Qualcosa striscia nel buio (1971)

... aka: Shadows in the Dark
... aka: Something Creeping in the Dark
... aka: Something Is Crawling in the Dark

Directed by:
Mario Colocci

Professor Lawrence: "When will this nightmare end?"
BPOH Spokesperson: "97 grueling minutes, to be exact."

After a brief car chase, a pair of police detectives; Inspector Wright (Dino Fazio) and his partner Sam (Frank Beltramme), apprehend smarmy homicidal maniac Spike (top-billed Farley Granger). Coming up right behind them on the road are wealthy, bickering couple Donald (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) and Sylvia (Lucia Bosé) Forrest, who are on their way to a party. A bad rainstorm has washed out a bridge ahead, so everyone attempts to backtrack and discover that fast-approaching flood waters have washed out the road leading back into town. Along with old, knowledgeable Professor Lawrence (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino), Doctor Williams ("Stan Cooper" / Stelvio Rosi), who's answering an emergency call, and his nurse assistant Susan West (Mia Genberg), the eight stranded travelers find themselves in the same predicament: stuck out in the country late into the night with no place to go. Thankfully, there's a creepy old mansion located nearby.

Joe ("John Hamilton" / Gianni Medici) now lives in the home and he's less-than-friendly to his unwelcome visitors but lets them stay the night there because the Chief Inspector gives him no other choice. For some reason Joe also keeps his nameless, scantily-clad girlfriend (Giulia Rovai) basically quarantined in their bedroom and doesn't want her to socialize with anyone else. The rain keeps coming, the phone is out because of the bad weather, eventually they lose electricity and then they learn the sordid back history of the place. It's former owner - Sheila Marlowe - was as eccentric woman who was rumored to have had an interest in the occult, may have murdered her husband but was acquitted of all charges and died under mysterious circumstances. And some of this group will also soon die under mysterious circumstances, especially after Sylvia gets bored and decides to hold a séance to contact Sheila's restless spirit.

Despite being given enough tranquilizers "to put a horse to sleep," the neurotic Donald becomes possessed (twice), frees the dangerous killer, kills his nasty wife (after she has a roughie sex fantasy about Spike chasing her around and beating her) and then kills himself. In a bit that goes absolutely nowhere, the reserved Susan also becomes possessed, climbs into bed with her boss for some hanky panky and somehow manages to not even get naked. Moaning spirits float around in the hallways. Lights flicker. Footsteps are heard. Doors creak open. Shadows form on the walls. Boxes fall over. A few people have hallucinations. Wind blows through the trees. Ticking clocking lining the hallways start and stop. Spikes lurks around outside, gets in a fist fight with one of the cops and finally bashes in his head with a rock. And the finale - which is pretty much a rip-off of THE HAUNTING - features the survivors standing around in a room as a door rattles and shakes.

Sounds like your typical old dark house set-up with a dash of Ten Little Indians, right? Unfortunately, this painfully dull and utterly pointless dud - perhaps an attempt at a 'classier' old-fashioned film - goes absolutely nowhere. There's zero suspense, the characters are unlikable, the dialogue is awful, the storyline is unfocused, exploitation elements are almost non-existent (there's no gore and one brief nude scene), it takes a full hour to get to the first murder sequence and it just kind of peters out with a non-thrilling non-ending. Even the presentation of this material is completely flat. This could very well be the least atmospheric Italian Gothic horror film of the 60s and 70s. There's hardly any good camerawork and the drab sets are sparsely decorated just like a porno movie set. I kept playing "Where's Waldo?" scouring the rooms for a potted plant just to help pass the time.

The version I viewed (titled Something Creeping in the Dark) was the Japanese release through Midnight Video. It's widescreen and English-dubbed. The one second flash of female frontal nudity is scrambled but I'm afraid a million and one singing, dancing hoo-ha's twirling flaming batons couldn't save this one.

★1/2

Concerto per pistola solista (1970)

...aka: Butler Didn't Do It!, The
...aka: Killer's Weekend, The
...aka: Story of a Crime
...aka: Weekend Murders, The

Directed by:
Michele Lupo

A murder-mystery co-produced by Italian and Spanish backers, set in England, containing a mixed international cast (most of whom are dubbed), farcical elements (it almost plays out like an Agatha Christie spoof), some distinctly British humour and an all-too-familiar reading-of-the-will set-up might sound like a recipe for disaster but - surprise! - this is anything but. Despite being written off with a middling review in Adrian Luther Smith's Blood & Black Lace: The Definitive Guide to Italian Sex and Horror Movies, I personally found THE WEEKEND MURDERS to be a mostly successful and amusing concoction and certainly one of the most entertaining Italian genre productions of the 1970s. Things open with an amusing golf game as a bunch of stuffy characters uncover a human hand in a sand trap. The film then jumps back a few days as an extended family show up at a country estate soon after obscenely wealthy Henry Carter has passed on. Apparently, he didn't get along too well with anyone aside from his niece Barbara (top-billed Anna Moffo), who brought some peace and serenity to his final years, so she ends up receiving the bulk of the valuables while everyone else is left fuming and conspiring about how they can get their share. Almost immediately after, someone begins killing characters off one by one.

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The mile-long list of quirky suspects (and in many cases the actors bringing them to life) and their interactions is one aspect that makes this one stand out amongst others of its type. One of the most unusual is a perverted would-be rapist and mama's boy named Georgie (Christopher Chittel), who seems to have taken inspiration from Bud Cort in HAROLD MAUDE and stages a bloody fake bathtub suicide and a fake knife murder just to annoy everyone. He has a strange Oedipal relationship with his domineering mother Lady Gladys (Marisa Fabbri), can't handle the come-on's from sexually aggressive maid Evelyn (Orchidea de Santis) after he tries to rape her and finally ends up being broken in by Pauline (Beryl Cunningham), a black woman Henry's obnoxious playboy nephew Theodore (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) claims he married just to piss everyone else off and who's also sleeping with the valet, Arthur ("Robert Hundar"/ Claudio Undari). Henry's only child Isabelle ("Eveline Stewart"/ Ida Galli) has just recently lost her baby, is having a falling out with her unemployed husband Anthony (Peter Baldwin) - who is secretly in love with Barbara, anyway - and ends up picking up a strange guy (Franco Borelli) in town and brings him back to the mansion. To round out the list of possible suspects, there's also Henry's brother Lawrence (Quinto Parmeggiana), butler Peter (Ballard Berkeley), lawyer Mr. Thornton (Richard Caldicott) and a gardener (Harry Hutchinson) who isn't too happy that Henry didn't leave him his prized flowers in the will.

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Bringing in most of the more obvious comedy are local bobby Sgt. Aloisius Thorpe (Gastone Moschin) and Scotland Yard's Inspector Gray (British comedian Lance Percival). Moschin's character; a goofy, buck-toothed, bumbling type, turns out to be the most clever person in the film and is the one who finally uncovers the killer. Both actors work off each other very well. The humorous elements run the gamut from obvious slapstick to blackly humorous commentary on class and racism to some mildly tasteless bits, but a surprisingly amount of it is actually funny, and consistently so. There are lots of dramatic zooms (obviously meant to parody similar films), as well as some weird-but-slick editing cuts featuring close-ups of various suspects accompanied by the sound of gun shots. The film also works adequately as a mystery. While the script may not be as convoluted, the writing's actually better than what you'll find in most other gialli and the killer's identity is a genuine surprise, as is their modus operandi.

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PETA members might not like seeing a bunny rabbit getting shot, but otherwise this is a good-natured and amusing little diversion. MGM handled the theatrical release in the U.S., but they never bothered to issue the film to VHS here. Code Red has this on their list of 2009 DVD releases, so I guess we can expect a decent copy here soon.

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Debuting on my Top 10 for 1970 list at #5.

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★★★

Operazione paura (1966)

...aka: Curse of the Dead

...aka: Curse of the Living Dead

...aka: Don't Walk in the Park

...aka: Kill, Baby... Kill!

...aka: Operation Fear

Directed by:

Mario Bava

Don't let the stupid American title (Kill, Baby... Kill!) or even the vague and somewhat misleading original release title (Operation Fear) keep you from enjoying this gem of Gothic horror. It's very easy to find on various bargain horror collections but you'll need to do your research if you want the full visual experience. The two best releases to date have come from Dark Sky (who strangely recalled the film soon after releasing it so now it's hard to find) and Anchor Bay (who offer it in their Mario Bava Collection, Volume 1 box set, which is still easy to find at an affordable price). There are few horror films I can think of off hand that can match this film's densely beautiful color cinematography, imaginative camerawork and atmospheric art direction. It's not only amazing to look at, but it's also competently plotted and has plenty of memorably eerie moments. Far from a masterwork when it comes to conventional storytelling, but it does know its strong points. I don't want to get too involved in the plot (it always takes a backseat to the visual aspects, anyway) other than to say this film involves a ghostly little blonde girl spreading fear (and death) around a small Transylvanian village.

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Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (a doctor called in to help) and Erika Blanc (a college educated woman who was born there but left as a child) investigate a string of strange deaths (which are presumed to be suicides) in the village, with autopsies revealing that the victims have gold coins embedded in their hearts. Fabienne Dali is an exotic-looking witch who uses some rather unorthodox techniques to shield characters from evil and Luciano Catenacci (also one of the producers) is a bald, sinister-looking burgomaster. Other characters include an inspector (Piero Lulli) and a wealthy baroness who's hiding an important secret ("Gianna Vivaldi"/Giovanna Galletti). Plotwise, the film meanders and drags at times and the dubbed dialogue (though reasonably well recorded compared to other Euro-horrors of the era) is utterly forgettable. But the film scores a bullseye at what its attempting to do and that's creating an ethereal, eerie supernatural mood.

The irony of having an angelic-looking blonde girl representing evil was later copied by Fellini for "Toby Dammit" (his segment from the anthology Spirits of the Dead) and Scorsese for The Last Temptation of Christ. My favorite bit of camera trickery was a repeated zoom lens shot going in and out and finally pulling back to show it's a little girl on a swing. The movie is full of clever touches just like that. It's also very foggy, boldly colorful, has a creepy score from Carlo Rustichelli and is much more technically imaginative than other films coming out in the 1960s. Definitely a must see for horror buffs as well as future filmmakers who want to learn how to take make much out of limited resources. The photography is credited to Antonio Rinaldi, though Bava certainly had his hand in there as well.

★★★1/2

Notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba, La (1971)

...aka: Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, The

Directed by:

Emilio P. Miraglia

Review coming soon.

★★1/2