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…
Planned as the third installment of writer-director Massimo Dallamano’s schoolgirls-in-peril trilogy, things were put on pause when the director died in a car accident, but two years later a shooting script by committee (seven writers, including a German scribe) was put in production with TV director Alberto Negrin at the helm…
As much as Contraband is affected by weak dubbing (many of the male voices don’t wholly fit the age of the actors) and a sometimes uneven script with odd bouts of humour, there’s much to admire in this rare non-horror effort by Lucio Fulci, especially the film’s semi docu-drama style, with Sergio Salvati’s loose camerawork trained on grungy Naples locales, and Vincenzo Tomassi’s razor sharp editing which keeps the film’s pacing quite tight…
Now Where Were We? Right. Let’s go back to LAST NIGHT (1998)
Don McKellar’s LAST NIGHT (1998) is the first review after a long pause in activities at KQEK.com
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)
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.
Assorted characters collide and interact in the lead-up to Earth’s demise at precisely midnight.
BR: 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…
Connect