The initial impression from the poster art and compacted summaries is that The Most Beautiful Wife is a sleazy tale of a child bride or an illicit relationship between a teen and an older man, but Damiano Damiani’s film is a thinly veiled bio-drama of Franca Viola…
Branded a schoolgirl-in-peril entry, the genre isn’t new nor unique to Italian cinema – one can find traces (emphasizing terror and implied / potential violation over murder) in the kidnapped teen thriller Union Station (1950) and the psycho-sexual blackmailer / bank robber / teen molester Experiment in Terror (1961) – but Massimo Dallamano’s What have You Done to Solange…
A gamble for Mike Medavoy’s fledgling Phoenix Films and ultimately a box office and critical dud upon its theatrical release, U-Turn’s evolved into an undiscovered classic of modern noir if not a cult film, and one of Oliver Stone’s best films of the 1990s where every instinct almost yields a perfect result…
Regarded by some as the greatest spaghetti western few have ever seen (genre connoisseurs excepted), Grindhouse Releasing’s 4-disc set is another landmark release featuring the original, rarely seen longer Italian cut, the shorter Columbia edit for the U.S. market augmented with 3 previously cut scenes, and a multitude of extras…
Return to: Home / Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews / P to R . Film: Excellent / DVD Transfer: n/a / DVD Extras: n/a Label: n/a / Region: n/a / Released: n/a Genre: Psychological Thriller / Horror Synopsis: A celebrated painter headed for an epic burnout retreats to a crumbling country villa, and slowly loses grasp of reality. […]
Gothic Steele: An Angel for Satan (1966)
Review of AN ANGEL FOR SATAN / UN ANGELO PER SATANA (1966), Barbara Steele’s last Italian Gothic, on Blu-ray from Severin Films
Spanish Giallo I: When a Cannibal is not a Cannibal, but When a Scream is Indeed a Scream
Severin Films showcases the work of Eloy de la Iglesia via two fine Spanish gialli entries: NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973) + CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
Review of the romantic meanie, OVERBOARD (1987), new on Blu from Severin Films, plus some thoughts on the 2018 remake.
ArtScopeTO 10: Interview with Abstract Painter Donna Wise
For my occasional podcast series ArtScope TO, Abstract Painter Donna Wise discusses her unique techniques, and working during the 2020-2021 pandemic.
Podcast: Jason Pichonsky on Restoring Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + PHOBIA (1980)
Alongside a podcast with CanCon film historian Jason Pichonsky are revised reviews of Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + John Huston’s PHOBIA (1980), both from KINO Lorber / Unobstructed View.
Podcast: ANNE WITH AN E composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner
Podcast interview with ANNE WITH AN E’s composing team Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Angel for Satan, An / Un angelo per Satana (1966)
Had Barbara Steele remained in Europe – especially Italy – during the early 1970s, she may well have appeared in giallo thrillers…
BR: Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino / Apartment on the 13th Floor, The (1972)
Cannibal Man has a palpable crime-drama feel – the events unfold after daily title cards – and one can sense Hitchcockian sensibilities…
BR: No One Heard the Scream / Nadie oyó gritar (1973)
After the grisly thriller Cannibal Man (1972), Spanish auteur Eloy de la Iglesia opted for a far less graphic thriller which is part giallo…
DVD: Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films, The (2014)
Produced and released around the same time as Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), the approach by director Hilla Medalia is a more authorized chronicle…
BR: Deep Blood / Sangue negli abissi (1990)
The lineage linking three specific Jaws rip-offs from Italy goes beyond merely riffing Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film about a beach community threatened by a great white shark…
Connect