Friday, February 13, 2009

Sette note in nero (The Psychic/Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes)

1977's Sette note in nero was Fulci's first giallo after a 5 year hiatus from the genre. Quite different from his earlier classics A Lizard in a Woman's Skin and Don't Torture a Duckling, The Psychic is still an excellent thriller and it still keeps growing on me on subsequent viewings. No info on the poster art.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

La Morte bussa due volte (Death Knocks Twice)


The two locandine for Harald Philipp's 1969 thriller La Morte bussa due volte. Roger Moore lookalike Dean Reed plays a private detective who's hired by a wealthy businessman to find out who killed his young wife and among the suspects you'll find Adolfo Celi, Anita Ekberg and Fabio Testi. The film features a great Piero Umiliani score, but apart from that there's not much that makes the film stand out.




Monday, February 9, 2009

Le Foto di Gioia (Delirium)

Le Foto di Gioia from 1987 really isn't one of Bava Jr's best. There are a few effective sequences in the film (the department store one springs to mind) but the gimmicky way are shown through the killers demented eyes isn't as great a Lamberto had hoped it would be and comes off a bit silly. Whoever designed the poster for Lamberto Bava's Le Foto di Gioia obviously made sure to prominently display as much as possible of Serena Grandi's ample talents.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Opera (Terror at the Opera)


I love Renato Casaro's beautiful poster art for Dario Argento's Opera. I've been fascinated by the striking image of the the pins underneath the eyes ever since I saw it in an issue of Fangoria back in the 80's. Many consider the film Argento's last truly great giallo and unfortunately it was the last time time he'd opt for painted artwork for the poster.

On an Argento related side note I picked up Njuta Films Profondo Rosso DVD recently and found time to listen to Thomas Rostock's interesting and informative track commentary track last weekend. The commentary track alone makes the DVD worth package up, but add the fact that you get the international cut and restored opening and end titles and you got a must buy package.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Casa D'Appuntamento (French Sex Murders)


Considering it features a fair amount of location footage in Paris and stars Barbara Bouchet, Rosalba Neri, Howard Vernon and Anita Ekberg, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Ferdinando Merighi's Casa D'Appuntamento would be a lavish production with no expenses spared. Sadly enough, that's not the case. Unfortunately it's one of the cheapest looking, most poorly shot and directed gialli around.

Monday, February 2, 2009

L'occhio dietro la parete (Eyes behind the wall)

Giuliano Petrelli's L'occhio dietro la parete is something of euro cult version of the Rear Window theme. Fernando Ray is a wheelchair bound writer who spies on his tenant to find inspiration for his books. I don't want to spoil things for those who haven't seen it, but unsurprisingly Petrelli's film is a bit more sleazy and perverse than Hitchcock's film. Giuseppe Caruso's soundtrack sounds a bit like the De Angelis' A Blade in the Dark soundtrack. No info on the poster art.