Tag: Suzy Kendall

Dario Argento’s THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE Available on 4K Ultra HD July 27th From Arrow Video

“I can hear it now: “Go to Italy. It’s a peaceful country, nothing much ever happens there.”

Dario Argento’s THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (19709) will available on 4K Ultra HD July 27th from Arrow Video. Ordering info can be found HERE

In 1970, young first-time director Dario Argento (Deep Red, Suspiria) made his indelible mark on Italian cinema with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – a film which redefined the ‘giallo’ genre of murder-mystery thrillers and catapulted him to international stardom. Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante, We Own the Night), an American writer living in Rome, inadvertently witnesses a brutal attack on a woman (Eva Renzi, Funeral in Berlin) in a modern art gallery. Powerless to help, he grows increasingly obsessed with the incident. Convinced that something he saw that night holds the key to identifying the maniac terrorizing Rome, he launches his own investigation parallel to that of the police, heedless of the danger to both himself and his girlfriend Giulia (Suzy Kendall, Spasmo).

A staggeringly assured debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage establishes the key traits that would define Argento’s filmography, including lavish visuals and a flare for wildly inventive, brutal scenes of violence. With sumptuous cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) and a seductive score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in the West), this landmark film has never looked or sounded better in this brand new 4K Ultra HD presentation from Arrow Video!

Bonus Materials

  • New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films
  • 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
  • Restored original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
  • English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
  • Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
  • Black Gloves and Screaming Mimis, an interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger exploring the film’s themes and its relationship to both the giallo and Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi
  • The Power of Perception, a visual essay on the cinema of Dario Argento by Alexanda Heller-Nicholas, author of Devil’s Advocates: Suspiria, reflecting on the recurring theme of perception and the role of art in Argento’s filmography
  • Crystal Nightmare, an interview with writer/director Dario Argento
  • An Argento Icon, an interview with actor Gildo Di Marco
  • Eva’s Talking, an archival interview with actor Eva Renzi
  • Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
  • 2017 Texas Frightmare trailer
  • Image galleries
  • Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Howard Hughes and Jack Seabrook, and a new essay by Rachael Nisbet
  • Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative
  • Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards
  • Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring originally and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative

Sergio Martino’s TORSO Available on Blu-ray October 30th From Arrow Video


Sergio Martino’s TORSO will be available on Blu-ray October 30th From Arrow Video

ENTER… IF YOU DARE!


A talented and versatile journeyman, director Sergio Martino (The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) has lent his talents to multiple genres across his long and varied career, but it is undoubtedly his giallo thrillers from the early 70s for which he is best known. Among the most highly acclaimed of these, 1973’s Torso revels in the genre’s time-honored traditions while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the modern slasher movie.


A sex maniac is prowling the streets of Perugia, targeting picturesque university town’s female students. Alarmed at plummeting life expectancy of the student body, Jane (Suzy Kendall, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) and her three friends elope to a secluded country villa only to discover that, far from having left the terror behind, they’ve brought it with them!


Also known as ”Carnal Violenc”e, Torso was released in Italy towards the end of the giallo boom before enjoying a second life on the American grindhouse circuit. Co-starring Tina Aumont (Salon Kitty) and Luc Merenda (The Violent Professionals), the film finds its director at the top of his game, delivering copious levels of violence, sleaze and one of the tensest cat-and-mouse games ever committed to celluloid!

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

  • Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative by Arrow Films
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of both versions of the film: the 94-minute Italian and 90-minute English cuts
  • Original lossless Italian and English mono soundtracks*
  • English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
  • New audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author of All the Colours of Sergio Martino
  • New video interview with co-writer/director Sergio Martino
  • New video interview with actor Luc Merenda
  • New video interview with co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi
  • New video interview with filmmaker Federica Martino, daughter of Sergio Martino
  • New video interview with Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film
  • 2017 Abertoir International Horror Festival Q&A with Sergio Martino
  • Italian and English theatrical trailers
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Adam Rabalais
  • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Smith and Howard Hughes
    * The English audio track on the original, longer cut has some portions of English audio missing. English audio for these sections was either never recorded or has been lost. As such, these sequences are presented with Italian audio, subtitled in English.

 

Dario Argento’s THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE This Weekend Midnights at The Moolah


“Right! Bring in the perverts!”


THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE screens Midnights this weekend (July 13th and 14th) at The Moolah Theater and Lounge (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108) as part of  Destroy the Brain’s monthly Late Nite Grindhouse film series.


Having served his time in the cinematic trenches both as a film critic and a screenwriter (notably collaborating with Bernardo Bertolucci on Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West), Dario Argento, the man who would become known as “The Italian Hitchcock” made his directorial debut with THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, a snappy little giallo, the success of which cemented his path within the genre. Admittedly, there are only a few moments of outright horror and/or gore, but the newcomer’s sharp grasp of tension, atmosphere, camerawork, and pacing are beyond reproach in this telling of Sam, a vacationing American (Tony Musante) who on his last day abroad witnesses an attempted murder in an art gallery and is detained to help solve the mystery.


Suzy Kendall co-stars as Julia, his British girlfriend, although she’s not given much to do except look pretty and fall into peril as needed in the final reel. Argento’s obsession with obsessives is immediately apparent, with Musante’s unwitting sleuth finding himself unable to focus on lovemaking, mealmaking, or anythingelsemaking until he can recall the subliminal secret that lies in his memory, all underscored by maestro Ennio Morricone’s delicious lullaby score. Son’t miss your hance to see THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE on the big sceen this weekend at The Moolah!


The Facebook invite for Friday night can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/179864819367550/

The Facebook invite for Saturday night can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/2114292195484119/


THE PSYCHOTRONIC PRE-SHOW STARTS AROUND 11:30P WITH THE FILM STARTING AT MIDNIGHT.

The Moolah Theatre & Lounge serves alcohol until 2:30AM! Feel free to show up early and stay late to have some drinks and get friendly with the amazing Moolah staff.

TORSO Midnights This Weekend at The Moolah – ‘Late Night Grindhouse’


“Enter… if you dare – the bizarre world of the psychosexual mind.”


In April of 1975, the Italian horror film TORSO opened at the Four Seasons Cinema at Olive and Woods Mill road where it was double feature with THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE! I had tried to talk my dad into taking me to see CHAINSAW when it had opened about 6 months earlier, but he refused (he was usually pretty cool about that kind of thing – but I was just 13). Finally, dad must have got sick of my begging because he drove me and a couple of buddies to the Four Seasons and dropped us off. CHAINSAW ran first and it’s still the most terrifying moviegoing experience of my life. TORSO wasn’t nearly a scary but it was loaded with gore and nudity (which CHAINSAW was not), something I wasn’t used to, so it was kind of the perfect double feature. Andy at Destroy the Brain has run CHAINSAW at the Late Night Grindhouse (twice actually), but this weekend will be the first time I’ve had an opportunity to see TORSO on the big screen in more than 42 years!


Director Sergio Martino’s milestone giallo TORSO is a prime example of everything this brilliant Italian horror sub-genre represents and everything the fans adore so much. Truly beautiful girls (all with exhibitionist-tendencies!) led by luscious Suzy Kendall, attending a Roman college are stalked and brutally slain by a killer wearing an eerie mask and a red and black scarf. When a second victim is found horribly mutilated, the few remaining girls flee to a countryside villa to recover, but the malevolent butcher follows them. The plot is pretty much standard, there aren’t as many twists here as in other gialli and Martino inserts a couple of authentic clichés (black gloves, broken dolls…) but there isn’t a boring moment to bee found anywhere in TORSO!


TORSO is incredibly suspenseful from start to finish and the extremely violent images are illustrated stylishly. Some of the make-up effects are quite staggering, especially the death of Carol (in the woods), which impressed me enormously at 13. The climax, in which the last remaining heroine desperately hides for the maniac, is compelling and it makes this movie a must for all giallo-fans. The score by Guido De Angelis is memorable and the acting is far above average as far as I’m concerned. People that  complain about the supposedly “awful” dubbing should either stop watching European horror or learn Italian and lip read!. TORSO is a terrific horror gem proves that Sergio Martino is an underrated director. His horror movies are always worth your time, and the chance to see TORSO on the big screen may not come around again for another 42 years!  Don’t miss it!

A Facebook invite for the Friday show can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/128080054475583/

A Facebook invite for the Saturday show can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/460238217693713/

TICKETS ARE $7 AND YOU CAN BUY THEM ONLINE VIA MOOLAH’S WEBSITE.

THE PSYCHOTRONIC PRE-SHOW STARTS AROUND 11:30P WITH THE FILM STARTING AT MIDNIGHT.

The Moolah Theatre & Lounge serves alcohol until 2:30AM! Feel free to show up early and stay late to have some drinks and get friendly with the amazing Moolah staff.