settima

drama

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht [Nosferatu the Vampyre] (Werner Herzog, 1979)

Oct

22

eternal returns

Nosferatu (1979)

Adjani, Kinski, and Herzog on set. DP: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein.

[A favourite] horror remake*

“I never thought I could be friends with a German again. But here I am… Werner is somehow like Murnau brought back to life.”

Lotte Eisner visiting the set of Herzog's Nosferatu (via)

Coming back to Murnau's expressionist masterpiece was Herzog's bridge between the films made by the grandfathers of German cinema and his era. Herzog, born in 1942 Munich, noted this void created by that philistine regime and felt that, by picking up the thread cut a quarter of a century earlier, German culture could see a restoration to its (non-nationalistic) greatness. Thus a menagerie of rats and actors was released in a reluctant, bourgeois Dutch town.

 

But that's a story for another generation to draw upon.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

La chute de la maison Usher [The Fall of the House of Usher] (Jean Epstein, 1928)

Oct

21

La chute de la maison Usher (1928)

A rapid tracking shot along a dark corridor. Dead leaves follow the camera (via). DPs: Georges Lucas & Jean Lucas.

A favourite horror film adapted from a book or short story*

“Everything in this masterpiece contributes to its unity: the absolute mastery of editing and rhythm; slow motion, superimpositions, tracking shots, the mobile camera all play their roles and never gratuitously. The photographic quality, worthy of the most learned German operators, the lighting of the sets which envelops them in mystery, the sets themselves, neither realistic nor stylized, but as if sketched; the acting neither realistic nor expressionist, and yet adapted to the fantastic, to the violence; to the pauses; to the blur.”

Henri Langlois, via

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

Swissmade [Swiss Made 2069] (Fritz E. Maeder, Fredi M. Murer + Yves Yersin, 1968)

Oct

20

Alien

Swissmade (1968)

A man hooked up to a device with tubes dreams about a strange, unsettling creature. Just out of a frame someone (H.R. Giger himself) works on the being with a grinder. DPs: Witold Lesiewicz, Fritz E. Maeder & Fredi M. Murer.

[A favourite] Alien [“alien”?] movie*

 

Three segments envision the future of the Swiss Confederation. In the Fredi M. Murer instalment 2069 – oder wo sich Futorologen und Archäologen gute Nacht sagen, an alien visits surveillance state Switzerland. The visitor in question is designed by H.R. Giger, and glimpses of the XX121 xenomorph are present in its exoskeletal core.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

Nattmara [Nightmare] (Arne Mattsson, 1965)

Oct

19

Tue

spoiler warning: click to toggle image Nattmara (1965)
spoiler warning: click to read

Hands hold up a small diary. The camera is focussed on Tuesday the 19th of October, 1965. Handwriting, a chicken scrawl, reads CITROEN A66692 MAJ BERG ✝. Besides that the week is uneventful. DP: Max Wilén.

1943-1997 ['43 – '97] (Ettore Scola, 1997)

Oct

16

1943

1943-1997 (1997)

The boy (Francesco Cencioni) on the run in a locked down town. DP: Carlo Tafani.

Könnyű testi sértés [Tight Quarters] (György Szomjas, 1983)

Oct

16

Könnyű testi sértés (1983)

Csaba (Károly Eperjes) and Miklós (Péter Andorai) in their reluctantly shared apartment. Every frame is claustrophobically filled with people, including the television. DP: Ferenc Grunwalsky.

La vérité [The Truth] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960)

Oct

15

1959

La vérité (1960)

Gilbert (Sami Frey) and Dominique (Brigitte Bardot). DP: Armand Thirard.

The day of the court case. Numerous other dates are mentioned, all in flashbacks.

– The Paris Court of Appeals, meeting on October 15, 1959, pursuant to the charges against Dominique Marceau.

– With a girl like that, truth may be the best defense for once.

狂った一頁 [Kurutta ichipėji / A Page of Madness] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)

Oct

14

silent cinema

Kurutta ichipėji (1926)

A masked inmate (Eiko Minami) dances. The shot of the dancer is superimposed over a shot of her cel's bars, putting the viewer in the position of the husband witnessing – or is he hallucinating – an inescapable nightmare (via). DP: Kōhei Sugiyama.

A [favourite] silent horror film*

 

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

駅​ [Eki / Station] (Yasuo Furuhata, 1981)

Oct

12

駅 (1981)

Eiji Mikami (Ken Takakura) and Kiriko (Chieko Baishō) watching TV in her quiet bar. She sings along with her favourite song. DP: Daisaku Kimura.

Set 278 days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics.

“One can meet only god at such hour.”

Le passager de la pluie [Rider on the Rain] (René Clément, 1970)

Oct

10

Le passager de la pluie (1970)

Mélancolie 'Mellie' Mau (Marlène Jobert) and Col. Harry Dobbs (Charles Bronson), dancing. DP: Andréas Winding.

– You expect me to eat that?

– Americans live on ketchup and milk. I'm a whiz at geography.