Arrow Films Review: Day of Anger (1967, Tonino Valerii)

  Original title “I giorni dell'ira”

“Lee Van Cleef has been dirty, "ugly" and downright mean... now watch him get violent.”

Poor Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma, The Leopard) just can't seem to catch a break. If he's not carrying out back breaking and menial work, he's constantly being treated appallingly by the townsfolk. Well, except for a local prostitute named Gwen (Christa Linder, Alien Terror). Things begin to change for the better when a mysterious stranger by the name of Frank Talby (Lee Van Cleef, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly) passes through the town on his horse. After hearing about Scott's mistreatment, Frank takes pity on him and invites him to the local saloon for a drink. Whilst ordering drinks, Frank witnesses first hand just how abhorrent the townsfolk really are towards Scott and in a moment of self defence, guns down a local thug. Naturally, Frank is pardoned on the basis of self defence and Scott feels the repercussions of the event. With nowhere else to turn, Scott pursues Frank and as a result Frank decides to take him under his wing and teaches him the way of the gunslinger. What starts out as an invaluable education in both skill and self-confidence soon turns to be a detriment to Scott's already soured reputation. Things become even more complicated when it turns out that Frank was more than just a mysterious stranger passing through...

  Day of Anger is a standout entry in to what is an overly-saturated genre. There are many reasons why it is so highly regarded as it is with cult cinema fans. One of the main reasons is down to a solidly written script from Valerni himself and Ernesto Gastaldi (My Name is Nobody) based on an initial idea by a young Renzo Genta (Jungle Holocaust). Although credited as an adaptation of Rolf Becker's Der tod Ritt Dienstags (Death Rode on Tuesdays), the film only uses a handful of scenes from the book, it was at the request of the German producers that the book be credited. Although the story is simple and somewhat familiar, it's handled well and contributes to a film that flows smoothly even with a runtime of around 114 minutes in its original theatrical form. Within that script are solidly forged and believable characters. Again, theses characters are familiar, but you don't care. Van Cleef's portrayal of Talby is not too dissimilar to Eastwood's portrayal of “The man with no name”. He's a mysterious rogue that stands up with the greatest of anti-heroes. To compliment him, we have the down on his luck-cum-confident hero character of Gemma's Scott Mary. The relationship of mentor and student plays out nicely and is again, believable. Both Gemma and Van Cleef handle the material nicely and put in great performances. Even minor characters such as the corrupt Judge Cutcher (Lukas Ammann, Mark of the Devil Part 2) and local bum Blind Bill (José Calvo, A Fistful of Dollars) are well acted. Everyone puts in a good performance.

  When it comes to violence, the film has some good shoot-outs and set pieces. It's not the most graphic of the genre, but it doesn't matter because the film is more of a character study. The scenes involving shoot-outs and blood work well within the context of the complete film. Naturally, these scenes, as well the film as a whole are shot beautifully. Director of photography for this outing is Enzo Serafin (Chronicle of a Love) with Silvio Fraschetti (Star Odyssey) operating the camera. This collaboration captures the action and the beautiful natural landscape of Almeria wonderfully. To compliment the beautiful aesthetics, there is the score from the ever-dependable Riz Ortolani (Cannibal Holocaust). Once again, Ortolani provides one of his best scores. For me, this in fact one of the genres best scores. It has those typical western guitar vibes, but has a somewhat jazzy edge. It's one of those scores you can listen to on its own. Those who may have not seen the actual film or heard the score itself may recognise Tarantino's use of the film's title track in Django: Unchained. All in all, Day of Anger is one of the best entries in to the genre. Thankfully, Arrow Films have done a great job with their release.

  First of all, there are two versions of the film included; the longer Italian theatrical version and the shorter international version. Out of the two, I prefer the longer cut. Both versions look and sound wonderful and the Italian version can be watched in either the English or Italian soundtrack. The subtitle track is also newly-translated. In terms of extras there are interviews with Tonino Valerii, Ernesto Gastaldi and the always insightful Roberto Curti (Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969). There's a deleted scene that appears in the international cut, bit the Italian cut, a selection of trailers and a booklet with new writings from Howard Hughes (Once Upon A Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns). Of course, there's also some newly commissioned artwork, this time from Reinhard Kleist and reversible artwork. It's a great package for new and old fans a like. I can't see a better release of this film any time soon. The only thing I will say is that even though the previous Wild East release presented the film in the wrong format with an inferior transfer, there are some extras that are on that disc that would have been nice here, but that's not a detriment to Arrow themselves. Do yourself a favour and pick up this wonderful release.

Day of Anger is available as a DVD & Blu-Ray combo from Arrow Films.PDx

Arrow Films Review: Nightmare City (1980, Umberto Lenzi)

  Original title “Incubo sulla città contaminata”

“The Nightmare Becomes Reality.”
Whilst waiting at an airport to interview a scientist about a recent nuclear accident, American reporter Dean Miller (Hugo Stiglitz, 357 magnum) witnesses a military plane making an illegal landing. With police and armed forces on the scene, Dean knows himself and his trusty cameraman (Antonio Mayans, Zombie Lake) are going to potentially get some juicy material. Juicy material it definitely is, bloody too. Very bloody! Inside the plane are dozens of disfigured victims of the nuclear accident. These passengers aren't just casualties of an unfortunate event, they're also blood-thirsty maniacs and almost instantly wipe out the entire military personnel. As if butchering and battering their victims in brutal fashion wasn't enough, they also like to slurp on their blood to keep themselves going. Dean manages to escape and heads back to the studio to show the world what's happening. Unfortunately for him, the suits at work won't allow it because General Murchison (Mel Ferrer, The Longest Day) over at Civil Defence doesn't want the word out. Naturally, the infected are running amuck around the city and after they invade the television studio, Dean escapes once again and heads on over to the hospital where his wife Anna (Laura Trotter, Frivolous Lola) works. As he arrives, the hospital also falls under attack, but luckily, himself and Anna escape. What follows for the pair is a fight for survival. As if you didn't know that already....

  It's actually pretty pointless giving you a synopsis of this movie because I bet you have already seen it, probably multiple times. We all know that Nightmare City is a ridiculous film, but just in case you're one of the few people yet to experience this truly cinematic wonder, I won't go in to too much detail about some of the stand out moments and shortcomings. When I say shortcomings, I mean that in the greatest possible sense. In an (amazingly dark) age where yuppy hipster directors who are borrowing a nostalgia they didn't live and are creating purposefully bad low-budget films, this is a perfect film for the Kung Fury and Birdemic (I think / hope we're collectively over The Room by now.) crowd. The story is simple, but functions in the basic sense. At its heart, it's an anti-war and nuclear film. Does it actually work in that sense? No, not really. Aside from some rather forced sounding pacifist dire tribe, the action and absurdity on screen takes precedent. You're not here for intellectual content, you're here for bad acting, non-stop action and some tasty blood and guts. There's something happening pretty much all of the time. From Hugo Stiglitz giving us an acting masterclass on how to use the same facial expression for every emotion and situation to defaced super-strengthed ghouls slicing off nipples and following dinner table etiquette by wiping their mouths after slurping down a serving of blood. Speaking of bloodshed, there's gore by the bucket loads. Sure, the camera may occasionally linger a bit too long to expose the crudeness of certain gore gags, but it's just going to make you chuckle even more.

  As I briefly touched on it earlier, acting isn't anything to shout about, especially the mighty Hugo Stiglitz. That being said, the likes of Mel Ferrer, Francisco Rabal (Speed Driver) as well as eye candy such as Maria Rosaria Omaggio (The Cop in Blue Jeans) and Sonia Viviani (Women's Camp 119) all add something to the film. Even though this is a wonderfully absurd film, one thing is for certain; Stelvio Cipriani's (A Bay of Blood) score is a genuinely accomplished and effective piece of work and actually one of Cipriani's greatest. Overall, this is another winner from Umberto Lenzi. Say what you will about him in terms of his personally and his artistic vision and capabilities, he knew how to create an entertaining film. What more can I say? I am fan of this film for the right and wrong reasons. At this point, you've probably skimmed over the review looking for the most important information; is this Arrow Films release better or worse than the Raro Video release?

  Guess what? You're pretty much getting both transfers on this release. Out of the two, Arrow's new 2k restoration looks much sharper and vibrant, but suffers from irreversible print damage. The second transfer, the one Raro used for their release, is taken from a 35mm reversal dupe negative and although the print damage isn't there, it's a much softer transfer. Sound is of high quality on both versions and. Those who are privy to pointlessly complain about Arrow releases need not bother because you are warned about the damage before you even decide which version to watch. Arrow could have just lazily used the same Raro print or just use their own, but the fact you get to choose from the two is very commendable. In terms of on-disc extras there's an entertaining commentary track from former Fangoria editor Chris Alexander, interviews with Umberto Lenzi and Maria Rosaria Ommagio, Eli Roth (Hostel) unashamedly fanboying about the film and Umberto Lenzi, original theatrical trailer, alternate opening titles and a featurette about the restoration issues. Unfortunately, the lengthy interview with Lenzi that appeared on the Raro disc is nowhere to be seen, but the long list of extras here more than make up for it. As always there's wonderful newly commissioned artwork, this time from Graham Humphreys and a booklet featuring writing from John Martin (The Seduction of the Gullible: The Truth Behind the Video Nasty Scandal). The Raro booklet has a piece by Chris Alexander that doesn't appear here. All in all, the Arrow release is arguably the most definitive out there. It may be missing one or two extras, but wether this is the first time you're buying the film or the 3746328468^th time; this is a release you need to own.

Nightmare City is available as a DVD & Blu-Ray combo pack from Arrow Films.

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Arrow Films Review: 5 Dolls for an August Moon (1970, Mario Bava)

  “I'm not a man of thought. I'm a man of action.”

On a beautiful yet secluded island in an equally beautiful pop-art villa, George Stark (Teodoro Corrà, Body Puzzle) and his wife Jill (Edith Meloni, That Little Difference) are playing host to a group of their high-flying friends; Prof. Gerry Farrell (William Berger, Keoma) and his wife Trudy (Ira von Fürstenberg, The Fifth Cord). Jack Davidson (Howard Ross, The New York Ripper) and his wife Peggy (Helena Ronee, On Her Majesty's Secret Service). Nick Cherry (Maurice Poli, Rabid Dogs) and his wife Marie (Edwige Fenech, Strip Nude for Your Killer). Accompanying the well off houseguests are George's houseboy Charles (Mauro Bosco, Roy Colt and Winchester Jack) and the young and innocent Isabel (Ely Galleani, Lizard in a Woman's Skin), a girl in George's care whilst her parents are away. What starts off as a jolly get together soon becomes a tense and all-round torrid affair. Things begin to turn sour when all the husbands become involved in a bitter bidding war for the professor's sought after and revolutionary formula, the formula that drove him to take this little excursion in the first place. Of course, the professor's minor annoyance is nothing compared to fact that affairs of all types are being acted out on. To make matters infinitely worse however, starting with Charles, the houseguests are being picked off one by one. Tensions rise and paranoia kicks in. This is one swinging party that those who may or may not survive will never forget. There's me thinking LSD was a trip!

  Taking influence from Agatha Christie's Ten Little Niggers (a story Bava would make the basis of his highly influential A Bay of Blood a year later.), we find a group coming together and finding themselves in a somewhat quirky whodunnit murder mystery. To some, Bava's Five Dolls for an August Moon is purely an exercise in style over substance. I can sympathise with that viewpoint, the final third of the film does get a little hectic in turns of story and pacing, but I actually think that Mario di Nardo's (Ricco the Mean Machine) story has enough there in terms of plot and narrative structure even if Bava did despise the story and do his own thing. Speaking of which, this IS for me Bava at his most stylish. A beautiful locale combined with stylish (so what if it's dated!?) décor and equally (if not more) beautiful women; there's a lot to digest. The film is lensed by Bava collaborator Antonio Rinaldi (Danger: Diabolik) and is somewhat subtle which allows the loud and vibrant design to take centre stage. There are however, some nicely incorporated handheld shots which work brilliantly with the rest of the film. The icing on the already splendid technicolour cake is Piero Umiliani's (Big Deal on Madonna Street) score. It's a mixture of the dreamlike, groovy and sinister. Not a note is out of place and it helps lift the film even more. Considering that Bava was working with a script he disliked, working with a limited budget and had a shooting schedule of just over two weeks, it's amazing what he has achieved here. It might not be a classic example of the gialli, but it still has some characteristics that we associate with the genre. There's stylishly executed kills, red herrings, a sense of tension and a good amount of twists. To me, it's more than just one of my favourite Bava films; it's one of my favourites of the genre.

In terms of presentation, Arrow have done a good job with the sound and picture. I don't have the previous Kino Lorber release to make comparisons, but it seems like it's a slight upgrade of an already good restoration. Aside from the odd scratch and pop, the film looks and sounds great. In terms of audio options, there's both the Italian and English dub, with the Italian dub being the superior. There's also an option to listen to an isolated score and effects track, a feature ported over from the Kino Lorber release. Speaking of which, Tim Lucas's commentary is also included. As well as that there's a trailer, English language opening titles and the fantastic Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre documentary. To go with the on disc extras there's newly commissioned art from Graham Humphreys complimented with the original poster artwork and a booklet including writings from Adrian Smith and Glenn Kenny. Overall, this is worthy release for a somewhat under-appreciated Bava outing. An essential release from Arrow for new and old fans a like. Plus, who doesn't want to see the beautiful Edwige Fenech shaking her thing?

5 Dolls for an August Moon is available as a DVD / Blu-Ray combo release from Arrow Films.

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Arrow Video Review: What Have You Done to Solange? (1972, dir: Massimo Dallamano)

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?
(1972, dir: Massimo Dallamano)

  Enrico Rossini (Fabio Testi, Heroin Busters) is a teacher who is a bit of a naughty boy. Whilst trying to get down on a row boat (of all places) with young student Elizabeth (Cristina Galbó, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue), their extra curricular activities come to a halt when Elizabeth claims that she has just witnessed the murder of a young girl. Dismissing this is as Elizabeth not wanting to seal the deal, it's not until Enrico is back home with his wife Herta (Karin Baal, Lola) that he hears about the murder on the radio. What starts out as an unfortunate isolated case, soon becomes the first of many gruesome murders. The only connection; all the victims are students at the Catholic girls school in which Enrico works. With the reputation that he has with his students, it's not long until Enrico becomes prime suspect. However, when Elizabeth is continually haunted by visions of a priest and becomes a victim of the sadistic killer, Enrico is soon deemed innocent. With his nubile plaything and career in tatters, he's on the case to solve the mystery once and for all. His marriage? Well, thanks to Elizabeth's frigidity, the pair never actually had sex and that's fine by Herta apparently! The plot thickens when Enrico becomes aware of a mysterious young girl named Solange (Camile Keaton, I Spit on Your Grave). What does she have to do with recent slayings? What exactly happened to Solange?

  What Have You Done to Solange? Is nothing short of a giallo masterpiece. What we have here is a solidly written murder mystery very loosely based on Edgar Wallace's The Clue of the New Pin. Alongside Dallamano we have Bruno Di Geronimo (Flavia the Heretic) and Peter M. Thouet (The Legend of Tim Tyler) on writing duty. Their screenplay goes from sleazy to violent, but is always atmospheric and consistent. There are red herrings a plenty to be found, but thankfully, they actually work and don't feel too forced or ambiguous. Morally however, I do believe it's confused at points. Some may find real problems with our amateur sleuth being what we would now call a sexual predator. Just like Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling and Bido's The Bloodstained Shadow, there's a real sense of distrust to Catholicism here. It would be morally corrupt (HA!) of me to go in to detail, so I will just say that wether the killer is indeed a priest or not, the fact that a character would don the disguise of a priest says a lot. There have been much more eloquent writers who have covered the aspect of Catholicism in cinema, Shelley F. O'Brien's essay Killer Priests: The Last Taboo makes for interesting reading! Moving away from that, what really struck me about Solange was how aesthetically satisfying the experience is. It's no surprise that Morricone's (Do I really need to name drop here?) score is amazing as always with so much range, but quintessentially Morricone. Chances are, you heard extracts of the score before even being aware of the film itself. That combined with some fantastic cinematography from Joe D'Amato (Porno Holocaust), who also has a fun cameo in the film, makes London feel melancholy, yet beautiful and ultimately mysterious. I'm reminded of the empty morning streets found in Bido's Watch Me When I Kill as I watched.

  I said that the film goes from sleazy to violent, that's true. That being said, aside from some genuinely nasty sexualised deaths, the gore is somewhat restrained and often fuels the imagination of the viewer. Those looking for flesh will be very happy with this as there is plenty of schoolgirl action throughout (especially some innocent, yet seductive shower fun). There are plenty of sleazy characters about too. The film is a great example of having some sinister themes and overall nasty moments without it being trivialised by being too exploitative. Plenty of directors could have just gone for all out gore and overly graphic sex. There's a real sense of maturity throughout. Considering that is a somewhat early example of the gialli, I really found this film to be quite a head of its time. We all know that Mario Bava drew up the plans and Dario Argento began building on the foundations, but as much as I have heard many great things about this film, I don't think this film gets the overall credit it deserves. Of course, it's not classically considered a perfect film and even I almost cringed at some of the British dubbing, so many silly accents. All in all, this is an entertaining, often shocking thriller that has to be seen.

Thankfully, the film is presented beautifully both in terms of picture and sound. We have a 2k restoration that is pretty much flawless. Both Italian and English dubs are included with the Italian being the better quality of the two. In terms of on disc special features this is a fantastic release. First of all we have newly edited interviews with Fabio Testi and producer Fulvio Lucsiano from 2006, a new interview with Karin Baal, in which she has some interesting things to say about the film, a fantastic video essay from Michael Mackenzie that looks at Dallamano's “Schoolgirls in Peril” Trilogy, a trailer and to top it off an audio commentary with Alan Jones and Kim Newman.
Of course, Arrow have included a booklet with writings from Howard Hughes and Art Ettinger and reversible artwork with a fantastic piece of art from Malleus. Overall, this is a must buy for fans and newcomers. If you are yet to dip your toe in to the world of the gialli, this is a great place to start! For the people who had to buy that cheap cardboard sleeved version on Amazon (you know who you are!), you can throw that version away now!

What Have You Done to Solange? Is available as a DVD / Blu-Ray combo from Arrow Video.
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Fulci-Fest: Remembering The King Of Gore

Today (as of writing this of course) marks 17 years since we lost the great Lucio Fulci. Fulci died just as he was experiencing how appreciated and adored he was by us horror fans. I would have been 7 years old when he died and that to me is a crazy thought. My experience with the work of Fulci is a pleasurable and he has provided me with many an hour blood soaked, flesh ripping cinema. I don't just love him for his horror work. I have seen only a fraction of his work but I can say with hand on heart (let me just check... yep, it's still there!) that I have enjoyed every film I have seen from a whole spectrum of the genres. I thought that it would make sense to spend a day watching nothing but Fulci films. As I'm writing this, Four Of The Apocalypse is playing in the background. This is one of Fulci's westerns and what a film it is but I will get to that later on.

I thought I would just spend a little time talking about Fulci and his impact on my life. The first film I watched of his was a film you the reader probably watched first too, Zombie Flesh Eaters. This was such a great experience as I had only just recently watched the original Dawn Of The Dead for the first time. This was when a film was just a film to me. I hadn't really taken an interest up until that point but as I discovered more and more Italian cinema from the 70's and 80's such as this I was hooked. I can't exactly recall my whole journey with Fulci but let me say this, I don't think I would be this interested in film if it wasn't for Fulci. His work will always have a special place in my heart and I look forward to watching more and more of his work. As I said earlier, I have spent the day watching Fulci films so I thought I would write a little about each one.


Contraband (1980)
I started the marathon with one of my personal favourites. Contraband is a crime flick starring Fabio Testi. I won't give a full review for this or any of the films only my thoughts and why I love them. I am a massive Italian crime fan and this attempt here is just fabulous. Think of signature Fulci gore and violence mixed in with a great story about greed, treachery and violence in Naples. Some of the highlights are a great use of a Bunsen burner, a Godfather like execution montage and old school mafia bosses from another time showing that it doesn't hurt to be a gentlemen in the mafia game. A great start to the marathon I think you will agree... capiche!?

Manhattan Baby (1982)
I thought it would be only right to follow up with a film from the genre he is most known for, the horror genre. The film I picked was the criminally underrated Manhattan Baby. Yeah it might not have that level of violence most of his other films have but damn! What an atmosphere this film has! Sure, there are some insanely laughable moments but the whole Egyptian portion of the film is genuinely creepy... especially that damn blind woman! This is magnified with Fabio Frizzi's phenomenal score. If you haven't got round to watching this one, you should do right away.

Conquest (1983)

Conquest is the only film that I watched today that I hadn't seen before and unfortunately I had to watch this online here. I love cheesy post apocalyptic films from the 80's and this did not disappoint at all. Within 12 minutes of the film I was majorly confused and a woman was ripped in half... I knew I was in for a treat. I came out of this still majorly confused at what I had seen but it didn't matter. It's films like this that make me smile like a kid in a sweet shop. Film snobs need not watch because this isn't for you! Watch it anyway because it's just awesome!

Four Of The Apocalypse (1975)
I decided to finish my Fulci-thon with this gem. A story about a group of misfits who become good friends and come across many obstacles including Tomas Milian doing Captain Jack long before Mr. Depp... seriously, he looks just like him! Once again, this isn't one of Fulci's most violent outings but there are some nasty scenes in this one. The film isn't really about that sort of stuff though and it's one of Fulci's more straight faced films. Highly enjoyable and one of the few times you genuinely care about the characters on screen and not just wonder how and when they die. This also boasts a really solid score from the likes of Fabio Frizzi.

So there you have it! I didn't want to just watch the same Fulci flicks I usually go to. I adore the likes of Zombie Flesh Eaters, House By The Cemetery (possibly my favourite film in the filmography so far) or The Beyond but I wanted to watch the films I enjoyed that often get overlooked or at least hardly mentioned in peoples lists.

Thank you all for reading this and sharing the love and passion for the work of Lucio Fulci. I still have a long way to go before I have a complete collection of films but it's a journey I am absolutely loving so far. I want to also thank Lucio for providing me with hours of entertainment and inspiring me creatively. I don't care if you see him as a hack or a one trick pony, dig into his filmography and you can't help but marvel a guy who directed so many films from so many different genres and keep a high quality throughout. They don't make them like him anymore and probably one of the saddest aspects of his death is he never really got to see how adored he was my genre fans and who knows, he would probably still be making films now.

Thanks again Mr. Fulci!

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