements are lovely to see. Many pretty shots, as for example the distant shot of the bar Eldorado, the shot with Anna and all her mirrors, or the following through the streets.
DON'T LOOK IN THE ATTIC (1982)-LETTERBOXED PRINT. Director: Carlo Ausino, Stars: Beba Loncar, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Annarita Grapputo, Giorgio Ardisson. Horror movie about a cursed house in Turin and the three relatives who inherit it. Two brothers and their cousin Elisa (who haven't seen each other since childhood) are brought together after their mother's death. They inherit her house under the condition that they live there together and never divide or sell the property. It's haunted and after many ghostly nightmares and some murders, Elisa finds a diary in the attic, learning that she is the sole survivor of "the seventh damned generation."
REINCARNATION FOR SEX (1974)-IN PORTUGUESE WITH ENGLISH SUBS, HD BROADCAST! Director: Luiz Castellini, Stars: Patrícia Scalvi, Roberto Miranda, Lia Farrel. Two lovers separated by the girl's father, a farmer, who did not accept the courtship of his daughter with a modest pawn. With the death of her beloved, the young depressive girl dies and their souls begin to torment those who will live in that house. Patrica and a farmhand named Antonio have hot sex at a secluded farmhouse somewhere in Brazil. This makes girl's father angry and jealous. Next day he butchers Antonio with an axe. The spirit of murdered lover is ready for revenge. Some Brazilian beauties become possessed and become sex starved nymphomaniacs and bloody murders begin to happen."A Reencarnação do Sexo" features lots of pretty graphic sex-both straight and lesbian. It's very sleazy movie with fairly bloody knife stabbings, decapitations and crazy scene of death by dildo.
VERTIGO OF A CRIME (1970)-IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED PRINT. ANOTHER RARE PAUL NASCHY THRILLER!! Director: Pascual Cervera, Stars: Paul Naschy, Juan Amigo, Barta Barri, Sun de Sander. Naschy plays a sadistic criminal, who reads body-building magazines, in this tale of rival gangs and drug trafficking. A cache of cocaine is stolen in France. Following the trail of the assailants, two men of the organization arrive in Madrid, where they suspect that the loot can be hidden. Once in the Spanish capital, the investigations of the two thugs will lead them to a select club that seems to be, in reality, the focus of drug distribution in the area.
A HOUSE WITHOUT BOUNDARIES (1972)-IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED PRINT. WITHOUT A DOUBT ONE OF THE BEST! Director: Pedro Olea, Stars: Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Isbert, Viveca Lindfors. In this Spanish film, Daniel (Tony Isbert) is a member of The Organization. It is never quite clear whether The Organization is part of the government, a secret society, or something else. Whatever it is, it is powerful, and does not take disobedience lightly. He is sent on an assignment to Bilbao to determine what has become of a lad his age, a former member. He takes over the boy’s room in an odd rooming house. When he is given the photo of the boy’s girlfriend (Geraldine Chaplin), he is so taken with it that he puts off his quest. The Organization requires him to continue, however, so he tracks her down to a remote fishing village. The two fall in love and attempt to escape.
PUFFBALL THE DEVIL'S EYEBALL (2007)-LETTERBOXED PRINT. Director: Nicolas Roeg, Stars: Kelly Reilly, Miranda Richardson, Rita Tushingham, and Donald Sutherland. Loath it or love it, once you've seen Nicolas Roeg's latest offering - Puffball - you'll probably never be able to forget it. Roeg has delved into the psyche of the male animal and returned with disturbing images of life, death, religion and sex. Puffball is as haunting and memorable as the best he has done before Kelly Reilly plays an architect who is refurbishing a derelict house in the wilds. When she arrives with her lover she is watched by an old woman who is possibly a witch and means the visitors no good. This almost familiar opening does not lead down a predictable path – Puffball takes myriad twists and turns and surprises and manages to remain original and engrossing. Supported by stunning and atmospheric photography in rural Ireland the plot twists and meanders to an exciting and satisfying conclusions. It is how Roeg waves his spell that is so fascinating and unforgettable. There is little erotic content, sex is brutal and cruel and ultimately a woman's body is the receptacle for hopes and ambitions that surpass the male lust for immediate satisfaction. The cast is excellent. Miranda Richardson is convincing as the woman who aches to give birth, Rita Tushingham is compelling as the sinister old lady who weaves her spells and incantations and the always excellent Donald Sutherland makes a brief but significant appearance.
THE ARCANE SORCEROR (1996)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED PRINT. Director: Pupi Avati, Stars: Carlo Cecchi, Stefano Dionisi, Arnaldo Ninchi. The tale is set in the Rococo epoch, when a young seminarian is punished for a misdeed and appointed as the right-hand of an excommunicated Monsignor (excommunicated, indeed, but still a Monsignor) that lives in seclusion on his family's domain, at a creepy location. The Monsignor, a strong and fascinating person, is suspected of witchcraft and spied by a priest who tries to bring him before the ecclesiastical court. And for the last, let's say, last third, Avati finds a palette that is so suited, and that makes the movie so intensely striking, that we witness some of the best scenes of the horror genre.
RING OF DARKNESS (1979)-UNCUT LETTERBOXED VERSION WITH 2 EXTRA MINUTES OF NUDITY CUT FROM THE US RELEASE. Director: Pier Carpi (as Peter Karp), Stars: Anne Heywood, Valentina Cortese, Frank Finlay, Lara Wendel, Melissa Mell, John Phillip Law and busty Carmen Russo. Young women join a Satanic cult surrendering their will and bodies entirely to the Devil himself. Years later when they're older women, Carlotta, starts to lose control of her 13 year old daughter Daria, who starts to develop strong powers of her own, aware of her powers and with extreme devotion to The Devil she starts speaking and behaving in strange ways like casting spells and harming people with no remorse whatsoever. And her powers seem to increase exponentially every single day. In her desperation, Carlotta and some of her friends enlist the help of a priest with a crisis of faith to help them perform a strange ritual that will hopefully vanquish the evil out of Daria once and for all.
THE SANDMAN (1981)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS. Director: Giulio Questi, Writer: E.T.A. Hoffmann (short story "The Sandman"), Stars: Donato Placido, Francesca Muzio, Saverio Vallone. RARE GIULIO QUESTI HORROR FILM!! Hotheaded, romantic student Nathaniel conceives a passion for the professor's daughter, Olympia. Others, though, say she has no soul, even that her singing and dancing are mechanical. When he stumbles on the professor and his assistant fighting over the automaton's disassembled body, Nathaniel becomes even more unhinged.
DEAD WOMAN IN BEVERLY HILLS (1964)-IN GERMAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED PRINT. Director: Michael Pfleghar, Stars: Heidelinde Weis, Klausjürgen Wussow, Horst Frank. IF YOU LOVE SLEAZY EDGAR WALLACE FILMS, YOU WILL LOVE THIS !! Detective C.G. (Klaus-Juergen Wussow) begins to investigate the death of an attractive woman (Heidelinde Weis) whose naked body was found in Beverly Hills. When he recovers her journal, he is taken into her past where he finds that she lead a sexually promiscuous life. Perhaps in the pages of the diary will be a clue to her killer’s identity. This thriller was the first German feature to be shot in Hollywood after WWII as well as the first feature for German television director Michael Pfleghar. Based on a bestselling novel by Curt Goetz, Die Tote Von Beverly Hills/The Corpse of Beverly Hills was adapted to the screen only a few short years after his death.
NIGHT OF A 1000 CATS (1972)-LETTERBOXED PRINT. FIRST TIME UNCUT, IN ENGLISH AND LETTERBOXED! CONTAINS 18 EXTRA MINUTES OF SEX AND VIOLENCE!! Director: René Cardona Jr., Stars: Anjanette Comer, Hugo Stiglitz, Zulma Faiad. Millionaire playboy Hugo (whose lack of facial expressions give him the appearance of a Thundercat marionette) flies around Acapulco in his private helicopter to pick up sexy young women. He whisks them away to his secluded old castle, where he wines and dines them (among other things, *wink*). With the aid of his bald mute little helper Gorgo, he kills his dates, keeping their heads in a crystal cage and feeding their chopped up body parts to his 1,000-strong army of blood thirty, flesh hungry cats.
SHADOWS (1980)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS. ONE OF THE RAREST ITALIAN HORROR FILMS NOW IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME!!Directors: Mario Caiano, Giorgio Cavedon, Stars: Monica Guerritore, Lou Castel, Laura BelliMilan. Renato, a painter, wanders gloomily around the city and recalls his doomed love story with Monica. The girl had moved from the country to the city, and rented an attic previously occupied by an old painter who had been found dead there. Renato, estranged from his pregnant and rich wife Susanna, had fallen for her, but Monica was very sick. Before she died, she gave Renato a painting, a portrait of the old painter, who was actually Monica’s grandfather. An evil soul obsessed with occultism and tarots, he had used the girl as a medium to paint his own portrait from the beyond. After Monica’s death, Renato had moved to the decrepit attic, and became obsessed with the painting. Susanna convinced him to sell it for a large sum, but Renato found himself unable to paint any longer. Renato desperately tries to turn himself into a medium for Monica from the afterlife. He locks himself in the attic, until one day Susanna’s father comes to tell him that his daughter has given birth to a baby.
SKIN UNDER THE CLAWS (1975)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED. ,AJOR UPGRADE IN QUALITY AND NOW UNCUT. EURO-SLEAZE/HORROR AT ITS BEST, A MUST SEE!! Director: Alessandro Santini, Stars: Gordon Mitchell, Geneviève Audry, Tino Boriani. There are a series of murders taking place, in each case there are traces of decomposed flesh under the victims nails, how can this be? Is there a link to the brilliant scientist who is performing brain transplant experiments on baboons, who thinks he is close to cheating death itself.. The bodies of murdered young women brought along an unusual track: hidden between the nails, is this "human skin decomposed. Behind the chain of crimes lies the twisted personality of a mad-doctor involved in conducting experiments on human guinea pigs in order to restore life blood to the body of his wife. Curious, whimsical horror from the pack of previous products, under the component alienating (and fascinating) data from the sub-plot set in '45, the time of the Nazi criminal trials. Numerous sleazy scenes, full frontal nudity deaths, constant stripping and a rather unusual romp in the park with three 'young girls'.
BLOOD DELIRIUM (1987)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS. THE FIND OF THE DECADE!! STRAIGHT FROM SERGIO BERGANZELLI'S OWN PERSONAL COPY. A TOTALLY AND I MEAN TOTALLY UNCUT VERSION OF THIS EUROTRASH MASTERPIECE!!! Director: Sergio Bergonzelli, Stars: John Phillip Law, Gordon Mitchell, Brigitte Christensen. FINALLY! Sergio Bergonzelli’s sleaze-drenched grue-soaked horror gem is made available to one and all in its FULLY UNCUT Director’s Cut for the first time ever! Drastically cut by Italian censors prior to its original cinema release, the film has never been released anywhere in its complete form. Video releases from Italy, Spain, Brazil and even a VCD release in Hong Kong failed to reveal anything new: the same butchered Italian cinema print version had been converted to video master and provided to all potential buyers. Even Greece, that bastion of uncut and obscure tape releases of foreign cult gems, failed to deliver the goods, their hard-subbed and English dubbed release still missing the unseen and long forbidden footage. Fast forward to today and the uploading of the FULLY UNCUT version of this shocker! FINALLY, after over 30 years, I present to you all the entrail-yanking, bandsaw-dissecting, gut-munching goodness that you have all been deprived of for three decades! SEE! Gordon Mitchell go down on the fresh corpse of Law’s dead wife, before indulging in some full-on necrophilia with her in the chapel, whilst Law plays the organ completely oblivious to this desecration of his love.....in all its seedy glory! WITNESS! Mitchell bisect a dead victim’s naked torso with an industrial bandsaw, before throwing his dog some of her entrails and grilling some for himself on his bbq, before sprinkling on some salt and feasting away on a tender morsel of her flesh! EXPERIENCE! Mitchell yank down the pants of Law’s latest sedated female guest before pulling down her panties, exposing her bush and raping her unconscious form! ENDURE! Mitchell (yes, her got ALL the reeeeeeeeally good stuff!) take a scalpel to another dead female victim’s naked corpse, reach into her stomach cavity, and pull out her insides! ENJOY! Victims bound upside down and Law cutting their wrists and bleeding them out into jars with reinstated trims! And MORE!
PARAPSYCHO (1975)-IN GERMAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS. RARE GERMAN HORROR FILM WITH MARISSA MELL! Austrian horror film,which tells three bizarre stories and deals with unexplained.In the first one called "Metempsychosis" the main character is making love with the woman, who was killed thirty five years later. In the second called "Reincarnation" the ghost of the dead is turning the life of a family into nightmare. The third story deals with telepathic bloody murders committed by Mathieu Carriere."Parapsycho-Spectrum of Fear" is an extremely rare horror flick with short but grueling autopsy scene, which is obviously real. The film describes in three episodes the phenomena of extrasensory perception, reincarnation, telepathy and similar paranormal manifestations .The cast is exceptionally good including Marisa Mell,Debra Berger,Mathieu Carriere and Mascha Gonska.There is also a bit of full-frontal female nudity."Parapsycho-Spektrum der Angst" is part of a movement of Austrian film industry called the New Austrian Cinema which meant a new way and style of film-making in Austria.
NERO (1992)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED. ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED BLACK COMEDIES EVER TO COME FROM ITALY!! THE WRITER CREATED DYLAN DOG, A LONG RUNNING HORROR CHAREACTER IN ITALIAN COMICS AND WAS THE BASIS FOR THE RUPERT EVERETT CHARACTER IN DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE. Director: Giancarlo Soldi, Producer: Claudio Argento, Stars: Sergio Castellitto, Chiara Caselli, Carlo Colnaghi. Right after she moves in with him, Frederico's new girlfriend Francesca sends him back to her former boyfriend's apartment to fetch her something she forgot - but he's surprised to find him lying there - dead. Assuming that Francesca killed him and sent him for cleaning up, he cuts him up in pieces, puts him in a suitcase and tries to get rid of it... but he has a hard time finding a suitably quiet place. Unfortunately there's a witness, who comes back on him. One thing leads to another, and the normally shy and overly fearful Frederico has to rid himself of more and more corpses until this black comedy ends.
SPIRAL OF THE MIST (1977)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS FOR THE FIRST TIME! HERE'S AN ITALIAN HORROR FILM I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR A LONG TIME!! BOTH SLEAZY AND DISTURBING AT THE SAME TIME. Director: Eriprando (LA ORCA) Visconti, Stars: Marc Porel, Martine Brochard, Eleonora Giorgi, Claude Jade, Carole Chauvet. The lovely Maria Teresa is unhappily married with the impotent lawyer Marcello. Maria Teresa's marriage is contrasted by the passionate Valeria, who is killed during a chase. Is Valeria's husband the murderer? Maria Teresa helps him... By film's end there are full-frontal nude scenes by nine (3 of them male) of the principal players, not extras or bit roles. The glamorous French star Claude Jade, who brightened up several Truffaut movies, looks positively embarrassed when she is called upon to join hubby Duilio Del Prete in the shower; she comically and daintily puts on a shower cap in this scene. Elsewhere, her acting is top-notch. Similarly, a very lovely starlet who never made it in films, Carole Chauvet, is cast as the central character Valeria, married to loathsome Marc Porel, and seems quite natural au naturel. She gives hubby a blow job later in the film which is an extended scene in closeup, merely kept softcore by the careful framing which does not show explicit penetration. Was this artistically necessary, or just to appease the fans' basest instincts? Stefano Satta Flores gives perhaps the best male performance as a police inspector investigating Valeria's death while she was out hunting in the woods with Porel. Film presents her fate, RASHOMON-style, in a series of many brief flashbacks, all punctuated by the yellow rain-slicker she's wearing. Picture leaves the solution to this mystery up in the air, though Porel is Prime Suspect throughout. Also adding mightily to the prurient content is Martine Brochard, a MILF of a nurse who is constantly injecting the cast in the rump with unspecified drugs (adding to the general Visconti Sr. atmosphere of decadence). More obviously, the beautiful young starlet Eleonora Giorgi pops up in the second half of the film, also for purely pulchritudinous purposes.
THE COLLECTOR OF BRAINS (1976)-IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBS, TRY FINDING THIS FRENCH HORROR FILM! BY THE WRITER OF THE FLY! Director: Michel Subiela, Stars: Claude Jade, François Dunoyer, André Reybaz. A young pianist is shocked when she witnesses a strange chess tournament with a robot. Could there be a gruesome secret behind this exhibition?
LAS CRUELES (1969)-RARE UNCUT ENGLISH DUB OF THIS TERRIFIC SPANISH HORROR FILM! Director: Vicente Aranda, Stars: Capucine, Carlos Estrada, Teresa Gimpera. It revolves around a novel editor (Carlos Estrada) who receives a macabre gift containing a woman hand . A forgotten relationship between the publisher and a young ( Judy Matheson) returns when is sent the rare box . He discovers it has been sent by a mysterious woman nicknamed Parker (Capucine) . Then , the happenings get worse when his jealous wife (Teresa Gimpera) to be aware of the treason his husband .This is a stunningly beautiful movie usually considered a Giallo although it is a million miles away from the typical black gloves and body count fare of the early seventies. The film is more in line with a classic Hitchcock slow burner like Vertigo. Beautiful photography and music make this a must see, plus the gorgeous Judy Matheson looking every inch the 90’s indie pop singer she never was. Teresa Gimpera is similarly breathtaking not to mention the classic beauty of Capucine to round out a trio of beautiful women delivering superb performances. Carlos Estrada is also outstanding in the male leading role.
CRY OF THE VAMPIRE (1972)-IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED HD PRINT. Director: José María Elorrieta (as José Mª Elorrieta), Stars: Diana Sorel, Nicholas Ney, Inés Morales Dr. Dora Materlick, a hot looking blonde, comes to a small Spanish village to investigate a strange outbreak of anemia. The locals believe it is the work of vampires. An ill baron asks Materlick to stay in his castle. Materlick and her assistant, a hot looking brunette, accept the invitation. There, they meet the Baron's son Karl, a morose man who speaks in riddles and longs for his cousin Margaret, who is now gone. The anemia stumps Materlick, so she calls in a blood analysis, who is (you got it!) a hot looking redhead. The three ladies (and Margaret after she is resurrected) spend a good portion of the movie running around the castle in nighties (and sometimes less). As a horror film, The Curse of the Vampire comes up with one original idea. The vampires appear normal, going about in the day and living their lives, until a full moon rises. Then, they sport fangs and hunger for blood. The film cleverly reveals this when a character is looking at his reflection in a mirror and the reflection suddenly vanishes. That is a good scene, but the film saves its trump card for the end...
THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER (1963)-BEAUTIFUL WIDESCREEN HD PRINT. Director: Alberto De Martino (as Martin Herbert), Stars: Gérard Tichy, Leo Anchóriz, Ombretta Colli, Helga Line. This stylish and severely underrated picture came out alongside loads of other Gothic horror movies and, although not as brilliant as, say, "Black Sunday" or "Kill Baby…Kill", it's a hugely atmospheric and powerfully compelling chill-tale with an overall decent script and convincing set pieces. Only a couple of days prior to her 21st birthday, a beautiful girl travels back to her wealthy father's castle, accompanied by her new lover and best friend. Upon arrival, her brother informs her about the tragic incident that supposedly killed her father and how he got madly obsessed with the legend of the Blancheville family curse. But the new arrivals notice that there are a lot more strange things going on. Why have all the servants been replaced? Why is the brother so nervous about the girl's upcoming birthday? And, most of all, who or what produces those creepy screams at night in the castle's darkest tower? "The Blancheville Monster" offers pretty much all the elements you're looking for in good Gothic horror, including eerie thunderstorms, scary black-caped monsters, ominous vaults and tight costumes that supply the female cast members with impressive cleavage. De Martino does a great directing job, spreading the suspense equally throughout the whole film and the finale albeit not too hard to predict is formidably tense..
IL SIGNOR DIAVOLO (2019)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS, LETTERBOXED HD PRINT. Pupi Avati finally returns to a full bore horror film that will very much remind you of his masterpiece THE HOUSE WITH THE LAUGHIÑG WINDOWS. Filmed in the same remote area and set in the fifties, superstitions seem to thrive here. As if to remind us of WINDOWS even more, he cast that film’s lead, Lino Capoliccio, as a local priest involved in the town coverup. Gabriello Giudice looks like an escapee from a Coen brothers film as he haplessly stumbles across truths that should have remained buried. He pays the ultimate price for his inquisitiveness. As mentioned previously, Lino Capoliccio has a much different role here as opposed to THE HOUSE WITH THE LAUGHING WINDOWS. He plays the local priest who wants all the town’s skeletons to remained buried in the past. Although she has only two scenes, Chiara (NERO) Caselli is outstanding as the mother of the dead Emiliano. Did she mate with the Devil or was her son just an unfortunate victim of a medical malady that caused his deformity? Young Filippo Franchini is outstanding as the killer. You believe his reasons, right up until the end when, shit happens. One of Pupi Avati’s many strengths is his ability to match actors with their roles. Everyone here, from front line stars to just extras, seem to fit their parts like a glove. The cinematography is extremely effective in enhancing the overall creepiness inherent in the region. Finally, the score by Amedeo Tommasi is sparse but when used, keeps you looking over your shoulder. This film is the perfect antidote for old farts like me who think Italy is no longer capable of making films as good as they did in the past. The film is not perfect but it’s close enough. This film has been repeatedly shit on by many Italian viewers (just read the reviews on IMDB), but it reminds me how ETC magazine was treated by Italian readers. They repeatedly asked me why I watched Italian films when everyone knew they were crap. Hopefully like then, this film will have the last laugh.
THOMAS THE POSSESSED (1970)-IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBS.
Director: Pupi Avati. Cast: Edmund Purdom, Anita Sanders, Bob, Tomelli, Mariangela Melato, Daniele Samory, Giulio Pizzirani. A play is being rehearsed with Marcus (an actor who also wrote the play), Giorgia (the leading lady), and other players such as Bob, Lola and the director Pintu. The pressure is mounting as each has a desperate need for it to be a success. The story centers around a woman who thinks she has a son named Thomas, however he only seems to exist in her mind. A stranger appears on stage and suggests that they conduct a seance to look into the future to see if it will be a big hit. Lots of supernatural activity occurs such as glasses shaking, costume dummies swaying back and forth as if they are alive and sewing machines starting up on their own. The seance is interrupted several times by a phone ringing, each time Giorgia goes to answer but no one is on the other end. At the conclusion of the seance, a young boy named Thomas appears out of nowhere. The group decides he will spend a day with each one of them so he can decide who he wants to live with. They all board an empty train and head off to a town for the play’s premiere. On the way there, a crazy man in a tree screams for the train to stop, which it does, and he promptly boards it. The man warns them to beware of the town they are headed to. He claims he was once there to perform in a play and the audience attacked all the performers with weapons and was going to sacrifice the survivors to a tentacled creature. They figure he’s just a nut and continue on their journey. As Thomas spends time with each person they reveal to him their dreams, failures, other innermost secrets. They finally reach their destination and before the play begins, sure enough, the audience goes crazy and attacks the stage. Fortunately there is a steel curtain for protection. However, once it opens, they calm down and head back to their seats. The play begins and suddenly goes off script as Giorgia walks on stage with Thomas and spouts lines from her real life. They exit the back stage, walk through a forest and into a restaurant where Thomas orders an icecream. A waiter tells Giorgia there is a phone call for her and when she goes to answer it, she’s back at the seance and letting them know, no one‘s there.
