5 Off My Head: The Mad Count Chris

The singular legend Christopher Lee was born one hundred years ago today! While I've made no secret about the fact that when it comes to May 27th Horror Legend Birthday Boys I'm more of a Vincent Price (who was born 111 years ago today) than I am a Christopher Lee, that doesn't mean I don't love Lee! I love him loads. Indeed ever since Severina couple of years ago  put out that amazing "Eurocrypt" boxed-set of more obscure Lee titles (which is on sale for a measly 85 bucks right now, by the way) I've found a new appreciation for him -- and also on that note Severin recently announced they're putting out a second set of even obscurer titles (out in July you can pre-order it over here) so I'm sure there'll be even more amazingness to be mined. That said given what a truly epic run Lee had career-wise, working across eight (!!!) decades of the movies, narrowing down one's faves is a fool's errand. But I'm gonna try anyway, because I am nothing if not an epic fool.

My 5 Favorite Christopher Lee Performances

Count Dracula, Horror of Dracula (1958)

Saruman, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Count Drago, The Castle of the Living Dead (1964)

Lord Summerisle, The Wicker Man (1973)

Duc de Richleau, The Devil Rides Out (1968)

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Runners-up: Hugo, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Horror Express, The Whip and the Body, Hercules in the Haunted World, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Corridors of Blood, Star Wars 

What are your favorite Christopher Lee performances?

This Was the Day the Universe Trembled!

Fantabulous news today as one of the greatest sci-fi slash horror slash WTF movies ever made, Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires from 1965, is finally getting an upgraded 2K remastered blu-ray from the fab folks at Kino Lorber come July 26th -- you can pre-order it at their site and they've got it pretty cheap already at under 18 bucks! If you've never seen this movie you're in for a trippy treat -- some will call it slow to be sure but it's a whole ass vibe, and one of my all-time faves. 

You'll also side-eye Ridley Scott & Co. pretty gosh-danged hard for pretending that Alien was an original idea fourteen years later when it's legit just a remake (admittedly masterful) of this, with some Sigourney & Giger sprinkled on top. (But oh, what sprinkles.) But Bava's his whole own technicolor hallucinogenic sitch, and I cannot wait to see how this movie's outrageous color-scapes pop with a new remaster. I got to see this movie on the big screen about five years back and I swear to you my entire body turned to happy primordial goo.

Oh I love PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES so much #mondobava pic.twitter.com/oqyr7zH6A8

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 15, 2017

10 Off My Head: Siri Says 1965

It's somehow been four months since we've done one of our "Siri Says" posts! And that's a darn shame. I know y'all enjoy them, and I do too, so let's reboot the season this week (although no promises we'll keep any momentum going given how I've got several film festivals lining up real quick for our immediate future) with a look at the Movies of 1965, after the lady who lives inside my telephone whispered the number "65" in my ear when I asked her for a number between 1 and 100.

One, I am surprised I hadn't done 1965 yet -- there are still good years left scattered about, although the pickins have admittedly gotten as slim as Jean-Paul Belmondo's waist. And Two, I was surprised by how many damn good movies there are from 1965 when I got to digging; movies I truly adore. So instead of our usual five movies I chose ten faves. And it's almost all foreign cinema? Foreign or genre film, anyway. The 1960s have all sorts of gems to offer once you escape Hollywood's bloated lameness.

My 10 Favorite Movies of 1965

War and Peace 

(dir. Sergey Bondarchuk) 

-- released on July 1965 --

Darling

(dir. John Schlesinger) 

-- released on August 3rd 1965 --

Pierrot le fou 

(dir. Jean-Luc Godard) 

-- released on November 5th 1965 --

Juliet of the Spirits

(dir. Fellini) 

-- released on October 19th 1965 --

The 10th Victim

(dir. Elio Petri) 

-- released on December 2nd 1965 --

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

(dir. Russ Meyer) 

-- released on August 6th 1965 --

Doctor Zhivago

(dir. David Lean) 

-- released on December 22nd 1965 --

Gamera the Giant Monster

(dir. Noriaki Yuasa) 

-- released on November 27th 1965 --

Planet of the Vampires

(dir. Mario Bava) 

-- released on September 15th 1965 --

Repulsion

(dir. Roman Polanski) 

-- released on May 19th 1965 --

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Runners-up: Die! Die! My Darling! (dir. Silvio Narizzano), The Nanny (dir. Seth Holt), My Hustler (dir. Andy Warhol), Invasion of the Astro-Monster (dir. Ishirô Honda), Bad Girls Go To Hell (dir. Doris Wishman), The Sound of Music (dir. Robert Wise), War-Gods of the Deep (dir. Jacques Tourneur) 

Never seen: Sandra of a Thousand Delights (dir. Visconti), Who Killed Teddy Bear (dir. Joseph Cates), What's New Pussycat (dir. Clive Donner), Simon of the Desert (dir. Bunuel), Up to His Ears (dir. Phillipe de Broca), That Darn Cat (dir. Robert Stevenson), Cat Ballou (dir. Elliot Silverstein), The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (dir. Martin Ritt), Help! (dir. Richard Lester), The Naked Prey (dir. Cornel Wilde)

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What are your favorite films of 1965?

13 Cakes of Halloween #6

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I was insistent on using American Psycho's opening credits as one of our "13 Cakes of Halloween" posts yesterday even though it's not precisely a "cake" we see there because I wanted to build from that to today's post, which is looking at the opening sequence of Lamberto Bava's wonderful 1985 Demons sequel, one of my favorite pieces of nonsensical 80s Eurotrash cinema, and which uses basically the same gag. But with actual cake!

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for this strange extended opening sequence here -- the cake isn't the thing that possesses anybody a few scenes from now when we see this woman Sally having her big birthday bash; it's just a damned birthday cake! 

Although I suppose the cake does have a role to play, as birthday girl Sally is in her bedroom in the process of being possessed by malignant puss-spewing devils through her television set (I tell you, this movie rules) as the party-goers party and light candles in the other room, and when they turn the lights off to sing her "Happy Birthday" by said candle-light it's what allows the demon-possessed Sally to get the sneak on them all.

How dare I doubt Lamberto Bava's mad master plan.

PS Sweets will fuck your teeth up, yo.

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I Miss Massimo

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Since the last time I ogled Massimo Girotti I have managed to finally watch Pasolini's film Teorema, which brings the grand total of films starring him that I have seen to five, including Luchino Visconti's films Senso and Ossessione plus Mario Bava's Baron Blood and Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. But as you can tell by just those five titles the man worked for a very long time, a career spanning six decades, and with some of the world's greatest directors, so I feel as if I must be missing some. 

The most obvious one off the bat to me is 1967's omnibus film The Witches, which has segments directed by De Sica and Pasolini and Visconti among others (Girotti was in Visconti's portion, of course) -- thankfully that one was released on fancy blu-ray from Arrow last year so that shouldn't be too hard. But I really would like to see some of the films he made when he was young, because... well you know why, you see that picture up top. So if anybody's got any recommendations give 'em a spin in the comments! I need some Massimo in my life this summer.

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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Jail Bait (1954)

Dr. Gregor: This afternoon we had a long
telephone conversation earlier in the day.

With dialogue like that you know you're in an Ed Wood film and sure enough, this is one! Jail Bait was Wood's second picture after the infamous Glen or Glenda, and right before Bride of the Monster - somebody's who's seen Tim Burton's 1994 bio-pic Ed Wood recently will have to remind me if Jail Bait gets any mention in that movie - I haven't watched Ed Wood in far too long but don't recall Jail Bait being mentioned and the film's Wikipedia summation skips right over it too. So why do I bring up Jail Bait today?

Because Jail Bait was the first movie that future Hercules Steve Reeves ever acted in, and it's Steve Reeves' birthday today, that's why! Reeves would be turning 93 if he was still around. I found an interview with the actor from 1994 (right before Ed Wood came out) and this movie came up; here's what Steve had to say:

"The picture was originally called The Hidden Face. It's about a criminal who goes to a plastic surgeon who changes the criminal’s face to resemble his own. Somewhere in the film there was something about 'jail bait,' so they decided the title Jail Bait was more commercial. It was my first film, and I got my Screen Actors Guild card for it.... Wood was a very cooperative guy who let you do things the way you wanted to, and if they weren't quite right he would direct you. But he wasn't the kind of director who was always on you. The shoot lasted two or three weeks for me, off and on. I played a young detective, and I had a suit on at all times. I even had a tie. Only took my shirt off once. Those were the days, huh?"

"I even had a tie." Oh, Steve. You can watch all of Jail Bait right here if you, you know, feel up to it. It's not even an infamously bad Ed Wood movie like Plan 9 From Outer Space so it takes a real adventurer to brave those wilds but I'm sure I've got a few of those around here. Anyway we were just speaking of Steve Reeves a couple of weeks back...
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... on a big screen today was all the Xmas gift I need pic.twitter.com/SdOZ2dRmxO

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 27, 2018

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... when they screened The Giant of Marathon at FSLC for their Jacques Tourneur series, which was a ton of fun. Portions of it were filmed by Mario Bava and they're easy to tell because things go ultra-colorful and hyper-violent all of a sudden. It's a decent sword-n-sandal flick as far as those things go - I'm not the biggest fan of the genre but if you wanna see Steve Reeves in obscenely short skirts wrestling dudes you do what you gotta. (And all of The Giant of Marathon is on Amazon Prime, btw.) But I won't make you go through all that to see some Steve Reeves skin -- all you gotta do is hit the jump for the Total Steve Reeves Birthday Suit Experience...

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1964

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We haven't had time to talk to the little lady that lives inside of our phones for months now! The poor lady got so angry she up and left, who can blame her, and I had to buy a brand new phone to have somebody to talk to. (Don't judge me.) So today, with an extra hour to spare and a guilty weight upon my heart I figure why not, let's communicate with this new sucker.

That's right, it's time for our "Siri Says" series, in which I ask my telephone to tell me a number between 1 and 100 and then choose my favorite movies from the year that corresponds with that number. We've done well over half of all the numbers by now and so it always takes a few tries to get a fresh number out of Siri but today it only took, well, like seven tries. That's not so bad! And Siri gave me "64" (eventually) and so today we're celebrating The Movies of 1964. Let's take a look!

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1964

Marnie 

(dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

-- released on November 9th, 1964 --

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

(dir. Jacques Demy)

-- released on December 16, 1964 --

Dr. Strangelove

(dir. Stanley Kubrick)

-- released on January 29th, 1964 --

Blood and Black Lace

(dir. Mario Bava)

-- released on April 10th, 1964 --

Masque of the Red Death

(dir. Roger Corman)

-- released on September 16th, 1964 --

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Runners-up: Goldfinger (dir. Guy Hamilton), Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (dir. Robert Aldrich), Strait Jacket (dir. William Castle), That Man From Rio (dir. Phillippe de Broca)...

... What a Way To Go! (dir. Thompson), The Last Man on Earth (dir. Sidney Salko), The Gorgon (dir. Terence Fisher), The Comedy of Terrors (dir. Tourneur), The Naked Kiss (dir. Samuel Fuller)... 

...... Kitten With a Whip (dir. Douglas Hayes), First Men in the Moon (dir. Nathan Juran), Onibaba (dir. Kaneto Shindô), Tomb of Ligeia (dir. Corman), Ghidora, The Three-Headed Monster (dir. Honda), Kwaidan (dir. Masaki Kobayashi), Dead Ringer (dir. Paul Henreid), Zorba the Greek (dir. Michael Cacoyannis)

Never seen: A Hard Day's Night (dir. Richard Lester), Becket (dir. Peter Glenville), A Married Woman (dir. Jean-luc Godard), Band of Outsiders (dir. Godard), Nothing But the Best (dir. Clive Donner), Joy House (dir. Rene Clement), I Am Cuba (dir. Mikhail Kalatozov), Marriage Italian Style (dir. Vittorio De Sica), Diary of a Chambermaid (dir. Bunuel)

What are your favorite movies of 1964?

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