Zombie (1979)

Also known as Zombi 2, this is Lucio Fulci's own vision of a sequel to Romero's Dawn of the Dead, which was very successful in Europe (Dario Argento worked with Romero to create his own cut for the European market). Zombie has that classy washed-out, sandblasted look of 70s Italian-produced movies we're used to. But what sets this one apart are the crowd-pleasing FX and chilling macro-zoom angles. Sure, it's a typical zombie plot, but it boasts one of the most disgustingly memorable eye trauma scenes I can think of! And, as I've said, the FX and makeup design are phenomenal.

Opera (1987)

Rating: A
Ah, the giallo. A classy Italian slasher. And no one does it better than Mr. Argento. Opera is pure Argento with a mysterious killer, trademark POV shots, and the injection of loud 80s music intense sequences. It also throws in some creative camerawork, such as the heart-beat effect and a lot of nice close-ups (loved the necklace retrieval gag and the bullet through the peep hole gag). Though not quite on the level of Suspiria or Deep Red, Opera is a great entry in the Argento canon.

Inferno (1980)

Loved Suspiria, but I didn't care much for this second installment in the Three Mothers trilogy. Inferno is pleasingly stylized, but not in the same manner as Suspiria; though the gore is definitely ramped up in comparison. And, sadly, Goblin is missing from the musical score--a major let down. On its own (i.e. without comparison to Suspiria), the movie just doesn't do it for me. As soon as a scene has my attention it fades into a quirky, below average story, with tidbits seemingly thrown in for good measure.

Hopefully Mother of Tears will be better.

Deep Red (1975)

Thanks to starting this blog, I met some knowledgeable horror movie fanatics. These fanatics (you know who you are) pointed me to Dario Argento, whom, I humbly admit, I had never heard of prior to starting this blog. You see, in my naïveté, I used to think I was a fairly well-versed horror movie buff. So, a big thanks to everyone out here in the blogosphere who helped me find the path!

The first thing that caught me with Deep Red was the music by Goblin. As in Suspiria, and as a musician myself, Goblin is a real treat. I also had the pleasure of basking in the stylization and direction that I've come to learn is "pure Argento." On top of superb auditory and visual stimulation (though visual stimulation reaches new heights in Suspiria) Deep Red caused me to laugh more than a few times. Good plot, good acting, good script, good direction, good soundtrack: A+.

This is one of the only who-did-it movies, complete with classic red herrings, that actually kept me wondering until the very end. Even after the "reveal," I had immediate disputes; but those disputes where taken care of masterfully. In fact, the movie gives the viewer the chance to go back to the "scene in question" and see what they missed--it was right there in front of my eyes! Never before has that happened in a movie, that I can think of.

So, despite it being slow in places, and despite all of the high expectations I had going into the experience, Deep Red still won me over. I understand why Dario is king of the hill when it comes to the giallo.

Phantom of the Opera (1998)

It's hard to believe this is the product of the same guy who brought us movies like Tenebrae and Suspiria. Phantom of the Opera was neither dark nor clever, nor...well, anything. I'm not sure what Argento was attempting to do with this movie other than showcase his daughter, Asia Argento. Critics mark it down as macabre, chilling, haunting, and so on, but in actuality it's quite boring. A formal apology should be given to Gaston Leroux in the afterlife for defiling such a work of art.

Too bad I can't end my first month of Horror Dose on a high note, but Slasher Franchise Month is just around the corner, and we'll be kicking it off with Friday the 13th! Plus, I'll be finishing up Laymon's Midnight Tour tonight--it's been a while since I've reviewed a horror book on here.

Anyway, back to the title at hand. So, the plot deviates from the original and we get a Fabio-esque phantom who lurks in the catacombs and was raised by telepathic rats. Huh? Yes: telepathic rats! I should've read the synopsis before watching it, but I was so elated to find that Dario Argento had done a remake of this classic that I dropped it in the queue and anxiously awaited its arrival. Unfortunately, the performances are as lame as the plot entails. If you want to watch a good movie about rats raising children, check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles instead.

Argento's Phantom of the Opera has a handful of gory scenes, but seems unsure of itself while trying to mix the macabre with romance and fun.

Review Soundtrack:
Incubus - "Redefine"
Yngwie Malmsteen - "My Resurrection"
Dave Matthews Band - "The Dreaming Tree"

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Demons 2 (1986)

Not much to say about this movie. Completely devoid of imagination and creativity. A complete copy and paste of Demons, but with a different venue. Basically, you can read the review for the first Demons and imagine that the movie theater is an apartment building. No new avenues of the plot are explored, and some of the cast is even reused (e.g. pimp as weightlifting instructor).

Okay, to be fair, there is one new addition in this bland sequel: a gremlin! That's right. A tiny, beastly gremlin is introduced for a brief time and then destroyed. Besides that, the format is such a replica of its predecessor that we even get the car full of zany youngsters cruising around, but they never even intersect with the happenings at the apartment building. What was the point of these people? They are out driving around, speeding, and then crash into a car, but I never made any connection to the plot.

This probably shouldn't have annoyed me as much as it did, but I can't get past the childbirth scene at the end. Perhaps, in keeping with the same format as the first movie, Bava wanted to throw something in that made us cock our heads the way the helicopter did. Suddenly, in the midst of chaos, the girl goes into labor. With only the assistance of her boyfriend (fiance? husband?), she pops the baby out sans umbilical cord and miraculously jumps right up and escapes the apartment building. I know I shouldn't be a stickler for these types of things since it's a horror movie, but man, couldn't that have been thought through just a little bit? The only part worse than this was when the weightlifting instructor went from trying to break the front door with a steel pipe to a potted plant. Yeah, if a steel pipe doesn't break through the glass I seriously doubt a potted plant will do the trick.

The only thing I really liked about the movie was the costumes; they were slightly better, and the green slime was scrapped. My advice: watch Demons and stop there.

Review Soundtrack:
Alice In Chains - "Would?"

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Tenebrae (1982)

Well, I was supposed to get Demons 2 next, but it went into "short wait" at the last minute, so Netflix jumped ahead and shipped Tenebrae. I've gotta say: I'm glad they did. This wasn't very horrific--until the bloody ending--but actually more of a "who-did-it?" mystery. Cheers to Argento for a good piece of writing that made great use of red herrings, and kept me guessing until the last ten minutes.

That's not to say that it isn't dated, cheesy at times, and that it doesn't have much in the way of gore until the end, but the movie as a whole is pretty darn good. It actually reminded me a lot of a Richard Laymon novel. Which one? Well, all of them, really! Laymon is constantly throwing red herrings into the mix and killing cute, likeable little characters we have come to love relatively quickly. Similarly, Argento lured my favorite character--the hotel owner's daughter I believe (Maria?)--right into the belly of the beast. Tragic moment!

Famous writer's new bestseller unleashes a vicious serial killer who selects victims and leaves notes based on the writer's book. It's a plot we've seen/read before, but Argento's directing makes it enjoyable to watch. For the most part, the acting was solid. The detective and the literary agent were my favorite characters, based on acting. Both had uniqe personalities and looked comfortable as their characters on the screen.

So, overall, Tenebrae didn't blow my mind, but it was a pleasure to watch; good serial killer mystery. I'm looking forward to continuing with Argento giallos, including Inferno, Deep Red, and Opera. Oh yeah, and of course, Demons 2 and the like, once they start shipping.

Review Soundtrack:
Dave Matthews Band - "Too Much"
Primus - "John the Fisherman"
Sky Eats Airplane - "The Artificial"

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Demons (1985)

Filled with slimy, bloody, flesh-ripping, gratuitous gore, and over-the-top acting, Demons may just be the most entertaining movie I've ever seen. Although, when it finished, I felt like I had missed some things, so perhaps you can fill in the gaps for me. But regardless of the missing pieces, I'm marking this one down as my favorite 80's horror movie, bar none. I knew I was in for a real treat when I saw bands like Pretty Maids, Mötley Crüe, and Accept on the soundtrack!

Okay, like I said, I feel like I missed some things. I mean, I didn't fall asleep or anything, but for me there are four distinct loose ends. The first concerns the guy with the chrome Phantom of the Opera mask who appears in a reflection on the subway train, then in person to hand out tickets, then in a reflection at the movie theater, and finally on the roof at the end. Who is this guy? He never says anything that I can recall, though he does utter a sinister chuckle or two at the end, just before he is killed. What, specifically, does he have to do with anything that happened?

Similarly, my second question concerns the girl who works at the theater. When we first see her, she is suiting up in a green outfit that makes her look like one of Santa's helpers. I could be wrong, but the movie seemed to be alluding to something with all of the mischievous looks she gives. I expected her involvement with the demonic activity to be revealed at some point (was she in cahoots with Phantom of the Opera Guy?), but she ends up just running around clueless like everyone else until seized by a demon.

The third question I have concerns the movie played at the screening in correlation to the movie theater itself, The Metropol. I couldn't help but wonder if The Metropol was built around the church/graveyard featured in the screening, or something. Is the history of the church/graveyard ever explored further in any of the Demons sequels?

The fourth, and final, question about the movie concerns the scene where our last surviving hero and heroine are trapped in the theater, surrounded by demons and looking for a way out. Suddenly, we hear noises from above, and just as our heroine acknowledges the noises, a helicopter miraculously falls through the ceiling. I can just imagine the writer sitting there with a cup of coffee, tapping his notepad with the end of a pencil, trying to figure out how to get the survivors out of the building: Well, I've already shown that the demonic forces are keeping the doors barricaded, and it's a movie theater, so there aren't any windows. Hmmmm...oh! I've got it! A helicopter falls through the ceiling! Did I miss something, or is this the most random part of the movie?

Other than the helicopter scene, which blew my mind, my absolute favorite moment was when the hero somehow manages to drive a dirt bike over the tops of movie theater seats, slaying demons with a samurai sword, all to the pounding rhythm of Accept's Fast As a Shark (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was Fast As a Shark)! This is priceless cinematography folks.

Demons defines a must-see horror flick. I can hardly wait for the arrival of Demons 2 and all of the movies that aim to be Demons 3: The Church, Black Demons, and Demons 3: The Ogre. Hopefully I'll get more exposition; if not, I'll check out the director commentary on each disc.

Review Soundtrack:
Achilles - "The Dark Horse"
Behold... The Arctopus - "Canada"
The Red Chord - "Antman"

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