Monday, October 27, 2008
An open letter to my brother Andy:
Hey Andy, have you seen this one yet? It's one of Fulci's mid-80's efforts. You and I have both plowed through the ass-end of his filmography, including Aenigma, Demonia, Voices From the Beyond and Sweet House of Horrors, so if you haven't seen this one, you probably should. However, if you still need convincing, here is a list of reasons of why you should see Murder Rock:
1) It is an attempt to cash in on the 80's dance movie craze, but it's still a horror movie. So what I'm saying is that Fulci made a giallo in the style of Flashdance.
2) The opening credits show a bunch of people (who I don't think are characters in the movie) breakdancing to some 80's music. When the credits end, they are immediately followed by another dance sequence. It's like a good 6 minutes of screen time before there's any dialogue and people stop dancing.
3) There are several dance sequences in the film, and they are pretty much all extraneous.
4) Remember the classic song "Head Over Meels" from Fulci's Aenigma? Well, Murder Rock's entire soundtrack consists of crap like that.
5) Garetta Garetta, the black chick from Demons and Rats: Night of Terror has a supporting role.
6) There are several dramatic speeches made by characters, and the movie seems to take them pretty seriously.
7) There is a lot of nudity for a Fulci film, although most of it is of dead chicks. So we're talking Torso territory here, although no lesbians.
8) The killer chloroforms women so they pass out, then sticks some weird ceremonial needle through their heart.
9) I don't know if he had a decent budget or what, but this is, from a technical standpoint, one of Fulci's best shot, best lit, best edited, best constructed films. It doesn't have his normally foggy, soft-focus nightmarish feel, it's more of a classic giallo.
10) Despite that, it still has a lot of accidental comedy.
So there you go, 10 reasons why you should consider seeing this one if you get a chance. I wouldn't bump it to the top of your queue or go out of your way to see it, but if you like this kind of crap (and I know you do) then it's worth your time.
Showing posts with label Lucio Fulci. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucio Fulci. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sweet House of Horrors
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Well, we did a lot of celebrating this weekend, what with finishing moving in, and the Fourth of July, and Shenan's graduation party, so it seemed appropriate that we throw some bad horror movies in there somewhere. What can I say, we love that shit.
We actually also put on a giallo called Seven Blood Stained Orchids (great title!), but it seemed pretty boring and we all pretty much stopped paying attention within the first half hour. So I'm not counting it.
Some time in the early 80's, Lucio Fulci stopped making cheap, kinda awful horror movies that never-the-less had some sort of effective, unique vision to them, and just started making cheap, completely awful horror movies that are borderline unwatchable. Sweet House of Horrors sucks every bit as much as Demonia, Aenigma and Voices From the Beyond, which luckily also means that it's good for a few laughs. I especially liked the part when the bad guy (the same actor who played Ripper in Demons) screams "I have to murder you! I have to murder you both!" while killing some people. Thanks for announcing that, dude.
What's weird here is that the movie starts off with a really violent scene, but then slowly becomes less violent as it goes along, eventually becoming more like some stupid kids movie than a horror film. I have no idea what the hell Fulci was going for.
Well, we did a lot of celebrating this weekend, what with finishing moving in, and the Fourth of July, and Shenan's graduation party, so it seemed appropriate that we throw some bad horror movies in there somewhere. What can I say, we love that shit.
We actually also put on a giallo called Seven Blood Stained Orchids (great title!), but it seemed pretty boring and we all pretty much stopped paying attention within the first half hour. So I'm not counting it.
Some time in the early 80's, Lucio Fulci stopped making cheap, kinda awful horror movies that never-the-less had some sort of effective, unique vision to them, and just started making cheap, completely awful horror movies that are borderline unwatchable. Sweet House of Horrors sucks every bit as much as Demonia, Aenigma and Voices From the Beyond, which luckily also means that it's good for a few laughs. I especially liked the part when the bad guy (the same actor who played Ripper in Demons) screams "I have to murder you! I have to murder you both!" while killing some people. Thanks for announcing that, dude.
What's weird here is that the movie starts off with a really violent scene, but then slowly becomes less violent as it goes along, eventually becoming more like some stupid kids movie than a horror film. I have no idea what the hell Fulci was going for.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Seven Notes in Black
Monday, April 14, 2008
This movie was packaged under the title The Psychic, but Seven Notes in Black is the onscreen title, and it's frankly a much cooler one. The Psychic sounds like it could be any generic, crappy horror movie. Seven Notes in Black sounds like exactly what it is: a 70's giallo.
This is Fulci, but it's not one of his surreal, soft focus, gore heavy, illogical, batshit insane, gates to hell horror films. It's more along the lines of a (relatively subdued) giallo, a little more like his Don't Torture a Duckling or A Lizard in Woman's Skin (see what I mean about these titles) only maybe even more straightforward than those. And not nearly as violent.
Well, I'm gonna say it, this is probably Fulci's best movie. I don't mean it's my favorite; it lacks that weird, fascinating nightmarish quality of The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, etc. But it's probably his best made... it's an entertaining thriller with a number of memorable scenes. It has some bad acting here and there, and goes a little slow for a while, but that's true of a lot of giallo, even some of Dario Argento's best.
No orgies in this one, though. Shame. Any time a hippie shows up in a giallo (which is often), there's usually an orgy to follow. No hippies here, sadly.
The "seven notes" refers to the little tune that the lead character's watch plays when wound, and the tune kept nagging at me. I knew I had heard it somewhere before. For a while I was convinced that it was the music that the guy's watch played in For a Few Dollars More... until it hit me that Tarantino used the music in the first Kill Bill. Nice.
This movie was packaged under the title The Psychic, but Seven Notes in Black is the onscreen title, and it's frankly a much cooler one. The Psychic sounds like it could be any generic, crappy horror movie. Seven Notes in Black sounds like exactly what it is: a 70's giallo.
This is Fulci, but it's not one of his surreal, soft focus, gore heavy, illogical, batshit insane, gates to hell horror films. It's more along the lines of a (relatively subdued) giallo, a little more like his Don't Torture a Duckling or A Lizard in Woman's Skin (see what I mean about these titles) only maybe even more straightforward than those. And not nearly as violent.
Well, I'm gonna say it, this is probably Fulci's best movie. I don't mean it's my favorite; it lacks that weird, fascinating nightmarish quality of The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, etc. But it's probably his best made... it's an entertaining thriller with a number of memorable scenes. It has some bad acting here and there, and goes a little slow for a while, but that's true of a lot of giallo, even some of Dario Argento's best.
No orgies in this one, though. Shame. Any time a hippie shows up in a giallo (which is often), there's usually an orgy to follow. No hippies here, sadly.
The "seven notes" refers to the little tune that the lead character's watch plays when wound, and the tune kept nagging at me. I knew I had heard it somewhere before. For a while I was convinced that it was the music that the guy's watch played in For a Few Dollars More... until it hit me that Tarantino used the music in the first Kill Bill. Nice.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The House By the Cemetery
Saturday, March 22, 2008
There's something about Lucio Fulci. He made a lot of cheap, violent Italian horror films that were poorly written, poorly acted and poorly edited. They often had gruesome but unconvincing special effects, and a good amount of unintended comedy. The stories had a lot of exposition, but even after repeat viewings don't seem to make any logical sense. Yet there are a few, especially the three in a row he did with Catriona MacColl in the lead roll, that are effectively weird and nightmarish in a way that few horror films are.
The House by the Cemetery is one of my favorite Fulci's. It's not a good movie in many senses, and some of it is downright laughable. But the awkward dubbing, the bad dialogue, the nonsensical plot, the disjointed editing, and the cheapness somehow mingle very well with the violence, atmosphere and especially Fulci's dreamlike, soft-focus visual style to create an unsettling feeling, like a bad dream.
I have this weird idea to sort of pull a Down With Love on Fulci and try to make a film that tries to perfectly copy his style. Just do a mishmash of his plots and ideas (it would definitely have to be about a gateway to hell), dub all the dialogue and try to approximate his look. This wouldn't be some Lost Skeleton of Cadavra thing where I would intentionally make it bad, or some Grindhouse thing where I cheat and make a bigger budget movie, but a genuine attempt to try and duplicate his style.
Shenan had never seen this before, and picked up a $3 used copy. Well done. I still haven't found a reasonably priced copy of The Beyond, but I did just get City of the Living Dead at an acceptable price and will have to watch it some time soon. Maybe I won't have enough time now trying to keep this blog going, but I wouldn't like to start working on my Fulci script some time in the near future, at least just for shits and giggles.
There's something about Lucio Fulci. He made a lot of cheap, violent Italian horror films that were poorly written, poorly acted and poorly edited. They often had gruesome but unconvincing special effects, and a good amount of unintended comedy. The stories had a lot of exposition, but even after repeat viewings don't seem to make any logical sense. Yet there are a few, especially the three in a row he did with Catriona MacColl in the lead roll, that are effectively weird and nightmarish in a way that few horror films are.
The House by the Cemetery is one of my favorite Fulci's. It's not a good movie in many senses, and some of it is downright laughable. But the awkward dubbing, the bad dialogue, the nonsensical plot, the disjointed editing, and the cheapness somehow mingle very well with the violence, atmosphere and especially Fulci's dreamlike, soft-focus visual style to create an unsettling feeling, like a bad dream.
I have this weird idea to sort of pull a Down With Love on Fulci and try to make a film that tries to perfectly copy his style. Just do a mishmash of his plots and ideas (it would definitely have to be about a gateway to hell), dub all the dialogue and try to approximate his look. This wouldn't be some Lost Skeleton of Cadavra thing where I would intentionally make it bad, or some Grindhouse thing where I cheat and make a bigger budget movie, but a genuine attempt to try and duplicate his style.
Shenan had never seen this before, and picked up a $3 used copy. Well done. I still haven't found a reasonably priced copy of The Beyond, but I did just get City of the Living Dead at an acceptable price and will have to watch it some time soon. Maybe I won't have enough time now trying to keep this blog going, but I wouldn't like to start working on my Fulci script some time in the near future, at least just for shits and giggles.
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