Absurd (1981 aka Rosso Sangue & Horrible) Dir: Joe D'Amato

Sequel to D'Amato's own infamous gore-fest Antropophagus, this is a film made infamous in it's own right as one of the 72 movies labelled with the term 'Video nasty' (as was Antropophagus) by that guardian of moral integrity, Mary Whitehouse, and successfully prosecuted by the DPP (Department of Public Prosecution) in the early 80's in the UK.
The law itself was the Video Recordings Act 1984, designed to protect the public (!) from obscene and gratuitous content on the newly available home video format, ultimately served only to garner notoriety for the titles listed.
The fucking idiots.

The plot:
A Greek Orthodox priest arrives in a small community and attracts the attention of the local police. Initially reluctant to reveal the nature of his visit, the priest is forced to show his hand when a series of grisly murders commences, the priest revealing that the culprit is a man who has the power of incredible strength and recovery, facilitated by a super-charged metabolism and the fact that his blood coagulates at an extraordinarily rapid rate so, even if shot, his wounds barely affect him.

In true slasher style, the focus here is on the chase, with the plot centreing by turns on the killer stalking his victims, dispatching them in amusingly violent and imaginative means, as well as on the police hunt for him.
Possessing a down and dirty, gritty atmosphere, this is elevated by the sumptuous score which is a perfect blend of Italian giallo stylings laced with the stripped down, terror-inducing monotony of John Carpenter's best musical offerings.
The controversy regarding the gore lies chiefly with the killers' chosen methods of slaying, primarily power tools - an electric screwdriver, an industrial scale jigsaw - as well as, less conventionally (pun intended), an oven used to roast someone's head like a jacket potato whilst they are still alive before plunging a pair of scissors into their neck.
Yum-yum.
Featuring a jaw-droppingly good final scene to pack a killer punch to match the insanely gory preceding 90 minutes or so, this is Italian schlock and then some.
Great horror.

4 out of 5

The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) Dir: Dario Argento

A particularly nasty late offering from Giallo master Dario Argento.
The plot:
Dario's daughter, Asia Argento, plays Detective Anna Manni, a homicide investigator hot on the heels of a serial killer leaving a trail of butchered, raped women across Italy.
Following the trail to Florence, Anna becomes afflicted by the mysterious Stendhal Syndrome whilst in a museum, a condition that causes disorientation and confusion when exposed to works of art. Apparently able now to step into paintings, Anna has herself been targeted by the serial killer and is led down an inexorable path towards confrontation with the cold blooded killer.
And pretty vicious it is, too.
Argento here appears to have eschewed his more artistic directorial flourishes for some proper, down and dirty, nasty gruel, the feel more akin to Lucio Fulci than his own previous works.
Another new touch is the camera following inanimate objects: pills being swallowed, bullets passing through flesh.
The plot itself is pretty standard, though pepped up with the surrealist addition of the paintings made real, and the really dark thought is that, during the prolonged, savage attack sequences, more often than not it's Argento's own daughter he is filming.
Though not quite of the same calibre as Tenebre, Phenomena or Opera, this is still a cut above most horror out there, and is a study in Argento's misogynistic view of the world.
Solid Italian horror, then.

The Church (1989) Dir: Michele Soavi

Written and produced by Dario Argento, with daughter Asia Argento in a prominent role, this is an Argento movie, right?
The plot:
It's medieval Germany, and a group known as the Teutonic Knights roam the countryside, laying siege to villages suspected of being hiding placed for witches. When a witch is discovered - identified as they have stigmata on their feet in the shape of a cross(!) - the Knights surround the village, kill all that reside therein before burying the bodies in a mass grave.
Foolishly, in one instance, they build a church over the burial site. The fools.
Skip forward to present day and, in Germany, the great Cathedral still stands. Unwittingly, a researcher breaks the seal that contains the vengeful spirits of the villagers, killed all those centuries ago, and their souls emerge, to wreak havoc on all those trapped within the church.
And it's creepy stuff, for sure.
Argento, though not on directorial duties, has his fingerprints all over this, with lashings of atmosphere and oodles of suspense.
Argento seems to have a preference for directing the Giallo stuff, and leaving his more overtly gory tales for others - Demons 1 and 2.
The movie also features a wonderfully evocative soundtrack from long time Argento collaborators Goblins, as well as Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame, and Phillip Glass, who would later go on to compose the chilling score for Candyman.
Originally planned as Demons 3 - and still called that in certain territories - this is perhaps not an important addition to the Italian horror genre, but is nevertheless an effective one.
Good stuff.

4 out of 5

Sleepless (2001) Dir: Dario Argento

Dario Argento remains on familiar territory for this Turin based serial killer thriller.
The plot:
When a serial killer begins operating in Turin, an ageing detective believes that it is the work of a killer who has lain dormant for some 17 years. With the help of a technologically savvy rookie, the sleep deprived detective must solve the case before any more victims surface.
And it's all pretty much as you were.
Argento is the undisputed master of Giallo, at least as far as Smell the Cult HQ is concerned, but this does feel a little like treading water. Everything you would expect to be in place is present and correct: fairly savage death-scenes, primarily of women; lip-synching that is just off by a fraction; a sinister, faceless killer; plenty of knives, lovingly shot.
Though never reaching the heights of his late-seventies, early eighties Giallo masterpieces (Tenebre, Phenomena et al) this is still a masterclass in directorial flair, evidence of the fact that, really, Argento hates horror and does everything in his power to distance himself from the crowd.
I said it felt like treading water?
Well, Argento on auto-pilot is still better than most of what's out there.
Solid Giallo.

4 out of 5

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) Dir: Dario Argento

Argento's understated stalker thriller is just a tad dull.
The plot: A musician living in Rome is a troubled man. Having killed a stalker a short while ago, now he finds himself the target of yet another stalker.
What a pisser.
Unable to go to the police for fear of criminal recriminations for the death at his own hands, he must attempt to deal with the mysterious menace alone.
And it's all a touch dreary.
The lead character of Robert is played in spectacularly drab manner by one Michael Brandon, never really engaging the viewer.
The plot, though standard giallo fare, feels tired and half-baked and never really convinces.
Coupled with the air of menace Argento is attempting to convey, he also chooses the odd moment of misplaced, misfiring comedy - a stereotypical homosexual character, played for laughs, weird one-liners lost in translation and the like - which doesn't work on any level, given that it simply drains away any tension and fails to amuse.
Though there are brief flashes of the brilliance to come from this director, with some lovely directorial flourishes - the lovingly shot knife blades, the head bouncing down the stairs, the close up of the eyes - this fails to deliver either in terms of intrigue or terror.
Still, Argento was merely developing his craft here and would later go on to produce some of the finest movies in horror's rich history.
A misfire, but a forgivable one.

3 out of 5