At Left- The far too lurid DVD cover for Flavia The Heretic, which is actually a quite thoughtful film loaded with grotesque imagery, but also a fiercely feminist message. A mini-masterpiece with an ending sequence of images just short of the hysteria Russell captured in The Devils; a real gem for The List.
Hallucinations Of A Deranged Mind Brazil, 1978 Dir: Jose Mojica Marins
A surrealistic-hallucinatory masterpiece of previously shot footage, menace, palpable insanity and horror; I can't even begin to describe the unease with which I saw this film, the apotheosis of the "Coffin Joe" series of films by a true avant outsider, Jose Mojica Marins. While its reputation is one of Grand Guignol guts and gore and rampant nudity, Hallucinations is a much better shot film that it is given credit for. A real acid trip if there ever was one, this is one of the few films on The List that I think every film buff absolutely must see.
Eraserhead United States, 1976 Dir: David Lynch
Another one of the canon that precious little can be added with my musings. One of the first truly disturbing moments of cinema I ever had, I saw Eraserhead again recently for the first time in years. And you know what? It's still incredibly fucked-up. Absolutely wonderful cinematography and a deft touch with the black-and-whites of the film make this not only an important film- but a beautiful elemental of the true vanguard.
Viridiana Mexico, 1961 Dir: Luis Bunuel
Bunuel was sometimes inconsistent as a director, in my view- but this gorgeous, depressing and altogether Disturbing film is one perfect shot after another, completely hypnotic, and one of the most unnerving indictments of "good intentions" ever filmed- indeed, on one level, it could be argued that Viridiana is the most nihilistic movie ever made. A stunning performance by both Silvia Rinal as the sadly wasted novitiate nun Viridiana, and Fernando Rey as her vulgar and predatory uncle- one of the lesser-known films on The List that I think should be required viewing for all cineastes.
Titicut Follies United States, 1967 Dir: Frederick Wiseman
Almost impossible to sit through, so disturbing because all of what you are seeing is horrifyingly true, Titicut Follies is a movie so grimly real that it makes perfect sense why it was banned for over thirty years. Documentary filmmaker Wiseman utilizes a stripped-down, minimalist style that puts you unnervingly in the midst of a chamber of horrors mental institution that for whatever vile reason holds a "talent show" every year, for the delights of the staff and other officials. Absolutely horrifying. Like the worst visions of Foucault come to life in glaring black and white, this is a lurid, shocking and completely enervating film. Without question one of the most devastating films I have ever seen.
MS 45 United States, 1981 Dir: Abel Ferrara
So far outside of the usual confines of the cliched and dread "Rape And Revenge" sub genre of masochistic misogynistic Horror, MS 45 is actually a skillful and superbly well-done movie that- if it wasn't for the grim subject matter- would probably be highly regarded by critical types for its qualities as a film, rather than an exploitation. Zoe Lund plays the shockingly beautiful Thana, who slaves away for a fashion district mandarin in Manhattan, and one night coming home is brutally attacked. Getting back to her dungeon-like apartment, a second rapist awaits her, and the ordeal begins anew. Mute, Thana gains her voice by taking to the streets with a pistol- and there is one scene in particular where a man tries to shoot himself on a park bench whilst sitting besides Thana that will never leave me. I actually jumped off of my couch watching Thana's reaction to this failed violence. Well directed and with Lund absolutely riveting in her silent role, this is an underappreciated classic, highly Disturbing, and most upsetting in revealing the talent of Ferrara, as opposed to the garbage he later shoveled onscreen.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture Sweden, 1974 Dir: Bo Arne Vibenius
Infamous as Quinten Tarantino's most-pilfered from source material, Thriller really is a damn cruel picture. Christina Lindberg is one of the most beautiful women to ever appear in cinema; the abuse and torture she receives as the hands of her odious and absolutely despicable captor makes her eventual reign of terror and revenge as satisfying to watch as anything in movie history. The training sequences where the mute Lindberg learns the arts of killing are particularly well-done; the only thing sinking Vibenius' material is the inclusion of the tawdry and frankly disgusting hard core porn material, which adds nothing but filth to an otherwise captivating narrative. Absolutely worth a watch, the most disturbing parts of this film are top of the list, in my opine.
Almost Human Italy, 1974 Dir: Umberto Lenzi
My first Giallo; although, I guess, this doesn't really count as a "Giallo", and is best described as an "Italian Crime Film". Fine, whatever; I do remember being absolutely shocked by the nastiness and pointless cruelty and violence of this film, then discovering that there was an entire industry devoted to making films like this in Italy in the 70's. The rest, as they say, is history. Still one of my favorites, Lenzi- a problematic and somewhat sloppy director, never really in Fulci or Deodato's class as a true artist- here creates a classic kidnapping gone horribly wrong film, with the grotesque Tomas Milian playing a vile and sub-human brute who relishes torture and seems almost to deliberately foul things up so that he might "have" to kill his captive. Shocking ending, brutal film; Lenzi's best, and a real white-knuckle affair.
Who Can Kill A Child? Spain, 1976 Dir: Narciso Ibanez Serrador
Fabulous Horror shocker with a real twist; the villains here are the children themselves, who have murdered an entire island's worth of people while seemingly possessed by pure, remorseless Evil. The twist is, of course, that rather than some grim orgy of child killing, the reason everybody is dead is because they refused to defend themselves- "who can kill a child", after all. Superbly well done film that is more surprising than you might expect, and of course, very Disturbing.
Hunger Denmark, 1966 Dir: Henning Carlsen
Taken from one of my very favorite novels of all time- Knut Hamsun's absolutely perfect book of the same name- this is one of those rarities that I so delight in finding every so often: a great movie made of a truly great book. Per Oscarsson wanders the streets of Christiana- as it was before it became Oslo, capital of Norway- in a nightmare of delusion, emaciation and shocking and unredeemed need. Trying to keep his sanity while also going through a grueling daily ritual of finding a place to sleep for the night, Oscarsson is heartbreaking; a perfectly gorgeous film, watching the wastrel wander these streets one moment high and the next filled with rage is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. A truly great film.
The End Of Saint Petersburg Soviet Union, 1927 Dir: Vsevolod Pudovkin
One of the great silents, and one of the truly great Soviet films before the enforced nightmare of Socialist Realism snuffed all artistic individuality from the screen and its "engineers", The End Of Saint Petersburg is a parallel on the Revolution, on betrayal, on the inevitability of violence and the seeming uselessness of loyalty. Depressing, amazingly cynical for the age in which it was produced, this is a true classic- worthy of this, and any other list to be made of great cinema.
Night And Fog France, 1955 Dir: Alain Resnais
The definitive short history of the Concentration Camps, lean, remorseless, absolutely debilitating in effect. The use of archival footage here is masterful; interspersed with recent, color footage that Resnais shot for his film, the effect is like one of entering a world of ghosts, death all around, omnipotent, pitiless. A masterpiece.
Ils France, 2006 Dirs: David Moreau & Xavier Palud
The best new Horror film I have seen in several years, along with Malefique (below). What makes this movie work so well is that you are never sure who- or what- is tormenting the young couple off in the country at their fine Romanian estate. But a siege of some kind is definitely under way, and when the final results of this intensely claustrophobic journey are made clear...I trust you'll see what I was so surprised, and pleasantly Disturbed.
Malefique France, 2002 Dir: Eric Valette
A real treat. I wasn't expecting much when I downloaded Malefique two years ago, just a diversion, a time waster, some good Horror to watch on a quiet evening at home with a nice bottle of cheap red wine. How exciting it is to get 15 minutes into a movie and realize you're seeing something altogether different and splendid; this is a very disconcerting film, one of the most claustrophobic I've ever seen. Four prisoners share a cell, and one night an ancient manuscript is found in the walls. It concerns black magic, and the fate of the convict who wrote this creepy journal a hundred years before. Every single actor in this movie is magnificent- it's a real joy to see Horror treated with such respect, by a fine and talented director and all of these performers who not once gave into the ham-handed American affliction of making terror deliberate kitsch. A fucking terrific film, and the ending sequences are...deeply unsettling.
Zero de Conduite France, 1933 Dir: Jean Vigo
Disturbing because the anti-authoritarian message of the film was too much even for France, who banned the thing for thirteen years until after the Liberation in 1946. A repressive boy's school is the setting for intrigue, conspiracy and rebellion of two youths who have had it with authority and decide to wreck a holiday pageant. Incomplete, but disturbing mainly for what this charming little film evoked from the authorities: brutal censorship, shod of all rational thought. A perfect coda to a movie that dares attack fascism at its most basic root: the tyranny of adults over children.
Coup de Torchon France, 1981 Dir: Bertrand Tavernier
A superb retelling of Jim Thompson's gritty crime novel masterpiece Pop. 1280, Tavernier cleverly moves the action of this distinctly American novel to colonial West Africa, right before the Second World War. Everything works. The colonial policeman- played with startling insouciance by Philippe Noiret, who really nails Thomspson's malicious nincompoop with icy precision- is bullied by seemingly the entire town, including two of the sleaziest pimps to ever grace the screen. Is Noiret really all that thick, or is he just playing everybody for a sucker and with a big surprise indeed lurking for them? Pitiless in exposing the miserable cruelties of humanity in its every day incarnation- like all of Thompson's best novels- Coup de Torchon is a strange film to look at, and one that really rewards the viewer for getting deeper into it.
Salo, or The 120 Days Of Sodom Italy, 1975 Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini
One of the most banned films in history, and quite possibly the only movie so outrageously at odds with all of polite society's most basic values that it earned a governmental assassination of the director, Salo is an endless series of the most brutal and sexually sadistic images, crushing all known taboos, engaging in filth for the seeming sheer decadent thrill of it all, and- even to me- morally indefensible as just "Art". The use of actual juveniles by Pasolini in his scenes of coprophagous and carnal invidiousness is just something that society can't tolerate; the fact that the movie is barely held together by any narrative thread save human cruelty and domination only makes that taboo all the worse, since there seems to be absolutely no point to the film except to shock and degrade- both the actors and the audience. No doubt it must be on the list, but I still debate whether Pasolini really pulled one over on his defenders, making a flat-out nihilistic porn film and having all the pointy heads line up to defend it as some kind of "statement". Only for the most seasoned viewer of gravely disturbing films.
Mark Of The Devil 4: Tombs Of The Blind Dead Spain, 1971 Dir: Amando de Ossorio
The very best of the "Blind Dead" franchise of resurrected Templar Knights, remorseless in their killing and thirst for revenge. These are some of the best monsters ever to appear on screen; the make-up is outstanding, the idea behind them is fucking fantastic, and the execution on screen absolutely terrifying. While some of the "Blind Dead" films got a little silly later on, this one is wall-to-wall nightmare, and as the resolute army of dead killers continue on their rampage and it is clear that nothing can stop them...the concomitant level of Disturbingness goes through the goddamn roof. An absolute 70's Horror classic.
Don't Torture A Duckling Italy, 1972 Dir: Lucio Fulci
In a better world, Lucio Fulci would receive the respect he deserves as a Thriller director of the very first rank; and in Duckling, the great man puts all of his gifts for perversion and menace on display in one of the finest Giallo ever filmed. Florinda Bolkan is her usual ravishing self in this odd story of child killing in an isolated town that lives with superstitions and mistrust from the Middle Ages; disturbing scenes of adolescent seduction and children with the same twisted moral compass of their parents make this the kind of film you just want to sit down and watch with no distractions, then go make some popcorn and watch again. Superb story, even better pacing and direction from one of Italy's alternative Masters.
Wet & Rope Japan, 1979 Dir: Koyu Ohara
A Japanese exploration of the curious 70's phenomenon of "Nunsploitation", Wet & Rope is a grueling film that treats all human sexuality as aberrant, and all aberrance as titillation. The combination is very unsettling. Poor newlywed Yuko gets raped by three maniacs while her husband is forced to watch. Naturally, he banishes her now that his honor is trammelled, so she tries to kill herself. A priest just happens to be on the scene, and he convinces Yuko to become a nun. Now the real perversity begins. All of the nuns masturbate, uhm, "religiously", and in a surreal scene combining racism, bestiality and venomous rape, the sisters invite some hoodlums to stop by and watch them all violate each other to raise funds for the convent- hey sisters, ever hear of a fucking bake sale???
Flavia The Heretic Italy, 1974 Dir: Gianfranco Mingozzi
Not surpirsingly, most films of the ephemereal "Nunsploitation" genre are flat-out trash. Flavia is a huge exception; this is an amazingly thoughtful film, filled with risible imagery, to be sure, but featuring an ending sequence so bizarre, filled with suffering and ultimately tragic that only Disturbing can be a word to describe it. The great Florinda Bolkan dons the habit for this splendidly strange little number, as a nun whose convent is defiled by the deliriously named Sect Of The Tarantula, and in the process of her rebellion all sorts of proto-feminist themes are developed. The violence is incredibly nasty, the torture gut-churningly realistic, and the nudity and rape both rampant and fully realized; still, this is a "real" movie, and one that you will find yourself oddly drawn to once the lust to see naked nuns in slaked. One of my favorite films on The List, and a real 70's classic.
No comments:
Post a Comment