Behind the Couch

This month saw the release of a new book on the life and work of actress, artist, musician and writer Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni. The book, edited and compiled by Filippo Brunamonti, boasts a collection of interviews and articles focusing on her diverse work. 'Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni (actress, painter, singer-songwriter, writer) is the fascinating protagonist of the book Coralina: Life is Art / Art is Life, published in a prestigious bilingual edition (English and Italian). Young journalist Filippo Brunamonti has collected exclusive interviews and essays by illustrious directors, artists, writers and critics (Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Mariano Baino, Mick Garris, Irene Miracle, Claudio Simonetti, Tim Lucas, Luca Barnabé and many others) that bear witness to an extraordinary respect and admiration for this internationally renowned artist who has fans worldwide. The volume, in the words of its editor, is an authentic act of love towards Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, born and re...

Ryan Blake George and Heather Horton in 'Edge' Currently making a name for himself on the indie film festival circuit, writer/director/actor/producer Ryan Blake George is a maverick filmmaker on the rise. His films are dark, provocative, unflinching. As the director of a couple of slow-burning, atmospheric shorts, he offers us brief glimpses into intense worlds peopled by unhinged, damaged individuals intent on revenge. His first short, Edge , charts the psychological breakdown of a woman (Heather Horton) in a relationship with a manipulative man (George). Troubling mind-games culminate in a bloodbath. His second short, Mississippi Sound, won Best Short Film at the second Yellow Fever Film Festival in Belfast last August. It tells of a pair of cousins whose past misdeeds surface during a fishing trip on the titular river. George kindly took time out from setting up the New Orleans Horror Film Festival  to chat about his work, the challenges of indie filmmaking, Alfred H...

Following on from 2008’s Kiefer Sutherland starring thriller Mirrors , which was based on the hair-raising Korean film Into the Mirrors, Mirrors 2 is a supernatural horror starring Emmanuelle Vaughier ( Saw II ) and Nick Stahl ( Carnivale ). Like its predecessor, it looks set to exploit all kinds of spectrophobic (the fear of mirror images) notions as it follows the story of Max, a recovering addict struggling to come to terms with the car crash that killed his fiancé. Riddled with guilt and determined to try and make a new life for himself Max takes a job as night-time security guard in the Mayflower department store, but as his nightshifts begin he sees visions of a mysterious woman in the store’s mirrors. When he sets out to discover who she is, Max’s investigation reveals that the seemingly normal department store holds a dark secret and a bloody past. A series of horrifying and brutal murders ensues before long, and everyone connected with the store meet with nasty deaths. Can...

2010 Dir. John Carpenter After she sets fire to a house, troubled Kristen is incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital. It isn’t long before she becomes acquainted with the other patients and realises that all is not as it seems in the hospital. Odd occurrences are afoot and gradually the number of inmates begins to dwindle. Are the stern doctors and their experimental treatments to blame? Or is something more supernatural afoot? When she fails to convince the staff that someone, or something, stalks the corridors at night, Kristen decides to take matters into her own hands… Mild chills and a slew of shock/jump moments ensue. John Carpenter has created some of the most seminal, defining films in the history of genre cinema. His early filmography reads like a ‘greatest hits’ of cult cinema: Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing, Escape from New York, Dark Star, The Fog, They Live, In The Mouth of Madness, Prince of Darkness, Big Trouble in Little China . While later films su...

When I began to flesh out my thoughts and hastily scribbled notes on The Black Cat , I ended up spewing forth a tangent about why I find Lucio Fulci’s film work so disturbing, horrifying and repellent. Below is said tangent, and the review of The Black Cat (tangent free) can be found here .  Of the countless schlocky, ultra-violent, exploitation-laden fare this writer has watched over the years - and the plethora of disturbing, mind-numbingly deplorable and brain-botheringly wretched imagery I’ve witnessed as a result of watching such fare - one filmmaker and his work stands apart from the others when it comes to creating genuinely upsetting, avert-your-gaze-from-the-screen-in-disgust moments. Lucio Fulci is a director most fans of horror cinema will be familiar with. Heck, many of them will even own some of his work on DVD or something called VHS. My own experience of watching Fulci’s work is quite limited. I find his films to be disturbing, disgusting and weirdly depressing...

1981 Dir. Lucio Fulci It purrz. It stalkz. It killz! The arrival of American photographer Jill Trevers (Mimsy Farmer) at a sleepy English village coincides with a series of bizarre, seemingly accidental deaths. She teams up with Scotland Yard detective Gorley (David Warbeck), in town to investigate the spate of odd occurrences, and local copper Sgt. Wilson (Al Cliver), and begins to suspect the involvement of the reclusive Professor Miles (Patrick Magee) in the deaths. Turns out Miles has been frequenting the local cemetery in a bid to record and communicate with the dead. He also appears to have a psychic link with his black cat. Could it be that he is channelling his psychic abilities and manipulating his cat to prowl after and murder those who have wronged him? No! Surely not! ‘Fraid so! Opening with much prowling camera work and a gruesome car crash as the driver is distracted by the eponymous kitty, Fulci’s ‘freely adapted’ take on Poe’s 'The Black Cat' begins ...

1951 Dir. Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks A group of scientific researchers and military personnel discover an alien spacecraft frozen under the ice in the Arctic. Retrieving the alien pilot, they take it back to their outpost to conduct research. However when the block of ice it’s entombed within thaws, the creature goes berserk and sets off on a bloody rampage, killing anyone who crosses its path and feeding on their blood. The military personnel led by Captain Hendry decide enough is enough, and plot to destroy the creature before it destroys them. Based on the short story 'Who Goes There?' by renowned sci-fi writer John W. Campbell, The Thing From Another World is one of the earliest, and most successful amalgamations of horror and sci-fi. A precursor to the likes of The Day The Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds and Alien , the film was produced during a time when the media was bombarded by reports of sightings of UFOs; a time that would become the Golden Age of sc...

This month's reviews are brought to you, once again, courtesy of Campo Viejo Rioja Crianza (which means barrel aged, apparently). Campo Viejo is perhaps the largest producer of Rioja (named after the region where the grapes are grown in Spain) and is based on the outskirts of Logro no. Made up of Tempranillo - Spain's best known red wine grape, this lovely red is aged in bottles for 6 months after its statutory year spent in barrels, before it is released to retailers and then appreciatively guzzled by the likes of your good self and I. With a distinct spicy, oaky and really quite smooth palette, this wine is best enjoyed with something sophisticated, preferably an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation starring Vincent Price - the oaky depths also ensure it is best enjoyed while watching any number of Hammer's velvety, resplendently Gothic and alluring vampire flicks. 

1970 Dir. Freddie Francis After the discovery of a prehistoric troglodyte in a cave in primmest, properist England, Dr Brockton and her team of anthropologists attempt to communicate with it. The local townsfolk however, are not happy about a potentially dangerous Neanderthal residing so near to their quintessentially quaint English village. A botched plan to get rid of the creature results in it causing all sorts of havoc and mayhem in the local village. Can Dr Brockton put a stop to Trog’s antics before afternoon tea? Can she heck! Trog is significant because it marked Joan Crawford’s last ever big-screen role. Hollywood had (and arguably still does have) a problem casting older women. Ageism and sexism were normalised, meaning Crawford and other actresses over 50 were considered too old for leading roles. In her later career though, Crawford obtained memorable leading roles in a number of horror films (including What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? [1963], Strait-Jacket [196...

1975 Dir. Andrea Bianchi When a fashion model dies during surgery to perform an abortion, a slew of violent murders ensue, starting with that of the doctor who tried to cover up her death. The killer’s victims are all connected to a fashion modelling agency where the dead woman worked. As the body count rises, a couple of scantily clad amateur sleuths try to discover the killer’s identity before they too are struck off. “ I feel too hot to be a corpse, baby .” To describe Strip Nude For Your Killer as trashy and exploitative would really be a fantastically obvious understatement. Hey, with a title like that, one should really know what to expect. Of course, there are films with truly exploitative, titillating titles that can never hope to live up to the lurid promise their monikers suggest – Strip Nude is not one of those films. It does exactly what it says on the tin. The surprising thing is that it is actually pretty enjoyable, in a trashy, campy, exploitative and deliri...