Well...anyhow...

Didn't make Shriekfest.

Still glad I entered.  Since simply entering, the lady who runs the festival, Denise Gossett, has sent me all sorts of information and help regarding distribution.  She is truly one who likes to help the horror community.

Off to my first day of school.  This is gonna be a fun, yet taxing semester.

Still praying for New Orleans Horror Film Festival (I'll know on the 15th) and Screamfest.

Later.
-Justin

Okay, my giallo loving peeps...

Shriekfest just announced that every screenplay semi-finalist should receive an email by Tuesday.  I am hoping and praying that Orchid makes the cut.  If y'all could send some good thoughts/vibes/voodoo my way, I'd appreciate it.

And the New Orleans Horror Film Festival will have their announcement on September 15.

Oh yeah.  Irene took out my power for a day.  We stayed in a hotel, and I got my own room.  Best $60 I've ever spent, even though there was no power in the hotel either.  But everything is fine now.  All powered up and now I don't have to take a cold shower to go to work today.

Hope everyone else was safe.

Later.
-Justin

Wish list...

So many gialli are getting either DVD or Blu Ray releases.  But there are still many that I feel are missing on each format.  Some gialli deserve the Blu Ray treatment, while some others simply need to be SEEN.

So, here's a short wish list of movies I feel need the Blu Ray treatment, and a list of movies I feel simply need a release...

Blu Ray:

Don't Torture a Duckling-My favorite Fulci film, one that got the shaft with the US DVD.  I wonder how the upcoming Shameless UK DVD will turn out.  Still, this one needs the high-def treatment.

Phenomena, Tenebrae, Opera, heck, every Dario film that doesn't have one-Yes, Arrow has released a bunch of Dario's work on Blu Ray in the UK, but I've heard they're absolute shit.  Much as I love Two Evil Eyes, how did that get the US Blu treatment before these?

Case of the Bloody Iris-I just love this film.  And I wanna see THAT SHOT in high def.  You know.  Edwige, naked, covered in flowers.

Black Belly of the Tarantula-A great film that seems to be overlooked.  For some reason, whenever I discuss gialli, it gets forgotten about.  Paolo Cavara should've done more gialli (Plot of Fear had its moments, too).

All the Colors of the Dark and Your Vice is a Locked Door and Only I Have the Key-Gialli with Edwige.  Need I say more?

Red Queen Kills Seven Times-More people talk about Emilio P. Miraglia's other giallo, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave.  But I prefer this one.  I'd gladly buy both if they came in a double Blu set, though.


DVD:

Death Occurred Last Night-I heard Raro Video USA was gonna release this.  But until it's available for order, it'll stay on my wish list.  I'll also add Bloodstained Butterfly, because the English subbed DVD is hard to find, and I inadvertently gave my dad my old VHS dub.

Love and Death in the Garden of the Gods-I wanna see this one SO bad.  Someone PLEASE subtitle it and make my life so much better.

The Cat in Heat, Casa Del Buon Ritorno, Casa Dell'Amore La Polizia Interviene-Same reason.  I wanna see it, but there are no English subs.  My Italian is limited to gialli titles and the Olive Garden menu.

The Police Grope Around in the Dark-A decent movie, with some cool ideas, one I think should be given some sort of release.

Maybe there should be some sort of Forgotten Gialli box set that lumps a bunch of lesser known ones into one big collection.


I'm sure there will be more that come to me.  But here's my list.

Later.
-Justin

Perche' Quelle Str

Still talking to me?

Sorry I didn't manage to pull off a full giallothon.

It just didn't happen.

Not gonna try again for a while, since school is starting up.

Still waiting to hear from the contests.  Dunno what's going on.

Okay.  Gonna start relaxing.  Early bedtime.  Stupid morning meeting.

Later.
-Justin

So...

it didn't go down...

Sorry. :(

Ah, well.  I did manage to watch some good movies that I've been meaning to watch.  So it's not a total waste.

Later.
-Justin

But not tonight...

Already 5:40 and no gialli.

No excuses.  Just haven't gotten to it.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have a day two.

Day One Roundup: Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, Qui?, and Puzzle

So...I finally managed to embark on day one of the giallothon.

Not too much of a marathon, per se, since I plan on around three movies a day.  But, hey, baby steps.  Right?

Draining the pool and deflating it took way less time than I expected.  So I ate and headed into my room.

I don't own a physical copy of Iguana with the Tongue of Fire.  Instead I have some sort of Instant Stream thingy from Amazon.com.  Paid $8 and I can't even watch it on my TV.  WTF?

So I pressed play and set the browser to Full Screen.

Some thoughts:

I don't think acid has that effect on human flesh.  The film makes it look like tempera paint drying and flaking on the girl's face.  That said, can you imagine if Fulci had done this movie?

I honestly didn't know what was going on half the time.  But Dagmar Lassander was in it.  Looking as nice as ever.

Stelvio Cipriani is woefully under-appreciated in terms of giallo scores.  From the pre-Goblin era, you almost only hear about Ennio Morricone's contributions to the genre.  And some Bruno Nicolai.  But Stelvio did some great stuff.  Don't believe me?  Look up the soundtrack to this bad boy.

The movie didn't pick up until the last 15 or so minutes.  Then it gave a great trashy fun finale.  But I don't remember the killer from earlier in the film.  Did my email pop up when he was on?

Then I took a little (long) nap.  Last night's Vicodin was still in effect.

Woke up, went to the store for dog food and markers, and grabbed some Arby's.  Melodramatic episode of Big Brother.  Back to business.

Movie #2 was "Qui?"

This one was in French, but the subs didn't automatically pop up.  So I miss the original conversation while reconfiguring my settings.  But Marina (Romy Schneider) insults her boyfriend, Claude.  He retaliates by freaking out behind the wheel and driving off the cliff into the sea.  Marina jumps out at the last moment, but Claude isn't found.

So she then hooks up with Claude's brother, Serge.  Literally within two days of him driving off a cliff she sleeps with the dude.  If I had a brother, and he committed suicide, I hope his GF was a total slut like this, too.

But is Claude even dead?  Did Marina kill him?  What's going on?

This one was actually quite fun.  Aided by Romy Schneider's sexiness (seriously.  I'd totally hit that), and a catchy pop tune (Whoooo Are You?...no, not by The Who), Qui? flew by at a brisk pace.  Definitely worth checking out.  And I want that revolver/music box.  If you've seen this film, you'd know what I am talking about.


Movie three was Puzzle, another one I'd been meaning to see for quite some time.  So after a quick pee, I jump right into it.

Puzzle opens with Peter, who is an amnesiac who cannot remember who he is after a car accident 8 months ago.

He is nearly killed by a man who refers to him as "Ted," but the man is killed himself by a sniper's bullet.

Through a series of events, Peter meets up with his estranged wife.  Now living as Ted, he is being pursued by all sorts of types who he was supposedly involved with, who he had double crossed for a million bucks.

This one was probably my favorite of the three today.  Involving throughout, well photographed and acted, with great music.

Seriously, I wish Duccio Tessari had made more gialli.  I'm a huge fan of his work (Death Occurred Last Night is probably my favorite new film I saw from last year's 30 day marathon).  All three of his gialli I have seen are truly quality works, and sadly under-noticed.  I heard somewhere Raro Video USA was releasing Death Occurred Last Night in the future.  If that's true, I'm half tempted to buy a case and give them away as gifts.  I'm that big a fan.

Okay.  Time to rest up.

Later.
-Justin

Guess who won...

Took half a Vicodin last night.  It actually had more of a knock-out effect on me than a whole Vicodin.

About to embark on the giallo journey after I eat.

Thinking about how I'll update.  If I post after each film, it'll be a lot of posts.  So maybe I'll do a day-end roundup.

Anyhow.  I'm hungry.  And I gotta empty out the fartknocker's inflatable pool and put it away.

Later.
-Justin

Tonight...?

Well, I did slate tonight for the start of the giallo-thon, with a viewing of Iguana with the Tongue of Fire.

If my gout flareup isn't requiring another Vicodin, that's still the plan.

Otherwise, tomorrow morning.

BTW, the transmission is gone on my car.  Anyone wanna start a Buy Justin a New Car fund?

Later.
-Justin