The Sentinel (1977)

I've seen Michael Winner's The Sentinel so many times over the years and I never get tired of it. It's one of those 70's horror movies I always return to and I always find something new in. It still shocks me, believe it or not. Not that it's scary nowadays, but the atmosphere is so damn dirty and sleazy and odd and weird and yeah, truly fucked-up. What I understand Don Siegel was suppose to direct it from the beginning but he bowed out because of the subject and in came the biggest madman of them all, Michael Winner, and poured nudity, gore and a fuckstastic cast of character actors over us. I'm pretty sure Siegel would have made a scarier movies, but he would never even get close to the bizarreness of Mr Winner's vision.

Christina Haines plays a successful supermodel living with her dashing boyfriend Chris Sarandon. They're happy, but like all decent couples in this age of enlightenment they want some privacy and Christina finds her own apartment, where she can relax and... well, that's not gonna work, because soon she finds out that her neighbours is some weird freaks who loves her a bit too much for her own good. And what the hell is that priest doing at the window all day? Soon Christina's life is upside down and when it gets weirder and weirder in the house no one believes her of course, until it's too late...

In general I can agree with some of the criticism against the movie. Christina Raines is a bit stiff, she's not the best actress to hit the screen - especially in the more normal drama-scenes, she's a lot better when it gets weird and violent and many of the cameos has a gimmick-style over them, but we're talking about Michael Winner here, a man who always stood with one foot in serious mainstream and the other one in gratuitous exploitation. And to be honest, my favourite Chris Sarandon is a bit wooden here also, I'm the first to admit it. This also gives the movie an eerie dream-like feeling where nothing is what it seems. The FANTASTIC cast is just stunning and it's extra fun see future stars in supporting parts: Jeff Goldblum, Tom Berenger, Christopher Walken, Beverly D'Angelo and Griffin Dunne (though he's not credited on IMDB, but believe me, he's there as an extra). Even Richard Dreyfuss shows up in an uncredited appearance and he still denies it's him - I've asked him!

What's good about The Sentinel then? Oh, I lot. A LOT. The story is simple, yet brilliant and in the typical 70's way - dark and cynical. The location and and cast - very similar to Rosemary's Baby, which makes it even more exploitation, is wonderful and truly bizarre. Burgess Meredith is acting like he's an old New York queen, Sylvia Miles and D'Angelo has the lesbian couple, John Carradine being grumpy in the attic, Ava Gardner being both glamorous and slightly alcoholic at the same time - I will always love her for doing her stuff, she just got better and better over the years! The Sentinel goes a lot further than any other mainstream movie I've seen from the time with nudity and sex and just that dirty feeling that's so hard to scrub off. That also goes for the violence.

It's bloody and graphic and all in gory, juicy close-up's. It's like watching an Italian horror production sometimes, but maybe with fewer scenes of carnage. The famous stabbing scene is there and it always surprised me because it's so damn graphic - and that whole sequence is so intense. You can also say that about the final, with an army of real-life "freaks" (sorry for using that word) playing demons around Burgess Meredith chewing the scenery like never before, and he seems to have a lot of fun! Michael Winner rarely shies away from stuff the audience don't want to see and The Sentinel has it all.

I've seen a lot of movies, more than you can ever imagine, but I can say that The Sentinel is one of the absolute favourites. It's there for me when I'm sad and it's there for me when I'm too happy and need something to bring be down. The only bad thing with it is the lack of mutant bears, just like in my second (very secret) favourite, John Frankenheimer's The Prophecy. But don't tell anyone about that, or I'll get a big bad spanking from the geek elite!

Giallo x 2: The Sex Maniac vs. The Killer!

It's getting harder and harder to find gialli I haven't seen and those I find is more and more obscure, and most of them time also less and less spectacular. I've seen two interesting Italian thrillers the last couple of days and because neither of them is interesting enough for their own posts I've decided to squeeze both of them into one post. Hope you don't mind (I've done it before, so you better accept it!)? :) First out is a semi-famous, The Slasher is the Sex Maniac! (1972), more known as So Sweet, So Dead and with the impressive looooong Italian title "Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile".

A killer is slashing up unfaithful women and leaves compromising photos next to their bodies. Inspector Capuana, played by an excellent and emotional Farley Granger - who also has a nice moustache, takes the lead in the hunt for the killer but something makes the killer getting closer and closer to him! Why? What? How? And... who is it?

The Slasher is the Sex Maniac isn't the most original giallo ever made. Actually the total opposite. It feels quite cheap and is packed with nudity and sleaze, and less gore and violence. The American cut, they say, had inserts of hardcore. I don't know if that's true, but it would fit the cheap style and flat cinematography. The story itself isn't bad, it's just very unimaginative. What makes it interesting is the kinda unexpected ending, who has an extra dark twist in it. Which is also the best thing with this giallo. In the end it might be only for us, the fanatics, but give it a try if you feel bored and need Farley Granger to spice up your boring evening.

Next up is the very interesting Five Women for the Killer (1974), directed by Stelvio Massi. Don't be scared away by the absurdly generic title, this is one of the better gialli I've seen - and I've only seen it dubbed to German without subtitles!

A journalist, played by British actor Francis Matthews, comes home after being abroad and finds out that his wife has died and their little son at the hospital. Tragedy! He seeks comfort in the arms of his sons doctor Lydia (Pascale Rivault) and tries to cope with his sorrow. But then terror strikes! A killer is murdering pregnant women, one after another and now it's up to the brave journalist and macho-cop Howard Ross to solve the mystery and catch the killer!

Here we have a thriller that I haven't read much about, which is strange because the mystery is quite good and it has two of the most brutal and bloody murders I've seen in a giallo - up there with the macabre and sadistic murder set-pieces of Andrea Bianchi! But what makes this thriller a stand-out is the excellent directing by Massi and cinematography by Sergio Rubini. It has a lot of handheld, almost documentary camera, natural light and wonderful editing. In more than a few occasions it feels "real", like a radical, edgy crime doc.

Two gialli, none of them perfect, but still with enough interesting details and twists to be worth watching. The Slasher is the Sex Maniac is fairly easy to find, but I've only seen 5 Women for the Killer on an non-subbed German DVD under the ridiculous title Ghostkiller! It's in widescreen, but the quality isn't exactly stellar....

That's all folks!

Crawlspace (1986)

I like director David Schmoeller and Puppet Master is a film I still hold very high, even if it's almost forgotten because of the trillions of sequels and spin-offs coming from Charles Band the years after. It's a dark and stylish and actually quite eerie horror movie where the dolls is more creepy than funny and the gore is nasty and bloody. Stuart Gordon's Dolls is still the best doll-movie ever made, but Puppet Master isn't far behind. But this isn't about dolls, it's about one film by Schmoeller that has stayed away from my pretty movie star eyes for years and years...until I got a chance to buy it during the last trip to Germany. We're talking about Crawlspace of course, also famous from Schmoeller's little mini-documentary Please Kill Mr. Kinski, available on YouTube for the curious geek.

The story is almost embarrassingly simple. Kinski plays Karl Gunther, a former doctor - now a landlord - who obviously has some issues with his nazi-father. This means he's only renting out his apartments to beautiful young women and then kills them off one by one with traps and just good old fashioned stalking. Well, until a new girl moves in... who's really difficult to kill!

Crawlspace is a very simple movie, bordering to having a thin storyline. Well, yeah, the storyline IS thin, but it also has a very nice atmosphere and gorgeous cinematography by Italian master Sergio Salvati. Schmoeller keeps the story going with some creative directing, not letting the small set (basically a couple of rooms and the hallways outside them) bring him or the story down. The actresses hasn't much to do except looking good, but Talia Balsam shows some guts when working opposite the notorious Klaus Kinski, professional scene-stealer and sex-maniac, and manages both to be adorable and interesting. A hard thing in horror movies on the lower side of the budget-scale.

Of course, Kinski still steals every scene he's in and he's not even doing his best job here. He's still a vibrant character on the screen, and it seems - not unlike him - to do the best he can without dialogue. He's been avoiding talking in other movies, mostly because he feels that he as an actor needs to be able to do the part without unnecessary talking. I agree with him, but it's always a pleasure hearing his voice and here he's extra sleazy, like a wrinkled old German man-snake who obviously wants to fuck every actress he's working with. It's very visible, he's not discreet in showing his interest to the opposite sex when he's working. This, of course, makes the movie even more creepy and even if the story is weak - and it's quite low on gore - it's still an effective horror-thriller.

Crawlspace was made by production company Empire Pictures, who made an impressive parade of good and original horror movies with strong casts and bizarre ideas, so even this one. Shot in Italy with Italian crew and producer, this feels more European than American and that detail is a welcome twist on what could have been a tired slasher movie. 

För mina svenska läsare: Weekend of Horrors 2012

Jag kommer att nu börja så smått gästskriva lite på den utmärkta sidan From Beyond och först ut är en krönika/artikel om besöket på Weekend of Horrors förra helgen. Det kommer att komma en del recensioner också så småningom! :) Kulturdelen är också en sidan där några recensioner av ej genrefilm kommer att publiceras, så håll även utkik där! Det var väldigt länge sedan jag skrev texter på svenska och jag vill gärna skriva på modernsmålet en sväng också.

Givetvis fortsätter Ninja Dixon som vanligt, inklusive de vanliga depp-inlägget två gånger om året att lägga ner bloggen ;)

Mvh
Fred

Werewolves on Wheels (1971)

The 70's was without a doubt the golden age of devil worshipping and good old Satanism, especially if the movies was set in California or New York, which is odd by the way. Why do devils and occultism fits so good in sunny Los Angeles or on the streets of Manhattan? I guess we partly can blame Anton LaVey, but he also dealt with something very close to atheism and the mocking of religion by spoofing the rituals of the believers, rather than actually worshipping a the Christian devil. My favourite movies in his genre is Michael Winner's The Sentinel and Robert Fuest's The Devil's Rain, but Werewolves on Wheels could actually - at least after another watch - be one of my favourites, even if it's closer to classic exploitation than a serious attempt on hardcore horror.

A crazy (what else) biker gang, The Devil's Advocates, decides to sleep in a fancy garden belonging to a strange mansion - the rumours it belongs to sect of Satanists! It won't take long until the satanic monks comes out and feeds the bread and wine and soon they're all asleep. Next day they continue their travel, but this time some of them has become werewolves and starts killing the bikers one by one during their road trip!

Werewolves of Wheels must have some kinda record when it comes to the amount of slightly homoerotic man-hugs. The bikers hugs and hugs some more, rolls around in the sand and then - like an after-thought - makes sweet love to their "mama". This, of course, makes Werewolves on Wheels even better and more awesome, because even if the bikers are as annoying as always (I never felt connected with movie-bikers, they're just like big, stupid children!) they also feel more emotional and softer than usual. The man-love gives the movie an aura of hippie, both the smell and the interaction between the characters.

Even if all the details are there it's hard to categorize Werewolves on Wheels as a horror movie. Yeah I know, it has both werewolf-attacks and satanic rites - but it has the soul and mind of a biker-movie and I love that odd combination. It makes it even original and very creative. From the opening shots at the satanic mansion (which looks like some old 30's Hollywood-place, close to 10050 Cielo Drive...) to the effective, almost surreal desert shots during the last part.

It's a simple story, like all real exploitation movies should have, but what makes this better than most other biker-flicks is the quality of the cinematography, the wonderful stoned acting and the beautifully framed satanic rituals (lots of fisheye and wide-angle shots of course). It also have a couple of the coolest werewolves in American movie history, on the same quality level as Paul Naschy - and quite similar to his creations also. The blood - RED like only American exploitation could do it - splashes around a lot and it's quite violent gory in a cheap way, often in slow-mo. I also like how the used the sound of angry dogs as the werewolf-roars, which makes it even more realistic - which reminds me of a short scene outside a gas station which feels almost documentary in style, both the acting and the cinematography. They sure could make movies during the 70's...

Werewolves on Wheels is a surprisingly good and bloody movie. It would fit perfectly in double feature with The Devil's Rain and I think you should check it out as soon as possible. 

Tormented (1960)

Nothing bores me more than Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yeah, mostly because they laugh AT movies and not WITH them. They're actually believe that most filmmakers have no idea what they're doing, that they don't understand that a movie sometimes is bad. It's like petting a proud artist, who works hard with little money, and look down on them. Tormented is one of the movies that has been butchered by the idiots from MST3K and I can't in my wildest imagination understand why? It's cheap, yeah, but that's 95 % of the movies being made. Bert I. Gordon is one of my favourite directors and it's always interesting to see him make a movie that not includes giant animals or other monsters. Tormented is a classic, effective ghost story.

Richard Carlson is jazz musician Tom Stewart, who's about to get married to Meg (Lugene Sanders), something that's not that popular in the mind of her father - "It's bad enough accepting a musician into this family, but a jazz musician?!" - but Tom has bigger problems than that. His former girlfriend Vi (Juli Reding) is deeply jealous and threatens to expose their whole relationship to Meg and her family. During a quarrel in a lighthouse, Vi falls to her death and disappears in front of Tom's eyes. Soon she starts to haunt him, trying to stop his marriage with all means necessary!

It could almost be one of those intelligent TV-movies that was so popular in the 70's. The story is simple, but filled with great ideas, one or two stars, few locations and low on special effects. I'm not one of those that always pretends to be a bit more important by stating that it's nice with a movie that doesn't rely on special effects, because that's has nothing to do with the quality of the production - it's all about storytelling, no matter how much or how little special effects you have. Bert I. Gordon loves effects and he has a lot of them in Tormented, but they are low-key and consists mostly of ghostly figures floating around, a flying hand etc. Quite primitive and hardly scary nowadays, but surprisingly effective.

Richard Carlson, in the lead, has good material to work with. A man who's trying to avoid his dead lover and still keep up appearances until and during his upcoming wedding. Joe Turkel, who plays Vi's former boyfriend is fantastic. He's like an earlier version of David Cronenberg, both his physical appearance and his style of acting: cold and calculating. Gordon's daughter Susan has a big part as a little girl who understands better than others what's going on, and she's cute and not too precocious. Lugene Sanders as Meg is great, but like most actresses in "b-movies" during this time she has very little to do except looking good and happy. Except Turkel I would say the sinister performance by Juli Reding as Vi is the highlight of the show, both alive and as a ghost.

It's quite easy to guess where the story is going, but this is not one of those twisty thrillers that the title might lead us to (sounds like yet another Psycho-rip off, one word, low-budget, black & white), it's a very basic and doomed ghost story. We know the characters are fucked even before they fuck it up, and we follow them down the path until everything goes to hell. It's a damn fine little movie actually. The best scene is - and I will try not to spoil it - when the ghost travels into a house up to a certain person. We see flowers wither live in camera (not stop-motion or high-speed shenanigans and candles die away. It's a highly effective sequence and one of the best in the whole movie.

This is another fine film from Mr BIG himself, Bert I. Gordon. If you feel for something without giant ants or spiders or... yeah, what ever animal that's in fashion, give this one a try. I think you will enjoy it. 

Mark of the Devil (1970)

I can't say I've seen a lot of movies about the witch-hunts and the general stupidity of the medieval ages. Witchfinder General, Cry of the Banshee and of course, Jess Franco's underrated drama The Bloody Judge. So it wasn't until today I first saw Michael Armstrong's Mark of the Devil, a German production shot in Austria with a nice international cast of talents like Udo Kier, Herbert Lom and Reggie Nalder. Michael Reeves signed up to direct it, which it's easy to imagine after the success of Witchfinder General, but died before filming could start. His assistant Armstrong took over and shot most of the stuff, with some additional  material directed by Adrian Hoven. This could have resulted in a highly uneven film, but a good script and excellent actors makes this one of the best witch-movies made! I'll go so far I think it's on the same level of quality as Witchfinder General!

The story is a bit complex to write down, but Reggie Nalder is Albino, the local witch-hunter and everything is great and awesome and he's very aware of what he's doing...until Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom) enters the town and takes over as the new judge and he's saying he's on a mission from god himself! His biggest fan is Count Christian (Udo Kier), who's his apprentice and student in the holy mission of finding disciples of Satan! All is well until the day Christian starts to suspect that Cumberland is doing this to just earn some extra money, rape women and use his power to get rid of enemies and when he witnesses how even the nasty Albino confronts Cumberland on this, the shit hits the fan!

Oh, it's a lot better story than what I've tried to explain to you. What I find most interesting is the complex characters. No one is really evil or really good, and even the baddies can change, or at least act human when facing danger. The danger is very realistic, so realistic I guess some people might think it's disappointing - but hey, I find it even better that way. More cynical. More real. This happens today to. The alternate ending, lost forever, had a supernatural twist to the story, which have destroyed the almost atheistic message the movie has. So I'm happy it wasn't used (and the director hated it), but it's a pity it's lost and destroyed.

In an exploitation movie like this some might think that the acting doesn't matter, but of course it does. Herbert Lom, who recently left us, delivers cold, dark performance. The work of a master. Udo Kier both looks good and acts well, but is a bit underwritten. He have some challenges as a character and struggles with giving him some more depth. Reggie Nalder is fantastic as always. This combined with amazing locations - and stunning cinematography - makes the movie a visual treat. It's both gritty and echoes of some Bavarian romance movie, and the dark nasty story makes this even more powerful: that such beauty can hold such terror.

Like all of these witch-movies the violence and gore has been widely exaggerated over the years, but it delivers some blood and minor gore - plus the required nudity of course. The effects is cheap and primitive but fits the style. The new German blu-ray includes six minutes of deleted and alternate scenes which is a joy to behold. Before the film was released it was slightly trimmed and here we get a change to see some gore and blood and glimpses of the shooting (some magnificent sideburns on the crew!), all to Michael Holm's beautiful score! Yeah, the score. The main theme is a bit similar to Riz Ortolani's theme to Cannibal Holocaust. Not that much, but I can hear something very familiar in the melody. I think it's just a coincidence and the score is brilliant to both movies.

The new German blu-ray looks stunning. It's a must have for collectors. It's a limited edition of 5000 copies, 3 disc release - one blu-ray (with some extras on it, including the extra footage), a DVD (also with the movie) and a bonus disc with interviews - sadly no subtitles. The video commentary track with Udo Kier and the gang looks fab, but still... no subs! There's also a commentary with director Michael Armstrong, I guess its lifted from an older releases and I will give it a listen some day.

So, what are you waiting for? Buy it!