How can you make the star of Dr. Satan even better the second time around? Well, you can make him closer to Danger: Diabolik to start. And then, you can put him up against a vampiric black magician from China named Yei Lin (Noe Murayama, the son of a Japanese dentist who moved to Mexico and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps). Oh yeah. You can also have Satan himself show up.
Dr. Satan starts this one off by killing two women, Medusa and Erata, then damning their souls to Hell by asking them to serve him and sleep alongside him in coffins. Of course they say yes.
This movie series didn’t just go from black and white to color. It leaped there, blasting your eyes with neon tones that Mario Bava would tell them to mute a little. It’s like Hammer meets pop art meets, well, Mexican horror films.
Bad guys that turn into bats and get mad when tea cermonies are ruined and when they bite into zombie women? Labs full of boiling flasks and more smoke than a Sleep concert? Satan himself cutting promos? This movie is everything you ever wanted and more. Who says it has to make sense?
This Antonio Margheriti-directed and Mario Bava-penned giallo started out as Cry Nightmare . . . then became Nude . . . si muore, aka Naked . . . You Die. Then there’s The Young, the Evil, and the Savage (which stinks; sounds like a Rock Hudson jungle-romance flick). Then, when it hit the U.S. market and got some chops to the celluloid, it became Nude, She Dies, and the really sleazy and offensive, Schoolgirl Killer (but it’s not as sleazy as the title implies).
Antonio Margheriti did it all: Biblical Sand & Sandal flicks, horror flicks (Castle of Blood and The Long Hair of Death), Clint Eastwood western rips, James Bond rips (Lightning Bolt), Charles Bronson bad-ass cop rips (Death Rage), Indiana Jones rips (The Ark of the Sun God), and space opera rips (Yor, the Hunter from the Future). He even ripped off George Romero with Cannibal Apocalypse. And he did giallo flicks: this, Web of the Spider, and Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye.
This whatever-title-you-want-to-use “who done it” wastes no time in breaking out the black-gloved killer with a POV strangulation of a woman in a bubble bath—and those hands stuff her body in a large trunk for disposal. But, through a series of circumstances, the trunk ends up at St. Hilda’s College (thus, the Schoolgirl Killer moniker), an exclusive and remote (these schools, clinics, chateaus, etc. must be remote) finishing school. Closed down for the holidays, seven girls (the favored number of giallo films) remain; one stumbles into the killer in the school’s basement when he attempts to retrieve the trunk.
When Michael Rennie’s (The Day the Earth Stood Still) Inspector Durand shows up to investigate this “disappearance,” the suspicions and accusations fly among the students, staff and teachers—e.g., the ubiquitous creepy gardener, the horny swim instructor, Mrs. Clay, the new French summer school teacher, a nutty professor who collects birds (all giallo flicks must even the slightest animal angle), and the always-ready-to-hop-in-the-sack hot teacher played by Mark Damon of Hannah, Queen of the Vampires.
You can watch the Nude, She Dies version of the trailer on You Tube.
If you want this on DVD, it’s readily available, but caveat those run times: you want the Italian version which runs at 98 minutes.
You can watch the full movie for free on You Tube.
About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook. He also writes for B&S About Movies.
Probably shot around the same time as The Devil’s Man, Superargo and the Faceless Giants is considered an inferior sequel to Superargo Versus Diabolicus, which while ridiculous is also a lot of fun. It’s hard to classify these movies — are they wrestling movies? Superhero films? Eurospy? Complete messes?
This is the kind of movie I watch in the middle of the night and Becca is awake for some of it. She’ll tell me in the morning, “Whatever you were watching while I was asleep? It was horrible. Just horrible.”
Ken Wood — one time double of Steve Reeves and known in Italy by his real name Giovanni Cianfriglia — plays Superargo, a superheroic masked wrestler. He goes up against Professor Wendland Wond, who is played by Guy Madison in a rare villain role.
Diana Lorys (Agent 36-22-36 from Operation Thunderbolt) and Sergio Leone henchman Aldo Sambrell are also on hand. He’s playing an Eastern mystic named Kamir who is Superargo’s sidekick.
The plot here is that the world’s greatest athletes are being brainwashed to rob banks. What a strange scheme, when obviously there have to be better bank robbers already trained and ready to do these things.
You have some choices when you choose to watch this. Amazon Prime has the original film and the Rifftrax version. I’d go for the latter just so you can make it through this movie.
Look at that junky VHS cover, pushing Dennis Hopper as the star of this film while he barely has a role in it. Oh Amazon Prime, you got me again.
This would be a better description: National Bureau of Investigation agents investigate the mysterious death of a nuclear scientist and soon learn that a group plans to set off a nuclear explosion in Los Angeles. Boredom ensues.
This was made by Eddie Davis, who eventually went to Australia and remade the noir movie D.O.A. as Color Me Dead.
Linda Cristal, who was in The Dead Don’t Die is the other reason that I watched this. Nehemiah Persoff, who is also in Psychic Killer, would go on to voice Papa Mousekewitz in the An American Tail movies. And hey! George Barrows is in this. Who is that? Why Ro-Man the Robot Monster!
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I can’t lie. This is probably my favorite Eurospy movie of all time, if not one of my favorite films ever. It was one of the first movies that we featured on the site, all the way back on July 12, 2017. I consider it the best comic book movie ever made — nothing else comes close. This movie is everything.
The late 60s pop art/spy fad produced some of my favorite films ever. Sure, they’re very much of their time, but they’re also rich with ideas, sumptuous design and color and great looking men and women risking life and limb to protect (or steal from) the world. From Batman to James Bond to Matt Helm, In Like Flint and Barbarella, there’s a lot to choose from. But for my money, there’s no better choice than Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik.
Based on the Italian comic series Diabolik by Angela and Luciana Giussani, this is the tale of a master criminal and thief who confounds the police and the mob at every turn. Along with his girlfriend Eva Kant, they travel the world to try and steal the biggest jewels and treasures.
The original production of this film was — charitably — a mess. Producer Dino De Laurentiis saw the footage that had been already been shot and canceled the film to hire a new director, cast and screenplay. After all, Diabolik was a huge character in his native Italy and there was tons of buzz about the film. Bava was hired to direct with a much lower budget, with any of the more well-known actors taking small roles. Some of the cast and crew came directly from Barbarella, as the film had stalled due to technical issues.
Bava brought along editor Romana Fortini and cinematographer Antonio Rinaldi, who also had success with him on Planet of the Vampires and Kill, Baby, Kill.
Sets were designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who worked with a veritable who’s who of directors — Fellini, Spielberg, Pasolini, Argento, Paul Morrissey, Ridley Scott and so many more. Just a brief overview of his career is awe-inspiring, with everything from the two Andy Warhol horror films to the special effects that nearly landed Lucio Fulci in jail (the dog mutilation scenes were thought to be real) for A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin and Oscars for Alien, E.T. and King Kong.
This is a film of pedigree — with no less a talent than Ennio Morricone providing the soundtrack. From comedy work for films like La Cage aux Folles and Pedro Almodóvar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! to Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, Argento’s giallo work, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven, evenButterfly, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Red Sonja and the string section on Morrissey’s song “Dear God Please Help Me” — you’re talking about one of the finest and most diverse sonic artists there is. His score for Danger: Diabolik is playful and will stay in your head for a long time. I often find myself singing it to myself, pretending that I could be a famous thief. Then I realize I have no coordination at all.
The film looks like nothing else — pop art colors, strange sets (no accident, the sets were recycled from the currently in hiatus Barbarella), strong leads and outlandish action. I prefer it to Vadim’s take on comics, but obviously, I’m always going to choose Bava over almost any other director.
Throughout the film, John Phillip Law shines as Diabolik, much more than he would get the chance to as the angel Pygar in the ad nauseam aforementioned Barbarella(I love the film, but it’s a mess that just barely holds together and cannot hold a candle to this work of genius and art). He does so much in the film with just his eyes and laugh. Marisa Mell is the most stylish and sexy woman ever as Eva Kant, whether she’s setting up a crime or rolling around nude on a giant circular bed of money. If you think the Austin Powers movies have ridiculous set pieces, you haven’t seen anything yet. In fact, between this film and the Dr. Goldfoot films, Mike Myers owes the Bava estate some serious money.
Diabolik cheats death throughout, even faking his demise via a technique taught to him by Tibetan monks (no need for Derek Flint’s heart restarting wristwatch here!) and being ejected out of a plane. It’s almost like an old movie serial — with case after case, set up after set up and death trap after death trap. It’s also a ton of fun. Plus, there’s a quick Terry-Thomas cameo as the Minister of Finance that makes me smile every time I watch this.
The film was initially seen as a failure, with a poor box office showing and critical disdain. In the 90s, the Beastie Boys used clips of the film for their song “Body Movin'” and the last episode of the original Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed on the film. It deserved much better. And thanks to critics finally recognizing the skill of Bava, it gradually has been seen in a whole new light (the breakdown of how the film works so well as a comic translation by Stephen Bissette is worth a watch on the now out of print DVD). And Bava made this film for around $400,000 — well under the budget of (again, I have to mention it) Barbarella.
I can’t see it as anything other than a success. A film that’s all style, with a flashy couple that steals things because — hey, why not? — and battles the mob and the police because — hey, why not? I’ve seen reports that De Laurentiis had budgeted $3 million for this and Bava came in so low, he was offered the chance to do a sequel (this kinda conflicts with other reports that Dino was unhappy with the returns). Bava didn’t want to work with Dino again, even when offered the chance to work on King Kong.
Just watch a few minutes of the film and you’ll realize there has never been anything before or since like it. It’s probably my favorite comic book movie ever — the closest a movie will ever get to simulating the reading experience without slavishly copying panels ala Sin City.
This is finally getting a true release from Shout! Factory after being out of print for so long. I’m going to have to retire my battered bootleg copy of this after years of watching it over and over and, well, over again. Deep deep down indeed.
Directed by Phil Carlson (Walking Tall, Ben), the last of the Matt Helm movies dispenses with screenwriter Herbert Baker, James Gregory as MacDonald and Beverly Adams as Lovey Kravesit.
Thanks to Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood, this is probably the best known of the four Matt Helm movies (not to mention the Tony Franciosa-starring TV series).
Matt Helm is assigned by ICE to bring down Count Contini (Nigel Green, Countess Dracula), who is trying to Auric Goldfinger the world economu. Matt’s assistant is now Freya Carlson (Sharon Tate), a gorgeous but goofball Danish tourism bureau agent.
Elke Sommer (Baron Blood, Lisa and the Devil) and Nancy Kwan (Wonder Women) play the women out to kill Matt. It turns out that Freya is actually a deadly British agent who, of course, ends up in Matt’s bed. It’s kind of funny that Sommer and Green play pretty much the exact characters as they did in Deadlier then the Male.
Matt’s boss is played by John Larch (Bad Ronald, The Amityville Horror) this time and Tina Louise — Ginger Grant herself! — also makes an appearance.
While The Ravagers was revealed as the next Matt Helm movie in the credits, it was not to be. Martin had no interest in returning after the death of Sharon Tate. So when he refused to make the film, Columbia held up his share of the profits on the second Matt Helm film, Murderers’ Row. As we learned from Airport, Dean was about to be rich and no longer care. Man, I wish the proposed Martin and Sinatra double bill of Matt Helm Meets Tony Rome had been made.
This movie is packed with pro wrestlers and karate experts. That makes sense, as Bruce Lee was the karate advisor for the film. Some examples include:
Karate champion Mike Stone was Dean Martin’s fight double. You may know him better as Elvis’ karate instructor who ran away with his wife Priscilla.
Prince Wilhelm von Homburg, who is perhaps better known as Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II.
Pepper Martin, a pro wrestler who was friends with Woody Strode; he also appears in the 1981s slasher Scream.
Boxer, stuntman and friend of Henry Miller, Joe Gray.
Joe Lewis, considered the best American karate fighter in the 1970’s.
Ed Parker, founder of American Kenpo karate.
And in his first movie ever, Chuck Norris.
I’m sad to see the Matt Helm movies end. Hollywood has been discussing remaking them, but I’ll always have my four DVD box set to go back to.
Welcome to the Greek James Bond. Written and directed by Gregg Tallas, who was also the man behind Espionage in Tangiers and the Cataclysmpart of Night Train to Terror.
Agent Dan Holland is in Greece looking for the hydrogen bomb stolen from a NATO base in Turkey. It turns out that they want to start a Third World War. And Dan’s brother Jack may be behind it all.
I really liked The Mermaid, the club in the movie. There’s even a dancer covered in balloons that need to be popped by the patrons. Well, get used to the bar. That’s where the majority of the film takes place.
This is one of the oldest films I’ve seen with an implied oral sex scene, much less priests being distracted by breasts and a sexually suggestive whipping scene. Ah, those wild Greeks…
This is a lot darker than most spy films of this era. But maybe you’ll enjoy that.
This film was released in the U.S. as Destroy All Planets, which may have been a ploy to make people think it was Destroy All Monsters, perhaps the greatest of all Toho monster battles.
This time, Gamera is defending our planet from aliens. He starts off by destroying one of their ships, but not before an entire planet declares that he is their enemy.
The aliens come back to Earth and learn Gamera’s one weakness: he loves children. They kidnap some kids and force him to do their bidding, but before long, he’s broken loose and is battling all of the aliens at once, who have combined their form into the menace known as Viras.
Daiei was in financial trouble, so this movie suffers from a smaller budget than previous films. But this is where the idea of Gamera protecting kids from aliens and monsters began. Yet it’s also the first of the series to use flashbacks from past films to pad the running time. This will get much, much worse as Gamera would battle on.
There was also an agreement with AIP that an American kid had to be in the movie. They couldn’t find any kids that could speak Japanese, so the studio cast Carl Craig, whose father was an army soldier stationed in Japan, despite Carl having no acting experience.
Directed by Charles Jarrott (Condorman), written by Ian McLellan Hunter (he won the Oscar for Roman Holiday, which was really written by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo; Hunter was later blacklisted as well) and produced by Dan Curtis, this made for ABC TV movie originally aired on January 7, 1968 as part of ABC’s Wide World of Mystery.
Rod Serling wrote the original draft of the script, with Jason Robards set to star. The actor was unhappy with the script and there was a technician’s strike in London, so eventually, Robards just walked away and Jack Palance took over the role.
Palance — born Volodymyr Palahniuk — had the tough guy edge to be a perfect Hyde. His Jekyll is what really makes this role, that he can be two totally opposite sides so well. Credit also goes to Dick Smith, who not only created satyr-like makeup for Hyde, but subtly fixed Palance’s nose so that he appears more handsome as Jekyll.
Denholm Elliott — later to be Marcus Brody in the Indiana Jones movies — shows up, as does Torin Thatcher, Billie Whitelaw (Mrs. Baylock from The Omen!) and Welsh entertainer “Two Ton” Tessie O’Shea.
If you watch the later scenes in this movie, you’ll notice that Palance is only using his right arm. that’s because he broke his left during a stunt gone wrong.
Dark Shadows viewers will pick up on the fact that most of the music in this comes directly from the show. When Jekyll goes to the bar for the first time, listen for “Quentin’s Theme.”
Man, Jack Hill rules. Sorceress? Switchblade Sisters? Coffy? The Big Doll House? That’s why Tarantino referred to him as “the Howard Hawks of exploitation.”
Of all his movies, I love Spider Baby most of all. It’s the most perfect of all films, packed with menace, sweetness and madness all in equal measure. Who else would let Lon Chaney Jr. sing the theme song to their movie other than Hill?
This $65,000 movie — shot in The Smith estate house that was originally occupied by Judge David Patterson Hatch, who wrote books on the occult after he retired — pretty much disappeared upon release and numerous title changes didn’t help it find an audience. Yeah, titles like The Liver Eaters, Attack of the Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy and The Maddest Story Ever Told didn’t work.
But it found the right people when it was all over. People like Johnny Legend, who made sure that this movie wouldn’t die.
Spider Baby is all about the Merrye family. The end of the family, that is, as the last three children all live in a mansion that’s falling apart and are protected by their chauffeur Bruno (Chaney, absolutely perfect). They all suffer from a disease called Merrye Syndrome that only impacts members of their family, hence the name, and causes them to regress down the evolutionary ladder as they grow older.
Two relatives visit with their lawyer to try and get whatever money is left, but the kids have lost all control and Bruno can no longer stop them from doing what they do best: kill, baby, kill.
Virginia (Jill Banner, The Stranger Returns) is known as Spider Baby because she loves trapping people in makeshift webs, climbing around the house and eating bugs when she isn’t murdering delivery people like Mantan Moreland (who is also in Lucky Ghost and nearly replaced Shemp in the Three Stooges).
Ralph (Sid Haig!) loves the ladies and has completely lost his mind. He can barely communicate now and uses the dumb waiter to silently get around the mansion.
Finally, Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn, Old Yeller) may look normal, but she’s just as demented as her siblings.
Meanwhile, Clara, Martha and Ned have regressed even further and live in the basement, where they must constantly be fed human bodies. And oh yeah — the skeleton of the children’s father gets kissed good night by Virginia before bed every single evening.
Of course, the arrival of new people can only mean one thing: everyone must die in a dynamite explosion. That’s how these things go.
Carol Ohmart from The House on Haunted Hill plays one of those interlopers as does Quinn Redeker, the only person I know that wrote the story for The Deer Hunter and appeared in a movie with the Three Stooges.
Sid Haig avoided Lon Chaney Jr. for the first two days of filming because he had no idea how to interact with him. One day, he was needed for a scene and the future Captain Spaulding went to the former Larry Talbot’s trailer. He knocked on the door and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Chaney. You’re needed on set.” Chaney told Haig, without skipping a beat, “Stop that. I’m not Mr. Chaney. I’m Lon. You’re Sid. Let’s leave it at that.”
Haig also related that in the scene where Chaney discusses the toy, the crew broke down into tears and gave him a standing ovation. He deserved it.
This movie makes me incredibly emotional. Maybe it’s the fact that the children are doomed to never fit in. Perhaps it’s because Chaney realized that he’d never have — or even had — a role this good. Or maybe I just really torn up by movies.
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