When in doubt, a few Italian locandinas will always do the trick. Small, portable, and often with striking artwork, locandinas are a great and inexpensive way to start a poster collection. Here are a few tough girls from locandina-land...
I've been traveling a lot the last couple of weeks, and only been at home a few hours in between, so I have not had time to prepare any blog posts or photograph new posters. Just to tide us over, here are a couple of cool posters from Italy's exploitation master Lucio Fulci. Poster-wise I tend to go not for Fulci's more well-known horror films (Zombie Flesh Eaters, The Beyond, etc.) but his earlier giallo and thriller stuff. Below are the Spanish and US one-sheets for the bizarre giallo A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, and Italian, German and Spanish paper for the early thriller Perversion Story aka One On Top of the Other.
Swedish model and movie star Christina Lindberg made two movies in Japan: Sex and Fury, which is out on R1 DVD from Panik House; and the less well known Poruno no joô: Nippon sex ryokô - literally, The Pornstar Travels Around Japan. When I hung out with her and Klubb Super 8 in Hollywood, Christina told me the story of how these films happened. She was on the plane home from the Cannes festival after promoting one of her earlier movies, and happened to be seated next to a Japanese business man. They started talking, and it turned out he was in the movie business! Christina gave him his card, and a few weeks later a representative from Toei called up and offered her to come to Japan and make movies! Toei wanted to give Christina - or Kurisuchina Rindobaagu as she became known in Japan - a five-year contract, but she was already on her way out of the business by then. She ended up making two movies in Japan, worked with female action star Reiko Ike, and had a fabulous time! Christina loved Japan, and wants to return some day. She still has a lot of clippings at home from Japanese magazines. She remembered that during one promotion tour, a wall-size portrait of her was painted on a building in fashionable Ginza! I can't compete with that, but here is the Japanese poster for Poruno no joô: Nippon sex ryokô...
The title of what is probably Sweden's first drug thriller, Hot Snow, refers of course to cocaine, which must have been a fairly exotic substance in 1968. The film is an unusual combination of sleaze and glamor, and feels more continental than just about any other Swedish film of the period. The cast is prime Swedesploitation: brilliant drama actor Ernst-Hugo Järegård as the evil drug lord, spitting out his lines in inimitable fashion; Sven-Bertil Taube, son of Sweden's national poet Evert Taube, as the race-car-driving playboy; and Norweigan import Grynet Molvig as the fashion interest. Well-known Swedish writer Sandro Key-Åberg shared the writing duties with director Torbjörn Axelman, who would later go on to work with Lee Hazelwood. The review on this Swedish insert heralds it as "Sweden's first real gangster movie"!
Arne Mattsson went from almost single-handedly creating the image of Swedish sin in the 1950s with One Summer of Happiness, to popular thrillers (e.g. Mannequin in Red), to increasingly exploitative fare in the 1960s and 70s. Dirty Fingers is a rock-hard drug thriller with torture, sex, murder and a gangster who wears a set of razor sharp knives on his glove - an inspiration for Freddy Kruger perhaps? According to the Swedish insert, it was even "an international smash hit"!
Finally, the whole reason for starting this thread in the first place. I am proud to present in my opinion one of the best and most unusual Swedish posters of all time - artist Olle Frankzén's one-sheet design for The Trip - re-named Trip to Hell by distributors Corona Film! This poster was part of the Swedish National Museum's exhibition of Swedish film posters in 1983. A great, stylized image that captures the feel of "psychedelic color" perfectly...
And very finally, no poster available but here's a plug for the best Swedish drug move of recent years: Brorsan Såsett, a no-budget epic from the little town of Stenungsund on the Swedish West coast. Created by two film-fanatics in their own spare time it is a surprisingly successful drug-drenched love story. There are rough edges but the warmth and humor of the story shines through. If you speak Swedish you should check out an excerpt here - one of the funniest drug trips on film in recent memory!
That's it for the drugs for now - but at some point I'll dig out a few Italian examples, including an amazing 2-sheet for The Trip.
Unlike Bill Hicks I'm not too keen on drugs in real life, but I've sure seen enough drug movies to be something of an expert in theory. The mother of them all is still Reefer Madness, the 1936 call to arms against the threat of marijuana - the evil weed that is making youngsters go insane, have sex, kill each other, and play the piano really fast. I can also recommend the very entertaining musical adaptation of this "true" story, Reefer Madness the Movie Musical, which adds finger poppin' tunes, showstopping dance numbers, intentional humor and lots of gore to the mix. Here's a genuine 1950's poster for a typical marijuana scare flick, Narcotics Story. "Scene after scalding scene" of "sordid depravity" - sounds great!
And it seems they had the same killer weed problems in Mexico! Apparently, the Lujuria de Marihuana made youngsters go sex and violence crazy in Acapulco - and isn't that the spitting image of Robert Mitchum smoking bottom left, fitting as he was arrested for holding in 1948? Thanks to Peter M at NSFGE this has now been identified as an alternative title for 1968's Esclava del deseo - Slave of Desire - from prolific director/producer Emilio Gómez Muriel, the man behind such classics as Neutron Battles the Karate Assassins (a title I hope to find a reason to return to).
Muscleman Mickey Hargitay, who died a year ago this week, was perhaps most know for being married to 60's sexpot Jayne Mansfield - twice. He was played by none less than Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Jayne Mansfield Story - but he had a considerably more interesting acting career than the future governor of California.
Hargitay worked with some of the world's exploitation and horror greats. Renato Polselli was not one of Italy's most prolific directors, but his movies remain among the most enjoyably insane pieces of trash ever committed to celluloid. In Delirium, Hargitay plays the movie world's least believable psychiatrist, who just happens to be the psychotic killer he pretends to be chasing! The movie is truly worthy its name and was so unhinged it was re-cut to appear as the deranged flashback of a war veteran - making it even more of a mess! Here is the Italian locandina.
But Hargitay's most iconic role was in Bloody Pit of Horror, directed by Massimo Pupillo. The exceedingly well-oiled former bodybuilder is beyond camp (not to mention distinctly homoerotic) as he runs around his old castle in a pair of tight red trousers and a mask, bellowing endlessly how he is "THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER!" and picking off the large group of cover girls who just happened to stop by - how convenient. I'm happy to own the original release locandina, when the film was supposedly based on the writings of De Sade... yeah, right!
Finally, I'm happy to note Hargitay's talents made it to Sweden too. Delirium and Bloody Pit of Horror would not have had a chance with the men with the scissors, but Lady Frankenstein lost only about a minute (including "the pillow murder", according to the censor records). Shown here is the Swedish insert poster, probably based on Italian artwork, and the distinctly different US one-sheet...
In the third (and final for now) part of this series, we go on the road to the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film... Original post date: April 6, 2004.
How me and ZEDER went to the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film
Sometimes life throws you a weird one. A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from BIFFF, the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films, enquiring when I would send the 35mm print of ZEDER they would be showing in their retrospective this weekend. What print??? Turns out some wires had been crossed and I never got informed they wanted it. I regretfully informed them that there was no way for me to ship it now and thought that was the end of the story.
Two hours later they called and told me they had booked me plane tickets and a hotel room, and could I please bring the print in person? Having recently wreaked havoc on my personal and professional life by going to the Sitges festival, and considering I was just back from a business trip to Stockholm and would be in Amsterdam the next week, not to mention that the physical strain of lugging a 20 kilo film halfway across Europe would probably finally push my broken back over the edge and put me in hospital, this would be an extremely stupid thing to do.
Of course I said yes.
I got up early the next morning, and me and ZEDER checked in to the 6.40 flight to Brussels. It was somewhat surreal to see Pupi Avati's classic of under-stated Italian horror appear on the luggage belt in Brussels...
At the airport I was picked up by a guest host and received a royal treatment! A room was ready on the 19th floor of the festival hotel, I was taken to lunch, fed drink tickets, socialized with festival staff, and generally had a great time. Special thanks goes to Dirk van Extergem, the retrospective programmer who has put together some truly excellent series over the years and was my main contact (he wasn't responsible for the booking mistake though!)
The BIFFF festival is really the most friendly and laid-back festival I have been to, very different in style from e.g. Sitges. It is much smaller in that there are only 2 cinemas, and all premieres are at the main auditorium. Basically you can sit back and watch the whole festival from the same chair! Yet there are about 80 films shown, including many European and international premieres.
BIFFF is well-known for its additional acitvities - it's more than a film festival. The Vampire's Ball closing party is legendary and there are also art shows, costume contests, etc. But the most bizarre and amazing event is the Body Painting contest!
Here, artists spend some 4 hours painting models in the most imaginative styles, and then there is a parade on the main stage. The jury this year was presided over by film director Stuart Gordon - for lots of more bodypainting pics go to my BIFFF 2004 photo gallery!
I only stayed over night, but I did manage to see three movies. The festival is well-known for its noisy and ironic audience, and during the all-night horror events there's even crowd-rafting - people floating over the crowd in rubber rafts! Fortunately, the audience can also concentrate and show respect to films that deserve it. First up was THE TESSERACT, the most recent gangster drama from the brothers Pang, and it is a good and stylish film, though a bit heavy on the digital effects. THE IMMORTAL was truly unique: directed by comic book artist Enki Bilal, it is a strange mix of 3D-animated characters and real actors. It really looks exactly like one of Bilal's comics come to life! The story and acting had troubles, but the films was still a very interesting experience. Finally, ALEXANDRA'S PROJECT is a low-key domestic drama between a man and his wife, who has just left him but leaves behind a video tape of herself. Some very funny and surprising moment makes it worth seeking out.
Exhausted, I crashed at 2 in the morning (Dirk wanted to take me to the Cotton Club, the festival bar, but I just couldn't do it). The following day, I watched some of the Costume Contest, had lunch with Dirk, shopped a little, and went to the airport. The driver was yet another of those characters that make BIFFF so unique: a die-hard collector of Batman memorabilia, who always carried with him a sketch book signed by lots of famous comic artists (Bilal had just done a drawing in it)!
All in all, despite being a wreck the week after, I'm happy I did it, and I found my ultra-short visit to the BIFFF festival (despite the rowdy audience) a very good experience.
PS: The screening of ZEDER went without a hitch!
September 2007 postscript: I haven't been to BIFFF again, but I'd love to return, and even though Sitges has the edge size-wise, BIFFF has more parties and bodypainting! Speaking of which, here are a few more pics:
For even more pictures from BIFFF 2004, visit my photo gallery!
