Bava Sunday

Written by Joe D on March 18th, 2008

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Hey there Pally! Here’s some previews of Coming Attractions for the triple feature Sunday, March 23 at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd.(AKA The American Cinematheque). They’re ending the Mario Bava retrospective with La Ragazza Che Sapeva Troppo(USA,The Girl Who Knew Too Much, The Evil Eye), Il Rosso Segno Della Follial (Hatchet for The Honeymoon) and Caltiki, Il Monstro Immortale. Here’s a post about The Evil Eye.

Here’s the trailer for Hatchet for The Honeymoon.

And here’s the opening for Caltiki, The Immortal Monster!

See a Giant Glob of Tripe eat a man! Revenge of the cow stomachs!

Eyeball and the Lure of the Theater

Written by Joe D on November 7th, 2007

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Last year I was lucky enough to make it to a whole bunch of the GRINDHOUSE screenings at the New Beverly Theater on Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles. Quentin Tarantino had programmed a months worth of films from his personal collection, mainly 70’s Gridhouse fare and they were great! Such a treat to see cool films on 35mm in a theater with like minded film lovers! One of the films I saw was Umberto Lenzi’s Eyeball or Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro, it’s not a great film, but to see it with an audience! What a treat, they loved it! It’s full of shocks, and gags and eyeball gouging goop! It played so well in a theater surrounded by people that screamed, laughed, jumped and were grossed out, I loved it! Movies are meant to be experienced in a communal setting, the electric thrills running through the audience are a big part of the experience. This movie really illustrated that fact to me because as I said it’s not that great, if I had watched it on a DVD by myself I might have thought it crap! But with an audience a whole different enchilada! So I hope you can get the opportunity to see it the way it was meant to be seen. on a big screen surrounded by shrieking moviegoers. Also it has a great score by the genius Bruno Nicolai!
p.s. the trailer is NSFW, some nudity(boobs) and gore.

Una Sul’Altra or One On Top Of The Other

Written by Joe D on July 11th, 2007

Here’s the trailer for Lucio Fulci’s Una Sul’Altra. A great movie! Fulci’s riff on Vertigo. I will soon publish a comparison between the two films but in the meantime enjoy this trailer! it’s full of groovy optical effects, done on an optical printer on film! I love the Italian title sequences that are full of crazy freeze frames, tinted images, animated titles, sand blowing away to reveal text. All shot on film and with a texture so rich you can almost taste it! Plus dig that crazy Riz Ortolani score! And Marisa Mell!

The Evil Eye

Written by Joe D on July 10th, 2007

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Here’s a trailer from what many consider the first giallo, La Ragazza che sapeva troppo, released in the USA as The Evil Eye. Directed by Mario Bava, the genre maker, starring John Saxon, Leticia Roman, and Valentina Cortese. I read an interview with John Saxon a few years back and he talked about how he got involved with this project. Leticia Roman contacted him and, representing herself as a producer working on the film, offered him the part. After some haggling Saxon accepted. Then, unbeknownst to John Saxon, she approached Mario Bava and said she represented Saxon and if Bava wanted him for the movie, he would have to give Leticia the female lead! Bava agreed and she got the part. During filming (according to the interview) Bava became infatuated with Leticia and was pressuring her to submit to his desires. She told him John Saxon was in love with her and he’s better back off as Saxon was jealous and would walk off the film or worse. Bava left her alone, Saxon knew nothing of all this at the time, he found out later. So here’s to Leticia Roman, a grandmaster of the chessboard of Cinema hustling.