FanFare

We conclude our review of the four Film Crew episodes with another peplum, directed by Mario Bava and starring Steve Reeves as the hard-to-say Phillipides. This one's focus is more historical than the usual, with the events shown dating to the Medic Wars instead of the general mish-mash of places and people these movies usually give us. Wikipedia informs us that Bava was forced to reshoot some scenes when extra were spotted on camera smoking cigarettes, proving he's a cut above our usual grade of director. Also, this movie was actually considered to be pretty successful at the time!
posted by JHarris on Nov 30, 2023 - 1 comment

This horror anthology by Mario Bava consists of three separate tales introduced by Boris Karloff and based on stories by Tolstoy, de Maupassant, and Chekhov. In "The Telephone," Rosy (Michèle Mercier) receives threatening telephone calls from an unseen stalker. In "The Wurdulak", a man named Gorca (Karloff) returns to his family after claiming to have slain a Wurdulak, an undead creature who attacks those that it had once loved. "The Drop of Water" centers on Helen Corey (Jacqueline Pierreux), a nurse who steals a ring from a corpse being prepared for burial and finds herself haunted by the ring's original owner. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Apr 26, 2022 - 2 comments

The murder of a wealthy countess, which was erroneously deemed suicide, triggers a chain reaction of brutal killings in the surrounding bay area, as several unscrupulous characters try to take over her large estate. Mario Bava's 1971 giallo is often cited as the forerunner of the slasher film. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Dec 19, 2021 - 3 comments