There's Always Room For Giallo

Jell-O introduced that slogan in 1964, and I love that pun, because like Jell-O, giallo has a reputation for being brightly colored, and not very substantial.

However, not all giallo is in color - author Tim Lucas, who has provided commentary on the Bava #1 box set I'm starting with, tells us that La Ragazza Che Sapeva Troppo or The Girl Who Knew Too Much is generally regarded as the first giallo film, in black & white. This makes it my choice to kick off this year's exploration into the world of giallo.

This trailer is so dee-luscious, I'm reluctant to watch the actual movie. I don't see how it could possibly be as awesome as this trailer makes it look.

Review to follow at my leisure.

Cinema Italiano

I feared it might never happen for me, but I've gone and managed to finally come down with a raging case of giallo fever! Several outside forces over the past few years have now conflagrated to bring me to this point.

Since being diagnosed with the pandemic Mad Men Madness over two years ago, I've been ravenous for early Sixties culture (it's "feed a fever", right?) - reviewing the history, reading the books and watching the movies referenced in every episode. If you've been following along, you'll know that Season 3 concluded at the end of 1963.

Until I can find a photo of Roger riding Mirabelle like a horse,

this photo of Betty & Don in Roma will have to stand in...

One of the many classic films this incited me to finally get around to was Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) referenced in Mad Men episode #110, The Long Weekend. I followed it up with his 8 1/2 (1963) to have it under my belt before the musical remake Nine arrived in theaters.

Fortunately, my mom needed a ride to the airport last week, giving me the perfect last-minute excuse to see Nine on the ginormous screen at the state-of-the-art Muvico Rosemont, the first theater in the United States with all Sony 4K high-def digital projectors. (They're hosting After Dark Horrorfest 4 starting this weekend.) You could physically feel the bass line in this video. It was just fan-damn-tastic!

I've been doing the pony through the house all week!

The lyrics of "Cinema Italiano" really have me in the mood to watch more actual Italian cinema. At one point in the movie, someone tells the main character, fictional director Guido Contini, that the only notion many Americans have of Italy is what he has shown them in his films. That brought to mind, for me, Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). When I read that Mario Bava was born in San Remo, my image of that town comes only from my many viewings of The Talented Mr. Ripley, which I find enchanting, and bordering on the horror genre. While it's a film set in Italy, by a director with an Italian surname, it's not actually an Italian film. Anthony Minghella also wrote the screenplay for Nine. I find the lyrics of "Be Italian" really interesting, as Sophia Loren might just be the single solitary Italian cast member. Surely there were some other actual Italians in there somewhere. By the way, I'd like to know, just who makes up the brain trust that decided The Hangover and Nine should be in the same Golden Globes category?

Leading up to seeing Nine, coincidentally all month long I'd been preparing for the Final Girl Film Club selection due this week, Mario Bava's Black Sabbath also from 1963! Stacie has carefully laid the groundwork by gently and inconspicuously writing me a prescription for Italian horror at the beginning of each year: Dario Argento's Suspiria early in 2008 and Lucio Fulci's The Beyond early in 2009. She's now taken a solemn vow to review 10 Italian horror movies in 2010.

Ever since seeing Hostel and its sequel (both of which I adore), I've been looking forward to seeing all of the Italian horror movies Eli Roth cited as influences. I remember making a mental note at the time to add Torso, Cannibal Holocaust, Night Train Murders, and Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve to my queue.

Finally, I've had a particular interest in getting familiar with Italian cinema eventually because, although two of my great-grandparents were native Sicilians, from a small village just like The Godfather, just about zero culture has been passed down to me! No cooking, or language, or anything whatsoever. Shameful, isn't it?

My great-grandparents, who immigrated to Chicago from Sicily

Now that my appetite has been whetted, I plan to watch many, and review several, Italian horror films this year. (After all, Mad Men doesn't return until August!)

Get down with the sickness!

Intermission

By the way, there's still time to head to the snack bar for refreshments!

Blair Witch kitteh iz SO sorrie!

Rob Zombie's H2

Just returned from seeing H2 and was pleasantly surprised. I'll just be posting some quick notes tonight - if I attempt to do a proper review it just won't get done. I don't want to say too much for those on the fence about seeing this one- I'll put anything TOO spoilerish in white text and you can select it with your mouse to reveal the words if you want to read those parts. Perhaps you'd rather wait until after you see the movie.

The trailers discouraged rather than encouraged me to see this first-run, but I gave it a chance anyway, and I'm so glad I did!

Things I Like About H2

1) Rob Zombie added an original element by depicting Michael's psychotic headspace and motivation. I appreciated that he brought a new perspective while still leaving mystery by not explaining it away too much. (I haven't looked at any reviews yet, but I can just imagine that those that hated the backstory in H1 will be hating this as well, and dismissing it as just a conceit enabling him to (spoiler: put his wife in the film again.) I agree with those that feel that in the original Halloween (1978) knowing very little about Michael contributed greatly to its success, but ten movies in, I say the new angle is welcome. It's creepy and weird, and makes it fresh.

2) The whole Dr. Loomis storyline was an excellent way to modernize the story and make it timely. It made for a great reveal (spoiler: Laurie finds out she is Michael's sister by reading it in Loomis' exploitative tell-all book for which he abandoned Michael's treatment to write) and taking the character's pomposity to new heights (spoiler: turned the audience against him, setting up his demise beautifully).

3) It had humor! Most of the audience laughed out loud at many parts where I was merely amused, and I laughed out loud at parts no one else laughed out loud at, but we all laughed. The hook-up between (spoiler: Dr. Frank-N-Furter & The Wolf Man) was, for me, almost worth the price of admission in itself.

4) Most have heard that Daeg Faerch did not return to reprise his role as young Michael. The resemblance between the new actor, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Scout Taylor-Compton was remarkable. And this made (spoiler: the wicked Psycho-like ending amazing.)

5) Lots of nods to previous Halloween films. I love that (spoiler: Danielle Harris, little Jamie of IV & V, reprises her role as Annie; the "it was just a dream" sequences from II, the contemporary Halloween party echoing the local party from V, because I always wanted there to be more costumes! the Rabbit in Red is a strip club, etc.)

6) Seeing Margot Kidder, and Dauber from Coach!

I'll leave it there for now, as it's time that all good little girls are in bed, but there was plenty to like. I think I may go see it again tomorrow.

There's a much more artful (but spoilerish) overview by Maitland McDonagh that I really admire at AMC.

Pandemonium AKA Thursday the 12th (1982)

I recently had the pleasure of viewing the hard-to-find horror spoof Pandemonium on ThisTV. The working title was Thursday the 12th, which they changed when another film titled Saturday the 14th was slated for release. Can you believe it?

If you're lucky enough to be in an area that has "this" awesome television channel, and you enjoy goofiness, you can see it when it airs again on August 18th and 21st. I'll be writing a review to be posted soon.

Imagine if a "Scary Movie" spoof was released in early 1982, set at a cheerleading camp, with only movies prior to that date existing to parody. It stars a Smothers Brother, Paul Reubens, Carol Kane as a "Carrie White" and Debralee Scott (known to me only from Welcome Back Kott-air and Match Game) as a hitch-hiking "Annie" from the original Friday the 13th, Judge Reinhold from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and more. I don't want to give too much away, but there's even a nod to Happy Birthday To Me, one of my very favorites.

I'm sure there are references I didn't catch, so I hope you'll share them with me here whenever you happen to come across this post and are able to see Pandemonium!

Best New Party Game: Backwards Movies

"If you watch the movie JAWS backwards,

it's a movie about a shark that keeps throwing up people

 until they have to open a beach." - from Reddit

Final Girl Film Club: A Bloody Valentine to Friday The 13th

If you were wondering, as I was,  just what in Sam Hill this was all about, Marcie's excellent "Kate the Great" impression is a monologue from The Rainmaker, inspired by evaluating oneself in a mirror.   The 1954 Broadway play preceded the 1956 film in which Katharine Hepburn starred.  I'm only guessing, but I imagine many of the actors in this first Friday the 13th were more interested in theater, as they were cast out of New York near the shooting location rather than Hollywood.  I don't think we're likely to see many more Bogart or Hepburn impressions in modern horror! 

The Rainmaker is airing on TCM this Tuesday, March 3rd.   Although Katharine Hepburn has long been one of the women I admire most, I can hardly tolerate this performance through the end of this video clip.  I'll still give it a try, though I'd much rather watch Marcie.
  

I'll be updating this entry with my Final Girl Film Club review, to be completed by the end of March.

Status

I must spend today making a few screencaps of favorite moments from Friday the 13th III through IX, as they are rented and due back Saturday.  

Today I also plan to watch The Ruins on TiVo.  Tonight, I am going to see Twilight at our college student union theater, but only because admission is a dollar.  I can see it cheaper on the big screen rather than renting it later.  

I'm planning on posting a few thoughts on the new Friday the 13th and completing a review of the newly-released uncut DVD of the first Friday the 13th (1980) for the Final Girl Film Club before the due date on Monday.  

If I don't show up, send out a search party!  And be sure to split up!  (No, in the event my cable provider absolutely can't wait five days for me to submit the 37 dollar discrepancy from the payment they received on the 3rd, just sit tight.  I'll be back on Wednesday or thereabouts.  I told you I blew my entertainment budget this month!) 

My First Friday: Crystal Lake Memories

My earliest Friday the 13th experience was at our now-closed local double-feature theater just over the Illinois state line in Genoa City, Wisconsin.  (If that sounds familiar, it may be because the creator of the soap The Young & The Restless lives nearby and borrowed the name.)  My friend and I arrrived near the end of whichever was currently playing .  We would pay a dollar and you could watch as many times as you wanted as they alternated both movies on a single screen.  I'd love to know what the other movie screening that night was.   (That must have been the one we told my mother about, if she knew we were there at all.)

I know I had already been exposed to some gore at the age of 10 when my Uncle Hugo had taken me to see John Carpenter's The Thing while I was visiting his family in Pasadena over the summer of 1982 (and for that I'll be forever grateful).   I only have a vague recollection of my first bit of topless cinematic sex and one of the girls thinking she was talking to someone in a top bunk and realizing it was actually dismembered body parts, mostly glimpsed through my fingers as my hands were covering my face.  

However, this theater often screened films from earlier years.  Considering there were only two years a new Friday the 13th movie wasn't released from that time until I graduated high school, that doesn't help me narrow it down much.   We did see the Final Girl Film Club pick Visiting Hours there also, which was released in 1982, so it possibly could have been Part 3, the first with the hockey mask.  Looks like I'm going to have to watch them all again and see!  

UPDATE:  Thanks to a tip from J. Astro from The Cheap Bin, I confirmed that it was indeed Part V.  It was the hedgeclippers that jogged my memory!  They were in the earlier sex scene I recalled, and the bunk bed scene was later in the film.  I don't have any recollection of having seen the rest of the film before, and now I see why.  Having also just watched Part 3, I'm really glad I don't have to associate any fond memories with that one!

Friday the 13th was especially fun because "Crystal Lake" seemed very familiar.  I spent most of my childhood and adult life living within a few miles of Crystal Lake, Illinois, first in Richmond and then in McHenry.  (Incidentally, Kevin Smith's Dogma begins in McHenry.  Jay & Silent Bob end up there while trying to find the fictional Shermer, the setting of several John Hughes films.) This photo of the lake on the city's website looks like it could be a still from one of the movies, and the "Welcome to Crystal Lake" caption simply makes me adore the matching tagline on the new F13 movie poster.

Just an hour north of John Wayne Gacy and an hour south of Ed Gein & Jeffrey Dahmer!

However, no one I knew went to camp there.  Crystal Lake was actually the biggest city nearby, where you would have to go if you needed anything high-falutin' and citified.  I picked up a few classes at the community college there, which, unfortunately for sweatshirt purposes was not named Crystal Lake College, but McHenry County.  For camping, anyone would come out to the sticks, where I lived.    I actually now live even nearer where I did my camping as a Girl Scout at Camp Anokijig in the Kettle Moraine Forest.

This recent revisiting of the Friday the 13th franchise as well as the long-awaited Return to Sleepaway Camp made me wonder, how many of you fellow fans actually attended a summer camp? 

Turns out there just happens to be a contest over at Evil On Two Legs if you'd like to share your own Friday the 13th  memories.