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Post by commond on Oct 29, 2023 16:39:22 GMT -5
I watched one last Argento film, Opera, before switching to Mario Bava. Bava's Blood and Black Lace was the most stylish giallo film imaginable. The color pallet is beautiful. Both films are murder mysteries, however. I'm going to dig a little harder for more horrific films over the next two days.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 29, 2023 17:06:05 GMT -5
I saw this at the local movie theatre just a few weeks ago. I think it might be Friedkin's best, of the ones I've seen. I had the Tangerine Dream soundtrack on vinyl back in the late '70s or early '80s but had never seen the film itself until now. Great photography. The basic story concept of the dangerous truck-drive with explosives is the same as in The Wages of Fear but the four characters are all different, with almost no correspondence to the four in the earlier film.
(...)
To Live & Die in LA remains my favorite by Friedkin, but yeah, this one is really good. And yeah, Tangerine Dream's music is really effective.
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Post by Calidore on Oct 29, 2023 19:56:41 GMT -5
Argento: Tenebrae was okay (pretty good Goblin soundtrack, though), loved Phenomena, didn't care much for Opera. Bava: I have still never seen a Mario Bava movie. I know Blood and Black Lace is a classic; any others that are must-sees? Sorcerer is one of the best-ever Hollywood remakes of a foreign film. As berkley said, it takes the setup from the original but has many differences. Some I liked, like giving the four main characters actual backstories; and at least one I didn't, but it would be a major spoiler to specify it. Regarding the soundtrack, Friedkin said that he gave TD the screenplay to look over in advance, and then while he was filming, they sent him 90 or so minutes of music inspired by the script. At that point, he started filming to the music, which is why it works so well.
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Post by commond on Oct 29, 2023 20:54:25 GMT -5
I liked the twist endings in Opera.
I discovered Bava through Black Sunday and Black Sabbath. Some people say his best film is Kill Baby, Kill! but I haven’t seen it yet.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 29, 2023 21:07:55 GMT -5
When I lived in Hollywood, somebody talked me into going to a special screening of Hercules in the Haunted World. It is more than a step above your usual Hercules movie, probably because it was directed by Mario Bava. Christopher Lee is in it, and I’m sure that helps a lot.
I have not really seen that much Mario Bava, but this one always sticks out for me. It was very entertaining.
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Post by berkley on Oct 29, 2023 22:34:37 GMT -5
I plan to start getting into Mario Bava soon, as I move from the late 1950s to the early '60s in my movie watching. I may have seen something on tv when I was a kid but can't recall for sure. Maybe it'll come back to me if I see it again. I did watch the first Steve Reeves Hercules movie a few weeks ago and also I Vampiri, both of which he worked on and may have co-directed in part, but it seems that it wasn't until Black Sunday that he really started making his own films, with full credit as the director. Looking forward to the ones he did with Barbara Steele in particular.
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 30, 2023 9:27:32 GMT -5
I plan to start getting into Mario Bava soon, as I move from the late 1950s to the early '60s in my movie watching. I may have seen something on tv when I was a kid but can't recall for sure. Maybe it'll come back to me if I see it again. I did watch the first Steve Reeves Hercules movie a few weeks ago and also I Vampiri, both of which he worked on and may have co-directed in part, but it seems that it wasn't until Black Sunday that he really started making his own films, with full credit as the director. Looking forward to the ones he did with Barbara Steele in particular.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I think Black Sunday is the only Mario Bava film featuring Barbara Steele.
As for his other films, I recommend Black Sabbath, Planet of the Vampires, Kill Baby, Kill, and Danger: Diabolik. The last one is a semi-campy film based on an Italian comic book character, and stars John Philip Law in the title role.
Black Sabbath is a perennial Halloween season favorite in my house.
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Post by berkley on Oct 30, 2023 11:12:26 GMT -5
I plan to start getting into Mario Bava soon, as I move from the late 1950s to the early '60s in my movie watching. I may have seen something on tv when I was a kid but can't recall for sure. Maybe it'll come back to me if I see it again. I did watch the first Steve Reeves Hercules movie a few weeks ago and also I Vampiri, both of which he worked on and may have co-directed in part, but it seems that it wasn't until Black Sunday that he really started making his own films, with full credit as the director. Looking forward to the ones he did with Barbara Steele in particular.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I think Black Sunday is the only Mario Bava film featuring Barbara Steele.
As for his other films, I recommend Black Sabbath, Planet of the Vampires, Kill Baby, Kill, and Danger: Diabolik. The last one is a semi-campy film based on an Italian comic book character, and stars John Philip Law in the title role.
Black Sabbath is a perennial Halloween season favorite in my house.
After a quick look through her filmography I think you're right. I knew she had done a lot of Italian horror and must have unconsciously assumed that more than just Black Sunday had been with Bava directing, but nope, that was it as far as I see.
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Post by commond on Oct 30, 2023 17:04:56 GMT -5
Jack Hill's Spider Baby: or, the Maddest Story Ever Told is possibly the silliest and creepiest thing I'll watch this Halloween. Low budget black comedy starring Lon Chaney Jr. Deserving of its cult status.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 30, 2023 17:37:15 GMT -5
Jack Hill's Spider Baby: or, the Maddest Story Ever Told is possibly the silliest and creepiest thing I'll watch this Halloween. Low budget black comedy starring Lon Chaney Jr. Deserving of its cult status. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. I haven’t watched it for a couple of years though. I wonder if I can find it streaming.
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 30, 2023 17:53:31 GMT -5
Jack Hill's Spider Baby: or, the Maddest Story Ever Told is possibly the silliest and creepiest thing I'll watch this Halloween. Low budget black comedy starring Lon Chaney Jr. Deserving of its cult status. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. I haven’t watched it for a couple of years though. I wonder if I can find it streaming. It’s on Tubi! Poor Mantan Moreland! Nobody will help him find the Merrye house!
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 30, 2023 21:09:42 GMT -5
I plan to start getting into Mario Bava soon, as I move from the late 1950s to the early '60s in my movie watching. I may have seen something on tv when I was a kid but can't recall for sure. Maybe it'll come back to me if I see it again. I did watch the first Steve Reeves Hercules movie a few weeks ago and also I Vampiri, both of which he worked on and may have co-directed in part, but it seems that it wasn't until Black Sunday that he really started making his own films, with full credit as the director. Looking forward to the ones he did with Barbara Steele in particular.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I think Black Sunday is the only Mario Bava film featuring Barbara Steele.
As for his other films, I recommend Black Sabbath, Planet of the Vampires, Kill Baby, Kill, and Danger: Diabolik. The last one is a semi-campy film based on an Italian comic book character, and stars John Philip Law in the title role.
Black Sabbath is a perennial Halloween season favorite in my house.
Diabolik is awesome! That is one film where I will say "@#$% MST3K!" (And I like those guys). It is pure fun...not overly silly, but able to recognize what is cool about Diabolik and what is a bit much. Plus, a Morricone score! Plus, the dude gets to make love, to Marissa Mel, on a pile of money! Let's see Batman do that! Planet of the Vampires is also pretty cool and one of the better Italian sci-fi films and actually better realized than a lot of American sci-fi, of the same period. Never watched Black Sabbath, as the trailer seemed to emphasize a lot of things I just don't really care to watch. I've seen stills of Steele, from it, though. Nothing to do with horror; but, there is a pretty good independent film, from Roman Coppola, called CQ, set in the world of Italian film production, in the 60s, where they are making a film, Dragonfly, which is a sort of mix of Barbarella and Diabolik, with John Phillip Law in a significant cameo role. The VD has an extra that allows you to watch all of the Dragonfly footage as a complete "film" (about 10 minutes time, or slightly less). I quite like the Antonio Margheretti Gamma-One series of sci-fi films (Wild, Wild Planet; War of the Planets, War Between the Planets, Snow Devils). Hardly Kubrick, but entertaining and the effects are no worse than average Hollywood. The fist two, Wild, Wild Planet and War of the Planets are pretty decent and the former has Franco Nero in a prominent role. I hadn't seen it before; but, Video Watchdog had an article on "Continental Cinema" (European films of the 60s) and those two were mentioned in it, along with things like some of the Eurospy films, the DeLaurentiss sci-fi comic adaptations, the sci-fi film The 10th Victim, and similar fare, with a heavy emphasis on style, over storytelling.
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 30, 2023 22:50:51 GMT -5
Diabolik is awesome! That is one film where I will say "@#$% MST3K!" (And I like those guys). It is pure fun...not overly silly, but able to recognize what is cool about Diabolik and what is a bit much. Plus, a Morricone score! Plus, the dude gets to make love, to Marissa Mel, on a pile of money! Let's see Batman do that! Planet of the Vampires is also pretty cool and one of the better Italian sci-fi films and actually better realized than a lot of American sci-fi, of the same period. Never watched Black Sabbath, as the trailer seemed to emphasize a lot of things I just don't really care to watch. I've seen stills of Steele, from it, though.Nothing to do with horror; but, there is a pretty good independent film, from Roman Coppola, called CQ, set in the world of Italian film production, in the 60s, where they are making a film, Dragonfly, which is a sort of mix of Barbarella and Diabolik, with John Phillip Law in a significant cameo role. The VD has an extra that allows you to watch all of the Dragonfly footage as a complete "film" (about 10 minutes time, or slightly less). I quite like the Antonio Margheretti Gamma-One series of sci-fi films (Wild, Wild Planet; War of the Planets, War Between the Planets, Snow Devils). Hardly Kubrick, but entertaining and the effects are no worse than average Hollywood. The fist two, Wild, Wild Planet and War of the Planets are pretty decent and the former has Franco Nero in a prominent role. I hadn't seen it before; but, Video Watchdog had an article on "Continental Cinema" (European films of the 60s) and those two were mentioned in it, along with things like some of the Eurospy films, the DeLaurentiss sci-fi comic adaptations, the sci-fi film The 10th Victim, and similar fare, with a heavy emphasis on style, over storytelling.
You're confusing Black Sabbath with Black Sunday.
Black Sunday is the earlier of the two, shot in glorious black & white, and features Barbara Steele.
Black Sabbath is an entirely different film, shot in color with three vignette stories (the film is also known as The Three Faces of Fear in some countries). It features Boris Karloff. The three stories are "The Telephone", "The Wurdulak" and "A Drop of Water". Good creepy stuff, but absolutely not related to the Steele film in any way.
And I agree with you about Margheretti's sci-fi films-- Wild, Wild Planet is a blast visually.
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Post by berkley on Oct 31, 2023 1:30:48 GMT -5
I saw this at the local movie theatre just a few weeks ago. I think it might be Friedkin's best, of the ones I've seen. I had the Tangerine Dream soundtrack on vinyl back in the late '70s or early '80s but had never seen the film itself until now. Great photography. The basic story concept of the dangerous truck-drive with explosives is the same as in The Wages of Fear but the four characters are all different, with almost no correspondence to the four in the earlier film.
(...)
To Live & Die in LA remains my favorite by Friedkin, but yeah, this one is really good. And yeah, Tangerine Dream's music is really effective.
In the wake of Friedkin's recent death To Live and Die in LA, the Exorcist, and Killer Joe also made the rounds to a couple of the specialty cinemas here, in addition to the two I caught, Sorcerer and Cruising - I made a special effort to get to those two because I hadn't ever seen them before, but now I wish I had gone to the others as well, especially To Live and Die and Killer Joe, because I've only seen those once each, when they first came out. From memory, I thought at the time that To Live and Die in LA was a very good cop movie but the lead actor seemed a bit bland and colourless, especially in comparison to Dafoe as the antagonist. But who knows, I might see it differently now.
The one I was really hoping would come around was The French Connection, which I've never seen, though I read the book when I was a kid.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 31, 2023 10:14:19 GMT -5
To Live & Die in LA remains my favorite by Friedkin, but yeah, this one is really good. And yeah, Tangerine Dream's music is really effective.
In the wake of Friedkin's recent death To Live and Die in LA, the Exorcist, and Killer Joe also made the rounds to a couple of the specialty cinemas here, in addition to the two I caught, Sorcerer and Cruising - I made a special effort to get to those two because I hadn't ever seen them before, but now I wish I had gone to the others as well, especially To Live and Die and Killer Joe, because I've only seen those once each, when they first came out. From memory, I thought at the time that To Live and Die in LA was a very good cop movie but the lead actor seemed a bit bland and colourless, especially in comparison to Dafoe as the antagonist. But who knows, I might see it differently now.
The one I was really hoping would come around was The French Connection, which I've never seen, though I read the book when I was a kid.
I own To Live and Die in LA and have watched it a few times; William Peterson never gets any better, in the film. He was the same in Manhunter; but, the cold, emotional detachment worked better there, as his Will Graham is supposed to be damaged from his encounter with Lecter, which Lecter uses in their meeting to push his buttons. No, Dafoe makes the film, plus the visuals. I watched Cruisin' a while back. Friedkin is great with the visuals, though some of those visuals I could have done without. The story is a hot mess and if he has any message in there, it is lost on the audience. It's not even a good mystery as he has too many killers. I can understand why the gay community condemned and protested it and I can understand why critics attacked it; but, at the same time, it isn't bad enough to make you dismiss it. At times, you feel like he is going somewhere and at other times, you feel like he was either drunk or coked up in the editing room and made it murkier rather than clearer. I've seen interviews with him and he contradicts himself; so I have no idea what his intent was, other than setting a crime story, in the world of the gay BDSM clubs.
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