settima

horror

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (Richard Blackburn, 1973)

Jun

4

meat

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973)

A fancy looking silver plate with what appears to be raw meat. DP: Robert Caramico.

“Wouldn't you rather I did it out of love, than have one of those wood things do it out of their own animal hungers?”

– Lemora

The Last Man on Earth (Ubaldo Ragona + Sidney Salkow, 1964)

Jun

2

Republic Day – Italy

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) walking down the stairs of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (aka the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro aka the Colosseo Quadrato), with bodies scattered around him. DP: Franco Delli Colli.

Rome's EUR was Italy's site for the 1942 World's Fair, and meant as a showcase for #Mussolini's then-20 year old fascist state. Due to the outbreak of World War 2, EUR was never used for the Fair. Instead, the Italian Republic restored the project after the war and – quite appropriately if I may say so – turned it into a business district.

“Your new society sounds charming.”

– Dr. Robert Morgan

An idealised, hypermodern interpretation of Classical Roman architecture, EUR feels alien and inhumane and serves as a perfect backdrop for the events a last man on earth may come up against.

 

Besides in The Last Man on Earth, EUR makes an appearance in L'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962), Bertolucci's Il conformista (1970), Antonio Pietrangeli's Io la conoscevo bene (1965), and Peter Greenaway's The Belly of an Architect (1987).

Cuadecuc, vampir (Pere Portabella, 1971)

May

26

World Dracula Day

Cuadecuc, vampir (1971)

Lucy (Soledad Miranda) in bloody embrace with Dracula (Christopher Lee). DP: Manel Esteban.

A black forest. A man walks through, holding a smoke machine. Then a carriage with a familiar coachman. Dracula! Where are we? No, not 19th century #Transylvania. The film stock reveals bullet holes in ancient walls, and beyond these walls a ladder, maybe scaffolding. A pneumatic drill, more crew members, lights, a clapperboard. Are the characters aware of that? Them seem to interact with the disturbance yet oblige to the interruptions of the movie set. In a state of hypnopompia, guided by kuroko, maybe?

“cut”

Pere Portabella created a hyper-reality with his Cuadecuc, vampir. A director dismantles the man-behind-the-curtain, Franco, the other #Franco while setting up scaffolding for the next Spain. Everything's a reality, or an illusion, then nothing is.

薄面佬 [Mee Pok Man] (Eric Khoo, 1995)

May

24

National Caterers Appreciation Day

薄面佬 (1995)

Bunny (Michelle Goh) leaning on a small table littered with empty beer bottles. Mee Pok (Joe Ng) is to her left, holding a stack of dirty dishes. In the background, a large pile of noodle boxes leans against the restaurant wall. DP: Yoke Weng Ho.

At night, a small group of prostitutes frequent a local 面薄 / mee pok #restaurant. One of them, Bunny (Michelle Goh), caught the hawker's eye, but she's not interested in the “mee pok” (the “fish ball”, as they call the vendor) (Joe Ng) and besides she has a boyfriend. Then, a car crash. Bunny is left for dead in front of the eatery. He takes her in, preparing endless meals

Ansiktet [The Magician / The Face] (Ingmar Bergman, 1958)

May

22

love potion

Ansiktet (1958)

Coach driver Simson (Lars Ekborg) serving maid Sara (Bibi Andersson) a potion from a flask. DP: Gunnar Fischer.

– We're out of love potion. What now?

– Take this one, for colic and bunions. What matters is how the bottle looks and how the potion tastes.

Malpertuis (Harry Kümel, 1971)

May

12

meat

Malpertuis (1971)

Cassavius (Orson Welles), looking monstrous on his sickbed, surrounded by peopel who appear to be in mourning. On his bed's foot-end a large silver platter with cooked meat, and a rat on its hind legs. DP: Gerry Fisher.

Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

Apr

30

Hairstyle Appreciation Day

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

A promotional photo for Rosemary's Baby. Sassoon cuts Farrow's hair while she looks intensely in an offscreen mirror. Around them, several pressmen with recording equipment are visible. DP: William A. Fraker.

Wild with today's eyes, it is not. Yet Rosemary's “very in” Vidal Sassoon #PixieCut was a shocking affair in 68. Director Roman #Polanski flew in Vidal Sassoon – the world's hottest hairdresser – all the way from London, to cut Mia Farrow's hair in a boxing-ring-turned-pressroom. All of a sudden, in her lunch break, Mia/Rosemary transformed from timid waif to women's lib.

“It's by Vidal Sassoon. It's very in.”

– Rosemary Woodhouse

Both the lady's movie husband Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) and real-world husband Frank Sinatra were incensed by the bold move. Of course, in Rosemary's Baby the haircut is Rosemary's attempt to make sense of the changing world around her. Moving to a new city, an unexpected pregnancy, all those lovely new neighbours to socialise with… a girl needs to feel in control!

O Território [The Territory] (Raúl Ruiz, 1981)

Apr

2

Nature Day

The Territory (1981)

A man and woman, plus a little girl perched on the man's shoulders, hike through an illusory landscape. DP: Henri Alekan.

Two American families, adults and their children, go on a #HikingTrip somewhere in the south of France. They find themselves increasingly lost, not only in #nature but also in and among themselves.

 

Supposedly based on a real troublesome event and riddled with much filmmaking adversity, O Território nearly stranded as much as the hikers did. In support, #WimWenders used the same cast for his Der Stand der Dinge (1982), about a film crew's attempt to remake #RogerCorman's Day the World Ended (1955).

 

In a wonderful, unscripted circular way, Corman was one of the executive producers of Ruiz's film.

Red & Rosy (Frank Grow, 1989)

Apr

1

National Handmade Day

Red & Rosy (1989)

Big Red (Rico Martinez) high on adrenaline. DPs: Frank Grow, Ralph Hawkins & Rico Martinez.

All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl. Or a girl with a glue gun. Or skip the girl, get yourself a piece of cardboard, some foam latex, and a six pack of beer. Frank Grow's Red & Rosy is the embodiment of a special staple of #DIY culture that appears to be long-lost. Really kids, you don't need much of a budget. Or tomorrows latest equipment. The hottest Hollywood hotshot? Forget about it, ask your drunk uncle to yell at the camera for 10 minutes. You want authenticity? Tape some random medical footage straight from your teevee. Need a shot of adrenal juice?

 

Well, just watch this.

The Damned [These Are the Damned] (Joseph Losey, 1962)

Mar

19

National Automatic Door Day

The Damned (1962)

An 11-year old boy, Henry (Kit Williams), opens a featureless door in a rock surface for a drenched King (Oliver Reed). DP: Arthur Grant.

An American tourist visiting Dorset is tricked by a prostitute, then falls victim to a youth gang controlled by volatile con King – a still very green Oliver Reed at his meanest. The trickster is King's sister, who confides in the American hoping to escape her brother's incestuous advances.

“I'm strange, all right! I'll show you just how strange I am!”

– King

The couple elopes to a nearby island, closely followed by King and his gang, where they find a group of #children, all contently living in an underground lab, with #AutomaticDoors only they can control.

 

They are the damned.