Now this was a nice surprise. A twisted, loony Seventies madhouse of a movie - originally reviewed for dvdsnapshot.
Our Take:
Black Magic Rites
was originally titled Riti, Magie Nere E Segrete Orge Nel Trecento... (which translates to “Rites, Black Magic and Secret Orgies in the Fourteenth Century...” and also sometimes called The Reincarnation of Isabel. All in all, a collection of names as loopy and vague as its plot. This is not a bad thing. One character towards the end says “Don't try to understand it,” and this is very good advice indeed.
In short, our plot has walking beefslab Jack Nelson (Micky Hargitay)
buying a share of a castle already occupied by a vampiric cult of
devil-worshipping men in red long underwear (with rear flaps, no doubt)
who are murdering women in order to bring back Isabella, their long-dead
mistress of bad body makeup. The fact that she burned to death in no
way impacts the opportunities to show her topless with a painted ragged
hole below her breasts. As in all horror stories involving
reincarnation, everyone has a past life involving poor old Miss Issy, so
we're asked to care that the cult targets Hargitay's wooden niece (Rita
Calderoni) to be the next piece of kindling on their bonfire.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Your Deathstar is Fully Operational
Monday night I made a quick jaunt to Athens to hang out with Chris, since he was there to attend an event this next morning. We popped into the Union to find they'd given it a makeover - paint, new lights, removal of pipes and the drop ceiling in the back half (which I don't really recall but according to Chris it was there). It looks good, but it now far more "Hipster" than "Dive." Written on a sign was "Your Deathstar is Fully Operational," which we took to mean they were re-opened for business after the rehab. On the whole, we liked it. (We're also weighing a trip next month since Mike Watt is playing...)
Friday, September 21, 2012
Jay's Movie of the Week #38: Unholy (2007)
Unholy is a science fiction mind-bender with a dash of
horror which bursts at the seams with ideas. A mad mix of pending
insanity, Nazis, necromancy, and grief. Lead character Martha
(Adrienne Barbeau) has already lost her husband and witnesses the
suicide of her daughter, Hope. In dealing with the loss, Martha and
her somewhat estranged, pothead son Lucas (Nicholas Brendon) try to
chase down what drove Hope to kill herself. It's not a difficult
journey, since the next door neighbor happens to be married to a
conspiracy-minded madwoman who sends them down a conspiracy
rabbit-hole.
Encountering nightmares and time-bending craziness, Martha and Lucas get into situations that quickly begin to defy all suspended belief and require Olympian leaps of logic. While low budget, Unholy is stuffed to the gills with plot and ideas. The execution suffers from the budget, but it wins some audience favor for the effort. Choppy story structure and dream logic don't help the story make sense, but effectively keep audience and characters off-balance. You just have to assume it'll all come together... but does it?
Encountering nightmares and time-bending craziness, Martha and Lucas get into situations that quickly begin to defy all suspended belief and require Olympian leaps of logic. While low budget, Unholy is stuffed to the gills with plot and ideas. The execution suffers from the budget, but it wins some audience favor for the effort. Choppy story structure and dream logic don't help the story make sense, but effectively keep audience and characters off-balance. You just have to assume it'll all come together... but does it?
Friday, September 14, 2012
Jay's Movie of the Week #37: Adua e le Compagne (Adua and Her Friends)

The
film starts when as the 1959 Merlin Law has shut down Italy's legal
brothels, forcing many prostitutes to figure out how to change
careers. If made now, this would probably be about four internet
marketers forced into prostitution by the dot-com bust or economic
collapse. (Evidently, this law is still in effect banning organized
prostitution. The more you know, eh?) As the film opens, the girls
are having the same conversation set to “Hard Candy Christmas” in
THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. They've just finished their last
night and tomorrow start new lives. Ringleader Adua (Simone Signoret,
fresh from winning an Oscar) brings some old associates together to
turn a run-down old country building into a restaurant. While catty
to one another, they get down to the dirty work or rehabbing their
new home and business. For all the flaring tempers they should
probably name the place “Over Our Heads.”
When
obstacles prevent opening their restaurant, they turn to Dr. Ercoli,
a local “fixer” who'll make the license happen, but only for a
price. His caveat, of course, is they return to their old line of
work upstairs, while the restaurant runs downstairs. I've no idea
what a million Lira amounted to in 1960, but they'll owe him that
every month. Judging by Adua's expression, she's a bit daunted. They
carry on, but know the past will eventually come knocking.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Jay's Movie of the Week #36: Dreamscape

Dreamscape is one of those big holes in my Sci-Fi/Horror film education, and I was glad to finally rectify that with a viewing. A young Dennis Quaid plays a cocky Alex, brought back into an experimental sleep clinic under the wing of his mentor, played by a surprisingly scrawny Max Von Sydow. Also working with comely sleep specialist, Jane (Kate Capshaw, an actress I like in everything but Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), he's soon being sent into dreams to stop nightmares that caused other psychics to lose their minds. Between a young boy menaced by a snake monster and a US President plagued by crippling night terrors (Eddie Albert), Alex finds himself racing to prevent an "imaginary" murder that would have very real results.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
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