Ik ben Jozef
Ik ben een man en woon in Antipolo City (Filipijnen) en mijn beroep is verkoper van boeken, dvd`s, vhs, cd`s, stripverhalen enz,.
Ik ben geboren op 20/01/1957 en ben nu dus 53 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: films, muziek, literatuur, stripverhalen, .
Le chat (France/Italy, 1971). Directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre. Based on a novel by Georges Simenon. Cast: Jean Gabin, Simonne Signoret, Annie Cordy, Jacques Rispal, Carlo Nell. Splendid adaptation of a very dark novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon (famous for the inspector Maigret-detectivenovels). Simenon wrote about 80 Maigret-books. He published more then 200 novels. Apart from the Maigret-series, he wrote a lot of psychological drama's. Le chat (The Cat) is one of them. Julien Bouin (Gabin), a former typographist, and his wife Clemence (Signoret), who used to perform in a circus, hardly talk to each other in their small house, soon to be demolished. His cat Greffier being the only one he still gives affection to. It becomes the object of Clemence's anger and jealousy. She kills the cat. Her husband suspects her of having killed the cat and refuses to speak to her anymore. If he communicates with her from then on, its through paper notes. Its a portrayal of a marriage gone to the very lowest it can go. Two people living together for many years who have nothing to say to eachother anymore, but can`t stop talking. They resolve the matter by sending eachother notes on paper.. A difficult thing to put on celluloid. A difficult thing to keep audiences interest going on. The only reason ofcourse why audiences went out to see it, was the combination of Jean Gabin/Simonne Signoret. Both of them were "monstres sacres" of the French cinema. Both of them had made dozens of movies and were internationally recognized as the biggest stars in France at the time. Jean Gabin is comparable to John Wayne in the USA; Simonne Signoret is comparable to Joan Crawford. Without much of the bullshit-movies Wayne and Crawford made during their carreers. The screenplay by director Granier-Deferre and Pascal Jardin is very thight and close to the original novel by Simenon. Its bleak and not comprimising. Small people living their small lives and life has become so small it has become intolerable to themselves and to eachother... When reading the novel, its hard to feel sympathy for any of them. Usual with Simenon. Its hard to feel sympathy with any of his protagonists in his novels. Why ? Because he shows people as they are: small, insignificant, longing for something unreachable, never mind if they are middle-class or rich. When rich, his characters are usually selfmade-riches, with not much taste but with an attitude. When middle-class, his characters are stripped down to the bare essentials: poor people who became middle-class through hard working, through marriage.. At the end (and all the time before, in a way) one notice the couple care for eachother. They can not talk anymore about it. Not a feel good-movie. But very very good !
4 mosche di velluto grigio aka Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Italy/France, 1971). Directed by Dario Argento. Music by Ennio Morricone. Cast: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Bud Spencer, Jean-Pierre Marielle. Probably the most legendary movie directed by Dario Argento, because it remains so obscure. It was released on VHS-tape many years ago in a version wich was almost too dark and blurred to watch. The production company went bankrupt and the copyrights for this movie were for many years the object of legal disputes. Only recently it came out on DVD. The story fits in the pattern of early Dario Argento-movies wich are called giallo's but owe much to Alfred Hitchcock: namely an innocent bystander who suddenly becomes involved in a murder-mystery without knowning how he ever got there in the first place. The hero here is played by Michael Brandon, an American actor who was virtually unknown at the time (thats why to could hire him cheaply) and never really made it into stardom, with the exception of the British television-series Dempsey and Makepeace (1985-1986) wich was very succesful in the UK and in Europe. Plot:
Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) plays the drums for a local Rome rock and roll band when at various time, he sees a man in dark sunglasses wearing a suite and tie, watching him. After the session, Roberto sees the man and follows him through the dark streets to an apparently abandoned opera house where he confronts the man and asks him why he's been following him for the past several weeks. The man declines such actions and pulls a knife on Roberto when the drummer gets too close. In the struggle, the man is accidentally stabbed and he falls from the stage to the lower level. Suddenly a spotlight is turned onto Roberto and a masked person on the balcony snaps some photos of Roberto holding the bloody knife.
That night, Roberto returns home and goes to bed but is anuble to sleep. His wife Nina (Mimsy Farmer) is beside him. The next day, Roberto reads the newspaper describing the dead man and he receives a letter containing the identification of a certain Carlo Marosi, the man who Roberto stabbed. That evening at a get-together of several band members and friends at his house, one of the guests talks about beheading executions in Saudi Arabia, and Roberto looks through some record albums and sees the photos of the incident. Amelia (Maria Fabbri), the maid, sees him and the photos, but does not tell him that she knows. That night, Roberto has a disturbing dream about him being beheaded in a coliseum in Saudi Arabia when he wakes up after hearing a noise. Roberto looks around and a cord is wrapped around his neck. The masked person tells Roberto, he could kill him now, but will not for he is not finished with him, and knocks him out before running away. Nina walks in and asks her husband what is wrong and he finally admits to the accidental stabbing and subsequent harassment, and says that they cannot go to the police.
Roberto goes to see Godfrey (Bud Spencer) (whom Roberto's annoys by nicknaming him 'God'). Godfrey is a beak nick artist living in a shack outside Rome with his colleague, a con-artist known only as the Professor (Oreste Lionello). Roberto confides in them about his problem and Godfrey suggests having the Professor keep an eye on him. Later, Roberto jumps out at a person who approaches his house in the pouring rain and beats him with a stick. But it is only the slow-witted mailman with a special delivery.
Meanwhile, Amelia calls someone and says that she knows what the person is doing to Roberto. She wants blackmail money or she'll go to the police. The unseen person has a flashback episode of being committed to a lunatic asylum and being tied down on a bed. Amelia goes to a local park and waits on a bench. As night falls, the park crowd dissipates, and she stands to leave when she hears a person say her name. When Amelia discovers that she is locked inside the park, the runs along the high wall and cries out for help. A couple on the other side hear her, but the man is unable to scale the stone wall. Before he can get to the gate entrance, Amelia screams and is killed by the unseen person who slashes her throat with a straight razor.
A little later, Nina arrives at a train station where she picks up her cousin Dalia (Francine Racette) and she joins Roberto's group for another get-together in the house of playing music, smoking dope, and political discussions. Roberto is the only person who does not seem to want Dalia there. Mikro, Roberto's band mate, asks why Roberto did not show up for rehearsals that day. Then Nina gets a phone call and learns that Amelia has been murdered. Roberto later has the same dream of being decapitated again and he wakes up when a noise is heard. He investigates but only hears his pet cat hissing. The next morning, there is note from the killer, and Nina is now frightened.
Meanwhile, it is revealed that Carlo Marosi is alive and well, and eating at a local restaurant. Carlo calls someone and asks them to meet at his place. referring to someone being killed. At Carlo's small apartment, he tells the unseen person that what they agreed to in harassing Roberto and mentions the "toy" (a knife with a trick blade). Carlo had been approached by the unseen killer to set this whole thing up, but now Carlo wants to back out. But the killer picks up a blunt object and hits Carlo on the head. The unseen killer gets a wire and twists around the man's neck, decapitating him. The killer then disposes of the dead Carlo to make sure he is not found. Elsewhere, the Professor tells Roberto that he saw someone last night in his back garden, with his cat wrapped in a blanket. He tried to stop the person, but got hit on the head. The Professor tells Roberto that he may seek outside help to learn who is harassing him.
Roberto goes to meet with Arrosio (Jean-Pierre Marielle), a flamboyantly gay private investigator. After the drummer tells the PI his story, Arrosio admits to never having solved a case, but is optimistic that his bad record will be broken. During a drive with Roberto, Arrosio asks him questions about his life and about Nina, when they met and how long they were married, and Roberto mentions Nina getting a big inheritance. After dropping off Arrosio at his apartment, Roberto returns to his house where Nina is leaving town with police officers about the Amelia murder. She tells Roberto that she does not want to stay in the house anymore with someone stalking them. But Roberto decides to stay and invites Dalia over to spend time with him. That evening Roberto takes a bath when Dalia walks in and admits that she has had romantic feelings for him and the two of them make love. Afterwards, Arrosio arrives and is a little surprised to see Roberto with Dalia and that Nina has left. Roberto gives Arrosio some photos of his past and his family as well as Nina's and Dalia's. Then, they find Roberto's pet cat's head and wrapped in plastic. That night, Roberto has his nightmare again about the decapitation execution, and wakes up in a cold sweat. Dalia comforts him.
Meanwhile, Arrosio is in his office looking at photos of Roberto's family and friends, as well as some old papers and financial records. Arrosio phones Roberto and tells him that he's found a "strange resemblance" in one photo, but tells him that it may only be a red herring. Arrosio tells Roberto that he's found the name of "Villa Rapidi" and will be investigating it and he asks Roberto about it, but Roberto claims to have never heard it before. The next day, Arrosio arrives at the Villa Rapidi Psychiatric Clinic where a doctor tells the private investigator about a patient that Arrosio is inquiring about (the name is not mentioned) who stayed there for three years as a teenager, whom was diagnosed as a homicidal mania. When the father who committed the teenager died from a sudden heart attack, the mental symptoms disappeared and the patient was deemed cured. The doctor also suspects that the man who committed the teen and the teen's mother there was not the patient's real father.
Arrosio talks to various people around Rome looking for the nameless ex-patient from Villa Rapidi and then visits an estate-turned-boarding-house where he talks to the landlord about the patient he is looking for. The boarding house is the residence of the killer. Arrosio follows the unseen person from the estate and onto a subway train. He gets off at the person's stop and follows the unseen person to the mens room where the unseen killer attacks him in a stall, and stabs him in the chest with a syringe of a glowing blue poison. The killer leaves, as Arrosio lies dying on the restroom floor. But with a smile on his face and with his last breath, Arrosio mumbles, "I was right...".
Roberto learns of Arrosio's murder and meets with Godfrey and the Professor at a convention hall where coffins are being sold. Roberto tells them about his nightmares and Godfrey thinks that it might be a premonition of something to come. Godfrey suggests that someone with a grudge against Roberto is trying to drive him crazy and wants him to leave Rome at once. But Roberto refuses, determined to find the killer on his own.
A few days later, Dalia calls the studio asking for Roberto, but he is busy recording music with his band. As Dalia packs a suitcase, she notices a strange similarly between a recent photo of Robert and Nina with another unseen photo. Just then, she hears and noise and is frightened. Dalia slips off her shoes and sneaks up to the attic where she arms herself with a knife and waits as she hears the intruder looking for her. Dalia hides behind a door with the knife when the killer comes inside, then leaves. When Dalia thinks the killer is gone, she steps out of the doorway when a knife hits her on her forehead. Dalia stumbles down the attic stairs and is stabbed to death by the unseen killer.
After finding the body, Roberto calls the police and they tell him about a test they will do on Dalia. By removing one of her eyes and shooting a laser through it, they will be able to see the last image that Dalia had seen for the image is retained on the retina for several hours after death. On a computer screen, they see only four dark smudges against a gray background which looks like, as the technician puts it, "four flies on gray velvet." The test is declared inconclusive.
That night, Roberto loads a gun and sits in his dark home, waiting for the killer to make his move. He nods off and begins dreaming again, and his dream goes all the way with the gory beheading of a criminal in Saudi Arabia. Roberto is woken up when the phone rings and it is Godfrey asking if the drummer is okay. Roberto says that he is, and then the line goes dead. A few minutes later, Nina arrives home from her long getaway and Roberto almost shoots her as she walks through the front door. Roberto puts down the gun and tells her to leave and tries to push her out the front door, when Nina's necklace (a fly enclosed in glass) swings.... giving the appearance of more than one fly, and Roberto pulls her back inside and hits her. Roberto confronts Nina and tells her that she is the killer who killed Amelia, Arrosio, and Dalia, and the one who terrorized him. Nina grabs Roberto's gun and shoots him the in shoulder. As Roberto lies wounded on the floor, Nina suddenly adopts a sneering, wild-eyed appearance. Nina mechanically laughs and she tells Roberto about her abusive stepfather who placed her in a lunatic asylum when she was little and when he died, her mental condition was cured. But when Nina apparently met Roberto many years later, he reminded her of her late father. So, Nina married Roberto and cooked up this whole event as part of her twisted way of getting back at her father, since Roberto has a dead splitting image of him. Nina shoots Roberto a few more times in his arm and both legs, when Godfrey runs in and Roberto knocks the gun out of Nina's hands. Nina runs to her car and speeds away, but in a twist of fate, she doesn't look where she is going and rams into the back of a truck, and she is decapitated by the truck's rear bumper as it smashes, in slow-motion, through her car windshield. The car then explodes in a mass of flames.
Not the best of Dario Argento-movies from those days but better then Il gatto a nove code (also from 1971) and because being so rare, worth to check out.
Tales from the Crypt (1972) Freddie Francis Peter Cushing
Tales from The Crypt (UK, 1972). Directed by Freddie Francis for Amicus Films. Cast: Ralph Richardson, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Ian Hendry, Richard Greene, Patrick Magee, Nigel Patrick. Another one of those omnibus-films from Amicus for wich this studio was and remains famous for since the sixties. The direction by Freddie Francis is fairly good. As usual with this type of movies, it contains five different stories. The very best is Blind Alleys with Nigel Patrick as a new appointed director of an asylum for the blind. He treats the inhabitants cruel and after some time they have their revenge on him. The story is about 25 minutes long, about the same as the other individual stories. But, thanks to an intelligent screenplay, it has a beginning, middle and end and is very chilling. Patrick Magee is one of the blind inhabitants in the asylum and acts as their spokesperson. When it grows on him that he and the other blind people have nothing to expect from the new director except indifference and inhumanity, payback is in order. The way the blind people construct their plan of revenge is both merciless (as cruel as the director's attitude) and pityfull to watch. They construct their revenge with patience and despite their disability. The end is horrifying. Poetic Justice is failry good too, with Peter Cushing as a poor recluse with a fondness for children (in a good way). He is threated wrongly by his landlord, commits suicide but comes back from the grave as a zombie to kill his perpetrator. As a story it is not as good as Blind Alleys, but it gained Cushing an award for the sensitiveness with wich he portrayed his part so only for that reason it is worth mentioning. Ralph Richardson, a distinguished British actor, seems to have a good time as the Crypt Keeper. A very nice British horrormovie.
Johan en de Alverman (1965) Frank Aendenboom, Jef Cassiers
Johan en de Alverman (Belgie, 1965). Regie: Bert Struys en Senne Rouffaer. Scenario: Lo Vermeulen en Karel Jeuninckx. Cast: Frank Aendenboom, Jef Cassiers, Rosemarie Bergmans, Cyriel Van Gent, Alex Cassiers, Ward De Ravet, Fanny Winkler, Vic Moeremans, Walter Moeremans. Na Kapitein Zeppos (1964) de meest succesrijke televisieserie voor de jeugd. Uitgezonden in z/w, 16 aflveringen. Iedereen die jong was in die tijd herinnert zich de serie. Het verhaal handelt over een pas afgestudeerde chirurgijn in de 17de eeuw in Vlaanderen onder Spaanse bezetting. Hij leeft met een oom en tante en ontmoet een vreemdeling die magische krachten heeft. Hij wordt verliefd op de dochter van de lokale Spaanse magistraat en heeft af te rekenen met een sinistere Franse edelman die, met behulp van enkele rauwe trawanten, uit is op fortuin. Het verhaal is rijk aan elementen uit Wagners operacyclus De ring der Nibelungen, de koning Arthur-legende, allerlei Vlaamse sagen en legenden uit de middeleeuwen. Perfekte serie voor de jeugd en voor volwassenen uit die tijd. Het evenwicht tussen romantiek, spanning, verhaal- en karakterontwikkeling werd later nauwelijks meer geevenaard in soortgelijke jeugdseries. Latere series zals Het zwaard van Ardoewaan, Fabian Van Fallada en Keromar hadden niet meer dezelfde magische aantrekkingskracht op het publiek.
Phenomena aka Creepers (Italy, 1985), directed by Dario Argento. Cast: Jennifer Connely, Donald Pleasence, Daia Nicolodi, Patrick Bauchau, Dalila Di Lazzaro.
Jennifer Connelly stars as a young girl who arrives at an eerie Swiss boarding school where the students are being butchered by a vicious serial killer with her as the prime suspect due to her bizarre behavior. With the help of a wheelchair-using scientist, played by Donald Pleasence, she discovers she has special psychic powers, and uses them to pursue the killer before she becomes the next victim. It was Argento's first film to be shot in English, although only the scenes of Connelly and Pleasance together were shot sync sound.
Argento himself stated: "Phenomena was inspired by something I heard about insects being used to solve crimes, and because insects have always fascinated me I began to make a story around this idea. You know, it's a terrible thing, but there are many insects that are disappearing. Becoming extinct. But most people only want to kill them. You know, insects have souls, too; they're telepathic... amazing. People want to save the whales and dolphins, but nobody wants to save the insects. I'm a vegetarian, because I don't want to kill things to eat."
Also, Phenomena is cited as being a possible influence on the video game, Clock Tower.
Intense, but with many flaws. Donald Pleasence's onscreen presence is short; he have a pet monkey who is able to escape the house when his owner get's killed and the monkey shows up again at the end of the story as a kind of deus ex machina to kill the villain; too much time get's waisted with the tribulations of Jennifer Connely at the school, scenes wich eventually lead nowhere as for example the scene when millions of flies are swarming around the school and seemingly want to get in but kept out by some mystical powers of Connely; Patrick Bauchau as the police investigator has very little screentime, shows up shortly after the beginning when he is conducting an investigation, seem to be finished off by the killer a bit later, but shows up, still alive, nearly at the end and has a remarkable and gory try for escape as well as to help the heroine. Jennifer Connely have to carry the whole film, and barely succeeds. She was too toung and too unexpierenced at the time, I guess, to execute it. Daria Nicolodi overacts her part. The killer is very effective and very scary, even after his identity is revealed. The movie showcases Dario Argento's ability to create a very strong atmosphere at times, but showcases also his lack of skills to construct a thight story. It's not a supernatural thriller because it's a giallo in the first place, it's not a giallo because there are too many unexplainable and supernatural events going on. It's parts of different genres and not well mixed. In the end: because it's a movie directed by Dario Argento it still has a strange attraction to viewers and some scenes are very well done.
Witchfinder General aka The Conqueror Worm (UK, 1968), starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Hilary Dwyer. Screenplay: Michael Reeves and Tom Baker based on Ronald Bassett's novel of the same name. Made on a low budget of under £100,000, the movie was coproduced by Tigon British Film Productions and American International Pictures. The story details the fictionalized murderous witch-hunting exploits of Matthew Hopkins, a real-life17th century English lawyer who claimed to have been appointed as a "Witch-finder Generall" by Parliament during the English Civil War to root out sorcery and witchcraft. The film was retitled The Conqueror Worm in the United States in an attempt to link it with Roger Corman's earlier series of Edgar Allan Poe-related films starring Pricealthough this movie has nothing to do with any of Poe's stories, and only briefly alludes to his poem.
Director Michael Reeves featured many scenes of intense onscreen torture and violence that were considered unusually sadistic at the time. Upon its theatrical release throughout the spring and summer of 1968, the movies gruesome content was met with disgust by several film critics in the UK, despite having been extensively censored by the British Board of Film Censors. In the U.S., the film was shown virtually intact and was a box office success, but it was almost completely ignored by reviewers.
The film has gradually developed a large cult following, partially attributable to Reevess 1969 death from a drug overdose at the age of 25, only nine months after Witchfinders release. Over the years, several prominent critics have championed the film, including J. Hoberman, Danny Peary, and Derek Malcolm. In 2005, the magazine Total Film named Witchfinder General the 15th greatest horror film of all time.
Many things are excellent: the atmosphere of doom in a country and a time were and when conditions of life were, to say the least, uncomfortable; the direction by a very young director who really showed promise for the future; the presence of Vincent Price who did not hammed it up this time but gave a very memorable performance; the performances of mostly every other actor in the movie: they all seem to take it seriously and do not over- nor underact. The much-hailed horse ridings by Ian Ogilvy seem to be a bit overlong at times, to my opinion and could have been shortened. The movie has more in common with Piers Haggard's Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and with Ken Russell`s The Devils (also 1971) then with Hammer- or Amicus horrorfilms at the time. It's not really a horrorfilm at all, but a periodpiece about history in the U.K. that was full of horror. Great !
Le piege diabolique oftewel De valstrik was het zesde verhaal in de stripreeks Blake en Mortimer van Edgar Pierre Jacobs. Prepublikatie gebeurde in het weekblad Tintin (Kuifje) vanaf 1960 en de eerste druk van het album verscheen in 1962 door uitgeverij Le Lombard. Het verhaal is altijd een van mijn favorieten gebleven in de reeks om verschillende redenen: enerzijds de grafische stijl van Jacobs die, verhaal na verhaal, bleef experimenteren met kleuren en vormgevingen en met Le piege diabolique wel een hoogtepunt bereikte, anderzijds met het scenario dat zowel associaties oproept met klassieke boeken (The Lost world van sir Arthur Conan Doyle en The Time Machine van Herbert George Wells) als met klassieke films (Things to Come van William Cameron Menzies en This Island Earth van Joseph M. Newman). Veronderstellen dat Jacobs beinvloed werd door de film The Time Machine van George Pal uit 1960 is verkeerd want Jacobs was al verschillende jaren bezig met de konstruktie van dit beeldverhaal, lang voordat de film van George Pal in de bioskopen kwam. Het grootste deel van het verhaal speelt zich af in een verre toekomst waar de held, professor Mortimer, belandt met behulp van een tijdmachine. Herbert George Wells situeerde de toekomt van zijn held in het boek The Time Machine in de 302de eeuw, Jacobs gaat niet zover vooruit en beperkt zich tot de 51ste eeuw. Uiteraard zijn er voor- en nadelen om een verhaal zover in de toekomst te laten afspelen. Zolang die tijd niet effektief langskomt, blijft het een levendige toekomstvisie, in kontrast met vele science-fictionfilms zoals 2001 A Space Oddisey van Stanley Kubrick of 2010 van Peter Hyams die nu natuurlijk achterhaald zijn door het natuurlijke voortschrijden van de tijd. Het nadeel is dat de auteur over een levendige fantasie en een grondige futuroligische kijk op zaken dient beschikken om een dergelijk verhaal behoorlijk te vertellen en uit te beelden. Jacobs beschikte daarover. Vele films die later gemaakt werden (bijvoorbeeld: The Ultimate Warrior van Robert Clouse 1975 en zelfs scenes van de Terminator-films en -televisieseries gestart in 1984 door James Cameron) lijken schatplichtig aan De valstrik. De reeks avonturen van Blake en Mortimer werden vertaald in het Engels en op de Engelse en Amerikaanse markten uitgebracht, dus er is een mogelijkheid dat de makers van die films en televisieseries het album gelezen hadden, maar het lijkt onwaarschijnlijk. Meer waarschijnlijk is dat Jacobs een visionaire verbeeldingskracht had en het talent om dit grafisch uit te beelden en daardoor een kollektieve bron van onderbewuste beelden aanboorde. In de jaren zestig werd De valstrik als hoorspel uitgebracht op de Franse radio, in afleveringen. Dit hoorspel werd op audio-cassettes uitgegeven door Les Editions Blake et Mortimer/Dargaud in het begin van de jaren negentig als bonus bij een luxe-editie van het album, en daarna op cd door Big Beat Records.
New York Ripper aka Lo squartatore di New York (1982, Italy). Directed by Lucio Fulci. Cast: Jack Hedley, Cinzia De Ponti, Paolo Malco, Howard Ross, Allesandra Delli Colli, Almanta Keller,
Plot: An old man walking his pet dog in waste ground near the foot of New York Brooklyn Bridge is horrified when his dog retrieves a decomposed human hand. It is identified by the police as belonging to Ann-Lynne, a local prostitute. Lieutenant Fred Williams (Jack Hedley), the burned-out police detective investigating the murder, interviews the young woman's nosy and obnoxious landlady, Mrs. Weissburger (Babette New), who tells the police detective that during her daily spying and eavesdropping on her tenants, she overheard the girl last week over the phone arranging to meet a man who spoke with a strange, duck-like voice.Meanwhile, a young woman (Cinzia De Ponti) rides her bicycle down Manhattan to the Staten Island Ferry at Battery Park. After an altercation with a boorish motorist driving a red Volkswagen, whose car she accidentally scratched riding her bicycle, she rides onto the boat with the man yelling slurs at her. When the ferry is underway, the young woman sneaks into the car-bay and begins vandalizing the man's car, but she is interrupted by an unseen figure. The figure adopts a grotesque 'Donald Duck' voice and brutally murders her with a knife, stabbing and disemboweling her, and leaving her body to be discovered when the ferry docks at Staten Island. At the morgue, Lt. Williams talks to Barry Jones the pathologist (Giordano Falzoni), who believes he recognizes the "style" of the killing and links it to Ann-Lynne, as well as a similar case in Harlem the previous month.Having informed the press that a serial killer is at large, Williams is visited at the station by New York's chief of police (Lucio Fulci). Williams' skeptical superior tells him not to make any further public announcements about the case to avoid starting a panic. Soon after the police chief leaves, Williams is notified that a man "sounding like a duck" phoned while he was out at the press conference wanting to speak with him. Williams travels to Columbia University where he meets with a brilliant young psychotherapy professor named Dr. Paul Davis (Paolo Malco) for help in creating a profile of the killer. He is surprised that the young genius not only agrees to help with the case, but has already anticipated his motive for wanting to speak with him.That night in New York's red-light district, Jane Lodge (Alessandra Delli Colli), an attractive, well-dressed woman in a chic raincoat and derby hat, attends a live sex show. She is recording the simulated moans and groans of the two performers with a pocket tape recorder. A scruffy, dangerous looking man (Howard Ross), with two fingers missing from his right hand and sitting in the same row with her, observes what she's doing. After the show has ended, the female performer (Zora Kerowa) retires backstage to her dressing room only to find it totally dark. Hearing a noise, she opens a closet door and is brutally attacked by the maniac, who disembowels her by shoving a broken and jagged liquor bottle from her crotch to her abdomen. Later that night, at the home of Kitty (Daniela Doria), a prostitute regularly visited by Williams, he receives a taunting phone call from the duck-voiced killer saying that he has killed again.
The next day, Jane shows her latest tape recording to her husband Dr. Lodge (Laurence Welles), who has agreed to support their open-marriage. Jane goes to a bar in a rough neighborhood where she's approached by two rough, Hispanic bar punks who proceed to fondle and sexually humiliate her right at the bar. After allowing herself to be taken advantage of, the emotionally troubled Jane runs out of the bar and drives away.
That night, Fay Majors (Almanta Keller), a casually dressed young woman is riding alone on a late-night subway train when she gets menaced by the same ominous man from the porno theater. Fleeing from the perceived threat, she runs off the train, through the deserted subway station, and onto the street where she gets attacked in a dark alley by the quacking maniac, who brutally stabs her in the leg and slashes her hands and arms as she tries to defend herself. Limping away, Fay stumbles through a doorway into a seedy apartment building where she closes and locks the door behind her so the killer will not follow. Fay passes out from the loss of blood, and then realty and illusion blur: Fay is sitting alone in a dark movie theater watching cartoons when she attacked and killed by a different, handsome young man who slashes her neck with a straight razor. Fay wakes up the hospital the morning after when the same man visits her in her room. The man is revealed to be her physicist boyfriend Peter Bunch (Andrew Painter), who is relived that she has survived the attack. Lt. Williams and Dr. Davis visit Fay where she tells them about her attacker who was missing two fingers from his right hand. Williams and Davis both conclude that this is the killer since all forensic evidence points to the killing being left-handed.
Somewhere in night-time New York, the owner of his mutilated right hand picks up Jane and takes her to a sleazy hotel room for sex. He ties up the semi-nude woman to the bed. The S&M game she has willingly begun turns nasty when he begins to beat her. Then the man turns up the radio really loud, and makes a muttered phone-call, describing the bound woman to someone on the other line as "she's right up your perverted alley." A little later, while the man sleeps, Jane overhears a radio DJ describing the killer, whom the press has now dubbed, 'the New York Ripper' and missing two fingers from his right hand. Jane carefully and quietly unties herself from the bed and flees into the hotel hallway, only to be killed by the real New York Ripper who stabs her to death in ultra-gory fashion.
Williams arrives at the scene of the crime where the police find Jane's tape recordings of the sex shows and of her 'master.' Learning from witnesses, Williams discovers that the identity of the man is Mickey Scellenda, a Greek immigrant with a history of sexual assault and drug abuse. Williams and the police step up the search for Scellenda after raiding his apartment, finding photographs of most of the Ripper victims and huge stashes of pornography. Williams also pays a visit to Dr. Lodge to inform him of his wife's murder. Dr. Lodge tearfully defends his open marriage which gets him a sneering response from the 'moralistic' Williams.
Meanwhile, Dr. Davis begins to express doubt to the killer's identity for Mickey Scellenda is only a petty criminal with a low intelligence quota, not the high intelligence that Davis has created in profiling the New York Ripper. Davis then buys a gay porno magazine at a local news stand (giving away his repressed homosexuality), and then pays a visit to Peter and Fay at their pleasant, well-appointed row house to ask them more questions about Fay's experience. Something about their story arouses his professional suspicious. That evening, after Peter goes out, Fay is attacked in their house by Scellenda who breaks in trying to kill her. But she is saved when Peter returns, and the man flees.
A few days later, Williams gets another taunting phone call from the New York Ripper, who wants to "dedicate a murder to him." Williams and the police put a trace on the line and race to the location, only to find that the killer has set up a two-way radio to a remote phone booth, while he, is at that moment, in the home of Kitty, brutally torturing her by slowly running a razor over her face. Williams races to Kitty's apartment, but is way too late as the killer has fled, leaving behind Kitty's horribly mutilated body to be discovered.
A while later, the dead body of Mickey Scellenda is found having committed suicide from self-suffocation. When Dr. Barry Jones informs Williams that Scellenda was dead for the last eight days, four days before Kitty's murder, Williams finally realizes that they have been tailing the wrong man. Williams relays this to Professor Davis, who is both delighted and disappointed with the news. Davis explains that with Scellenda eliminated as a suspect, his original idea to the killer's identity is confirmed; a misogynist psychopath who used Scellenda to throw the police off his trail.
Fay is shown visiting a hospital where Peter has a child from a previous marriage, a little girl named Suzy, who is dying from a rare bone disorder that has led to the amputation of her left arm and right leg. But is the killer Peter or Fay? Visiting the hospital, Williams and Davis observe little Suzy in her hospital bed and decide to race over to Peter and Fay's place to arrest both of them. At Peter and Fay's house, one of them gets a phone call from a duck-voiced person, while the other one overhears. When Peter goes into the kitchen for dinner, Fay has disappeared. Going upstairs to Suzy's bedroom, Fay jumps out of the darkness at Peter stabbing him with a kitchen knife. Suddenly, Peter rises, quacking like a duck, and struggles with Fay in which they both tumble down the stairs. Just as Peter grabs the knife away from Fay and about to stab her, Williams runs in and literally blasts Peter's face off with one shot from his gun. In the ambulance, Davis explains to Fay her deranged boyfriend's motivation for killing. His hatred of sexually active women stemmed from bitterness at the cruel blow fate had dealt his young daughter, who will never enjoy the freedoms of his despised victims. After leaving the scene, the phone in the now-deserted house rings again. In her hospital bed, little Suzy is calling out for her father pleading to answer her call, as her voice is drowned beneath the everyday traffic of the city.
Banished by many countries after its release or only showed in heavily edited, censurized versions, this is one of those movies people who had not actually seen it talked often or wrote magazine-articles or even books about. The movie is now almost thirty years old, widely seen now by most fans, I suppose. The movie is sleazy, and never mind how bad that sounds, its one of its redeeming qualities ! The story drags on in many places, the investigator does not make much progress to solve the case and as if the screenwriters were aware about that, they just decided to leave him out of the story for long periods so they did not had to explain why a homicide investigator with nearly twenty years of experience is so slow to unravel the idntity of the killer. In movies that is unacceptable and causes bad reviews; in real life that would be perfectly normal because a burnt-out cop at the end of his carreer with the policeforce should be slow and uninterested: he is burnt-out for a (or for many) reason(s). It's a pity Jack Hedley, a fine but not very distinguished British actor who had his shots to fame with television series like The World of Tim Frazer (1960) and Who Pays the Ferryman (1977), had to star in (?) in this movie. Lucio Fulci concentrates himself mainly on the murders and some are very gory and well-staged. The sleaziness is also well-done. Its the backbone of the movie and the only reason why it has become such a talked-about movie.
Zombi 3 (Italy, 1988). Directed by Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei. Cast: Deran Sarafian, Beatrice Ring, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Massimo Vanni, Ulli Reinthaler.
Plot: The theft of a biological weapon from a tropical military base leads to the transformation many of the island's inhabitants into flesh eating zombies.
A sequel to Fulci`s Zombi 2 aka Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) wich was already a rip-off of George A. Romero`s Dawn of the Dead (1978). Zombi 2 was a huge succes in Italy as well as worldwide. It is considered a cult classic nowadays. There were a lot of other zombie-movies made in Italy after Zombi 2 (Zombi Holocaust, 1980, directed by Marino Girolami; Apocalisse domani, 1980, directed by Antonio Margheriti, Demoni, 1985, directed by Lamberto Bava, Dellamorte Dellamore aka Cemetery Man, 1994, directed by Michele Soavi)... Why Italian producers hesitated for 9 years to hire Lucio Fulci again and let him make Zombi 3 remains a mystery. Why Fulci walked out of this production halfway is also not very clear: rumour has it that he was sick at the time and could not go on to complete the movie. Whatever the reason, the producers hired Bruno Mattei to replace Lucio Fulci as the director and finish the shooting. Why they hired someone like Bruno Mattei in a rush to replace Fulci when they had waited for 9 years to let Fulci make this movie is another unexplainable mystery. Though Lucio Fulci is cited as director in the film's opening credits, Fulci really only directed portions of the film, bowing out after a few weeks of filming. This has been largely attributed to an illness that was aggravated by the Philippines filming location. The footage amounted to approximately 70 minutes worth and was found wanting.
Bruno Mattei was asked to step in and the resultant film, with its running zombies and a more sci-fi/action-oriented story, ended up resembling Mattei's films much more closely than anything Fulci had done up until then. In a filmed interview found on the Shriek Show DVD release, Mattei estimated that Fulci's surviving contributions constitute approximately 50 minutes of the finished film, or roughly 60% of what is onscreen. Mattei also stated that he still considers it to be Fulci's film, not his.
In the end, the movie is not as bad as some reviews want us to believe. It's a zombie-flick, with some tension and lots of gore. Compared to Zombi 2 it's mediocre, but considering the production-troubles it's a miracle the movie came out at all. The acting is mostly bad and the dubbing from Italian into English do not improve anything (but it never does). For zombie-movie fans ofcourse it is worthwile to check it out. Compared to many American low-budget zombie-movies made over the last twenty years or more, it`s still watchable. Don't expect the same as Zombi 2 and you can enjoy it.
At the Earth`s Core (1976) Peter Cushing Kevin Connor
At the Earth`s Core (UK, 1976) directed by Kevin Connor.
Starring:
Doug McClure, Peter Cushing, Caroline Munro, Cy Grant, Godfrey James This is the second sci-fi adventure based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan-books. The first being 1975's The Land That Time Forgot. At The Earth's Core stars Doug McClure as explorer David Innes and Peter Cushing as professor Abner Perry, whose experimental "iron core" drill goes out of control and leads them to the underground kingdom of Pellucidar, where the Wing People are ruled by the monstrous, flying Mahars. With the help of the professor, Innes leads the Wing People in revolt against their evil masters. Monsters and mayhem abound in what is essentially a well-produced, if somewhat juvenile, knockoff of The Time Machine. Special effects are mediocre with many saurian monsters looking for what they where: actors running around in rubber suits. Kids eated this stuff back then and as an adult viewer: never forget this movie was primarily made and shown for kids. If you can take that in and watch the movie with the eyes of a kid wh was able to enjoy a movie in the late seventies before Star Wars came along, you will enjoy it. Otherwise, don`t bother.
The Savage Jackboot (UK, 1973). An unmade Hammer picture, set in the final days of World War II. Peter Cushing would have portrayed a sadistic Nazi. Hammer's financial troubles at this time led to the production's demise.
Around the same time Hammer had many projects in mind: Nessie (about the Loch Ness Monster, Vampirella (a vanpire movie about the sexy female vampire from the comicbooks, with Peter Cushing as her sidekick), Zeppelins versus Pterodatcyls (a kind of fantasy movie were a German Zeppelin drifts into unknown territory and meets prehistoric creatures)... Some of these ideas were used in other movies, before and after: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), directed by Billy Wilder with Christopher Lee as Sherlock`s brother Mycroft Holmes, used the Loch Ness Monster to very good effect, but the movie failed to catch on with audiences; Zeppelin (1971), directed by Etienne Perrier with Michael York in the leadrole was a modest succes at the boxoffice; it was a world war 1 spy/action movie, without prehistoric monsters; Vampirella (1996) was made 25 years later as a direct-to-videomovie with Roger Daltrey (The Who) in it. The Savage Jackboot was another idea from Hammer in the early seventies. They never had ventured into World War 2-territory (apart from The Camp on Blood Island (1958) and The Secret of Blood Island (1964) wich were both set in Japanese prisoner-of-warcamps). The second world war about Nazi-Germany was new to Hammer, and ofcourse they must have known Liliana Cavani was busy in Italy around that time with Il portiere di notte aka The Nightporter wich came out in 1974. The infamous Ilsa, She-wolf of the SS (1975) with Dyanne Thorne came out in 1975. It would have been interesting to see what Hammer would have done with the material. It would have been interesting to see how Peter Cushing portrayed a despotic and sadistic commander of a German concentration-camp. In Shock Waves (1977) he portrayed an elderly SS-officer on a remote island trying to keep in control over SS-Zombies, and, ofcourse, in Star Wars (1977) he was Grand Moff Tarkin and villains don`t come any closer to SS-military then that (not in movies suitable for all audiences anyway). Despite increasing tolerance from critics and the BBFC at that time and despite Hammer`s inclination to add more cruelty, nudity and gore into their movies, it never came about. It remains one of those legends.
Kali, Devil Bride of Dracula (1975 ?) Peter Cushing
Kali, Devil Bride of Dracula (UK, 1975 ?) is yet again another attempt from Hammer to keep the studio afloat and at the same time cash in on in their already classic boxoffice succes of Dracula. After making The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974) in a coproduction with the Shaw Brothers from Hong Kong, Hammer was looking at India to make the next installment in the Dracula-saga. Peter Cushing was again supposed to play professor Van Helsing. The actor who was supposed to play Dracula remains a mystery. Many things were in favor for Hammer to produce this movie. Hammer had dabbled before into Indian mystyque with The Stranglers of Bombay (1960) directed by Terence Fisher and The Brigand of Kandahar (1965) directed by John Gilling; both movies were shot in England, not in India but nevertheless Hammer-people could boast to know at least a little about it...; there was a huge lot of English money in India waiting for investment; according to Indian financial government laws at the time, box-office money from foreign movies could not leave the country but had to be re-invested again inside India; (That`s why very expensive movies like Gandhi (1982), Octopussy (1983) and A Passage to India (1984) as well as the televisionseries The Jewel in the Crown (1984) were possible in the eighties. They all looked lavish and luxurious and they were, because the British producers had so much money available in India to work with. Hammer came too early for that apparently; they were looking for the same money in India other producers found a few years later but halfway through the seventies legal matters were not yet solved); the idea of teaming up count Dracula, the East-European vampire, with Kali, the Indian goddess of evil, could have been exciting. So many things were also working against Hammer at the time: bad box-office receipts from their latest movies, especially from the USA; the new screenwriters who had joined the company could not deliver scripts wich were both imaginative and still cheap to made into movies; the era of studios who made cheap but succesfull movies came to a close; even American International Pictures went out of business around that time. If The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires could have been succesful, maybe Hammer would have made Kali, Devil-Bride of Dracula. Unfortunately, The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires was a boxoffice failure and dragged Hammer even deeper into the abyss. Kali, Devil Bride of Dracula was never produced. A movieposter was.
The Avengers was a phenomical television succes, starring Patrick Macnee and (most notably) Diana Rigg. wich run from 1961 till 1969. Diana Rigg was in it from 1965 till 1968. Before and after her some other actresses were involved, but only Diana Rigg could ignite the spark to make the series into what it became: immortal and a piece of cult-television only Dr. Who came close to. The Avengers was cool and dynamic. It was tongue-in-sleek, but always entertaining, often suspenseful. Patrick Macnee will always be remembered, I guess, as the ultimate British spy: dressed impeccably, wearing a bowler hat and driving an old sportscar. Diana Rigg will always be remembered as his counterpart: a modern British girl, clad in latex or leather, driving a high-powered sportscar. Both were never short of one-liners. Both were strong, together they were invincible. After Diana Rigg left the show, in 1968, Linda Thorson took over but did not match the magic Diana Rigg had created before. From 1976 till 1977 Patrick Macnee was even involved into a new show, The New Avengers wich run for 26 episdes and was a coproduction from UK, France and Canada, with Macnee mostly supervising the proceedings and Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt doing the acrobatics, but still it could not fill the void Diana Rigg had left. The episode "Return of the Cybernauts" was made in 1967 and Peter Cushing gueststars as Paul Beresford, seeking revenge for the death of Michael Gough who created the cybernauts in an episode from 1965. Cushing, who looked still handsome back then, tries to seduce Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) and tries to kill both her and John Steed (Patrick Macnee) along the way. The cybernauts are robots, with very strong powers but very clumsy in behaviour (don1t forget: this were the late 60ties, special effects were not much developed and even if they had been, the producers could not afford it). Ofcourse the end of the episode ends in a classical way: the master-villain (Cushing) dead, the robots destroyed and Macnee and Rigg cracking wise. A nice episode nonetheless.
The Omega Man (USA, 1971). Directed by Boris Sagal. Based upon the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Cast: Charlton Heston, Rosalind Cash, Anthony Zerbe. Second movie-adaptation of the novel, after The Last Man on Earth (Italy, 1964) directed by Ubaldo Ragona & Sidney Salkow and starring Vincent Price. The latest adaptation so far was I Am Legend (USA, 2007) directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith.
Plot: In 1977, two years after Russia and China had engaged in germ warfare and destroying most of mankind, U. S. Army scientist Robert Neville (Heston), who had immunized himself, is practically alone in the city of Los Angeles, except for a group of albino-like survivors, led by a former newscaster, now calling himself Matthias (Zerbe), who had predicted the destruction, His group , sensitive to light and heat, are bent upon smashing all remnants of the prior civilization, especially Neville.
One of the cheap-made SF-movies from the seventies coming out of the USA (well, cheap except for Charlton Hestons salary, I guess). Boris Sagal is best known as director fpr the Elvis Presley-vehicle Girl Happy (1965) and this movie, and directed most of his carreer episodes of various televisionshows as The Twilight Zone, The Man from UNCLE, Columbo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Capable but not really noteworthy. The Omega Man is a rare gem in his carreer. Very unusual and brutal, especially in the first 30 minutes or so. Afterwards ofcourse it slows down, because the viewers getting used to the unusual surroundings. The flaw is also present in the original novel by Richard Matheson: once he has firmly established the way of life (or surviving) by the main character Robert Neville, the author has not many ways to go how to develop the story. Matheson developed it anyway, but kept it rather short. In many ways the first movie-adaptation with Vincent Price (in b/w) is still the best. Because it comes very close to the novel. without unnecessary special effects and with a sense of doom and claustrophobia. The Omega Man comes close partly, but after the second half of the movie wanders of into pseudo-religious territory for wich the screenplay is unable to sustain. Charlton Heston, as usual, gives a thrilling performance and only he can save the movie, albeit only slightly. It has become a cult-classic.
Sword of the Valiant (1984) Stephen Weeks Miles O`Keefe
Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (UK,1984).
UK, 1984. Directed by Stephen Weeks. Produced by Cannon Films (Yoram/Globus). Cast: Miles O`Keefe, Leigh Lawson, Peter Cushing, Douglas Wilmer, Sean Connery, Emma Suttom, Lila Kedrova, Trevor Howard. With a cast like that, it sounds wonderful. When you hear the name of the producing company, Cannon Film Distributors Ltd, the sound gets distorded somewhat. So does this movie. Stephen Weeks is somebody who only directed 5 movies from 1970 to 1984. In 1973 he directed already the same story under the title Gawain and the Green Knight (back then with Murray Head as Gawain and Nigel Green als the Green Knight). Apparently he was obsessed by this King Arthurian legendm otherwise he would not have tried to make a movie out of it not once but even twice. Both times he failed, however. Not everything was bad in the two movies, but it boggles the mind what kind of producers put money into the projects. Gawain and the Green Knight was already a financial failure in 1973 or 1974 or whatever year it came out, so what went on in the minds of Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan to put more millions in a remake ten years later by the same director ? The actors perform adequately, I guess, up to the abilities of those who don`t know how to act much anyway and up to the abilities of those who know how to act but did not bother much because the fee was there anyway and what the movie would do or not do (especially not do) was none of their concerns. It could have been great, with a more skilled director.
Fear in the Night (1972) Joan Collins Peter Cushing
Fear in the Night (UK, 1972). Written and directed by Jimmy Sangster for Hammer Films. Cast: Judy Geeson, Peter Cushing, Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, James Cossins.
Plot: Tense study of paranoia set in a boy's prep school that has pervasive surrealistic qualities. In it, a young woman (Geeson) who has recently suffered a nervous breakdown moves with her husband to a rural English boarding school. However, her nerves are not assuaged when she meets the school's intimidating headmaster (Cushing) and his vampy wife (Collins). Unfortunately, Geeson's tension only gets worse when she finds herself being stalked and harassed by a one-armed man who seems to be a deranged psychotic. Unable to convince anyone that what is happening to her is real, Geeson begins to suspect her husband of trying to kill her until one night of almost unbearable terror that reveals a secret more shocking than anything she could have imagined.
So far for the plot synopsis. Unfortunately, it`s not all that exciting. The story is more or less a retelling of the classic b/w French movie Les diaboliques (1947) by Georges-Henri Clouzot. But in 1972 Hammer did not have money anymore to produce a movie with enough extra`s to come up with anything close to the original. The French original movie had lots of students, lots of teachers, at least one scene where they all had a meal together. The school looked lively and real.
This movie has some suspense (Jimmy Sangster wrote many suspenseful screenplays before for Hammer Films and surely he knew the craft of screenplay-writing), but as a director he was not up to any standards and by 1972 Hammer Films just tried to survive by producing cheapily made movies. A few years later they would go down anyway. The actors are all doing a adequate job, as usual in Hammer Films. The main thing in this movie wich does not work, is the schoolbuilding: it`s empty... There were no students in it for many years (as we learn later in the movie) and it just looks empty. Only very occasional we get a feeling of danger or dread. Mostly it looks like an old empty building were nobody came anymore for years. The twist at the end of the story is not really a twist, because any intelligent viewer could have seen the twist coming from within the first 30 minutes of the movie. So all in all it`s a waisted effort. An effort who dragged Hammer Films even more down, no matter how cheap it was to produce.
Often I wonder where all the futurologistic predicaments from the sixties and seventies have gone to. In the fifties, sixties and seventies futurologists (Alvin Toffler, John Smart, Peter Cochrane, Tom Mandel etc.) were painting a canvas of the future (set in 1990, 2000 and beyond), publishing many books about how great the future would be: robots taking care of the household and the garden, people would only have to work in an office or factory for 3 or less days a week. Many moviemakers in those days copied these ideas: in movies and commercials. Science fiction-writers like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov wrote frequently about a so-called near-ideal civilation created by men where only intellectual or philiosophical motivations would lead to problems but in the meantime they all painted pictures with words about a futuristic civilation that came out of... the blue ? Moviedirectors in the sixties and in the present tackled problems but always presented a so-called flawless future to begin with before the problems of the stories start. Or is the flawlesness already the beginning of the stories ? Few futurologists ever talked about how working people only on the job for 3 days or less per week should have a significant salary. How would they ever pay for the robots doing the household and the garden ? And who would pay for the pension, medical care and so on ? Most of the futurologists from those days are very old by now or already dead. They had or have treatment for medical care, usually payed for by their employers or by themselves if they had or have the means to pay for it... Some of their theories proved to be right (a big step forward in medical treatments, surgery; the invention of microwave-ovens, cellphones, the constant re-invention of always better digital equipment to improve listening-and watching-qualities of television, music and prerecorded programmes, the automatisation of voting even in third world countries and automatisation in many other ways, the continuing scientific experiments in space). A lot of their theories proved to be also wrong: people are not working actually for 3 days or less per week and in many countries were the legal age to go on retirement was 60 or less it has been changed to 65 or over... Medical treatments and surgery becomes more and more expensive for the common people (even when they payed their contributions for social security facilities for decades); governments all over the world are inclined to put taxes on the use of cellphones - textmessaging; buying the latest and most improved technology-equipment for better listening- and watching experience seems to be a luxury only the very rich can afford. So what`s left ? The microwave-ovens and the continuing scientific experiments in space and the hope this will lead to man`s longevity and financial as well as spiritual benefits ? It looks like none of the futurologists back in the sixties and seventies were aware of any possible climate change wich happens now. Was any of those futurologists aware of a new religious conflict wich would create chaos all over the world (as the religious conflict between the west and the middle-east does now) ? Surely futurologists and their admirers will come up nowadays with many theories wich proves they were right already in the sixties (or before) and everything is in a state of transition. Transition on the other hand is always the state things are being in. My question remains: what exactly became reality of the theories ? Maybe it`s like in the promotional trailer for the American television-series "Fringe": where the scientist says: "It is not an exact science..." and his son replies: "It`s not even science...". Wich keeps everyone in suspense.
The Vampire Lovers (1970) Ingrid Pitt Peter Cushing
The Vampire Lovers (1970, UK), Directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Films. Screenplay: Tudor Gates, Harry Fine, Michael Styles, based upon the novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Cast: Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, Kate O`Mara, Jon Finch, Pippa Steele, Douglas Wilmer, Dawn Addams, Ferdy Mayne, George Cole, Madeline Smith.
Very good and stylish vampire-movie, made by Hammer Films. Not the best vampire movie coming from Hammer, but one of their better efforts. Especially in a time when sex had to be presented more ostensively than before. Ingrid Pitt, although in her thirties by the time of filming and so too old to play an innocent-looking young woman like Carmilla as portrayed in the novella by Sheridan Le Fanu, she does a great job in looking sensual and dangerous. Pippa Steele, Madeline Smith and a few other starlets just show impressive cleavages or bare it all. Peter Cushing and Douglas Wilmer (who both played Sherlock Holmes in the continuing BBC-television series from 1964 till 1968 : Wilmer from 1964 till 1965 and Cushing from 1965 till 1968) provide seriousness to the events. Cushing has the honor to stake and subsequently beheading Pitt as the vampire. Jon Finch who was also the lead male in Roman Polanski`s Macbeth (1971) and in Alfred Hitchcock`s Frenzy (1972), comes up with a strong young lead role wich we don`t see anymore these days because the male lead roles are now all played by actors who are supposed to ressemble teenagers on some American university and acting very obnoxious before they get slaughtered by the main villain. Roy Ward Baker directed already Quatermass and the pit (1967) for Hammer and delivered one of their best (although not most succesfull) movies. It was followed by Lust for a Vampire (directed by Jimmy Sangster, 1971) wich was forgettable and by Twins of Evil (directed by John Hough, 1971) wich is undeniably also a classic in the Hammer-cycle of vampire movies. All three were based, more and more loosely on the novel Carmilla by Le Fanu. Le Fanu had less reason to turn over in his grave then Bram Stoker had and probably did (if he knew and cared about what moviepeople did with his literary character Dracula)..
(USA, 1973) science fiction/thriller film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton. Cast: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin. Set in a high tech amusement park wich contains a cowboy world, a medieval world and an antique Roman world, Benjamin and Brolin play cowboys in a kind of western environment with lifelike robots, but when the park's central computer malfunctions, the vacation turns from harmless fun to potentially fatal, and the friends must figure out how to escape with their lives.
Westworld was the last movie MGM produced before dissolving its releasing company, and was the first theatrical feature directed by Crichton. It was also the first feature film to use digital image processing to pixellate photography to simulate an android point of view.The film was nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Golden Scroll (aka Saturn) awards, and was followed by a sequel film, Futureworld, and a short-lived television series, Beyond Westworld.
What makes this movie stands out is the performance of Yul Brynner as the gunslinger android. Why the androids go berserk, why they malfunction at a certain point in the movie, is never fully explained although several hints are being given, one as valid as the other. Nobody knows. One of the points beings made in the movie is: entertainment is everything and no matter how many human lives it costs, entertainment shall go on. Brynner plays the lead android, a gunslinger clad in black (wich was Brynner`s favorite color of clothing anyway). who malfunctions and starts killing guests in the amusement park. Benjamin is the only one who escapes and who can outsmart the android time after time. There is one brilliant scene where Brynner shows up, his face and body scarred by burnwounds after Benjamin has defended himself by trying to set the android on fire; the android seems hurt, the eyes of Brynner show that the android has almost forgotten why he started killing in the first place but just goes on because it`s the only thing he was programmed for and so the only thing he can remember and do. His look at that particular moment is more humanly desperate then any look from any actor playing a real character in the movie. Not because the other actors are so bad. But clearly because Crichton wanted to show it in that way.
Soylent Green (1973) Charlton Heston Edward G. Robinson
Soylent Green (USA, 1973) Directed by Richard Fleischer. Cast: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Paula Kelly, Brock Peters, Roy Jenson. Science fiction movie set in 2023 depicting a civilisation in which overpopulation leads to depleted resources, which in turn leads to widespread unemployment and poverty. Real fruit, vegetables and meat are rare, expensive commodities, and much of the population survives on processed food rations, including "soylent green" wafers.
The film overlays the science fiction and police procedural genres as it depicts the efforts of New York City police detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) and elderly police researcher Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson) to investigate the brutal murder of a wealthy businessman named William R. Simonson (Joseph Cotten). Thorn and Roth uncover clues which suggest that it is more than simply a bungled burglary.
The film, which is loosely based upon the 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room!, by Harry Harrison, won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film in 1973.
This is truly one of the best in the genre from the seventies. Thrilling and unnerving but most importantly captivating by the story of the police detective (Heston) who lives together with an old researcher (Robinson). They have a kind of father-son relationship and there is really magic between the two stars. Near to the end of the movie the old researcher figures it all out and decides there is no reason anymore to go on living. There is no hope anymore; mankind has gone over the edge. He goes to a center where the government puts "old people to sleep". Heston arrives only in time to watch him die. The way Robinson dies, accompanied by beautiful images of forests, waterfalls, plants, flowers, animals, as well as with music by Edvard Grieg and the way Heston is watching it all, in another room through a glass panel, realising how mangnificent earth once was although he never knew it untill that moment when he sees the images, is unforgettable. The scene, all by itself, is worth many academy award nominations and, besides everything else, it shows what great actors Heston and Robinson were.
Johan en de Alverman (Belgie, 1965). Regie: Bert Struys en Senne Rouffaer.
Zombi 3 (Italy, 1988). Directed by Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei. Cast: Deran Sarafian, Beatrice Ring, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Massimo Vanni, Ulli Reinthaler.
The Savage Jackboot (UK, 1973).
The Avengers was a phenomical television succes, starring Patrick Macnee and (most notably) Diana Rigg. wich run from 1961 till 1969. Diana Rigg was in it from 1965 till 1968. Before and after her some other actresses were involved, but only Diana Rigg could ignite the spark to make the series into what it became: immortal and a piece of cult-television only Dr. Who came close to.
The Omega Man (USA, 1971). Directed by Boris Sagal. Based upon the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Cast: Charlton Heston, Rosalind Cash, Anthony Zerbe.
