Mario Bava’s The Whip and the Body is a Technicolor fever dream of violent, unquenchable desire that extends beyond the grave. It’s also a gothic tale steeped in murder and revenge, with added elements of sadomasochistic eroticism and just a whiff of necrophilia. Wedged between Black Sabbath and Blood and Black Lace in Bava’s canon, The Whip and the Body shares those films’ consummate use of color cinematography to refine mood and convey disturbing shades of atmosphere. Acting as his own cinematographer, with credited Dp Ubaldo Terzano working as de facto camera operator, Bava revels in a riotous palette of sickly greens, otherworldly purples, and sanguine reds.
The opening of The Whip and the Body brings to mind Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, an equally disturbing tale of mad love that was celebrated by the surrealists. Heathcliffe stand-in Kurt Menliff (Christopher Lee) returns to his seaside castle...
The opening of The Whip and the Body brings to mind Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, an equally disturbing tale of mad love that was celebrated by the surrealists. Heathcliffe stand-in Kurt Menliff (Christopher Lee) returns to his seaside castle...
- 4/2/2024
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Barbara Steele is a horror mainstay who, like Vincent Price and Christopher Lee, found a place in the genre during the gothic heyday of the 1960s and made a comfortable home there for years. Also like Price, Steele has a look that, when the time calls for it, she can manipulate to ooze sinister intentions. Somehow she can turn just a little extra cock of her eyebrow into a visage that makes the audience squirm, and she’s employed this knack for the malevolent over the course of several decades in films like Black Sunday, Piranha, and Shivers. So when I went diving into Steele’s filmography, I wanted to find something that tapped into that evil streak, and I found it tucked in a little Italian gothic noir film from 1963 called The Ghost.
The original Italian title was Lo Spettro, which is such a cooler name. I know spettro...
The original Italian title was Lo Spettro, which is such a cooler name. I know spettro...
- 2/26/2020
- by Bryan Christopher
- DailyDead
The star lineup sparkles in this witty, lighthearted tale of a gang of international schemers and cutthroats trying to — well, what they’re trying to do is all but irrelevant. John Huston throws his picture together like a party, for a droll ‘thriller’ that yields off-kilter comic riches. It’s Bogart, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre and Gina Lollobrigida, plus Jennifer Jones as we’ve not seen her before or since. Truman Capote’s sly, unbeatably hip dialogue — reportedly written on the fly — celebrates the underhanded ambitions of greedy fools everywhere.
Beat the Devil
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Marco Tulli, Bernard Lee, Mario Perrone, Giulio Donnini, Saro Urzì, Manuel Serrano.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Continuity: Angela Allen
Dialogue Coach:...
Beat the Devil
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Marco Tulli, Bernard Lee, Mario Perrone, Giulio Donnini, Saro Urzì, Manuel Serrano.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Continuity: Angela Allen
Dialogue Coach:...
- 1/22/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
John Landis made his first dent in Hollywood with this hilarious parody of Z-grade monster movies, and it was big enough to launch a film career. The kudos go to Landis’ comic monkey-man performance, wearing a Schockthropus ape suit by the 20 year-old self taught makeup whiz Rick Baker. Only monster movie fans will understand, but they’ll be charmed. This foreign edition is stacked with schlock-thropic extras.
Schlock
Blu-ray + DVD
Turbine Media Group
1973 / Color / Region Free / 1:78 widescreen (Blu-ray); 1:37 Academy (Ntsc DVD) / 79 min. / Available from Rakete Shop (De) / Street Date April 27, 2018 / Euros 29.99
Starring: John Landis, Saul Kahan, Eliza Garrett, Joseph Piantadosi, Enrica Blankey (Harriet Medin), Forrest J. Ackerman, Jack H. Harris, Donald F. Glut, John Chambers, Ivan Lepper.
Cinematography: Robert E. Collins
Film Editor: George Folsey Jr.
Makeup Artist: Rick Baker
Original Music: David Gibson
Produced by George Folsey Jr., Jack H. Harris, James C. O’Rourke
Written and...
Schlock
Blu-ray + DVD
Turbine Media Group
1973 / Color / Region Free / 1:78 widescreen (Blu-ray); 1:37 Academy (Ntsc DVD) / 79 min. / Available from Rakete Shop (De) / Street Date April 27, 2018 / Euros 29.99
Starring: John Landis, Saul Kahan, Eliza Garrett, Joseph Piantadosi, Enrica Blankey (Harriet Medin), Forrest J. Ackerman, Jack H. Harris, Donald F. Glut, John Chambers, Ivan Lepper.
Cinematography: Robert E. Collins
Film Editor: George Folsey Jr.
Makeup Artist: Rick Baker
Original Music: David Gibson
Produced by George Folsey Jr., Jack H. Harris, James C. O’Rourke
Written and...
- 5/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero: Filmed mostly on the streets in newly-liberated territory, Roberto Rossellini’s gripping war-related shows are blessed with new restorations but still reflect their rough origins. The second picture, the greater masterpiece, looks as if it were improvised out of sheer artistic will.
Roberto Rosselini’s War Trilogy
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 500 (497, 498, 499)
1945-1948 / B&W / 1:37 & 1:33 flat full frame / 302 minutes / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available from the Criterion Collection 79.96
Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani; Dots Johnson, Harriet White Medin; Edmund Moeschke, Franz-Otto Krüger.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata; Otello Martelli; Robert Julliard.
Film Editor: Eraldo Da Roma
Original Music: Renzo Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini; Klaus Mann, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini; Max Kolpé, Carlo Lizzani.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Criterion released an identical-for-content DVD set of this trilogy in 2010; the new Blu-ray...
Roberto Rosselini’s War Trilogy
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 500 (497, 498, 499)
1945-1948 / B&W / 1:37 & 1:33 flat full frame / 302 minutes / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available from the Criterion Collection 79.96
Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani; Dots Johnson, Harriet White Medin; Edmund Moeschke, Franz-Otto Krüger.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata; Otello Martelli; Robert Julliard.
Film Editor: Eraldo Da Roma
Original Music: Renzo Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini; Klaus Mann, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini; Max Kolpé, Carlo Lizzani.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Criterion released an identical-for-content DVD set of this trilogy in 2010; the new Blu-ray...
- 6/19/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
"Death will take you as you sleep! A sleep as deep as Death!" Barbara Steele doesn't realize that her husband is using her to recover a forbidden sexual thrill. Riccardo Freda's film plays games with Alfred Hitchcock's filmography, but it also generates a Euro-horror spell like no other. Outrageous in 1962, it was a Technicolor ode to funereal surrealism. New in this review -- a crazy theory that might upend story assumptions about L'orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock. The Horrible Dr. Hichcock Blu-ray Olive Films 1962 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 77 88 min. / Street Date September 13, 2016 / L'orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock; Raptus The Secret of Dr. Hichcock, The Terror of Dr. Hichcock / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Barbara Steele, Robert Flemyng, Montgomery Glenn (SIlvano Tranquili), Teresa Fitzgerald (Maria Teresa Vianello), Harriet White (Harriet White Medin), Spencer Williams, All Christianson, Evar SImpson, Nat Harley. Cinematography Donald Green (Rafaele Masciocchi) Film Editor Donna Christie...
- 9/12/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Mario Bava turns from spooky gothic tales to a relentlessly violent murder spree in the glossy world of high fashion. The large cast gives us a fistful of prime suspects, while the main draw is Bava's powerful direction and razor-keen images - and in this excellent transfer, the colors can only be described as hallucinatory. Blood and Black Lace Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video U.S. 1964 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 89 min. / Sei donne per l'assassino / available through Mvd Entertainment / Street Date July 5, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Ariana Gorini, Dante Dipaolo, Mary Arden, Franco Ressel, Claude Dantes, Luciano Pigozzi, Lea Lander, Massimo Righi, Francesca Ungaro, Giuliano Raffaelli, Harriet White Medin. Cinematography Ubaldo Terzano Editor Mario Serandrei Original Music Carlo Rustichelli Written by Marcello Fondato, Giuseppe Barilla, Mario Bava Produced by Alfredo Mirabile, Massimo Patrizi <Directed by Mario Bava
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When Arrow Video released a U.K. Blu-ray...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When Arrow Video released a U.K. Blu-ray...
- 7/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Forget your 'Jan in the Pan' jokes and all those 'thing in the closet' remarks about gay subtext. This loopy, kooky and kinky horror offering from New York's Tarrytown is a keeper despite its primitive direction and campy screenplay. Mad scientist Herb Evers answered the call to Bring Me the Head of Virginia Leith, and goes on a sleazy shopping spree to find a voluptuous body to make her complete, in the literal sense. It's all in the worst of taste: in other words, delightful. The Brain that Wouldn't Die Blu-ray Scream Factory 1962 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 81 min. / Street Date December 22, 2015 / 26.99 Starring Herb (Jason) Evers, Virginia Leith, Leslie Daniels, Adele Lamont, Bonnie Sharie, Paula Maurice, Marilyn Hanold, Bruce Brighton Cinematography Stephen Hajnal Special Effects Byron Baer Art Direction Paul Fanning Film Editors Leonard Anderson, Marc Anderson Original Music Abe Baker, Tony Restaino Written by Rex Carlton and Joseph Green Produced by Rex Carlton,...
- 11/28/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
New Bones season 9,episode 13 spoilers & clips hit the net. Last night, Fox dropped the new spoilers and sneak peek/spoiler clip (below) for their upcoming "Bones" episode 13 of season 9. The episode is entitled, "Big In The Philippines," and it appears to get quite awkward at one point as a grinded up penis is spotted in their latest lab investigation, and more. In the new "Big In The Philippines" episode, a country music singer that's famous in the Philippines, is going to end up, getting murdered. The Jeffersonian team is going to investigate the death of Colin Haynes (guest star Charlie Worsham), a struggling country music singer whose remains were found in a shallow grave. When the team finds out about the victim's music career, it will end up, leading them to his record label, which, they will discover, was deceitful in its dealings with him. In the meantime, squintern Wendall...
- 1/11/2014
- by Chris
- OnTheFlix
New Bones season 9,episode 13 official spoilers,plotline revealed by Fox. Recently, Fox served up the new,official,synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Bones" episode 13 of season 9. The episode is entitled, "Big In The Philippines," and it sounds like it'll be quite intriguing as Brennan and Booth try to figure what happened during the sketchy death of a famous country music singer, and more. In the new,13th episode press release: a country music singer that's famous in the Philippines, is going to get murdered. Press release number 2: The Jeffersonian team will investigate the death of Colin Haynes (guest star Charlie Worsham), a struggling country music singer whose remains were found in a shallow grave. When the team learns about the victim's music career, it will lead them to his record label, which, they will discover, was deceitful in its dealings with him. In the meantime, squintern Wendall Bray (guest...
- 1/10/2014
- by Andre
- OnTheFlix
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