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aka Quella villa accanto al cimitero. The House Outside the Cemetery. The House by the Cemetery. Zombie Hell House.
A young woman and her boyfriend are murdered in an old house. Several months later Norman and Lucy Boyle (Paolo Malco and Catriona MacColl) and their son Bob (Giovanni Frezzi) move into the old Freudstein house, in order to finish his research project. A house previous occupied by one of Normans ex-colleagues, who committed suicide after murdering his mistress. There follows the usual mysterious events, as people warn them about the house and talk of Dr Freudstein who conducted experiments in the house. Warnings and premonitions which they obviously ignore. But what are those noises and why is the cellar door locked and barred?
A standard gore-fest horror, that is somewhat disrupted by unexplained events and dialogue, in this semi-incoherent film. Not to mention the supposedly intelligent characters who show all the common sense of a brick! Bob keeps seeing a girl who warns him not to go in the house. There's an insolent babysitter, premonitions, warnings, a tomb in the living room floor, (even though they are next door to a cemetery), a boarded up cellar, and bloody deaths. Any one else would have run to the hills, but not this lot! But then the plot is really only there to get you to the gore.
New Yorker Willie, (John Lurie), is paid a surprise visit by his Hungarian cousin Eva (Eszter Balint). Willie makes it obvious that he doesn't want her there, but his initial indifference develops into fondness before she moves on to stay with their aunt in Cleveland. A year later, Willie and his friend Eddie (Richard Edson) win some money cheating at poker. With the money Willie decides to visit Eva, with Eddie tagging along. But despite the change of location they end up just as bored there as in New York, eventually deciding to go back home, but change their minds at the last minute and head for Florida instead, taking Eva with them. There they loose all the money, but through a case of mistaken identity Eva is given more. But they are destined to end up alone through a variety of twists of fate all three end up seperated.
The ultimate hipster neo-jazz movie, this slow moving black and white story gives the characters time to breath and develop their mundane existence. The minimal look and dialogue is set within the starkness of the black and white cinematography, which is sometimes grainy, adding a grittiness to the sets, and sometimes bleached out whiteness, giving a bleak loneliness to the scenes and the characters within them. The look of the film holds your attention as much as the plot or characters. A road movie about getting out of a rut, whilst never leaving it.
aka Kill and Pray. Kill and Say Your Prayers. Let them rest. Dio crea gli uomini Requescant li uccide. Requiescant – una bibbia… una colt… un massacre.
A young boy, Requiescant (Lou Castel), is only survivor a massacre of Mexican peasants. He is found wandering the desert and taken in by a puritan family. Once he's old enough he, sets out to find and return with his step sister, who has run away. He locates her in a small town run by the despotic Ferguson (Mark Damon), who has her working as a prostitute and unable to leave. As a simple religious man he is determined to help his sister. Fortunately he soon learns how to use a gun and finds some friends in a small band of Mexican peasants lead by a revolutionary priest (Pier Paolo Pasolini).
An interesting political western, with pretensions to revolution and allegory. This features some great performances from Castel and Damon.
aka Il Grande Silenzio. The Grand Silence.
A mute gunslinger called Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant), arrives in a small snowbound town in the Sierra mountains. He arrives to find the townsfolk living in fear of a gang of bounty killers led by the ruthless Loco (Klaus Kinski). He's hired by the widow of a man killed by Loco and a tense struggle unfolds.
An extremely downbeat and bleak western; but one that looks extremely interesting due to the snowbound setting and that examines themes of class struggle, corruption and religion. An absolute classic, which features a score by Ennio Morricone and great performances from Trintignant and Kinski.
aka Giulio Questi - Se sei vivo spara.
Django (Tomas Milian) is a Mexican outlaw, betrayed and left for dead in the desert, following a robbery. Alive and seeking revenge he tracks his betrayers to a small town and finds all forms of greed there, with Django in the middle of the various townsfolk, all fighting over the stolen gold.
The style of the film makes for a strange hybrid of action, horror, comedy and drama as the director comments on civilised society's hypocrisy and greed. Despite the name, this Django has nothing to do with the original, the title just being a way for the film makers to cash in on the success of the previous film.
Alan (Roddie McDowell), is a teen prodigy. A teen prodigy who is bored with the system. We meet him as he trashes his high school graduation and then toys with his psychiatrist as he relates the events that led up to this. It begins with him meeting Barbara (Tuesday Weld) and his developing desire to grant her every wish, whatever it may be. From making her the most popular girl in school, to her desire to become a movie star.
This black and white picture is superficially a low budget teen comedy. But really its a hip and happening satirical look at everything from the school system to beach movies. It sometimes labours a point, and dips a little in the middle, but is otherwise an interesting swipe at 60's Americana, and features a wonderful theme tune.
aka Quella villa accanto al cimitero. The House Outside the Cemetery. The House by the Cemetery. Zombie Hell House. 
