Italian Horror Films - Vol. 1

The House with theWindows That Laugh, 1976

The 1950's: Stefano, a young painter, is invited to a provincial village to restore a large fresco in the local church. The fresco which had been painted by a notorious local artist called Bruno Legnani graphically depicts St. Sebastian being tortured to death by two figures. Village rumors suggest that the artist, dubbed 'the painter of agonies', depicted the real pain of his male models as they were tortured to death by his twisted sisters. Stefano's friend, Antonio, reveals that he has discovered a bizarre story about the fresco and a house with windows 'that laugh'. That night, Antonio is murdered, and as Stefano seeks the identity of the killer he unravels the terrifying secret about the decadent artist whose obsession with death impinges on the life of the living... The director plays with some of the conventions of the Giallo genre but creates a film with an entirely different aesthetic, and instead of an old dark house, the titular dwelling is an almost surreal creation. The unsettling credits sequence a montage of sepia images which show a bound male figure screaming in agony as he is knifed repeatedly provides a clue to the film's revelations (snuff paintings!) whilst giving the viewer a foretaste of what to expect. As in his recent supernatural opus The Arcane Enchanter, the director allows the suspense to build gradually and it's only during the tense final section of the film, when the horrible truth begins to dawn, that the skilled director reveals the full horror of the dangerous situation which Stefano has placed himself in.

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The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Tomb, 1971

La none the Evelyn usci' della tannin, 

Lord Alan Cunningham is recovering from a nervous breakdown which necessitates his being detained in a psychiatric clinic. Once released, Cunningham takes redheaded prostitutes back to his countryside castle, where he tortures and kills them. His doctor and friend, Richard Timberlane, advises him to forget the past and remarry but Cunningham is obsessed with Evelyn, his dead wife, and even organizes a seance at the castle. One night, he brings a stripper called Susie home and tries to kill her. A chase ensues but as the delirious aristocrat enters Evelyn's tomb he passes out. When he recovers consciousness, Susie has disappeared. He soon meets Gladys, another redhead, and marries her almost immediately. Soon after, family members begin to die in mysterious circumstances. Becoming more distraught, Cunningham visits Evelyn's tomb and sees his wife rise from the dead... Evelyn reworks the old 'deadly inheritance' plot again but this lurid interpretation will always be cherished by fans of trash cinema for its wild imagery: the cheesy sadomasochistic scenes in the castle torture chamber (worth the price of admission alone); Erika Blanc's initial appearance, thrusting her bottom out of a coffin as part of a strip show; the foxes ravenously devouring Aunt Agatha's entrails; and the splattery surprise ridden climax. Never mind that former Spaghetti Western star Anthony Steffen overacts painfully as the deranged aristocrat or that his English 'castle' is a patently Italian pile. Other attempts at Englishness, such as the policemen with unconvincing uniforms, indicate that this production is more concerned with plot mechanics and visitations from beyond the grave than depicting reality. So, who's quibbling? Like PoiseIli's Delirium, this film exists in a Eurotrash dreamworld where anything can happen in the name of exploitation. The final seal on the tomb is provided by Bruno Nicolai's score which combines sublime easy listening tunes and psychedelic rock numbers.

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TRAUMA, 1993

 Dario's daughter Aria Argento plays here. A female chiropractor stays open late for a new customer who turns out to be a black-gloved killer. Her assailant uses a gruesome electronic noose which decapitates victims. An anorexic young woman, Aura, is attempting suicide but is persuaded otherwise by David Parsons, a young artist. She has escaped from the Faraday Clinic, a psychiatric institute, and is returned to her parents, professional mediums Adriana and Stefan Petrescu. That evening, various eccentrics gather together for a seance conducted by Adriana. A voice, apparently from one of the dead victims, informs the attendees that the killer is among them. Adriana runs into the rainstorm outside, followed by her husband and daughter. Aura catches a glimpse of the killer holding up her parents' heads. The media dub the killer 'The Headhunter' and the decapitations continue... Although generally regarded as a misconceived 'sellout' aimed at the American marketplace, Trauma is actually a perfectly reasonable attempt to transpose Giallo elements to a different environment. And despite some undeniable flaws (Donaggio's playful yet occasionally pompous score; Tom Savini's unconvincing severed heads), a couple of viewings reveal that it has considerably more depth than its detractors have allowed. Although Minneapolis hardly excites as a location, Argento deliberately creates a shadowy environment (the film's dark look is diametrically opposed to most of his previous work, especially Tenebrae). In fact, the dimly lit interiors and rain-soaked murder scenes anticipate the overpraised Seven. By dismissing Trauma, perhaps Argento's (mainly teenage) fans were revealing that all they really want are well-orchestrated gore set pieces, something which this film patently avoids. Indeed, this is a more mature work which eschews bloody excess in favor of suspense, places greater emphasis on characterization and even introduces a romantic element. But that's not to say that this is a film which might just appeal to a mainstream audience. In spite of the American setting, this is still pure Argento and the central mystery  "what did Aura really see?"  is a theme going back to The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Deep Red. Moreover, details such as decapitated heads which utter dying words, the motorized device for beheading victims, a heroine who is anorexic and suicidal, a 'hero' who regresses back to drug addiction and a child who reacts to being attacked by coolly turning the murder weapon on his oppressor, is unlikely to appeal to an audience expecting to be entertained by the usual safe horror themes. Doctor Judd's use of psychotropic tropical berries, the scene where David tries to obtain heroin with a fake prescription, and the fact that both the male and female protagonists are ex-junkies also are touches of unacceptability worthy of William Burroughs. Christopher Rydell is well cast as the male lead and Asia is surprisingly effective as the misfit whose mind has been warped by seeing her crazy mother having sex with the slimy Doctor Judd (more Freudian theory!). Piper Laurie does little more than reprise her domineering mother role from Carrie but at least her screentime is limited. Finally, the sequences in which a young boy spies on the killer are blackly humorous and serve to balance out some of the more hysterical sections

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TORSO, 1973
corpo presentano tracce di violenza carnale ('The Corpses Show Evidence of Rape')

Two college girls, Florence and Carol, are murdered by a hacksaw wielding maniac. The only clue to the killer's identity is a patterned rec scarf found on the body of one of the victims Daniela, an art student, is convinced she has seen the scarf before and soon receives intimidating telephone calls. Meanwhile, a street trader who sells scarves attempts to blackmail the murderer but is subsequently run-down E. a speeding car. Daniela, accompanied by her friends Ursula, Katia and Jane, takes refuge secluded country villa in the mountains. Unfortunately, the killer follows them. A local voyeur spies on the young women, but he is later thrown down a well. That evening, the body of one of their college friends is delivered to the door. Next morning, Jane discovers thy. her friends have been murdered and that the killer is hacking their bodies into pieces... Slick production values, stylish direction, picturesque provincial locations and a great Scoff by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis add up to another superior giallo thriller from Sergio Martino. The American release proved to be extremely popular on the drive-in circuit and along with Mario Bava's glorious “A Bay of Blood” probably had a significant part to play the development of the stalk 'n' slash genre. American distributor Joseph Brenner excised the nastiest gore scenes, placed the wood staking sequence behind the titles and added a jet ring guitar theme by Bruno Nicolai at the start(it was also used in Doris Wishman's Deadly Weapons and Leon Klimovsky's Night of the Walking Dead) .

THE SAW BEFORE SAW 

Sergio Martino takes a...ahem...stab at a giallo flick. And why not? Like most Italian directors, he's directed films in practically every genre anyway. It's not his only genre offering, but probably his best, and definitely his most well known.A string of murders occurs on a college campus by a masked killer, and a group of female art students decide to escape the madness by taking off to a remote villa. Guess who follows?The Italians really had this slasher thing down well before Friday the 13th came along. The murders are bloody and violent(for the time it was rather extreme, but not so much now for the typical horror fan), and there is a great deal of female flesh on display, including a lesbian scene! Whoopee!! Of course, this makes it easy to predict who will get slaughtered by the killer, as pretty much all the victims are shown nude at some point except Kendall, who naturally doesn't appear nude. The killer's identity is rather easy to figure out, but it's all about the journey, not the destination, right? In the giallo tradition, there is a heavy attempt to make a particular character seem the most likely candidate for the killer, but it's so obvious that he isn't the killer because of how disturbed and messed up they make him. And the fact that all the evidence points to him too! The last act with Kendall and the killer playing a game of cat and mouse in the villa is actually rather suspenseful at times. Like many giallos, it's stylish, and looks great.The film's title more than likely refers to the fact that the killer likes to cop a feel on his victims after he murders them. Tasteful.It may not quite be Argento, but Torso is required reading for the giallo fan.

We have:
- 16 breasts
- 3 upskirt shots
- 1 orgy
- 1 bush
- Mutilated dolls
- Creepy masks
- Scarf foo
- Knife foo
- Finger foo
- Swamp water foo
- Fiat foo
- Horny villagers
- Dismemberment,
- A sprained ankle

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