[quote=“Bill san Antonio, post:496, topic:520”]Delitto Carnale
-A group of relatives and friends meet in a hotel to get ready for the funeral of certain rich uncle. They soon get bored and start to get drunk and have constantly sex with each other. Then murders starts to happen. Cesare Canevari directed this 80’s giallo which is one of the sleaziest entry in the genre. There’s not much of plot or violence neither but there’s a loads of steamy sex scenes.[/quote]
Will have to check this one out soon. Love me some sleazy gialli! ;D
1974, Il Profumo Della Signora In Nero… A lackluster presentation. Francesco Barilli couldn’t figure-out if he wanted if he wanted to depict voodoo, witchcraft, or ‘diary of a madwomanism’. It tries to be all-3. And flops, tediously. And ‘mysterious’ doesn’t mean artistically confusing. Imdb say the film is hard to find. My advice is don’t bother looking for it.
L’uomo Senza Memoria, 1974… Now this is more like it. Vividly realistic and intelligently mysterious. -With Senta Berger at her self-contained finest. She’s the wife of an amnesia-victim (Luc Merenda), whom various entities are chasing because he may or may-not be in possession of something worth killing for. Duilio Cruciani, as Luca, steals about every scene he’s in… a kid that actually acts like a kid. The film is very highly re-watchable.
Sister of Ursula
Filled with many sex scenes (some of them in the edge of being hardcore), nudity and rather brutal murders this is another giallo from the sleazier range of the genre. Actually quite good one.
Just finished rewatching The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Argento’s first, and still one of his best.
Was also watching the interviews that came on the dvd. Does anybody else think the late Eva Renzi comes off as extremely bitter and self absorbed bitch in this interview? Not to mention a little bit tipsy. Wow, she doesn’t seem to have a good thing to say about anyone or anything. She blames the film for ruining her career but this was the best film she’s ever been in. She also complains that she was given no motivation behind the character of the killer even though the script says that her earlier traumatic experience was responsible for transforming her. Also expresses regret in following her husband’s advice in turning down the role in house of cards, even though the film turned out to be very mediocre. Also says she’s turned down bond because she didn’t want to be a fucking bond girl, yet after all this she still blames Crystal plumage for ruining her career? Ungrateful bitch. Crystal gave her one if ever it was the case. Seems to hate all of her co-workers too, including Tony Musante. She unfortunately died of cancer not long after the interview was was filmed, but I can’t say I miss her.
It’s funny but I didn’t like Argento until I saw Bird With a Crystal Plumage. Only after I saw that film I started to appreciate his later more grandiose films like Suspiria and Tenebre.
I cannot understand why Eva Renzi was so rigid as far as The Bird With The Cristal Plumage is concerned. She must have been a very fickle and temperamental female.
I started my adventure with Argento with The Bird and I loved it, particularly the soundtrack was gorgeous.
The 2 Argentos I have seen Suspiria and The Cat with 9 Tails are pretty un-hitchcockian imo. As far as I remember his debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, it wasn’t better in this regard.
Gialli have generally a very different way of creating suspense than Hitch.
Suspiria is (very) far from Hitchcockian territory, but The Bird With The Crystal Plumage sometimes reminds me of a Hitchcock flick. Of course there are utilized different filming styles. BTW, I’ve also read somewhere that Argento invented murderer-point-of-view camerawork which is called in Polish “subjective camerawork”, don’t know if it’s the same in English.
[quote=“Stanton, post:513, topic:520”]The 2 Argentos I have seen Suspiria and The Cat with 9 Tails are pretty un-hitchcockian imo. As far as I remember his debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, it wasn’t better in this regard.
Gialli have generally a very different way of creating suspense than Hitch.[/quote]
I agree that Argento’s later films are very far away from Hitchcock, although you could probably trace a line via De Palma, but in his debute film The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, I see the debt to the Master very clearly. It’s a very good film and I recomend you revisit it.
I’ve watched Argento’s Tenebre. It could have been great, but it was ruined by some sloppy work and terrible acting (especially in the first part), which I just can’t ignore. There is a scene when girl gets up from a table in a bar and for a second we get a glimpse of her boob dropping out of her shirt. Character is slutty, but I’m sure this was not intentional, it made me ask myself am I watching Ed Wood movie.
But Gemma’s laconic “I only drink on duty” is classic
Edit: Regarding Hitch, in this one there is definitely one scene (at the square) that is tribute to him. On the other hand, there is also a scene in which camera slides over and in and out of the building, which De Palma probably referenced next year in Scarface. Well, De Palma = Hitchcock + Argento, that is probably why I like him
There is a scene when girl gets up from a table in a bar and for a second we get a glimpse of her boob dropping out of her shirt. Character is slutty, but I'm sure this was not intentional, it made me ask myself am I watching Ed Wood movie.
unintentional or not I think it's great little detail.
[i]
-or actually not that little, hehe...[/i]
Spasmo
-I had seen this one before but didn’t remember much about it other than I liked it. The film focuses on the psychological aspects of the serial killer and there’s hardly any violence or nudity so fans of sleazier giallo might not like it. But the plot is well built, there’s lots of little details and many characters which might be distracting for the viewer at first but every detail is explained in the end. Ennio Morricone did a good, haunting score.
Exceptional Giallo with great cast and fantastic score.
