baba yaga (1973)

aka Baby Yaga, Devil Witch. Kiss Me, Kill Me.
"Our meeting was pre-ordained."
A young and hip photographer living life to the full in Milan, Valentina (Isabelle De Funès) has everything. Then one night she meets the fascinating and older Baba Yaga (Carroll Baker). From this moment Valentina experiences nightmares and strage events, as she falls under the spell of the mysterious Baba Yaga, with fantasy and reality twisting, seeming to intertwine...
Based on a comic strip, this is a good looking and captivating film, that moves in a deliberately sophoriphic pace. Wooden acting adds to this langurous feeling. Which you either go with it or start thinking about what's for dinner. All in all an interesting slice of eurotica.

the world's greatest sinner (1962)

"I have a plan. A plan to make me a God."
Insurance salesman, Clarence Hilliard (Timothy Carey) is sacked when he gives everyone who works under him the day off. Now free from the corporate world, he sets off to make his mark on life, and decides to become a preacher. Then preaching one day someone suggests he should form a band to attract a crowd...and thus starts his rise through the ranks of rock n roll, religion and politics.
Cheap, sloppy and uneven, this still manages though its shear irrepresibility to hold ones attention. You will never see anything like this again! If it had come out of Paris it would have been avant garde, but being American its just plain eccentric and unique! A diamond in the rough, but still a diamond.

i was a teenage frankenstein (1957)

"In this laboratory there is no death until I declare it so."
Professor Frankenstein (Whit Bissell) is an English scientist brought to the USA. He dreams of creating life from death and the reactivation of human tissue. So when the chance comes to steal the body of a dead athlete, he takes it. With his skills he builds his monster (Gary Conway), which turns out to have a body builders physique, but the face of a bulldog chewing a wasp! The monster obviously is concerned about his looks and the professor is able to manipulate him by promising him a new face if he does his bidding.
B movie schlock of the highest order, low on budget, high on suspended disbelief. Like how the hell did he get an aligator pit built under a suburban house?

i was a teenage werewolf (1957)

"People bug me too, but I don't go round crowding people."
Tony (Michael Landon) is a hot-headed teen, who keeps getting into trouble. After local cop breaks up his latest fight he suggests Tony visit Dr Brandon (Whit Bissell) to sort out his troubles. He naturally refuses, until he blows up with his friends and inadvertantly strikes his girlfriend (Yvonne Fedderson). Once there the dr hypnotises Tony. Later that night one of Tony's friends is killed in the woods, savaged by what seems to be a big dog.
A classic AIP drive-in horror, hip talking teens, angry authoritarian adults to rebel against and at the centre, a troubled teen.

afterlife (1998)

aka Wandâfuru raifu.
"Yamamoto san, thinking back over the fifty years of your life..."
The film follows a number of Councellors whose job it is to welcome the recently deceased to their facility. It is their job to recreate one memory from each of the dead. This will be the only memory they take with them into eternity and thus needs some considered thought, but one man has trouble deciding.
A thought provoking and languid film that explores the art of memory. Ponient, happy, sad, stories are laid out for us to ponder upon, and inevitably ponder upon our own life and memories.

black narcissus (1947)

"Its this place with its strange atmosphere..."
An order of nuns, led by the self-important Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) establish a community in the harsh environment of the Himalayas. They have the reluctant help of Mr. Dean (David Farrar) to do so, but he predicts that they will not last until the monsoons. For they have to fight the high altitude and ever blowing winds, the apathy of the locals, and most of all the isolation that brings forth their inner demons, especially for the wilful Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron). Adding to their troubles is a young nobleman (Sabu) and Kanchi (Gene Simmons), who
are foisted upon the order.
A supurb drama, utilising the brilliant cinematography of Jack Cardiff, all in glorious Technicolor. A triumph of understated repressed sexuality, and Sister Ruth's transformation gave Goths everywhere the look they were after.