The sounds of Astron-6's THE EDITOR

A couple of posts below this one I raved about Astron-6's The Editor, and now it's time to crank up the volume and dig into the film's gold mine of tasty giallo inspired synthwave. Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy obviously compiled The Editor's soundtrack with the same love and attention to detail afforded every other aspect of the film's production. The result is an assault of (literally) killer tracks from the likes of Carpenter Brut, Vercetti Technicolor, and Hook Lab.

The pick of the bunch is Carpenter Brut's "Le Perv", the French artist's best track by a long shot. The music video he released for it a while back (pictured above) is a stunner too, mashing the song up perfectly with clips from Lucio Fulci's Murder Rock. Although generally considered to be one of Fulci's lesser efforts and for completists only, I'm actually quite fond of it. A bizarre fusion of giallo with the previous year's box-office smash Flashdance, it makes up for its lack of gore with some stylish touches and acres of sensually gyrating, sweaty flesh.

So while we await the release of an official OST (Death Waltz? One Way Static? Waxwork? Giallo Disco?), here's the majority of The Editor's bangers (with a more atmospheric number thrown in at the end from Repeated Viewing) to stream in one handy spot. Enjoy, dance, and DIE.

Carpenter Brut - Le Perv from Silver Strain on Vimeo.

THE EDITOR

The giallo is so intrinsically tied to the Italian cultural milieu of the 1960s, '70s and '80s that it's not surprising that almost all of the modern attempts to revive the genre have fizzled. Even recent attempts by some of the form's previous masters (Argento and De Palma) have flopped pretty miserably. These films were so much a product of time and place that to try and reproduce them now almost always comes off as cringingly artificial.

No surprise then that the two best 21st century gialli - Amer and The Editor - both succeed because they take the familiar tropes, imagery and music of the genre and reshape the formula to create something fresh. As for Amer, although it has all the trappings, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani's film isn't really a giallo in the traditional sense at all. Rather, it's an art film that takes the genre's tendency towards style over substance to its extreme, using its visuals and music to create an experience that's more sensory and emotive than it is thrilling and titillating. It was a daring gamble, and Amer is all the more interesting for it*.

With The Editor, Astron-6's approach is (of course) the polar opposite. Rather than high-minded art wankery, Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy go the unabashedly lowbrow route, upping the ante on the sex, gore and music to the nth degree. The result is pure exploitation bliss: a glorious explosion of sweaty flesh, gushing blood, creaking leather, flashing steel and pumping synth beats. The Editor is the real deal, the most entertaining giallo sleaze-fest in 20 years.

It may seem unlikely that the best giallo in decades is an all out spoof of the genre, but its success lies in the way that Brooks and Kennedy treat the material. They don't pander to mainstream audiences whose previous exposure may begin and end at a casual TV viewing of Dressed to Kill (although many of the gags are very broad, a lot of the film's humour would fly well over the heads of the uninitiated). This is a love letter by and for the hardcore fans, a perfect balance of parody tempered with genuine love and respect for the films it's sending up. As ridiculous as things get in The Editor, there are moments throughout that could easily pass as believable clips from a real giallo. One of the things that lends it such an air of respectful authenticity is the way the convoluted narrative follows the same nonsensical dream logic that's such a cornerstone of many of the original movies. By the end of the film you have that same trippy feeling of having woken out of a dream (albeit one that you laughed your ass off through).

As impressive as the blood-letting is here, the thing that really stands out is the sheer amount of sleazy nudity and sex. The Editor rides the thin line between spoofing misogyny and being guilty of it itself pretty precariously, but personally I thought it was all hilariously funny and tastefully done. The women who disrobed for this movie are all great sports**, and it's all in the service of laughing at how idiotically stupid the machismo and sexism of '60s and '70s cinema could be.

As to the actual performances beyond the physical requirements, the whole cast does a great job of acting terribly, getting it just right so as to not overdo it. Everyone's bad line reading and emoting is just underplayed enough to be funny instead of hammy, and the dubbed dialogue is spot on, again, not too hammy. Udo Kier turns up in characteristically creepy form, and Paz de la Huerta is just deliciously weird in every second of her screen time. Most impressive though is Human Centipede veteran Laurence R. Harvey, showing real chops and charisma here.

However, where The Editor truly soars is in its visuals and score. It looks amazing, far more impressive than what you'd expect from a budget of aprox 150,000. The prerequisite splashes of primary colour really pop off the screen; the set dressing is great; and the handsomely framed 2.35:1 cinematography is often beautiful (if sometimes obviously making fun of the hyper stylised nature of giallo aesthetics). Most impressive of all are some vfx sequences that are real eye openers. The score is a killer orgy of synthwave bangers from the likes of Carpenter Brut ("Le Perv" provides one of the film's most pulse-pounding moments), Vercetti Technicolor and Hook Lab (I think Claudio Simonetti may have contributed something as well).

Brooks and Kennedy fill the movie with an avalanche of fun references and homages. As well as all the expected giallo references, there are nods to Videodrome (a little on the nose that one maybe?); Argento's Three Mothers trilogy; and a subtle reference to Stuart Gordon's From Beyond. The big surprise is that in the end The Editor is much a loving homage to Fulci's The Beyond as it is to gialli. There are three major nods to it throughout the movie, and one in particular had me grinning from ear to ear. There's also a pleasing little meta touch during the end credits, when the editor's name is revealed to be Rey Ciso (the film's fictional Editor, its actual editor is Brooks), timed to coincide with a sinister music cue. Very nicely done.

Every aspect of the production is top notch, not least of which is the gorgeous promotional art provided by some of today's hottest poster artists, including Akiko Stehrenberger, Gary Pullin, Justin Erickson and Graham Humphreys (who also painted a trio of killer faux posters for the film). Feast your eyes below.

Astron-6 really nailed this one. The Editor is a funny, gory, sleazy and stylish good time that I just can't recommend highly enough. Get it from Shout! Factory here.

*Cattet and Forzani's followup - The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears - didn't live up to the promise of Amer. Still beautiful to look at, but a bit of a chore to sit through.

**Surprisingly, the usually perpetually naked Paz de la Huerta reveals the least flesh here.

BLACKGLOVEKILLER

With the news currently circulating that Bauhaus vocalist Peter Murphy has joined the cast of Chris Alexander's upcoming giallo BlackGloveKiller, this seems like an appropriate time to take a look at the poster art for the retro director's films.

For the uninitiated, Alexander is a renowned horror journalist and editor, now a veteran of Fangoria, Gorezone, Rue Morgue and Delirium. His passion for classic Euro-horror has recently seen him switch roles from commentator to creator, as the writer/director and composer of several shoestring-budget arthouse horror flicks. His approach is thoroughly old school, favouring style and mood over action and narrative, which can be frustrating for adrenaline junkies, but rewarding for the patient. The only one I've seen, Blood for Irina, is an ardent love letter to the films of Jean Rollin and Jess Franco, saturated with the same visual and auditory atmosphere that the two auteurs traded in. If that's your thing, it's well worth seeking out. As well as his upcoming giallo (which is in early development I believe), Chris has an LP of original music and soundtrack cues coming out next month. It's on the excellent Giallo Disco label and is titled Music for Murder, natch. 

The Blood for Irina poster seems like a nod to the naive staginess of some of the original Redemption Films video covers.

This first Queen of Blood artwork takes a "novel" approach to throwback graphics, emulating the look of old paperbacks (complete with edgewear and fading) as opposed to the usual folded one-sheet. Nice.

This poster wears its influences so unabashedly that the typography for "werewolf" is identical to that of the original UK posters for Rino Di Silvestro's Werewolf Woman. Don't believe me? Take a look.

The style of this first BlackGloveKiller artwork is reminiscent of Enzo Sciotti and similar artists. Love it.

Un Altro Giallo

Here's yet another upcoming European neo giallo that I forgot to include in the previous post! Masks is the second feature from German director Andreas Marschall, who previously helmed the reputedly quite gory occult horror flick Tears Of Kali. I'm attracted to directors who have a thematic concern that they revisit throughout their body of work, so it's interesting to note that both of Marschall's films so far revolve around violent cults. I always hope in such instances that we're seeing the emergence of a talented new auteur.

Masks is one of the new crop of retro-Italiana that's unashamedly flaunting it's influences - front and centre, and subtlety by damned. This looks very slick for a low budget effort, but if I have one criticism based on the trailer, it's that Marschall seems to be walking a very fine like between riffing off, and just plain ripping off, Suspiria (he also cites Sergio Martino's All The Colors Of The Dark as an influence). I'm fond of Lucky McKee's The Woods because I think he managed to craft a respectful homage to Suspiria, whilst injecting enough of his own ideas to give the film it's own life. With Masks, I'm not sure if Marschall is offering much more than Argento worship.

After watching the trailer, what say you? Am I being too harsh?

Giallo 2000!

Although rehashing the past rarely makes for groundbreaking or progressive cinema, I'm personally quite pleased that the recent trend of revisiting the style and tropes of 70's and 80's gialli seems to be flourishing. The giallo was a wonderful, gorgeous, lurid and insane chapter of cinematic history - and until recently it looked like it was all behind us, the genre having petered out into such inferior entries as Al Festa's woeful Fatal Frames ('96) and Argento's exponentially worsening output (culminating in the absolute nadir of 2009's ironically titled Giallo). In my opinion, the last really worthwhile examples of the form were The Stendhal Syndrome and Deodato's under-appreciated The Washing Machine.

Around ten years ago I was so craving a revival of the genre that I eagerly handed over my cash to Trevor Barley/Roman Nowicki for the "pleasure" of watching the first entry in his notorious Fantom Kiler series. The enticing stills of what appeared to be the masked, fedora wearing killer from Mario Bava's Blood And Black Lace menacing naked women with a gleaming knife were impossible for me to resist. I actually watched it a few times, disliking it more with each viewing, until I finally had to admit to myself that I had been thoroughly duped. This wasn't the real thing... just an opportunistic appropriation of the fetishes of the genre, distilled into a sleazy and distastefully misogynistic fantasy. I'm no politically correct prude, and I'll happily admit to getting a few kicks and laughs out of it, but in the end I found Kiler to be little more than an unpleasant pile of shit, carefully dusted with a light coating of sugar.

Let's face it, it makes Giallo a Venezia look like a work of high art, and comparisons to other notorious films like House On The Edge Of The Park and The New York Ripper are an unforgivable insult to Fulci, Deodato and everyone else involved with those fine films. But enough about that.

One could argue that a revival of the giallo is impossible - that the form was entirely a product of it's time and cultural milieu and can't be anything but disingenuous now. If misfires like Chris Sivertson's I Know Who Killed Me (unfairly maligned, but a pretty poor flick nonetheless) were the norm, I'd probably agree with that assertion. However, it would seem that we're starting to see a number of European films emerge that aren't just aping the tropes of the Italian thriller, but building on it's conventions to further the genre in hopefully progressive ways. Let's take a look at some recently released and upcoming examples:



AMER

This French/Belgian co-production from 2009 is the only film on this list that I've seen, and it may well prove to be the best of the bunch. After helming a string of short films together, this is the feature debut of co-writers/directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, and it's an impressive first effort to be sure. Although unmistakeably a modern giallo, Amer is more suited to the arthouse than the grindhouse, and will no doubt frustrate some viewers who are expecting more of a traditional stalk and slash scenario, as suggested by it's poster (but what a poster that is!).

Nonetheless it is overflowing with recognisable elements, most notably it's use of otherworldly lighting gels; a fantastic score made up of classic tracks culled from the likes of Sergio Martino's Case Of The Scorpion's Tail and Paolo Cavara's Black Belly Of The Tarantula; and a scene involving a straight razor that you won't soon forget. Some reviewers have criticised Amer for being an exercise in style over substance, but I suspect that's likely due to it's rather obfuscating narrative style. The film is heavily reliant on arcane visual symbolism to tell it's story, and if misunderstood (or ignored) it's quite understandable that one would find find it all a bit bewildering. For an in depth analysis of the film's symbolic meaning and cinematic references see Cinezilla's fascinating review HERE.









JULIA'S EYES (LOS OJOS DE JULIA)

This Spanish film from last year, produced by the prolific Guillermo del Toro, reportedly plays as more of a traditional thriller than the previous Amer, perhaps making it more akin to some of De Palma's early films than the Italian directors who influenced him. Reactions have been mixed on this one, but most reviewers seem to agree that the lead performance by Belén Rueda - in a dual role, playing twin sisters - is excellent and worth the price of admission alone. A complaint common to many reviews is that the tension and dread built up in the initial hour is betrayed by a disappointingly incohesive finale. Quibbles like that won't keep me from checking this out however, as I've been reeled in by it's obvious style, atmosphere and creep factor. Coincidentally, this is screening in Sydney tonight as the closer for this year's Spanish Film Festival... get your tickets HERE!









OND TRO

From what I can gather, last year's Swedish thriller Ond Tro (Bad Faith) is less reliant on the more overt visual cliche's of the giallo than the other films on this list. Don't expect any garish colour gels here, rather a less superficial connection to the genre, embodied in a plot element familiar from movies such as Deep Red and Tenebrae - that of the witness to a murder becoming so immersed in solving the case, that they suddenly find themselves dangerously at the centre of it. I need no further enticement to get my ass in the seat for this than knowing that it was shot by one Hoyte van Hoytema, the brilliant cinematographer behind Let The Right One In.









LAST CARESS

Let's leave High Brow alone for now, and fix our lecherous gaze upon this sleazy and sadistic looking little flick. Upcoming French erotic shocker Last Caress doesn't seem to give a damn about the finer elements of the giallo, it just wants to exploit every gory, sexy fetish of the genre to maximum effect. Frankly, the trailers, stills and poster for this scream "Fantom Kiler with better production values", but I think I can live with that. To be fair, this does appear to be a lot classier than Kiler (not that that's much of a complement), but whether that makes me a complete sucker or not will depend on the quality of the final product. In the meantime, the trailers provide plenty of enjoyably carnal carnage, and if pillaging some of your favourite gialli isn't enough, these cinematic perpetrators (François Gaillard and Christophe Robin) are also teasing some nunsploitation and even a little imagery lifted straight out of The Beyond! Website and trailers HERE.







Finally, I had to include this awesome poster for an unrealised feature, from Argentinian indie director Daniel de la Vega, that went by the title of Necrofobia. It's such a perfect piece of giallo inspired art that I think it merits inclusion. I haven't seen any of de la Vega's work, but he obviously has an unhealthy fixation with Euro horror that traumatises him like a rabid cat in the brain. For proof of that obsession just look at the titles of some of his previous films: Jennifer's Shadow and Death Knows Your Name. Hmmm, talk about wearing your influences on your sleeve!

Suspiriorum Profundus!

Check out my post at Illogical Contraption on the newly reformed and soon to be touring Goblin. Simonetti is back in the lineup, along with original members Massimo Morante and Maurizio Guarini. Check out the post here, and thanks to Cinezilla for the inspiration!

Argento At The Chauvel

Horror fans living in the Sydney area are in for a rare treat next month as the always genre-friendly Chauvel Cinema is hosting a season of double-bills comprised of Dario Argento's entire output from '75 to '85 (minus Inferno), each one followed by a choice pick from Romero, Hooper or Craven.

The season runs over four Fridays (February 26th to March 19th) and opens with a crushing double: Suspiria and Dawn Of The Dead. I saw a print of Dawn at the old Third Eye in Surry Hills years ago, but two of the reels were so damaged as to make it almost unwatchable (I still had a blast). A good print of Dawn would be great, but not as brain-meltingly awesome as seeing a decent print of Suspiria in a cinema. The other Argento movies are Tenebrae, Deep Red and Phenomena and I'm frothing at the mouth for all three. Sharing these doubles with the Italian maestro are Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre & Eaten Alive and Wes Craven's Last House On The Left. I can take or leave the Hooper flicks (having already seen a screening of Texas Chainsaw and not being overly fond of Eaten Alive), but it might be fun seeing a crowd squirm uncomfortably at the sleazy nihilism of Krug and company.

As ever, the big question is: ARE THEY UNCUT? I'll be finding out at the Chauvel, over four consecutive Fridays of mysterious killers, arcane witchcraft, flesh-eating corpses, inbred mayhem and bloody vengeance!

The Chauvel is the last vestige of real independent cinema left in Sydney (a disgraceful situation for a city of five million), and when they run programs like this it drives home the importance of supporting it, lest the Chauvel disappear along with the Valhalla and Third Eye. Details for all the screenings can be found at the cinema's website here.

Soundtrack: Evil Dead Trap

Unbeknownst to most casual film-goers, not all Japanese horror movies revolve around angsty, hirsute dead girls. Toshiharu Ikeda's 1988 shocker Evil Dead Trap (Shiryo No Wana) is a blatant homage/rip-off of various horror styles that ends up being an enjoyably creepy and gory little flick in it's own right. That said, it never really rises above it's simple ambitions to ape the works of other (better) directors, but it doesn't really matter - it is what it is: a grimy, nasty, violent giallo. At least it wants to be a giallo, but it also wants to be other things, and thus ends up as a confusing mixture of sub-genres. The first two-thirds of the film are a pretty successful mixture of Argento-style giallo and Fulci-esque gore (going as far as to include a voyeuristic close-up of a blade, messily piercing an eyeball). Then in the final act, it suddenly careens right off course and turns into bizarre Cronenbergian body horror. Evil Dead Trap is atmospheric, bloody, sleazy fun, but makes little sense.

The cheap sounding synth score by Tomohiko Kira is, predictably, a total rip-off of Goblin and Fabio Frizzi. At times cringe-inducingly saccharine and almost unlistenably bad, it does manage in it's best moments to successfully invoke the feel of the Italians that it's imitating (especially in context, while watching the film). As far as I know, this is an unofficial OST, and has never been made commercially available (none of the tracks are titled). My thanks to the original uploader for making this rare horror score available. Hit the link below.

OCULAR MUTILATION!