Behind the Couch

1967 Dir. Jeremy Summers While vacationing in Tangiers, Stephen and Marie learn that their friend Fernando’s girlfriend has been reported missing. Before long, Marie is abducted when she attends a magic show hosted by the mysterious Felix Mandeville and his wife, mentalist Rebecca. It soon transpires that Marie is being held captive in a plush brothel along with a slew of other women who have been ‘collected’ from around the globe by the dastardly Mandeville and Rebecca in a covert sex-slave operation! This little oddity, aside from being a lesser-seen Vincent Price vehicle, is a guiltily entertaining romp produced by Harry Alan Towers ( Fu Manchu , Jess Franco’s Justine, Warrior Queen and Howling IV: The Original Nightmare amongst other schlocky delights). According to Mark McGee, author of Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures , it is “quite possibly the sleaziest movie AIP ever made.” I'm not sure that's altogether ...

2012 Dir. Federico Zampaglione With his sophomore film Shadow , Federico Zampaglione – Italy’s sort of Rob Zombie – made a concerted bid to breathe new life into Italian horror cinema. While Shadow may have been more influenced by the current slew of ultra-violent ‘torture-porn’ films than Italy’s own distinct brand of bygone horror, it still emerged as an atmospheric and taut exercise in grim tension, with Zampaglione infusing it with enough of his own sensibilities to keep it surprisingly original. With follow up Tulpa , the director has attempted to create a contemporary giallo that is so faithful to its lineage it arguably borders on parody. Based on a story by Dardano Sacchetti, who wrote/co-wrote the likes of Cat O' Nine Tails (1971), Bay of Blood (1971), Schock (1981) and A Blade in the Dark (1983) amongst many others, Tulpa is the lurid tale of Lisa Boeri (Claudia Gerini), a respectable businesswoman who secretly frequents a private sex club to indulge her fanta...

With his dazzlingly shot and sadistically violent directorial debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage , Dario Argento built on the giallo blueprint laid down by Mario Bava in the groundbreaking The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood And Black Lace ; effectively kick starting the popularity of the giallo movie in early Seventies Italian cinema. A slew of films combining art-house aesthetics and exploitative sex and violence followed suit. This month sees the release of his chic and savage debut on blu-ray, courtesy of Arrow Video , who have once again really gone all out to give cult movie fans a package to celebrate. Head over to Eye for Film to read my review of Argento's debut and the host of Arrow Video's tantalizing, jaw-dropping extra features - which ensure this release is a MUST for fans of Argento and giallo all'italiana...

1996 Dir. Matthew Bright When Vanessa witnesses her mother and stepfather being hauled off to jail on drugs and prostitution charges, the teenage tearaway goes on the run from a social worker who wants to put her into care. She sets off to seek sanctuary at her grandmother's house. Along the way however, she encounters a sadistic serial killer who she discovers has been preying on vulnerable young women on the freeway… Matthew Bright’s cult indie hit Freeway is a thoroughly twisted take on the tale of 'Little Red Riding Hood’; a tale that has consistently proved it is ripe for reinterpretation time and again. Much like the original tale not just being a story about a girl eaten by a wolf (it’s actually a rite of passage story warning young women of the dangers of rape), Bright’s take isn’t just the tale of a girl who has a terrifying encounter with a serial killer – it actually unravels as a damning indictment of the US justice system and its inhumane treatment of the...