Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Good Vibrations

Today was the first cold day of the season, reminding me that the summer is almost over. To keep it here just a little longer listen to The Explorers Club and their song Last Kiss (MP3 via Pitchfork) - the greatest Beach Boys song Brian Wilson never wrote!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

The Only Thing More Terrifying...

... Than The Last 12 Minutes Of Suspiria Are The First 92. I never quite figured out how they worked that out since the film is only 98 minutes to begin with, but here's a lovely US video release poster all the same...

Even more Swedish cultural imperialism

So yesterday we had Italian posters with more or less tenuous connections to Sweden, and today we have... English posters with Swedish connections! How's that for seamless linkage? First up the UK quad for Anita - Swedish Nymphet, starring not only Christina Lindberg as the titular nymphet, but also Stellan Skarsgård as the young psychologist who takes her in. Stellan of course would go on to mega-stardom in Pirates of the Caribbean and other schlock, whereas Christina edits Flygrevyn, the leading Nordic magazine for flight enthusiasts. More UK quads: Christina also starred in Exposed, whereas Sex In Sweden is in fact an adaptation of Daniel Defoe's Molly from director Mac Ahlberg, who later enjoyed a career as one of Hollywood's top cinematographers. Finally, a film with no connection with Sweden whatsoever except the title! Brigitte Lahaie who played Greta, one of the Sechs Schwedinnen von der Tankstelle in this Erwin C. Dietrich production, is in reality French and appeared in many of Jean Rollin's dreamy vampire epics.




Saturday, August 25, 2007

How many dimensions of what?

In a completely seamless link from the previous post, we continue with 3D-movies, not at all coincidentally featuring Swedish actresses! We have an Italian photobusta and 2-sheet for Four Dimensions of Greta (it mysteriously lost one dimension in the Italian translation!) starring Leena Skoog, star of such epics as Laila (17) Takes a Bath. Then we have an Italian 2-sheet for Love in 3D, starring Christina Lindberg, who later gave eyepatch-wearing mutes everywhere a face in Thriller: A Cruel Picture. Watch out tomorrow for even more seamless linkage...



Put The Mask on NOW!!!

The Mask is a truly unforgettable experience. (It should not be confused with the Jim Carrey vehicle of the same name, based on a comic book which drew on this 1961 film.) A Canadian 3D-production, it uses the third dimension in a very unique way. The story is about an ancient mask that induces hallucinations. For screenings, patrons were given cardboard 3D-glasses in the same skull shape as the mask in the film. Whenever someone puts on The Mask, a voice booms out: "PUT THE MASK ON NOW!!!" The audience puts on their own masks - and experiences the hero's hallucinations in glorious 3D! It's an incredibly suggestive and fun gimmick. I wish someone would put out this long lost gem on a special edition DVD, complete with 3D Mask replicas! In the meantime, lets rejoice in the fact that the film must have fried a lot of Swedish brains during its release here, and also take a look at the great US half-sheet (note the instructions to the audience!) and a wondrous UK double bill with Italian shocker The Young, the Evil and the Savage.



Friday, August 17, 2007

Kiss me, monster!

Jesus Franco is probably the world's most prolific film director, and many of his films have stunning posters, especially those produced in the late 1960's and early 70's. I must have more than a hundred Franco posters from countries like Italy, Germany, Japan, US, UK and of course Sweden! Here are a few from the great man's homeland, Spain.





Sunday, August 12, 2007

Final boot drops

The dearly missed Lee Hazlewood (9 July 1929 – 4 August 2007) seen here in an amazing clip with Sweden's very own Siw Malmkvist!


Something in the air?

So can anyone help me figure out what the movies advertised on these 2 Italian 2-sheets have to do with Sweden???


Saturday, August 11, 2007

Kinski lives!

I return from SIGGRAPH to the shocking realization that Gothenburg is more hot and humid than San Diego! There were a lot of cool shorts and special effects showcased in the animation program and electronic theater, but the most interesting one for this blog was Kinski Revisited from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Through computer graphics, animators have recreated the features of the legendary actor as he would have looked were he alive today, 80 years old! The animation is good but not totally convincing - there were more successful examples at SIGGRAPH, such as David Fincher's ressurection of an old popcorn seller. But I love the fact that this quirky star of endless Eurotrash sleaze - as well as classic arthouse movies - now gets his digital due alongside the likes of previously re-animated celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Living la vida loca

I was in Mexico today, where I got a 1-dollar beer and resisted the temptation to buy a wrestling mask. We celebrate this event by looking at a few random Mexican lobbycards!








Thursday, August 2, 2007

Nothing ever stripped your nerves screamingly raw like...

I'm leaving for the SIGGRAPH conference in San Diego (along with some little wheeled friends) so there won't be any updates for a week or so. Celebrating my imminent trip to the States, here is a random grab-bag of North American posters! Just to make it more fun none of the films are actually from the US - but the tag lines certainly are! There's Jess Franco's insane Miss Muerte; Mario Bava's creepy Operazione Paura; the classic British witchcraft shocker Night of the Eagle (albeit written by Yanks Chuck Beaumont and Fritz Leiber); one of the best double bills ever - a Japanese two-faced manster in Kyofu coupled with George Franju's no-faced woman in Les Yeux Sans Visage; an equally brilliant double bill of nekkid French vampires from Jean Rollin; and finally the Japanese pop-art masterpiece Ore ni sawaru to abunaize. Why that's a whole foreign film festival right there!






See you later for more crazy movie paper! In fact you might be interested to know I'm awaiting a shitload of new Italian posters - most of which have the words Svezia or Svedese in the title...

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Bella Italia!

Of all the poster-producing countries in the world, Italy must be the most consistently great. Polish posters are artistic, US posters are lurid, and Belgian posters are nicely compact, but the Italians beat them all in variety and splendor. One day I will buy a mansion for all my Italian four-sheets - posters so big that no normal wall can hold them, and so unwieldy that only professionals can take reasonable photos!

In the meantime, here is a sampling of the more sensibly sized Italian manifesto or two-sheet, a mere 100 by 140 centimeters... In order: Jess Franco's delirious dreamscape Necronomicon; Jack Hill's blaxploitation ripper Coffy, starring Pam Grier; the obscure drug thriller L.S.D.; and an unusual interpretation of David Cronenberg's "body horror" debut Shivers.