Today’s horror on the lens is 1987’s The Curse!
This slice of rural horror is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s The Colour From Outer Space and, somewhat oddly, it was produced by Lucio Fulci. The Curse, in this case, is a meteorite the lands near a farm and poisons all the crops. Mayhem follows.
Seriously, country livin’ sucks. That’s why I’m glad to live in the suburbs, away from all the aliens and the poisoned meteorites.
This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 Shots From 4 Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.
Today, we close out the 70s!
4 Shots From 4 Films
Suspiria (1977, dir by Dario Argento)
Dawn of the Dead (1978, dir by George Romero)
Halloween (1978, dir by John Carpenter)
Zombi 2 (1979, dir by Lucio Fulci)
You know what?
I may have shared this before.
But you know what … I have had an incredibly long day so I’m just going to share it again. This is from the 1960 film, The Vampire and the Ballerina.
Enjoy!
And, just because I love you, here’s an extra bonus dance scene from Lucio Fulci’s 1984 film Murderrock!
20 years ago today, the great Italian director Lucio Fulci passed away in Rome. In the years following his death, Fulci has somehow managed to be both one of the most influential and one of the most underappreciated directors of all time. This edition of 4 Shots From 4 Films is dedicated to Fulci’s memory and his legacy.
(We’ve dedicated two editions of 4 Shots From 4 Films to Fulci in the past. Take a look at them here and here. Fortunately, Fulci was one of the most visually inventive directors of all time. Even the lesser, low-budget films that he made towards the end of his career can be counted on to offer up at least one memorably surreal shot.)
4 Shots From 4 Films
Perversion Story (1969, dir by Lucio Fulci)
Zombi 2 (1969, dir by Lucio Fulci)
The Beyond (1981, dir by Lucio Fulci)
The New York Ripper (1982, dir by Lucio Fulci)
As many of you Dear Readers know by now, classic horror has always been my favorite genre. From the Universal Monsters to Bug-Eyed Aliens to Freddie Krueger and friends (fiends?), a good scary movie is a good time! Even a bad scary movie can be fun, if I’m in the right mood. So here are six (count ’em), yes six horror films I’ve recently watched, with some great horror actors and directors at their best (and worst!):
MIRACLES FOR SALE
(MGM 1939, D: Tod Browning)
The first great horror director, Browning teamed with Lon Chaney Sr. in the silent era to shock audiences with films like LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT and THE UNHOLY THREE. He kicked off the Golden Age of Sound Horror with DRACULA, followed by the controversial FREAKS. MIRACLES FOR SALE was his last film, and while it’s more of a locked-room mystery, it’s loaded with those bizarre Browning…
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Last night, as I was trying to write up my annual list of the good things that I saw on TV during the previous year, I realized that I was struggling a bit to come up with enough entries to justify doing a list. The more I thought about it, the more apparent it became that I watched a lot less TV than usual last year.
(Though I did manage to watch a lot of Lifetime movies…)
Furthermore, when I do think about what I saw on television last year, a lot of my memories deal with being annoyed. I find myself fixating on those terrible Liberty Mutual Insurance Commercials and that stupid advertisement where they wouldn’t stop saying, “The Tobin Stance…” and especially that Taco Bell commercial with those horrible hipsters, Mary and Dominic, talking about how much they love breakfast tacos.
BLEH!
But, that said, there were still a few things worth praising! (Hope is never totally lost…) And here they are in no particular order:
1) South Park Had One Of Its Greatest Seasons Ever!
Seriously, 2015 saw South Park have one of its greatest seasons ever. Trey and Matt took on the excesses of PC Culture and ended up providing one of the most important and incisive critiques of 21st Century America ever. At a time when political and cultural criticism is growing increasingly dreary and predictable, South Park delivered a much-needed jolt to the system and reminded of us why satire and humor are so important in the first place. Perhaps the best part of this season was watching dreary PC-obsessed critics desperately trying to figure out how to praise this season without acknowledging that they were the ones being satirized.
2) UnReal
One of the best shows on television premiered on the Lifetime network. UnReal took us behind the scenes of a Bachelor-type series and provided the ultimate take down of reality television. I love reality TV but I loved UnReal even more.
3) Ash vs. Evil Dead
Save us, Groovy Bruce!
4) Agent Carter
Agent Carter didn’t get as much attention as it deserved during its 8-episode short season. I loved the show’s retro look, I loved the way it satirized 40s style sexism, I loved the dashing Dominic Cooper as Iron Man’s father, and most of all, I loved Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter! The overrated Supergirl has been getting a lot of attention as an empowering comic book show but honestly, Agent Carter did it first, did it with style and wit, and did it a 100 times better.
5) Show Me A Hero
At times, this HBO miniseries was a bit too heavy-handed for my taste. But overall, it was a fascinating look at municipal politics and racism up north. (Yes, there are racists up north, as much as people refuse to admit it.) Plus, Oscar Isaac gave a great performance as an initially idealistic politician who is literally destroyed by his attempt to do the right thing.
6) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
HBO pretty much fell apart this year (The Brink? Ballers?) but, fortunately, Netflix was there to offer up some of the best original programming of the year. Kimmy Schmidt is brilliantly hilarious and gives Elle Kemper a role that is finally worthy of her talents.
7) Jessica Jones
Again, who needs Supergirl when you’ve got Jessica Jones?
8) Glenn lived on The Walking Dead!
Actually, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. To be honest, having Glenn survive that zombie attack totally goes against everything that The Walking Dead previously stood for. After all, this was the show where anyone could die. It didn’t matter if you were likable or popular or if the sight of you being ripped into pieces would traumatize the viewers. Under the previously established rules of the show, Glenn should have died. And yet, he didn’t. And I can’t complain because, seriously — was anyone really ready to see Glenn die? That said, if Glenn somehow escapes certain death a second time, it’ll be a problem.
9) Degrassi Was Picked Up By Netflix!
Oh my God, I was so upset when I heard that my beloved Degrassi would no longer be airing on TeenNick. I’ve always said that the day when there were no more episodes of Degrassi would be the day that I would finally have to admit to being an adult. Fortunately, Netflix picked up Degrassi so I got to put off adulthood for at least another year.
10) More Old People TV Networks
I’m a history nerd so I love all of these TV networks that only show reruns of old people TV shows. I may never get to personally experience what it was like to be alive in the 1970s but I can a rerun on an Old People TV Network and get a taste. And happily, it seems like there’s a new Old People TV network every day! Seriously, I’m getting quite an education.
11) Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci on TCM
Last year, they showed both Shock and The House By The Cemetery on TCM! Finally, Bava and Fulci are getting the respect they deserve. Now, if only TCM would show a Jean Rollin film…
12) Speaking of TCM…
Actually, I just love TCM in general. It’s without a doubt the greatest thing in the world!
13) Debate Counter-Programming
Seriously, I am so happy that there is always something else for me to watch while everyone else in the world is watching a Presidential debate. My main fear is that, in the future, all of the networks will decide to simultaneously air the debates (like they occasionally do with charity fund raisers) and there will be no escape from the droning emptiness of it all.
(Seriously, I could imagine them doing it. “These debates are damn important…” Whatever.)
14) One of my tweets appeared on TV!
Seriously that was pretty neat, even if I did turn out to be 100% incorrect in my prediction.
15) I trashed The Leisure Class and sent at least one troll into a rage spiral!
Seriously, never underestimate how much some people love the unlovable! My oddly controversial review of the Project Greenlight film really rubbed some people the wrong way. That some people felt so strongly about it is both alarming and amusing.
16) Dancing Sharks at The Super Bowl!
That was in 2015, wasn’t it?
Dance, Shark, dance!
Tomorrow, I’ll continue my look back at 2015 with my ten favorite non-fiction books of the year!
Previous Entries In The Best of 2015:
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
Happy birthday to the wonderful and iconic actress, Barbara Steele!
4 Shots From 4 Films
Black Sunday (1960, dir by Mario Bava)
8 1/2 (1963, dir by Federico Fellini)
I maniaci (1964, dir by Lucio Fulci)
Caged Heat (1974, dir by Jonathan Demme)
Before The Hunger Games…
Before The Purge…
There was…oh wait, does this sound familiar? Did you just read those two lines and get hit by a sudden feeling of déjà vu? Well, that might be because I used those exact same lines to start my review of the 1965 Italian sci-fi film, The Tenth Victim.
They’re still applicable for this review though. In many ways, the 1984 film Warriors of the Year 2072 (a.k.a. The New Gladiators) is a loose remake of The Tenth Victim. (I imagine some critics would say it’s more of a rip-off than a remake. What you label it will probably depend on how much tolerance you have for Italian exploitation films in general.) Of course, Warriors of the Year 2072 draws inspiration from more than just The Tenth Victim. A Clockwork Orange, Escape From New York, the Mad Max films, Blade Runner; bits and pieces from all of them show up here.
Even if you didn’t already know it, you might be able to guess that this film was directed by Lucio Fulci. The film features Fulci regulars Al Cliver (of Zombi 2 fame) and Howard Ross (of New York Ripper fame) in supporting roles. Cinzia Monreale, who had her throat ripped apart in Fulci’s The Beyond, appears in a cameo in which she again has her throat ripped apart. (Actually, she just hallucinates having her throat ripped apart and is seen alive afterward, as if Fulci himself is saying, “See, it’s all just film trickery. Nobody really gets hurt in my movies.”) Finally, and most obviously, a character graphically loses an eye. It’s simply not a Fulci film without some sort of graphic ocular trauma.
The film also features a theme that would show up in a lot of Fulci’s post-New York Ripper works. Warriors of the Year 2072 is about the role of violent entertainment in both maintaining and destroying society. Which is not to say that the film really has that much to say about it. Thematically, Warriors of the Year 2072 is all surface level but those themes are still present.
As for the film itself, it takes place in the year 2072, so at least the title is being honest with us. The world is now run by competing television networks. The American television network has the highest rated show: Kill Bike, in which men on motorcycles battle to the death. Cortez (Claudio Cassinelli), the program director for Rome-based WBS-TV, is ordered by the station’s owner, the mysterious Sam, to come up with a program that will be more popular than Kill Bike. At first, Cortez tries to put on a show called The Danger Game, where people are forced to hallucinate dying in violent ways. When that show fails to beat Kill Bike, Cortez decided to just rip-off Kill Bike…
And let’s just stop a moment to point out the obvious. Neither The Danger Game nor Kill Bike would feel at all out-of-place on television today. Remember Fear Factor? How different is The Danger Game from that old show?
Anyway, Cortez’s new show is basically Kill Bike with a twist. The motorcycle combat will now take place in the Roman coliseum and the contestants will all be convicted murderers awaiting execution. Fortunately, the very popular star of Kill Bike — Drake (Jared Martin) — has recently been convicted of murder! It’s convenient how that worked out…
As we discover through the magic of slow motion flashbacks, Drake was returning home one night when he discovered that his wife had been murdered by three young men who all appeared to be doing a bad impersonation of Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. The three men were then murdered and Drake was convicted. However, Drake insists that he’s innocent and, even when confronted by laughing hallucinations of the three men, he refuses to attack them.
Could it be that someone is framing Drake? Of course! But why…
Well, before we find out the answer to that, we watch as Drake is brought to the coliseum and is trained in gladiatorial battle. He immediately makes an enemy out of the head guard, the sadistic Raven (Howard Ross, who is hilariously over-the-top). He also bonds with the other gladiators, one of whom is named Abdul. Abdul is played by Fred Williamson, largely because it’s not a mid-80s Italian sci-fi dystopia without Fred Williamson.
Warriors of The Year 2072 cannot compare to Fulci at his best. This is no Zombi 2 or The House By The Cemetery. At the same time, it’s definitely better than most of the films that Fulci made after The New York Ripper. Fulci was a supreme stylist and, as a result, Warriors of the Year 2072 is always watchable. Even when you don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on, you still can’t quite bring yourself to look away. Yes, the special effects are nothing special. And yes, it’s obvious that futuristic Rome was just a miniature set. But the cheapness of the film gives it an odd charm. It’s the cheapest future imaginable and somehow, it actually feels appropriate. Why do we always assume the future will be sleek and shiny? Maybe it’ll look like cardboard, like in Warriors Of The Year 2072!
Warriors of the Year 2072 is a campy, frequently silly, and oddly entertaining look at the future of the human race. If you’re a Fulci fan or a lover of Italian exploitation cinema, track it down.
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
4 Shots From 4 Films
The City of The Living Dead (1980, directed by Lucio Fulci)
The Beyond (1981, dir by Lucio Fulci)
The House By The Cemetery (1981, directed by Lucio Fulci)
Manhattan Baby (1982, dir by Lucio Fulci)
Lucio Fulci (1927 — 1996)
Yesterday, I was excited to see Arleigh launch a new feature here at the site. With 4 Shots From 4 Films, the TSL contributors will be sharing favorite shorts from some of their favorite scenes. As opposed to doing our usual review or recap, this feature will let the image do the talking. Hopefully, some readers will be inspired to track down and watch, if they haven’t already, some of the films that we end up featuring.
At the very least, it’s a great way for us all to express our love for the cinematic art form.
Yesterday was also the birthday of the late, great Lucio Fulci. My first entry in 4 Shots From 4 Films highlights some of the maestro‘s finest work.
The City of the Living Dead (1980)
The Beyond (1981)
The House By The Cemetery (1981)
Murder Rock (1984)
Through the Shattered Lens 