tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post7828035639126637661..comments2024-01-28T19:45:11.660-08:00Comments on At the Mansion of Madness: Paul Naschy's HUMAN BEASTS (1980)Giovanni Susinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03253382939348997303noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-41335292908500514232011-08-02T18:08:25.661-07:002011-08-02T18:08:25.661-07:00Thanks Luigi! I hope this blog ends up being to y...Thanks Luigi! I hope this blog ends up being to your liking. You're definitely right when you say that I've got a passion for Italian horror.Giovanni Susinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03253382939348997303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-12754869053460227692011-08-02T15:55:58.263-07:002011-08-02T15:55:58.263-07:00A blog "gender" with great care and pass...A blog "gender" with great care and passion for Italian horror! Great!!! <br />I add you at friends and read it with more calm time!<br />Ciao! :)<br /><br />Luigiocchio sulle espressionihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14825768722893715391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-61267219676882474022011-07-30T15:55:23.413-07:002011-07-30T15:55:23.413-07:00Thanks Zena! Great music in a movie can go a long...Thanks Zena! Great music in a movie can go a long way for me, and I frequently rave about music scores when I review films.Giovanni Susinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03253382939348997303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-27764283645508153392011-07-29T11:38:46.876-07:002011-07-29T11:38:46.876-07:00I haven't seen this movie but it seems like it...I haven't seen this movie but it seems like it would be awesome. I always enjoy a movie with a great soundtrack! Great review always, Giovanni. :PReal Queen of Horrorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06786342064401390635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-77168519870930806132011-07-28T13:04:00.509-07:002011-07-28T13:04:00.509-07:00I checked the spam filter and I don’t see any comm...I checked the spam filter and I don’t see any comments. I am really sorry, but it seems your comment did not publish for some reason. I hope you’re able to try again. I’m a little bummed that it didn’t show.Giovanni Susinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03253382939348997303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-60502826486652832002011-07-28T11:29:05.722-07:002011-07-28T11:29:05.722-07:00Well, I wrote another comment, here, yesterday, bu...Well, I wrote another comment, here, yesterday, but it seems to be missing--did I run afoul of the spam filter again?cinemarchaeologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13507603255666191405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-58188105514816834342011-07-26T02:46:29.913-07:002011-07-26T02:46:29.913-07:00I have seen FRANKENSTEIN’S BLODY TERROR (the birth...I have seen FRANKENSTEIN’S BLODY TERROR (the birth of Waldemar Daninsky and a great film). I thought Aurora Alba was totally seductive as the female vampire and the cast just felt full of enthusiasm, given the modest production that the film was. I am familiar with DRACULA’S GREAT LOVE as well. I have 2 versions of this, a fairly good transfer known as CEMETERY GIRLS that is part of those EXPLOITATION CINEMA DOUBLE FEATURE DVDs (not sure if these are still around) and the other is part of the ELVIRA’S MOVIE MACABRE DVD series that I purchased for a couple dollars on Amazon. I don’t really favor the Elvira version because she tears it down pretty hard, more so than usual. I thought DGL was a little nonsensical, but still a very beautiful and enjoyable film.<br /> <br />Going back to the BCI Spanish horrors, THE NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS was the first to catch my eye since Amando De Ossorio’s name was over the title (Ossorio got my respect for his BLIND DEAD series). The film wasn’t the best, but it introduced me to the quality that BCI was capable of. As for EXORCISM, Naschy claimed to have written the script for that film a couple years before THE EXORCIST was even released. This is a little hard to believe since EXORCISM does have strikingly similar moments to THE EXORCIST (or the script might have been modified at the last minute to capitalize on THE EXORCIST), but other than that it isn’t all that similar. EXORCISM is a bit slow though and is probably one of my least favorite Naschy films. So you haven’t missed much there.<br /><br />I feel like I’ve seen every one of Naschy’s horror films from the 60s and 70s but I am starting to read his autobiography MEMOIRS OF A WOLFMAN to learn more. It does have a very comprehensive filmography at the end, with little paragraph write ups for each film. Also, other than ROJO SANGRE I haven’t seen anything more recent from Naschy though. I’m not sure but I doubt that hardly any of the newer stuff has been dubbed in English or subtitled. I could be wrong though since I haven’t checked. I’ve been more interested in the older stuff. <br /><br />By the way, I wish you all the luck with your movie project.Giovanni Susinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03253382939348997303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-56748373928095628142011-07-25T19:19:40.729-07:002011-07-25T19:19:40.729-07:00I read about Naschy's films for a lot of years...I read about Naschy's films for a lot of years before I got to see many of them. Before DVD, I'd only seen crappy grey-market prints of THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN and FURY OF THE WOLFMAN (which was in such bad shape, I never watched most of it). DVD opened up his work (and that of countless others) to me.<br /><br />I managed to get all of the BCI Spanish horrors except EXORCISM, which, honestly, didn't interest me at all (I hold even slighter regard for exor-sploitation than for even slasher flicks). From a business end, the line was mismanaged from the get-go, but they did quality releases of some really good movies, some that lived up to their stellar reputations, some that were little-known gems, and at least one that was insanely overrated rubbish (NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS).<br /><br />Shamefully, I still haven't seen either EL CAMINANTE or THE HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE yet (my very limited resources, at the moment, are committed to my own movie project). Have you ever seen FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR? A great little flick, tarnished only by some dumb moments designed to capitalize on 3D. And did you see DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE? It was supposed to be part of the BCI series, but ended up being shuffled over to a different line when Navarre pulled the plug.cinemarchaeologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13507603255666191405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-37506680907025197122011-07-25T12:31:17.097-07:002011-07-25T12:31:17.097-07:00I wasn’t sure if BCI/Eclipse went belly up or deci...I wasn’t sure if BCI/Eclipse went belly up or decided to discontinue their Spanish horror series which really was a great time in my horror collecting career. I bought anything from that series even if it was a movie I had never heard of, such as THE DRACULA SAGA. I originally mentioned the possibility of BCI/Eclipse shutting down in an early draft, but I had a hard time confirming it, so I omitted it in fear of being incorrect, but it did seem pretty obvious. Thanks for confirming that by the way.<br /><br />I believe that this film is better than BLUE EYES as well, but not much better since I cannot get enough of the giallo film and I thought it was a formidable imitation to the epic Italian murder mysteries which, fortunately for me, there are more than enough to choose from. Even HUMAN BEASTS contains some giallo elements but I do agree that HUMAN BEASTS is very original and really is something special to me and was the film that finally made me interested enough in Naschy to check out his Werewolf films and really search for some of the rarer but equally enjoyable stuff, like EL CAMINANTE and THE HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE.Giovanni Susinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03253382939348997303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2316228451187611813.post-12872981365147826822011-07-25T00:14:25.799-07:002011-07-25T00:14:25.799-07:00I really like this one. I do like CARNIVAL OF BEAS...I <i>really</i> like this one. I do like CARNIVAL OF BEASTS better as a title though--HUMAN BEASTS is too on-the-nose, and gives away the game.<br /><br />The movie crosses about four different--and seemingly disparate--genres as it goes along, which is what gives it that batshit crazy feel, but it runs a common theme through all of them, and the madness escalates as it goes along. I didn't think the dinner party near the end was inappropriately outlandish at all--it's just the next stage of this mounting insanity. If the movie ran 20 more minutes, the cast may have played out the ending on a space shuttle in orbit, and it <i>still</i> wouldn't have seemed entirely inappropriate.<br /><br />This flick hit DVD as sort of the b-release to the much better known BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL (HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN is a much better title for that one), but I thought it blew that film out of the water in every way. They have vaguely similar premises, but whereas BLUE EYES... was merely trying to replicate the Italian gialli (of which I'm not a big fan in the first place), CARNIVAL OF BEASTS was, as a whole, an original, and a much better movie. It has become one of the flicks I make it a point to pimp every so often in various venues.<br /><br />Unfortunately, BCI went belly-up shortly after releasing it, which isn't going to help lift it out of the obscurity to which it has unjustly been consigned. I keep hoping someone like Synapse or Code Red will pick up and--even better--continue BCI's Spanish horror line (which was just incredible), but so far, no takers.cinemarchaeologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13507603255666191405noreply@blogger.com