I just happened to catch this flick on Channels, the cheap archive of Wierd Movies you can subscribe to on Apple TV for a couple of bucks. It was OK, an evil Queen, an Italian Hercules, a cene where Hercules is caught in these giant Jaws of Death for what seems like an eternity.
I left it on while I was brushing my teeth and putting on my socks. I’ve always had a soft spot for Hercules type movies, made in Rome in the 60’s, usually some crazy monster appears. Anyway I was sort of watching it when a sequence began, it took place in a huge cavern in the Mountain of Death, A Moon Man, looking like a futuristic Tin Woodsman crossed with an owl, was coducting a ceremony to bring the evil Queen back to life with the blodd of an innocent girl.
Suddenly there was an image of incomparable beauty, a throbbing purple orb slowly turning above their heards, then the moon appears in an opening in the roof of the cavern, it’s obscured by clouds but it comes closer through the mist. I immediately thought of Mario Bava, it had his fingerprints all over it. The film was made at Cinecitta, Bava’s hangout. I heard Bava would work on the Special Effects of other peoples films when he wasn’t busy on his own films, along with his father, a talented sculptor. Then I read that Tim Lucas, the Bava guru said he thought Bava worked on this film as well. So watch it for yourself and decide. The sequence I’m referring to is towards the end of the film.
Here’s a crazy Spaghetti Western available on Amazon Prime, Requiescant. It stars Lou Castel, who appeared in the SuperCool, Grazie Zia, which I wrote aboutherehttp://www.filmforno.com/?p=1147. This film also stars Mark Damon as the evil Southern rascist boss, some say the inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Django Unchained. The other bonus in this picture is Pier Paolo Pasolini as a Mexican revolutionary. Pretty Cool. Here’s the trailer which is not the greatest.
If you want to catch up on your Spaghetti Western watching look no further than Amazon Prime. I guess they acquired the FilmRise catalog and have a whole slew of Italian Westerns from the 60’s. I’ve watched A Pistol For Ringo, The Return Of Ringo, Cemetary Without Crosses, Django Kill, and last night a crazy one with Lou Castel called Requiescant. But there are a ton on there. You can watch The Great Silence, The Grand Duel, Navajo Joe and many others. So saddle up companeros and tune into Westerns on Prime.
I just watched Werner Herzog’s magnificent film Stroszek. Starring the incomparable Bruno S. I had never seen it before and it really impressed me. All the acting is terrific especially Bruno as the title character. The film is filled with an undeniable poetry, the ending is a visionary critique of Capitalism and the American way of life, something that was not scripted but found by chance as Herzog filmed on location. A miracle of Synchronicity. You should watch it and be amazed. 10 thumbs up!
