Don´t call me motherfucker, motherfucker!

That old title from the norweigan rockband Turbonegro is one of the best songtitles ever! It got that in-your-face-asshole-attitude I like. Just like I find movies with that attitude strangely attractive. Of course in real life I prefer that people are polite and that every human being is treated with care and respect (there are some exceptions to the rule here, I´m not Gandhi). In movies nevertheless, the nastier the merrier! I´m sick and tired of movies that wimp out and doesn´t take the opportunity to go all the way. Offensive? Repulsive? Blasphemous? I hope! Sometimes it’s easier to get some people’s attention if you give them a hard punch in the face. Figural speaking that is… anyone can beat my sorry ass any day of the year.

Let´s highlight some of the pictures that has gone all the way and made a long last impression on me!

1. The Exorcist is the only movie that makes me want to believe there is a God. The Exorcist was made when I was two years old, but it is still one of the most horrifying pieces of celluloid ever produced. William Friedkin approached the subject matter as a drama movie and did some really courageous choices in what to show the audience. I mean, the scene with the crucifix is still shocking and the overall atmosphere of the film is haunting and damn scary. And how many movies lets an 12-years old spew out romantic lines like “your mother sucks cocks in hell” and “ Let Jesus fuck you!” That kind of dialogue offends me as well when watching The Exorcist! An extra crucifix under the pillow for Max von Sydows brilliant portrayal of Father Merrin.

2. John Boorman wasn´t fooling around when making Deliverance in 1972. The first 45 minutes is a slow drama about four men on a fishing trip. Beautiful scenery, well written dialogue and good performances don´t give away what awaits them in the dark forest surrounding the creek. But when the terror starts, it never lets go until the credits roll. The “scream like a pig” scene is so utterly disturbing and realistically done that it´s no wonder that it´s a scene that most people remember from the film. Ned Betty really looks like his virginity is stolen from him, and his performance is outstandingly good. A grim reminder of that it is a beautiful world we live in, and that it´s the human race that has some serious fucked up problems. An extra banjo for the brilliant “dueling banjo” scene in the beginning.

3. Martyrs. A real showstopper! I was literary tongue-tied after watching this unflinching French movie. The best horror movie in years and it has one of the best female performances I´ve ever seen in a movie of this kind. Martyrs is totally remorseless and it really feels like someone has punched you in the face hard, time and time again while watching it. I don´t want to give away anything about this film. Cannot stress enough how much you need to see this one!

4. Guinea Pig 2 –Flower of flesh and blood is an old classic. The Japanese knows how to set the record straight with good taste. If it´s not eels up in women’s body cavities, humiliating candid camera shows, longhaired ghosts, cute schoolgirls or outrageous animated hentai, you know that you can always count on them in making extremely gory movies. Even though there has been a lot more violent movies produced since Guinea pig 2 came out, it is THE one that broke boundaries and made Charlie Sheen reach for the telephone and call the F.B.I . No plot, no story, just the dismembering of a young Japanese female lying on a table. Great special effects and a good alternative for watching either Pretty Woman or The Lion king.

5. Inside is another French movie and also a really disturbing one. The interesting thing about Inside is that it could easily been done without all the gore and blood, because as in the case with Martyrs, there is a good solid plot in the movie as well. But Inside also goes all the way and does also make you cringe in some of the scenes where the violence goes over the top. Solid performances and enough blood to fill up a bathtub.

6. Even though all the cannibal movies produce in the seventies in Italy was groundbreaking it surely is Cannibal Holocaust that takes the gold medal. It contains rapescenes, abortionscenes, scenes of animal mutilation, cannibalistic murders and some ad lib puking. Not only that, Cannibal Holocaust is also is a sharp comment on how far a documentary filmmaker can go to make a movie and especially the makers of mondomovies. Not the perfect movie for a date in other words. If your date is not into hardcore cannibal movies that is!

7. Irreversible is infamous for a grisly rape of the beautiful Monica Belluci that lingers on in one continuous take for about ten minutes. The scene with the fire extinguisher also makes an impact (to say the least). A movie that stays with you for a long time after you´ve seen it.

Thanks for the mammaries Mr. Meyer!

Russ Meyer… let me count the ways I love his movies: the knockers, the senseless violence, the boobs, the absurd humor, the breasts, the funky music, the massive gazongas and last not to forget THE TITS! His movies was like a mental booby-trap for most men who saw them, you didn´t expect a thing really and then BAM! The tits bitchslapped you in the face until you got that silly, goofy smile upon your face. And kept you come back begging for more!


I´m certainly not an expert on Russ Meyer, and have not seen all his body of work. That said, the movies I HAVE seen were for years sort of a guilty pleasure. Why that was, I don´t remember… perhaps ´cause I didn´t liked to acknowledge my sexual preferences? Nowadays I couldn´t care less.

I don´t remember how old I was when I first saw Supervixens, but it sure got me bitten by the Meyer-bug. Big time. Double D time! Mr. Meyer had a background as a photographer and became the author, the Ingmar Bergman, the Fellini, of sexploitation cinema. Mr. Meyer shot the films, edited them, directed them and wrote the scripts. His love for the trade was apparent, and his love for big women even more so. Another really cool thing about him was that he actually owned his own movies, and took care of much of the business by himself. Even until his last days he was dedicated to the art of showing the bodies of women to the world. For that we thank him!


From the early success of the softcore The immoral Mr. Teas to his last motion picture Beneath the valley of the Ultravixens, he archived an original and personal style that influenced a lot of other independent directors (and many, many dirty minds). Of course his work was not considered as art by the critics (even though famous Roger Ebert co-wrote with some scripts with Meyer), but as many filmmakers with a mission, the critics was never his target. The fans who loved movies and big breasts were the main public. He did not disappoint us.

Faster pussycat, kill, kill was his first big break. A tale about three sexy strippers who are not at all innocent kittens, but rather vicious cougars who don´t think twice about kidnapping or even murder. Although not filled with naked ladies, Faster pussycat, kill, kill was cast with sexy clothed women. Second best so to say.

My favorite of Meyers earlier film is Mondo Topless. Topless girls like Babette Bardot, Darlene Grey and Sin Lenee dance to funky sixties music the entire film though. No plot, all fun!

Then came Beyond the valley of the dolls. It was written by Roger Ebert and the story involves a girl rockgroup that has just moved to Los Angeles. They are looking for the big break into the business, but ends up meeting some really strange and dishonest people along the way. Not a fun trip down the road of sucess in other words and while some sexy lebian scenes does steam the movie up, it´s the more darker aspects of sex, drugs and rock ´n roll. We like it anyway!

Roger Ebert went back to the typewriter with Russ and wrote Up! Adolf Schwart (look a lot like some german dictator with the same surname) gets killed off and a sort of “who-dunnit” starts. But it is of course just an excuse for some absurd humor and to show off some of the female actors impressive chests! Who needs a plot anyway when Kitten Natividad, Raven de la Croix and Linda Sue Ragsdale gets in frame? I don´t.

Supervixens is the film that that really has that perfect “Russ Meyer” feel to it. The plot is a mixture of humor, surrealistic bits and pieces and some violence sprinkled over it. The murderous cop Harry Sledge (brilliantly played by Charles Napier) has murdered Clint Ramseys wife and does his best to frame Clint for it. Ramsey flees from his job and meets with big breasted women after the other on his way to freedom.

Uschi Digard

“Swedish” Uschi Digard (and an extra plus for Uschi as a Swedish telephone operator), Shari Eubank and Christy Hartburg are the gals with the “largest” roles. Easily my favorite Meyermovie!

As is Beneath the valley of the ultravixens my other favorite Meyer-movie… hmmm… but I CAN have two favorites come to think of it. Tits come in pairs, so I guess Meyer favorites can as well! For being written by one of Americas famous movie critics, Beneath the valley of the ultravixens has a really whimsy story. The essence of the plot is about a couple who has sexual problems (the husband wants to use number two, and not the entrance with the carpet). Even though the story is paperthin the movie really works as a sex-comedy with lots, LOTS, of sexual innuendos. Sort of a “hardcore” softcore movie if you get my point. It´s a really “jolly” and jovial movie and marked an endpoint for Meyer as director for feature movies sadly enough.

There is not a single filmmaker before (or after) the rise of Russ Meyer that has successfully exploited the female curvaceous body as respectfully and as charming as he did. The critics complain that he exploited the girls and that his movies were demeaning towards women. I beg to differ. Mainly because Meyer did movies about women he loved. What´s wrong about that? Nothing at all. His love for big women might annoy a lot of people, but in those days it was all natural! No silicone pumped breasts, but women who had got a bonus at their chest. Environmental friendly breasts!


Russ Meyer passed on to the land of breastmilk and honey in 2002, at the impressive age of 82. I´m sure his healthy life philosophy “I always had a tremendous interest in big tits” helped him get that old.

On a personal note and sort of question to you who reads this!

I´ve said it before, but I´ll say it again. The strange and the bizarre have a certain appeal for a lot of people. It may be car accidents, horror movies, s/m-sex, extreme body modification, real murders on the internet or just the old "stuffing-a-flower-up-the-butt-routine". Why? It has to be something in the human nature that just wants to experience something out of the ordinary. Whatever THAT is?

When I was a kid, we challenged each other with watching the opening to Lucio Fulci´s The Beyond (I went home and never watched it at the time. Chicken, I know…) whereas today it´s chechclear or other brutal beheadings that are being shown around. Am I getting to old for this shit or is it something disturbingly wrong in watching real life murders?

As a freakvent (pun intended) surfer on the electronic highways, I´ve stopped at some brutal forums where there are nothing to burlesque to be shown. Everything is real and presented in flinching detail and for the most of the time in gruesome color. I don´t really know why I look at it, hell, I don´t want to know why either. Most of the time I feel sickened of the images, but before you can spell Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious I´m back and what do you know? I look at them again.

My initial road to the authentic material is crooked. I love special effects. All the old F/X masters like; Dick Smith, Tom Savini, Rob Bottin, Mark Shoestrom, KNB FX group, Gianetto de Rossi, made many films worth seeing. The craftsmanship in the art of making pictures was the thing that spellbinded me. It was the illusion of horror that trapped me. I was insulted the times people asked if a snuffmovie wouldn´t be the greatest thing to watch! Why the hell would I want to see that? Then over the years, when I was studying Film arts I wrote an essay about mondomovies. A long and tedious task of watching hours of real footage mixed with a lot not-so-real footage. I did that because I had a real problem with the subject. Why look at authentic material where people get hurt or killed? Somewhere a along the way I got influenced as well. I guess the researcher in me got bitten by the mondobug real bad.

I live a quite normal life, have a family, have some very good friends and I have my mother stuffed up in the attic (that last thingy was a joke, I don´t have an attic). I´ve always had a certain attraction to the dark and obscure. And I don´t think that I´m special in that sense at all, I think all of you readers feel that strange attraction whisper in your ears sometimes. But all are not made equal in the eyes of the ancient God Yog-Sothoth and therefore a lot of people watch it for all the wrong reasons. Some to impress others, some because they get off on the subject matter, some because they are interested in the morbid and a whole lot of people who watches it just because it is there to be looked at. So, my question to you is: Why do YOU look at pictures and movies of real human suffering?

 

Keep repeating to yourself: he is only an actor, he is only an actor, he is only an actor…

The most dangerous actor ever committed to celloluid, David Hess speaks!

Interview by Christer Persson

You think Brad Pitt is a badass in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS? Or wait! You thought that John Lithgow was scary in RAISING CAINE or you might even have thought that Robert De Niro was really naughty in CAPE FEAR? Let me tell you, there is a guy that are scarier, more bad-ass and more naughty than all of them tied together on a stick… his name is David Hess! And when he´ll tell you to piss you pants, you better do it right away!

Or wait… was that the characters he played? David Hess has been cast as a badass in movies since that infamous LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT got people repeat to themselves that it was only a movie. The sheer presence of Hess in movies since then sort of makes you really dislike the guy. He has played bad guys in AUTOSTOP ROSSO SANGUE, THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK and SWAMP THING. Of course, there is more to the story. Do you for instance know that he has a couple of Grammy awards at home? Did you know that he wrote the hitsong Speedy Gonzales and even wrote a tune for that guy from Memphis…what´s-his-name… Elvis Presley?
So, what more is there? Mr. David Hess was kind enough to answer a few questions for you to find out!

Christer: You are most famous for your character Krug, from Wes Cravens classic LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. A film that was influential to many of the violent movies of the seventies. Today there is a new wave of these violent and misogynic movies (and remakes as you most certainly know) what do you think is the main difference between the older movies and the new ones?

David: More Hollywood control, more interest in the all mighty buck and less interest in making a movie. Hard to repeat something that's seminal to begin with!

Christer: AUTOSTOP ROSSO SANGUE, in which you played against Corinne Clery and Franco Nero, is a very special and well made movie. What do you think makes it so special that it even today finds new fans?

David: It's an ensemble work and in order to work trust is the most important element. We all loved each other and because of that were able to dig down into that untapped part of who we all are at root level.

Christer: One of the funniest roles you’ve made is in Ruggero Deodato´s BODYCOUNT, which is a sort of FRIDAY THE 13:TH rip-off. It seems like you had a lot of fun on the set with Mimsy Farmer and Charles Napier. Was Ruggero Deodato a more relaxed director than when you were making HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK?

David: Not really! Ruggie is always pretty intense and the consummate perfectionist. He had problems with english early on in his career, so the producers asked me to direct the english ensemble part of the movie, but we worked together and we have remained friends to this day.

Christer: Is it a different spirit in today’s “up and coming” filmmakers, than the spirit filmmakers, for instance Wes Craven, had in the early seventies?

David: I don't know if it's much different, but there are so many more things available. The computer editing systems for one. Better special effects, blue screen techniques etc. We had to work from film and be able to visualize everything right through to the final print. Now with the new equipment, it makes covering mistakes much easier and maybe that's made the new breed of directors a little lazy and somewhat careless. But a good filmmaker will always be a good filmmaker and a good story is just that! As for Wes, I think he got caught in a time warp because of his early success and never really overcame his reputation as a B horror film director. He's better than his films!

Christer: What do you want to be remembered for, when you (god forbid!) pass over to the other side? Your music, your acting or do you have something else up your sleeve that I don´t know of?

David: My essence is music. That's what I've always been about! Everything I do from writing to acting to directing has a musical base. When I act I think in musical terms as do I when I write. I'm at my happiest when I'm composing or performing whether on stage or in a recording studio. Without my songs I'd be a shell of man. My music is what keeps me alive.

Christer: Does people get surprised when they find out that you’re musician and not only that, that you also is a Grammy award winner?

David: A little bit. It's always interesting to see their reactions when they find out I'm more than just KRUG from LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.

Christer: What movie that you have starred in, are you most proud of?

David: Hard to say? I think that the last film I did...SMASH CUT, is pretty interesting, but I'm not much of a self rater. I let the work do my talking...but I must say that the 'trilogy', ending with AUTOSTOP ROSSO SANGUE was as good as it gets.

Christer: Is there anything (apart from this interview) you really regret doing or not doing in your time in show business?

David: I would like to have done more Broadway. I turned down a lot of musicals, for what ever reasons and then the offers just stopped. Singing and acting on Broadway would have been a high point, but I have a wonderful family and that, too, is a high point. Most importantly is not what we regret not doing, but that we live with the choices we make.

Christer: The final question is the one I ask every prominent interviewee: What is the meaning of life?

David: That answer would take knowing the meaning of not-life. Maybe the Buddist have it right in the end. The striving for Samadhi...cleansing one’s mind of all thought, is the answer. I just don't know, but then that's a good definition of life, also.

Make sure to check out Davids website: http://www.davidhess.com/

Skin in the Fifties – Uncensored, authentic sexploitation from the 1950´s featuring The Flesh merchant
- Swedish version originally published on http://swegore.wordpress.com/


Genre: Sexploitation
Director: W. Merle Connell
Actors:
Joy Reynolds
Lisa Rack


Production year: 1956
Package: 2 DVD Disc Keep Case
Runtime: 56 min + lot of extra material. 180 minutes worth according to the cover
Subtitles: no
Language: English
Bonus materials:
Disc 1:
Four extended nude scenes from the film
Trailers for Joe Sarno films:
Moonlighting Wives
Inga
Seduction of Inga
Daddy Darling
Swedish wildcats
Confessions of a young American housewife
Vampire ecstasy
Girl meet girl
Preview trailers for:
Skin in the 50´s
Skin in the 60´s
Grindhouse trash

Disc 2:
Loops:
Blonde vs. brunette
African frenzy
Ho-hum
Skin game
Impatient model
Cuties & cocktails
Bedtime hour
Bumper lil
Nudes on a beach
Mirror, mirror
Stacy Farell
Valentine #2
Diamond Lil
Chen
Danse de l´ebandan
Follies bergere
Girl in a cage
Her one desire
Sales girls


Secret key trailer vault:
Sensual incantations
Topless Tapioca Wrestling
Forbidden desires
Taylor Wane´s erotic game
Softcore Divas: Behind the G-strings
The Breastford wives
The house on Hooter hill
The busty stag party
Dracula’s dirty daughter
Skin in the 50´s
Skin in the 60´s
How to get Alternative cinemas DVD catalogue
And a nice Booklet featuring stills and liner notes


Distributor: Secret key Motion Pictures
UPC-code: 878746002493
Writer: Christer Persson


Plot:
The young and innocent Nancy arrives unannounced to her big sister Paula in Los Angeles. Impressed with her sister’s apparent success in tinseltown with nice flat and luxurious clothes, Nancy is certain she will obtain the same things in life! Imagine her confusion and disappointment when her big sister wants her to go right back home again. Secretly she gets an address to an “Art School” from a card she finds back in Paula’s flat. Nancy has no intention to go back home at all. Nancy may be fresh of the bus, but she knows what she wants. So when Paula thinks her darling sister has got on the bus again to a happy and uncomplicated life back home, Nancy manages to get locked up in a luxurious brothel in no time at all. From now on, her only chance to survive is to co-operate with the male guests at the place or get a severe beating from the boss. Poor Nancy has been pulled into a vortex of sex and humiliation... 1950’s style!

AUDIO / VIDEO
When talking about the video, it’s not much to be happy about. 4:3 picture, but who is fooling who here! Since all the materials on the discs are low-budget productions from the fifties, no one can expect any other format than that! It is not Lawrence of Arabia we are talking about. It’s a bit of a surprise though to see so many scratches when it’s supposed to be an restored version, and when naked bodies are onscreen it gets even worse (I wonder why?). The quality of The Flesh Merchant also changes from scene to scene sometimes, but I guess there are perhaps multiply sources of film material they have put together.


The sound is better... slightly. I love the way they talk in these old movies, and you’ll have no problems hearing the dialogue or surrounding sounds. The music is good, but a bit out of context sometimes, a sweeping romantic orchestral tune feels a bit improper when the young Nancy is about to get molested... but what do I know about music? I do know that it is in 2.0 stereo sound anyway. Who needs fancy Dolby or THX sound editing?


Bonus material
The staff at Secret Key really should give themselves nice Christmas bonuses, ´cause they have been really good this year. The bonus material is amazing! If you are a smut peddler (as I am) you will really enjoy everything on these discs, and then I mean EVERYTHING!


Lets see what we got here... no less than 21 (twenty-one) loops of stripping, dancing, tennis playing (?!) girls from the 50´s. Sort of a collection of moving pin-up girls doing stuff that was really arousing at the time. These loops are quite innocent and funny, and even though some of the girls seemed to have taken a hard fall down the ugly tree, you can fully understand that men spend their small change in nickelodium-machines. Thanks to the invention of DVD, you only have to pay once for a whole bunch of them, to watch over and over again in your own house. I know you will! The qualities of the loops are not top-notch all over, but who cares? A hidden treasure that many have talked about but few have seen!


A collection of Joe Sarno trailers is included for good measure. Joe Sarno made one of the most well known porn film from Sweden, Fäbojäntan, which almost everyone knows about. I also appreciated the Secret Key trailer vault. A lot! Voluptuous girls make me a happy guy, and you have to love titles like The Breastford wives and House on Hooter hill! These trailers show that the fascination for the female body (with or without clothes) is still as popular as always.


The preview of Skin in the 60´s really got me waiting to see it. The booklet that is included is well written and interesting with some nice stills to look at when you get tired of reading so much.

Summary
Never has white slave trade and sex seemed so sweet. The acting surprised me a bit, it was better then I expected. Sure, there are no academy award winning performances in sight, but it’s kind of solid anyhow. Joy Reynolds, who looks exactly like a Gil Elvgren pin-up girl come to life and has a similar natural look as Bettie Page, is great in the lead role as the naive Nancy. The surrounding cast is not as good as she is, but no one makes a fool of themselves. On the other hand, what do I know? Most of the cast only starred in this picture.


Anyway, The Flesh Merchant really tries to be a grim reminder that the life for a working girl just ain´t as glamorous as Julia Roberts got thousands of naive American girls in the 80´s with blockbuster Pretty woman, to believe. The only problem is that director Connell did not seem to know if he wanted to make an educational film about the horrors of prostitution or if he wanted to show of light-footed girls naked. So he does both. At the same time. However, I don’t judge him, I liked the film anyhow. And as it’s only 56 minutes, you don’t have time to get bored either. However, the film is only one of the things crammed into the two discs! The loops are hilarious and a real showstopper! I know what I’m going to play on the teve the next time I throw a party at home! The twenty trailers are also obligatory to watch and the above-mentioned Breastford wives and the likes from Secret key trailer vault are more likely to make you blush, since they are newer films.


The Flesh Merchant, the 21 loops and the infinite (almost anyway) selections of trailers on the two discs makes this the kind of DVD something you really should invest in! Not only do you have the chance to experience these old forgotten classics, but you are also contributing to the noble cause of restoring and collecting movies that would be lost forever otherwise. And do you know what? You also get to see many, many naked girls in the process! Stop reading and order a copy right away!


Three things I learned from the movie:
-Never trust a bearded man! The police officers are all clean-shaven, and those you can trust.
-Apartments in the fifties were lit by many bright lamps. Much like a film set!
-What we see as “erotic dance” has changed since then.

Three things to look forward to in the movie:
-Joy Reynolds
-The loops. THE LOOPS!
-Everything... really!

Phenomena review
- Swedish version originally published on http://swegore.wordpress.com/

Title: Phenomena

Genre: Giallo
Director: Dario Argento
Actors:
Jennifer Connelly
Daria Nicolodi
Donald Pleasence


Production year:1985
Package: 1 DVD Disc Keep Case
Runtime: 110 minutes
Subtitles: No
Language: English
Bonus materials:
Audio Commentary with Dario Argento, Sergio Stivaletti, Claudio Simonetti and Loris Curri
A DARK FAIRY TALE
LUIGI COZZI AND THE ART OF MACROPHOTOGRAPHY
Dario Argento on THE JOE FRANKLIN SHOW
Music videos – JENNIFER and VALLEY
Trailer
Dario Argento Biography


Distributor: Anchor Bay
UPC-code: 0131314847-3
Writer: Christer Persson

Plot:
When arriving to a boarding school in Switzerland, young Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly) is quickly drawn into a horrifying series of events involving murders, monkeys, insects and sleepwalking!


Entomologist John McGregor (Donald Pleasance) is able to pinpoint the time of a murder with the aid of “The eight squadrons of death!” which is the lifecycle of the common housefly. By studying a decomposing head of a victim, McGregor helps the police to identify the victim to that of a missing Danish schoolgirl. There have been several cases of missing persons in the area, like McGregors maid Greta. Since he is sitting in a wheelchair, he is dependent of help. Luckily, he has his monkey Inga who can help him with some easier tasks around the house.


After a bad combination of sleepwalking and no thanks to two moronic yuppies, Jennifer finds herself at McGregors house. From here on the things, starts to fall into place and at the same time really get out of hand. Jennifer realises that she has a psychic connection to insects and together with a housefly (!), she is able to find the house where the killer has been lurking. When the net is closing on the killer there is no escape from the terror that will surface.


AUDIO / VIDEO
The dolby surround 5.1 audio is a treat. Although Argento went haywire with some heavy metal tunes in this one, parts of the soundtrack is pure candy for my ears. Simonettis “Jennifer” made me crank up the volume several steps (Italian progressive metal band Rhapsody of Fire actually made a cover of this song a couple of years ago), and Bill Wymans “Valley” is perfect example of a sweeping haunting tune to match the tone of the film.. Oh, yes, a small portion of Goblins “Safari” from the DAWN OF THE DEAD soundtrack can be heard playing on a television set.


The dialogue is well produced, even though some of the voice actors are sub-par, especially the one dubbing Daria Nocolodi.


This was the first time I saw the film in anamorphic widescreen. I wasn’t disappointed at all. PHENOMENA is one of the last great pictures Argento made (OPERA being the last) and his visual style is still burning itself onto the viewers eyes. The expert handling of lightning and the stylish camera movements still impresses, and makes me remember why I saw this film countless times in the mid eighties! For the first time, thanks to the widescreen format, I could spot a scene that is reminiscent of David Hemmings first walk into the murder scene in Argentos classic DEEP RED! In which scene? you might ask. Well, it is for me to know and for you to find out, so just buy the DVD dammit!


The picture is quite clear, but not perfect. With the entry of HD-television and Blu-Ray, we get somewhat spoiled with crisp clear and flawless picture. Anchor Bay has noting to be ashamed of though. This is, to my knowledge, the best version of PHENOMENA available!


Bonus material
First off is the audio Commentary with Dario Argento, Sergio Stivaletti, Claudio Simonetti and Loris Curri. It does not matter how many interesting anecdotes Argento is giving away on the film, it is so difficult at times to hear what he is saying because of his broad Italian accent. Journalist Curri is doing a great job asking questions and he seems to know what he’s talking about. The other two commentaries with Stivalett and Simonetti are easier to make out, and even I who though I knew all about the film learned a thing or two.


A DARK FAIRY TALE is a featurette by David Gregory about PHENOMENA and is brand new! Interviews with: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Fiore Argento (who also was in Lamberto Bavas DEMONS), Stivaletti, Cozzi makes A DARK FAIRY TALE is 18 minutes of pure entertainment.


LUIGI COZZI AND THE ART OF MACROPHOTOGRAPHY is a short with the late Luigi Cozzi teling about his collaboration with Dario Argento. Albeit the title suggests to explain how Cozzi utilized the macrophotography in PHENOMENA, the footage seems to be cut from some other documentary since he also talks about other effects which definitive has nothing at all to do with macrophotography. A little gem is Dario Argento on THE JOE FRANKLIN SHOW. This segment from a TV-show is from 1985, and Argento is in full Prince Valiant mode, is very jovial and as usual VERY difficult to understand!


We also get no less than two music videos! Jennifer, which is directed by Dario himself, and Valley, directed by Michele Soavi (who also appears in a small role as a cop and was the second unit director of PHENOMENA). A Trailer for PHENOMENA is included as well as a Dario Argento Biography.


All in all, Anchor Bay has once again succeeded to give an Italian classic movie a new chance to meet an new audience as well as the old fans, and fills the DVD with excellent bonus material.


Summary
My initial impression after seeing PHENOMENA again after many years is how well it has aged. Like a good wine, it has matured over the years and its full body has developed. Argento at the time still had a lot of energy and some of the visuals in the film are breathtaking. Of course there’s a lot that can be said about the acting (or the voice acting) and the psychic connection between Jennifer and the insects. But the last time I checked no-one really watches an Argentomovie for its coherent plot, well developed characters or logic. It is all about the visuals, the music, the murders and the stylish package! PHENOMENA never really manages to be compared with the classic Argento like SUSPIRIA, INFERNO, DEEP RED, but is still a hell of a lot better than most movies made in Italy at the same time.


Much of the film credit must go to Jennifer Connelly who makes a solid performance and she really had a stunning look at the time (well, she’s better looking now, but I was 15 when the film was released and I couldn’t see enough of her). But her cool looks, her low key acting and her chemistry with both Nicolodi and Pleasance makes you look the other way when it comes to the insect connection. Pleasance does his best in the role of McGregor, but I can’t really figure out what kind of accent he tries to speak? This was the last time Nicolodi worked for Argento until his latest effort LA TERZA MADRE, where she plays Asia Argentos mother (which should be easy since she is). In the featurette she tells that at the time PHENOMENA was shot, the eyes that had been looking at her so lovingly before, was now looking at her with hate. Maybe that was one reason why the two has not been working together for twenty-two years.


As usual with a classic Argentomovie it´s the murders that are the real motive for the movie, and PHENOMENA delivers some great scenes. The opening sequence with Fiora Argento as the Danish Vera Brant is intense and exiting, especially the final moments with the glass window, as well as the other window scene in the film (a nod to DEEP RED, SUSPIRIA and INFERNO perhaps?). The sleepwalking sequences are as exquisite as the maggot pit in the end is repulsing. PHENOMENA were Sergio (DEMONS, THE CHURCH, THE SECT) Stivalettis first collaboration with Argento and his F/X are good, as are the ones made by old-timers Corridori. It is graphic, violent and very much Argento.


The one main objection I have against PHENOMENA is the use of heavy metal music (and I’m a heavy metal freak!). In a film like, lets say DEMONS for instance, metal music helped heighten the suspense, editing and the action in the movie, but Argentos movies are not made for the popcorn eating audience. Argentos movies works best with instrumental music like in DEEP RED, TENEBRAE, INFERNO and SUSPIRIA (which has one of the best horrormovie soundtracks ever produced). So, the parts with Simonettis music the film feels harmonic, but as soon as Iron Maiden or Motorhead starts playing, you get distanced from the PHENOMENA flow and language. Too bad no one could have talked Argento out of using those songs. Second objection is the cover to the DVD. I thought my cover was covered in dust or something, but is was some graphic decision from whoever made the cover. Not good, and why the hell didn’t Anchor Bay use the beautiful painting by E. Sciotti that is inserted in the sleeve as the cover art?


If you have not seen anything of Dario Argentos movies before, PHENOMENA is a good introduction. It is not as violent as the older movies and has a more linear story, but it is full of the visual stunts and musical brilliance that makes an Argentomovie. See it or the bedbugs might bite!


Three thing I learned from the movie:
- Never trust a chimpanse with a razor
- Wanna find a corpse? Follow the flies!
- It´s easier to buy a lot of sheets to cover up a lot of mirrors, rather than taking the mirrors away?


Three things to look forward to in the movie:
- The murder scenes in Argentocsope!
- The sleepwalking-scenes!
- The opening sequence


TAGLINE: Wanted: Sleepwalking teenager seeks flies to solve murders! Call Jennifer at 555-555 555

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Tied by conventions
by Christer Persson.
Almost everyday some so called 'feminist' group are picking at your very beloved horrorfilm, claiming that women just are sexual objects to our sick infected brains. Is this true? I gave it a thought and found out that that's not really the truth. I also discovered the proudest feminist in the contemporary horror industry, Stuart Gordon.


Whores or Madonnas?
Some critics claim that horror movies are hostile towards women. That they are only in the films in order to give a male audience some candy to look at, that men get a fucked up impression of women in general. Pause for a minute and let the little grey thing inside your head go to work for once, isn't it the males that are portrayed like monsters? The women, with very rare exceptions like the mannish Ilsa, are victims of a patriarchal world. In the real world the governments are dominated by men and has been for a very long time, but that doesn't mean that every man is an asshole. It's a fact, though, that women has a hard time proving to the men in charge that they also are competent of doing the same work. The common view is that women is as good as men, but why is it that the monster role is a male thing? Shouldn't women have a part in this dirty handywork as well, or is the monster role set aside for men?


The movie industry is no exception when it comes to exploiting women. Horror movies are mainly films made by men for men, just like porn movies. The difference between sex and horror is that the men portrayed in horror usually are creeps and the women are incarnations of the madonna, while the men in porno flicks are anonymous cocks who penetrates the female object (whore). In terms of being hostile towards women, it is movies like Pretty Woman who give men a distorted notion of women. I don't carehow much people try to slander horror movies for the way women are portrayed, sometimes horror movies are closer to life than you might think but not for a moment are we to forget '...keep repeating it's only a movie, it's only a movie', to keep in mind that film is a way of explaining the world we're living in and no matter how cruel a film seems to be, reality is always a bit crueler. It's justified to draw a parallel between reality and fiction sometimes. You can cast Saddam Hussein in the role of Torqemada (Lance Hendriksen) in Pit and The Pendelum and suddenly the film is a metaphor for the horrors of Iraq. Think 'Saddam' when Torqemada appears on screen and it's scary to see how close to reality the film is. The executions of innocent people, the mass psychosis of a whole country who hails Torqemada/Saddam as a real cool guy, while he in reality is a psychotic massmurderer. The common view on horror movies at large being hostile towards women is plain bullshit. Of course there are pictures where women are just thrown in to show their tits and the other thing, I'm not being naive here. I watch those films too, but they are never as enjoyable as pictures that have some kind of message, how ever stupid the message may seem to be.


That women are victims of impotent men, may not be the first that struck your mind when you watch a film by Stuart Gordon, but I tell you, a true feminist has reared his bearded face.

Mr. Gordon
Stuart Gordon is at his very best one of the most inventive directors alive and ten years ago his name was the hottest since hell opened it's gates. The theme in his pictures is, on the surface, gore and intestines, but underneath the theme revolves around sick, disturbing sex. Maybe Stuart himself, in the privacy of his home, doesn't like kinky sex, but he likes to stuff his movies with this subject matter. His best work are tales about twisted and sickening sex. It doesn't matter if you're a bad or a good character, sexual experiences in Gordons universe are closely connected with death. In his films there is no thing called love, only sex and desire. Instead of love there is a pathological obsession for an innocent girl who doesn't share the admires' feelings. The old 'Beauty and the Beast' theme, with the exception that the beast underneath his flesh is a... beast.


My ding-a-ling
In Castle Freak, the poor freak (Jonathan Fuller), who has been beaten, tortured and humiliated his whole life by his demented mother, tries to make contact with the opposite sex. With the knowledge that he has been imprisoned in a dungeon since he was five and now is about forty-five, his preferences to the other sex is a bit vague, if you know what I mean. Since he only have been exposed to hatred and oppression his whole life, it hardly comes as a surprise that he's showing love and affection by being an oppressor. After sneaking upon Jeffrey Combs, who also happens to be starving for some sex, and watching him screw the local whore (she's a whore, I'm not being a sexist here), the freak wants his piece of the action. But since his mother so mercifully cut off his dong, the only thing remaining is anger and sexual frustration. First he tries to repeat the scene he has witnessed, like a charade, but when the whore discovers that he has no penis, the monster inside of him awakens and things go nasty, i.e. the whore dies a brutal death. The freak attacks her sexual areas (breasts and vagina) and mutilates her. Maybe the freak should give John Wayne Bobbit a call, since the unfortunate morning he lost his penis and got it sewn back to it's original place, he's become a famous porno-star and meets young, voluptuous, attractive women every single day.

A character close to the castle freak, is the already mentioned mad monk Torqemada in the uneven, but far from bad, Pit and the Pendelum. Maybe because Pit and the Pendelum being shot at the very same castle. Who knows? Torqemada has his lower abdomen intact, but suffers from impotency, one of the worst things that can happen to a man. So his way of expressing emotions gets very violent and solely towards women. It's his incompetence of making love that drives him to hunt and kill women, accusing them of being witches. The fear of women has driven men into strange deeds over the centuries, but the inquisition, which is the scenario in Pit and the Pendelum, is strangely enough one of the best documented era of methodical slaughter of the opposite sex. And it's even stranger that the ones in charge of the practical work were monks, either Franciskans or Dominicans, i.e. men who had sworn an oath to take dissociation from women. If it had been ordinary men I guess, in a short period of time, people had been more critical against the horrible works, but since it was God's men at work everything must have been OK.


Beast #3 is Dr. Edward Pretorious (Ted Sorel), the one who thinks that humans are such easy prey in From Beyond. Edward is a fully fledged sadist who likes to whip his girlfriends and to abuse them sexually, a proud member in The Impotency Club, although a weak limb didn't stop him, so when he reveals his 'real me' he looks like a gigantic erected penis. Not only does he look like a dick, both he and Jeffrey Combs gets dick-like tentacles growing out from their foreheads. The major difference between them is that Combs goes for the brain of the women since he has a normal sexual-life, but Pretorious still wants to have the experience of the flesh. No matter how far beyond you get, impotency is carved into the soul.

The chairman of The Impotence Club, Dr.Hill (David Gale) from Re-Animator is the by far most intense character in Gordon's universe. With his head removed, he still lets the little head do the thinking and he can't forget his crazy love for Megan (Barbara Crampton) Halsey. He gets power over the dead using Herbert West's (Jeffrey Combs once again!) potion. Dr. Hill has cheated death and laughed at it's face, but like the other losers he can't establish a normal relationship, so he when he transforms into his new form, he still wants to do only one thing, fuck. Talk about being narrow-minded. He orders his body to get Megan and ties her onto a autopsy bed in the morgue. Now he tries to charm her with pathetic lines like 'I've always admired your body' and so forth and when he realises that she's not willing to give her flower to him, he takes advantage of her orally. Very sick and very much a Stuart Gordon movie.

The Legacy of De Sade
In Friday The 13th and its never ending stream of followers, sex is innocent. Two people cuddle a bit and are in love, or at least have the hots for the other. In Gordon's movies sex is everything but normal. Instead of the ol' 'in and out' he practices the more speculative 'hit and cry' type of sex. Since the glory days of Marquis De Sade, sado-masochism (s/m) has been a forbidden fruit when it comes to sex. It's the kind of hobby you don't brag about to your friends or to your mother-in-law ( as long as they're not involved of course). As with all other odd interests like collecting movies, kill a lot of people during a longer period of time and/or buying 'zines like this one, s/m have been an underground movement, which everybody knows about but none has experienced! What's for sure is that it has been the upper class who has had the financial possibilities to explore it's domains or the lucky ones who have a puzzle box signed LeMarchand. So it isn't a surprise that Dr. Pretorious with his fat salary, has the nicest s/m collection in Gordon's films. At the beginning of the film we notice that there is something very, very wrong with this guy, and our suspicion is justified. Ken Foree finds Pretorious' VCR stuffed with steamy s/m sex, including the good doctor himself and an unfortunate girl. It struck me that I've read somewhere that there are more of this stuff recorded for the film, but it was cut out of the final print because it became too much. I know I wouldn't complain. Barbara Crampton in a leather outfit is still left in the film. And here's something to think about, Crampton takes advantages of Combs, masturbating his penis while his lying in a coma. For once we get a rape of a man. Shamefully enough with the industry being ruled by men as already said, he doesn't scream since he's not even aware of it. But it was a scene with a girl on top and in control. The machine Pretorious and Combs has invented stimulates the 'pineal gland', which is located in the brain, and those exposed to it's power gets sexually aroused. It's that very sexual feeling that makes the impotent Pretorious carry on the project, and when Cramton as the asexual, professional psychologist gets exposed, she gives in to all the sexual sensations she want. She will no longer wait until a man invites her, now she's in control. Later in the film, no longer under the influence of the machine, she does everything in her power to destroy it. Because the machine woke the woman inside her, the woman she so desperate tries to hide.


The essence of s/m is that you're in command, and maybe it's what the men in Gordons universe needs to be; in control. The two doctors, Hill and Pretorious, and Torqemada functions in the same way. They have to use their advantage over the weak to get the sexual rushes they need, maybe because they're impotent. What kind of sexual rush the castle freak's mother gets from keeping him locked up for forty-five years is a secret to everyone. The only male victim in Gordon's world is the freak, but he was beyond salvation even before the film started to roll before our eyes.

The Shortest Straw
Stuart Gordon's films are excellent examples, if maybe a little extreme, of the world according to the horror industry. Like old traditional folklore - like »Hansel and Gretchen« - the stories are to set an example of what happens if you step outside 'normal' conventions. That women are exposed to most of the violence in pictures are quite simple. Men are, according to old standards, stronger on a physical level and uses their strength to either impress upon or to suppress women. It works at a mental state, like when Henry fonda shoots the little kid in the beginning of Harmonica you know that this is the bad guy and he has to die. Movies work that way, also the threat Candyman gives to Virginia Madsen in Candyman, that if she gives herself to him, a little child will be spared. He knows, as a man, which button to press and he takes advantage of the mother in her. Being audience and witness when she sacrifies herself to Candyman, even though we like her, we think she makes the right decision. It's her obligation to save the child. Even Ripley (Sigorney Weaver) in Aliens gets reduced to a 'mother' when she is jeopardizing her life saving Newt from the evil aliens. A man becomes a monster when he takes control over women or children. It's because of that man becomes the monster he is in horror movies. Management by fear, just like in reality. It doesn't really matter if the female is a whore or a madonna, it's when they are humiliated, physically or on a mental level, men become beasts. The two sexes can be equal both in status and financially, but in the movies someone has to be the weaker one so the film can work. Up to this time it happens to have been women who have drawn the shortest straw. For what reasons? I don't know. But if I may speak as the man I am, I would prefer to be candy for the audience rather than the male beast described in this article.