2018 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 21: If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971)
Day 21 of the Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge is 21. Opiate of the Masses. The power of the Scarecrow compels you to watch a religious film! I’ve been dying to watch this movie, as I’ve known parts of it from Negativland’s song “Christianity Is Stupid.” Once Nicolas Winding Refn added it to his site www.bynwr.com, I knew this would be […]
Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)
Paolo Cavara and Gualtiero Jacopetti (who took all the credit) directed the first shockumentary, Mondo Cane. Following that, they worked on Women of the World before Jacopetti moved on to make increasingly more insane films with Franco Prosperi. Cavara? He went on to make his own films, including this one, which some place amongst the best giallo ever. […]
BIKER WEEK: Angels Hard as They Come (1971)
Jonathan Demme (Married to the Mob, The Silence of the Lambs) impressed Roger Corman with his writing ability and was asked if he wanted to try a motorcycle movie. His idea? Rashomon on motorcycles. He turned to his friend Joe Viola, a commercial director, and created this film. Long John (Scott Glenn, The Silence of the Lambs), Juicer and Monk (James Inglehart, Randy Black […]
BIKER WEEK: Werewolves on Wheels (1971)
Is a biker movie not enough action for you? What if I told you that a biker gang named The Devil’s Advocates happen upon some warlocks and then one of them is bitten by a female werewolf and transforms under the full moon? How’s that sound? I literally just told you the entire plot of […]
Death Walks on High Heels (1971)
A man is stabbed on a train, leading the police to question Nicole (giallo queen Nieves Navarro) about diamonds that are missing. Her life turns upside down, as she begins to receive disguised phone calls asking about the diamonds and a blue-eyed masked man attacks her in her boudoir. She then remembers that her jealous lover Michel owns contact lenses in […]
BAVA WEEK: A Bay of Blood (1971)
Also known as Ecology of Crime, Chain Reaction, Carnage, Twitch of the Death Nerve and Blood Bath, Last House on the Left – Part II and New House on the Left, this is the most violent and nihilistic of all of Mario Bava’s films. It started as a story idea so that Bava could work with Laura Betti (Hatchet for the […]
The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Grave (1971)
Emilio Paolo Miraglia created two giallo — this film and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. This one goes more into the horror realm than the typical themes of the genre. Lord Alan Cunningham starts this movie off by running away from an insane asylum, a place he’s been since the death of his redheaded […]
Don’t Deliver Us from Evil (1971)
Loosely based on the Parker–Hulme murder case of 1954 (which also inspired Heavenly Creatures), Don’t Deliver Us from Evil is about Anne de Boissy and Lore Fournier, two post-pubescent Catholic schoolgirls that come from rich, conservative families. They’re both growing up to be maniacs, thanks to a love of death poetry, mocking people, pranks, petty theft and one another. They […]
The Fox with the Velvet Tail (1971)
Whether you call it In the Eye of the Hurricane, Lusty Lover or Suspicion, this film starts with plenty of style and 70’s morality. Ruth and Paul are a new couple, but Ruth is still married to Michael, who thinks their trial separation will get them back on the same page. Ruth obviously has no interest […]
The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail (1971)
I promised to get to another Sergio Martino movie this week and I hope that I have not betrayed your trust, dear reader. While she makes love to someone else, Lisa’s husband dies in a jet crash. She stands to inherit all of his money, despite them being basically separated. An ex-lover has a confrontation […]
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