Screening Night : Its all about posession.

A filmmaker who doesn’t know films is like a writer who doesn’t own a thesaurus.

The regular program of screening nights at IFSS is designed to immerse students in a broad appreciation of cinema and extend their comprehension of cinema language, history, contexts and styles.

Each screening night will explore a specific theme and present a double or triple bill of films that both relate and contextualize the historical, cultural, artistic and social ideas from which the film stems.

Below are the notes from the first screening -

31 Oct 2008: IT’S ALL ABOUT POSSESSION –

How the locus of horror got closer to who we are. From the Family to the Church to the Cinema.

Spider Baby

60s – The family – Psycho, Addams Family, Munsters.

Alucarda

70s – Church – Exorcist, God Told Me To, Lisa and the Devil. Don’t Torture a Duckling. Omen, Witchfinder General, Wicker Man.

Demoni

80s – The Cinema. It was sitting next to you. It’s sitting in you. Nightmare on Elm Street. Popcorn. Last Horror Movie.

This led to the 90s Post Modernism in Hollywood Horror with Scream.

Beyond that and into the new Millennium with Torture Porn and Saw where the characters mutilated ourselves without the help of possession.

PLUS – The equation is that American 60’s Genre combined with Mexican 70s histrionics creates 80s Italian horror with genre and histrionics.

Spider Baby 1964

(held over to 1968 because of bankruptcy)

Other titles include:

• Spider Baby

• Or the Maddest Story Ever Told

• Or Cannibal Orgy

• Or The Liver Eaters

Written and Directed by Jack Hill

The lead – Jill Banner lied about her age to be in film

She died in 82 – hit by truck while driving. Truck driver was drunk. She went through the windscreen and hit the centre cement pylon. At the time of death, Banner was Brando’s muse

Lon Chaney Jnr – Son of great silent star and man of a thousand faces – Lon Caney Snr – London after Midnight/Jekyll and Hyde and Phantom of Opera. Was the Orignal Wolfman

Spider Baby was a film he did in the twilight of his career and he also sung the theme tune.

Sid Haig. Star of 70s explotation (Jack Hill movies) and went onto fame in Rob Zombie Movies House of 1000 corpses. Devil’s Rejects.

Quinn Redeker co-wrote the Deer Hunter. TV soap Actor.

Music by Ronald Stein – influenced Danny Elfman – prolific and Stravinsky inspired

There is detailed Background info on Spider Baby at Wikipedia

and also from the journal ‘Images’

Alucarda 1978

Directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma

Moctezuma formed the Theatre of Panic movement with Chilean writer/director Alexandro Jodorosky.

Moctezuma produced two Jodorsky films Fando and Lys and El Topo

He also directed Mansion of the Gods also starring Claudio Brook –

(Claudio Brook was the Mexican Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee.)

Moctezuma died 1985 – Heart Attack.

The Original story has allusions to Dracula and Alucarda is nearly Dracula backwards. The allusions are also present in the mention of Luct Westerna in the beginning of the film. Also the Van Helsing-like doctor who is trying to reconcile science and the fantastique.

Another Literary influence is Irish author’s Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla.

This text has been adapted many times including such titles as

Carmilla –

Blood and Roses

Crypt of the Vampire

Vampire Lovers

Lust for Vampires

Blood Castle

Carmilla the Vampire Lesbian.

The film is part of the Nunsplotation sub bracket – Lesbianism, nudity, Lust, love and challenge to authority. Ken Russell’s The Devils based on the Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley.

Tina Romero and Susanna Komini – has moderate careers as actors in Mexican.

Another Historical allusion is the Bathroy myth.

In the film Justine is fund bathing in blood in her coffin. Like the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathroy – who in the 16^th Century bathed in blood of virgins to keep her young.

This myth has been a staple of Euro Horror from I Vampyri to Captain Kronos Vampire Killer to Hostel 2.

With Vlad the Impaler Bathroy is said to the be the inspiration of Count Dracula.

The design of the film is unique. Organic as if Nature or paganism is constantly creeping and invading.

The Convent is growing out of the earth – invades – nature invades.

Synopsis info is available on The Terror Trap

DEMONS 1985 (Or Demoni)

Lamberto Bava – son of Mario Bava.

Lamberto was assistant director to his father since Kill Baby Kill.

He even worked with his father on Planet of the Vampires or Terror in Space or Terrore Nello Spazio

Mario Bava was the son of sculptor. He was a DOP – took over from Freda on I Vampyri – the film that arguably restarted the European horror movement.

Lamberto also worked with Pupi Avati (House of Laughing Windows) on his first film as director – Macbro in 1980.

Lamberto worked with his father and Dario Argento on Inferno and Tenebrea where he pitched Demoni.

Argento went for it and was Producer and Co-writer on Demoni.

This was Lamberto’s break through film. Shot in West Berlin before the wall came down.

He’s never quite had the same success.

The cinema is actually still standing – it’s a club called the Goya

First AD/second Unit director and man in the mask and boy in the horror film on the film is Michele Soavi. Soavi is the latest generation of Italian Horror makers. Soavi made Cemetery Man (Dellamorte, Dellamore) Based on famous Italian comic by Fumitti writer who created Dylan Dog

There have been two sequels. One directed by Bava and one by Soavi (The Church (Demons 3))

Actors:
Urbano Barbarini was in Argento’s Opera and recently in Casino Royalo as Tomini

Natasha Hovey was born in Buruit Lebanon – not a great horror career.

Interesting cast members are Nicoletta Elmi – who’s the Usher in the film. She was famous face in Italian horror as the red haired evil child or the innocence in landmark horror like Twitch of the Death Nerve, Who Saw her die (Dr: Aldo Lado) and Profundo Russo (Deep Red)

Fiore Argento – Dario’s eldest – Older half sister of Asia is also in the film.

Finally, Stello Candeli was also in Terrore Nella Spazio – it’s a coincidence as father and son cast same actor without knowing.

Good Background on Demoni is available at the movie’s Wikipedia entry