International Horrors!

 This weekend was all about foreign horror films, apparently. Back in the day, Saturday Afternoons and evenings would often bring the occasional foreign film, in the form of Hammer films from Britain or various Kaiju and Tokusatsu fare. It was only later, when I was able to take advantage of cable TV and video and DVD rentals, that I began to see more from other countries, such as Spain, Mexico, Italy, China, and Russia and Scandinavia.

One of the more vibrant genres I've discovered is Italian horror from the 1970s and 80s... which includes the subgenre known as 'giallo'. Its quite distinctive and unique, and seems to fuse together the sensibilities of American Film Noir of the 1940s and 50s, with the splatter/slasher genre which came later in the 1980s and 90s.

There is a quality to American movies from the 1970s, especially in low budget horror genre films, which seems to try to follow a sort of "cinema verite" sort of sensibility. Everything is sort of grimy, dusty, and with an almost uniformly bland color palette used. It gives it a washed out quality, that, at least for me, sucks the vitality right out of the film. There is often a tendency to set films out in rural areas, deserts, swamps, and forests. Not so with Italian film, which revels in bright colors and often highly urbanized areas, or architecturally interesting buildings. 

For example, look at Dario Argento's 'Profondo Rosso', or 'Deep Red' from 1975. There is a scene early on in  the film where the here is in an ancient plaza in Rome, with an old fountain and statues.... and it is largely empty, EXCEPT, for the 50s style diner that is along one side of the plaza, which is done in shades of chrome and deep cobalt neon blue, which looks like it comes directly out of an Edward Hopper painting. Argento, in general, can be relied on to provide a bright and visually interesting film, but he is not alone.

Look no further than Mario Bava's 'Planet of the Vampires' (1965), which visually stunning and which influenced Ridley Scott's masterful 'Alien' in 1979. There is an artificiality which Bava acknowledges and embraces in his set design. Even without the story (which is pretty solid), Bava creates an atmosphere that unsettles the viewer, and makes the viewer uneasy. 

Also look to Bava's 1973 release 'Lisa and the Devil' which is stylishly filmed in an old villa, but with chic, modern furniture and fashions, and an unusual dream-like quality to the narrative, where everyone in the entire film seems to be artificially playing a role, like they are puppets going through the motions of life.... with the exception of Telly Savalas' butler character, Leandro. Leandro, however, may be the Devil himself, though he wouldn't admit it, unless it amused him. Leandro is the one character in the film who doesn't seem scripted in what he does... he drifts in and out with a manic sort of humor.

For other dream-like films, consider also Italian gore-master Lucio Fulci, who opted many times to forgo ordinary narrative techniques to explore suggestive visuals, and the end result is seen in such films as 'City of the Living Dead' (1980) and 'The Beyond' (1981) which often get criticized for being "disjointed" or "incoherent". While that is fair to say on a story level, stepping back and looking at the film entirely visually only, there IS a sort of cohesion. The Beyond, in particular, takes its protagonists from a very complacent, ordinary world, where they are simply restoring and repairing an old hotel, into an increasingly bizarre, supernatural half world, and finally divorces them from reality entirely in the final scenes as they move into a sort of Hell, or Purgatory where the laws of our reality no longer hold sway.

The other thing that sets these film apart are the graphic sex and violence. These are things which are central to the plots of most of these films. Take a look, for example, at Emilio Miraglio's 1971 film 'The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave'. Sex and violence are, in fact, central to the plot. We see the main character, Lord Cunningham, as played by Anthony Steffen, in the opening scenes, bring a prostitute to a secluded tower on his estate, which turns out to be not only where he 'entertains' his mistresses, but also his private bondage dungeon. This character, ostensibly the 'hero' of the film, then proceeds to torture and murder his victims while he has them pose as his dead wife Evelyn. But, oddly, this is NOT the main plot of the story.... When he remarries, someone starts murdering people connected to him, and it seems to be the doing of his dead wife... and THAT is the main story. Bizarrely, the hero's own homicidal proclivities are just mostly ignored. 

Look also at Dario Argento's Tenebrae (1982), in which a killer targets people based on some sort of desire to punish 'moral deviants'. The death of a pair of lesbian prostitutes in one scene juxtaposes them wandering around the scene mostly naked before being violently dispatched with a straight razor... We see the deaths of cheating lovers in this, as well as shoplifters, and those accused of 'spying'. Petty offenses that the murderer judges worthy of execution. One of the final scenes is frankly shocking in it violence, gore, and, because this is Italian, the actual calculated BEAUTY of the scene. A woman sits by herself at a table in a stark white room. She is dressed in white, and anything else in the room is silver. She's holding a gun, anticipating the arrival of the murderer. The window next to her breaks and an axe wielded by the killer severs the arm holding the gun. In an American film of this era (Friday the 13th Part III came out the same year), you might see the limb get severed, but the rest of the scene would be lost in shadows. Not so in Tenebrae. The woman stands and the blood sprays from the stump of her arm, arcing across the bare white walls... the brilliant red contrasting with the white. The camera stays on here during this time, and there is also no DOUBT that this is a mortal wound. The actress credibly sells getting weaker and weaker as more blood pours out. Its HORRIFYING to watch. But visually, it is STUNNING, and it sort of leaves you wondering how they did it. Mind you, it is NOT a movie for the squeamish or faint of heart.

Anyhow... other films this week, with an International Flavor:

The Amazing Mr. Blunden - (Britain, 1972): A confusing film for children, involving both ghosts and time travel. Or possibly Time Traveling Ghosts. Its hard to say. It was a bit difficult to follow what was going on, and the denouement of the film is ... exciting, but not very satisfactory. Very little by way of explanation in this film makes sense. The acting is not even particularly good, and most of the characters are annoying. This might be fine for sensitive early teens and pre-teens, but overall, its a disappointing work, and worse yet, its a DULL one.

Your Vice is a Locked Room, and Only I Have the Key - (Italy, 1972): Oddly enough, this is a version of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Black Cat'.... but with a MORE than healthy dose of Italian sex and violence added into it. There are so many twists and turns in the last couple scenes, that it really only makes sense the last couple moments as they begin to kill off once conspirator after another, and you're left with the last person pulling the strings. My biggest problem with this film is the unlikability of pretty much every single character. Some start off promising, and then are revealed to be just as horrible and depraved as the others. Others seem likeable, and then are unceremoniously killed off. I had a hard time mustering sympathy for anyone except possibly the cat. 

And Now The Screaming Starts - (Britain, 1973): Amicus films was a slightly cut rate version of Hammer, but which still made effective horror films. Mainly known for their anthology films, this one was their one Feature Length effort. Its very much in the Hammer mold, as a Gothic period piece involving family secrets and curses. Peter Cushing arrives in the second half of the film to add a bit of dramatic weight to the piece, and Herbert Lom does what amounts to an extended cameo. Not a bad film, but its pacing is glacial.

The 8th Night - (South Korea, 2021): This is an engaging and action packed horror story about an ancient evil which has awakened, and one reclusive monk must stop it from reuniting with its mate. Its a pretty fun movie, and surprisingly tense in places. The demon needs to follow 'stepping stones' until it reaches its final destination, and the trick is that if you remove one of the stepping stones, it stops the demon... which sounds easy until you realize that the 'stepping stones' are in fact the people it must possess on its bloody mission, and the only way to 'remove' them is to kill them. So, it becomes a 3 way hunt, with the demon, the monk, and the police all searching for each other. The odd couple pairing of world weary Park Jin-soo with naive, happy young monk Cheong-seok leads to a lot of comedy. Actually the character of Cheong-seok is played rather endearingly by actor Nam Da-reum, who provides a lot of the laughs as the monk who has taken a vow of silence... but once the vow is broken, he simply won't shut up. Keep paying attention... there are secrets inside of secrets in this film, and it unfolds beautifully.... until a climax that makes me scratch my head and want to watch it again to figure out exactly what happened.

The Enchanting Phantom - (China, 2020): This is yet another version of the classic Chinese ghost story about the scholar and the ghost that has been filmed a number of time previously, most notably in the Tsui Hark production from 1987 called A Chinese Ghost Story. This is really a beautiful production, atmospheric and fun, and Eleanor Lee as Nie Xiaoqian is completely charming and lovely. However, if you've seen A Chinese Ghost Story, there are no real surprises here. I don't feel I wasted the time I watched this, but its all very familiar. Its fight scenes are not as hyperactive as those in the Tsui Hark version, but they are well done and satisfying. And one part to this I don't actually remember from the older version is the Coda, where the scholar Ning Cai Chen, having achieved his ambitions, is walking through a market some 20 years later, and encounters the reborn Nie Xiaoqian. Its a really sweet moment, and gives the opportunity for a long delayed happy ending. It reminded me in some ways of the ending of the animated Chinese Ghost Story from 1997. 

Queen of Spades - The Dark Rite - (Russia, 2016): This is an odd one....A Russian production that feels very much like a typical low budget American horror film. There are a few differences. Notably, the teenagers who unleash the evil Queen of Spades are ACTUALLY teenagers, and not "Hollywood teenagers"... you know, 20 or 30 year olds trying to pass for anywhere from 15-19. At least, they look it. This makes it perhaps a little more shocking when they start getting killed off. Another difference is that these kids are NOT left to fend for themselves, with actual adult caregivers trying to be supportive and helping them. The story holds together well, except for a few odd moments. I find it inexplicable, for example, when Valeriya Dmitrieva's character Katya seems to fall victim to the Queen, who has killed 2 other boys already. Then inexplicably, she shows up again, with no explanation as to what actually happened or why she isn't dead. But this is minor. Overall, its as effective as any low budget Hollywood horror film.

Queen of Black Magic - (Indonesia, 1981): I wasn't sure what to make of this one. However it proved more interesting than I thought. The setting is a small Indonesian village where an important man is getting married, much to the dismay of his jilted lover Murni. However, when weird supernatural events disrupt the proceedings, the locals are quick to decide Murni is a witch and attack her. Murni is left for dead, and she's rescued by a real witch who teaches her how to use magic to exact her revenge. Meanwhile, a young man who is a devout Muslim has returned to the village and sets about trying to restore the faith of the inhabitants. Its actually pretty interesting to watch. The actress playing Murni is named Suzzanna, and she turns in a remarkably nuanced role, where she ranges from weak and ineffectual to confident, sexy, and dangerous. Her internal conflicts are effectively portrayed, and the ending comes with a bit of a twist that I wasn't really expecting, and which, while not earth shattering, did create something of an effective ending with some closure not just for Murni, but the village as well. Its worth a look.