Daily Archives: June 1, 2012

Cauldron of Blood

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Cauldron of Blood (Santos Alcocer, 1967)

aka COLECCIONISTA DE CADAVERES, BLIND MAN’S BLUFF

Travel writer Claude Marchand (Jean-Pierre Aumont of Truffaut’s DAY FOR NIGHT, dubbing himself in the English version) gets assigned to interview reclusive sculptor Franz Badulescu (Boris Karloff) who resides in a Spanish artists’ colony. Arriving in the picturesque under-touristed area, Marchand immediately strikes a deal with restaurant owner Shanghai (Milo Quesada, BLACK SABBATH) to buy up the beachfront property and promote the town to tourists. Through artist Valerie (Ingrid Pitt look-a-like Rosenda Monteros), Claude meets Badulescu and his imperious wife Tanya (the always delightful Viveca Lindfors – next to her turns in CREEPSHOW and BELL FROM HELL, this is my favorite performance of hers) who controls all dealings with her blind and crippled husband; who himself is unaware that the skeletons used as armatures for his famous sculptures are locals picked off by an unseen strangler rather than being illegally obtained through arrangements with cemeteries in the neighboring villages as he has been told by his wife. The killings go largely unnoticed by our jet-setting main characters until perpetually-sunbathing Elga (Dianik Zurakowska of RETURN OF THE ZOMBIS) disappears after spending the night at Tanya’s and Claude finally listens to the superstitious mutterings of the Queen of the Gypsies (Mercedes Rojo) who predicts more deaths to come including someone close to Claude.

The summary doesn’t even begin to cover everything that happens in this sun-bleached, leisurely-paced Spanish-American co-production. There are subplots involving Tanya’s mute maid, a waiter at Shanghai’s (Manuel de Blas) who stalks and rapes her, the village’s gypsies, the disappearance of hunchbacked umbrella vendor Majo, village children doing some 400 BLOWS-type running around the town seen overhead, and Marchand’s drunk playboy friend Pablo (Ruben Rojo). It’s not really a mystery. Its one of those laidback thrillers that you put on when you’re in the mood for a pleasant diversion. While we do not know who the killer is until the end, we know why he’s killing. We also learn early on that Karloff does not know that the skeletons used in his statues are murder victims so he’s not really as sinister a figure as the film wants to portray him. I suppose it could be described as a jet-set thriller even though none of the fun-loving characters are particularly wealthy but they spend a lot of time sunbathing, drinking, partying at the local dive, painting, modeling, and taking aerial photographs. There are some surreal touches such as the subplot involving Tanya’s leather fetish giving way to a nightmare in which a little blonde girl is terrorized by a woman with a whip, a woman in a Nazi uniform, and a model of Karloff’s head that melts away into a skull.

Aumont (father of Eurocult goddess Tina Aumont) makes for an amusing hero, Monteros a feisty damsel-in-distress, and Zurakowska is great window-dressing here (she wears bathing suits most of the time and reveals varying degrees of skin in her bubble bath and death scenes depending on the version you see) but the film belongs to Lindfors who steals every scene. Karloff is given little to do but doesn’t phone in the performance. There’s a jazzy trumpet-heavy sixties score that glosses over some of the clunkier scenes (including Aumont’s fisticuffs with the strangler which is the usual getting-thrown-across-the-room, breaking-everything-in-their-path knockabout with foley-ed punches). Cinematographer Francisco Sempere (Jorge Grau’s LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE) captures some arresting compositions that can only be appreciated in the widescreen versions. French company Thierry-Pathe contribute the film’s extensive optical effects including title sequence animation in which Zurakowska’s sunbathing figure turns into a skeleton whose bones form the title in the English version (the Spanish version omits this footage and superimposes the title in regular lettering) and the various superimpositions in the title sequence and dream sequence, and other opticals later in the film.

CAULDRON OF BLOOD has had a rather complicated history on video. There were two tape releases in the US, one from NTA Entertainment (subsequently reissued by Republic Pictures Home Video) that was a cropped print of the TV version (which still reveals one darkened shot of Zurakowska’s bare breast) and a reissue version from VidAmerica called BLIND MAN’S BLUFF which had another instance of brief nudity during the bubble bath sequence but was still incomplete. The OOP budget DVD release in the UK (whose artwork mistakenly includes part of the artwork from its underrated co-feature CRUCIBLE OF HORROR) is believed to be this same version even though the pre-cert Vampix release turned out to be the uncut export version which not only included the above-mentioned nude scenes, but an additional shot during Elga’s death scene as the strangler rips her nightgown away and some additional footage of Lindfors smoking while watching the attack (the US version only shows her drinking). The Spanish DVD release from Divisa is of course the covered Spanish version but the differences are much more complex than just the censoring of nudity. The Spanish DVD is letterboxed at 1.66:1 (in the fullscreen versions, you cannot see Elga at the edge of the frame overhearing Pablo call her a “cheap tramp” to Claude early in the film) and looks better than the UK tape and features Spanish mono and 5.1 tracks and only text extras. The differences I’ve noted are (previously posted at Latarnia) – SPOILERS AHEAD:

- Spanish version does not have the pre-credits sequence in which Claude gets off a plane in Paris, learns he has an assignment from an overly emphatic airline rep, and gets onto another plane.

- The Spanish version is also missing the shot of Elga reclining back and turning into the animated skeleton whose bones form the English title. The Spanish version just fades in on the cauldron with the Spanish title in the same font as the rest of the credits but it does feature the shot of the animated skeleton turning back into Elga who is once again sunbathing but in a different place (she seems to only sunbathe and pose nude throughout).

- The English credits cite director Santos Alcocer as “realizador” and end with “a film by Edward Mann.” Mann is not a pseudonym for Alcocer. According to Tim Lucas, Mann “was known to make arrangements with friends and acquaintences to add his name to scripts he had nothing to do with, as in the case of Oliver Stone’s SEIZURE” ( see his blog review on the film at this link )

- The next difference takes place during Tanya’s nightmare. The English version has a shots of a mannequin of Karloff’s head melting and revealing a skull underneath. The Spanish version cuts from Karloff’s face intact to the skeletal hand on the child’s shoulder.

- The next difference is during Pilar’s rape by Shanghai’s busboy. In the Spanish version, he grabs her, they struggle, and there’s a cut to the night sky followed by the aftermath of Pilar with her clothes ripped, getting up and walking away followed by a scene in Valerie’s house where Elga upon hearing the lightning realizes that she has left the windows open and leaves. In the English version, the busboy grabs Pilar and their struggle slows down into slow motion and then a freeze frame followed by a cut to a lightning strike and the scene in Valerie’s house. After Elga leaves, we get a shot of her running along the beach and then a cut to the aftermath of Pilar’s rape where she walks away followed by the sequence of Elga being stalked.

- Elga’s bath is the next variation. In the uncut English version (the Republic tape is the US TV version), there is a shot of her nipple through the bubbles when she dumps her glass of wine back into her bath and then a topless shot when she gets up in the bath to pull the towel from the nude bust. She says to the head of the statue, “I’m just as pretty as you.” The Spanish version cuts to a stormy exterior as she dumps her wine into the bath to cover up the nudity and then cuts away in the second nude shot as she reaches for the towel.

- When Elga is struggling with the strangler, there are shots of her robe being ripped away, shots of Tanya smoking, and shots of a nude statue no in the TV version or the Spanish cut.

- When the strangler carries Elga’s body towards Tanya, a brief topless shot is scene as Tanya pulls aside the curtain in the TV version and the English version. This is substituted with a slightly different angle in the Spanish version.

- An optical effect is missing from the Spanish version (and the Republic tape I think) at the beginning of the scene with Claude taking photographs of Franz and his artwork. It is a black screen with two animated circles that turn out to be Franz’s glasses.

- After Claude knocks over the sculpture of the hands and Valerie discovers Elga’s scarf, the Spanish version is missing the shot of Valerie putting the scarf in her hat and saying “I’ll give it back to her.”

- The next difference comes when Claude is called over to talk to the queen of the gypsies. In the English version, two guys in cloaks and masks come over and one of them dons his mask to translate for the gypsy to Claude. Since everyone speaks Spanish in the Spanish version, no translation is required so other than the shot of the two men joining the circle, the other shots of the man translating are missing and the sequence is resultingly shorter.

- When Tanya’s hand is plunged into the acid, she screams in close-up and then lifts her hand out of the acid in the Spanish version. In the English version, her scream freeze-frames and there is a cut to the nightmare image of the little girl screaming at the skeletal hand on her shoulder which cuts back to Tanya’s face and resumes the action.

- The English version cuts to a shot of Valerie and Claude embracing upstairs followed by Karloff finding his cane and heading upstairs. The Spanish version does not cutaway after Tanya dies. Karloff immediately goes looking for his cane and heads upstairs followed by Claude and Valerie walking away.

- The last difference is the end credits. The English version fades to black and has a cast listing and some other technical credits. The Spanish version has the FIN credit on the shot of the water with no further end credits.

(Eric Cotenas)

The New York Ripper

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The New York Ripper (Lucio Fulci, 1982)

NEW YORK RIPPER follows the attempts of the New York Police Department, as they try to uncover the identity of a serial killer who’s been slaughtering promiscuous females. Will this sadistic fiend be apprehended before he claims another victim? The film has an extremely simple plot at its core, but as they say, it’s all in the execution. NEW YORK RIPPER is one of the sleaziest, grimiest and downright nasty little flicks you’re ever likely to see, even in this slightly censored version brought to you by new company on the block, Shameless Screen Entertainment.

Lucio Fulci’s NEW YORK RIPPER has had a somewhat troubled history on our fair shores. Back in 1984, the film was refused a certificate by then-BBFC head honcho James Ferman and he insisted that the film print be transported out of the country under police escort. The film became even more infamous when Ferman mentioned it in an interview for SEX AND THE CENSORS–a documentary that was made for Channel Four and aired during their ‘Banned Season’ during the early nineties—where he cited NEW YORK RIPPER for being completely irresponsible. I don’t know about anyone else, but Ferman’s comments were like a seal of approval to me; I was desperate to see the film!

I finally got around to seeing NEW YORK RIPPER after meeting Tanzi. Tanzi was a cool cat to an eighteen-year-old that had only read about the banned films, but in all honesty, I wasn’t ready for seeing the film back then, as I found it really disturbing and without a doubt, the nastiest, grubbiest flick I’d ever seen.  I even told Tanzi that I had no intention of ever watching the film again…|

So, fastforward a few years and I began to re-evaluate Fulci’s films, so I thought I’d give NEW YORK RIPPER another go. Though the film had lost none of its power, I was ready to acknowledge the fact that it is an excellently crafted piece of sleaze and probably the last great, non Argento-directed giallo.

Shameless’ disc presents the film well. Although the disc isn’t anamorphically enhanced, the print preserves the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and serves the film well and is sharper and has more vivid colours, when compared to Anchor Bay’s US release from several years ago, especially during darker scenes. The sound is also well presented, though as one would expect from a film of this age, it’s a little undistinguished. The film’s trailer is included, as are trailers for six other Shameless releases.

The film has been censored in accordance to BBFC policy and although much of the grisly impact of the climactic murder is now missing, the cuts are well placed and are not jarring.

Obviously, hardcore, net-savvy fans more than likely own NEW YORK RIPPER already, but to the undiscerning viewer, this is still a very well-presented release of a notorious film. Then again, if you were always bothered by the scene in question, then this is the release for you! If Shameless can maintain the same level of quality for their future titles, I shall be very pleased.

(Paul Alaoui)

Circle of Fear

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Circle of Fear (Aldo Lado, 1992)

aka Alibi perfetto

Although fondly remembered for his early gialli SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS (1971) and WHO SAW HER DIE? (1972), very little is spoken about the later works of Italian director Aldo Lado. One of Lado’s last films was CIRCLE OF FEAR, which sees the gifted filmmaker returning to the genre that first got him started as a director. The end result, however, is radically different from his earlier thrillers.

After lengthy undercover work, narcotics agent Tony Giordani (Michael Woods) and his sexy partner (and secret lover) Lisa Bonetti (Kay Rush) are about to make a big drug bust in a Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately, they manage to blow it – causing a big shoot-out, during which the top man, seedy mobster Mancini (Burt Young), manages to escape. Tony and Lisa’s grumpy chief (Philippe Leroy) furiously reprimands them for letting Mancini get away right under their noses, and Tony walks out in anger. Later, Tony meets his soon-to-be ex-wife Elvi (Gianna Paola Scaffidi) for lunch but when they head down to the parking garage after their meal, a mysterious killer appears and brutally guns them down.

Tony barely survives the attempt on his life but poor Elvi dies from her injuries. Everyone assumes the shooting was mafia vendetta for the drug bust, but then Tony receives pictures of an old villa that Elvi–who had worked as a real estate agent–had photographed the day she was killed. Tony starts wondering if Elvi was the real target of the shooting because she had unknowingly photographed something she wasn’t supposed to have seen. His suspicions are confirmed when blow-ups of the photos reveal a shadowy figure in one of the windows. Tony tracks down the villa, where a rotten corpse and clues leading to the so-called “Full Moon Killer” are discovered. The Full Moon Killer was a brutal serial killer who was never caught, and because the body’s cause of death appears to be suicide, the cops believe they have finally found this long lost killer.

Tony, however, thinks there must be more to the case and wonders who the figure in Elvi’s photo could be. His chief keeps insisting the mafia was behind the shooting, so Tony decides to do some investigating of his own. He learns that the owner of the villa is Countess Beaumont (Annie Girardot), a middle-aged noblewoman who is locked up in an asylum. Tony goes to visit the countess and is informed that though she looks harmless, she is actually extremely dangerous and is kept behind a secure glass wall that no visitors are allowed to approach. Tony isn’t able to get much out of her but soon after his visit, the countess violently escapes the asylum and another murder is committed. It’s up to Tony and Lisa to solve the complicated case before the killer can strike again…

CIRCLE OF FEAR’s story and screenplay by veteran writer Dardano Sacchetti (with assistance from Robert Brodie Booth and Lado himself) is for the most part rather well done. Certainly, the addition of a mafia subplot is rather curious as it doesn’t really blend in too well with the rest of the film, but it was presumably added to pad the running time as the film, at just 78 minutes, is rather short. The rest of the story is quite good, though, even if Sacchetti borrows elements from DEEP RED (1975) – particularly the mysterious old villa with the corpse – as well as Brian De Palma’s DRESSED TO KILL (1980). Furthermore, the insane countess behind the glass wall is clearly inspired by the Hannibal Lecter character from the then recent THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991). But in spite of the borrowing, these plot elements blend together pretty nicely and Sacchetti’s story has some good twists and ideas. Indeed, I dare say the story is so well-crafted that had this film been made in the 1970s–with the typically stylish and flamboyant style of Italian genre films of the time–it would probably have been on a lot of people’s lists of favourite gialli. But unfortunately, CIRCLE OF FEAR was made in 1992 with the typical early 90s aesthetic that most other Italian films from this period are laced with. In other words, it has a flat, boring and impersonal look to it. Luigi Kuveiller’s cinematography is competent but very traditional and without any distinct visual style – it’s hard to believe this is the same guy who once shot DEEP RED. The jazzy music score by Romano Mussolini contains one good, toe-tapping suspense track, while the rest is the kind of dire music one expects to find in a bad, low-budget porno movie.

Fortunately, the film is redeemed somewhat through the presence of a few memorable supporting actors. Outstanding French actress Annie Girardot can always be relied on for a solid performance and she does a splendid job as the sinister madwoman who is not at all nice as she would seem. Carla Cassola – remembered from late Fulci films like THE HOUSE OF CLOCKS (1989) and DEMONIA (1990), as well as Michele Soavi’s THE SECT (1991) – also does a good job as the imperilled lawyer who’s handling the old villa but the most welcome presence is that of fan favourite Bobby Rhodes–unforgettable as the bad-ass pimp in DEMONS (1985)–as the brainy pathologist who’s chummy with the leading man. It’s always nice to see Bobby, even though he has a rather atypical role here.

Sadly, daytime soap actor Michael Woods just doesn’t cut it in the leading role. He’s handsome but without any discernible charisma, and his uninvolved acting makes it hard to care for his character. His co-star Kay Rush is no Meryl Streep either (at the time, Rush was a popular hostess for various music shows on Italian TV and radio) but she seems more relaxed and natural than Woods. Besides, Rush, who is of Japanese and German heritage and quite the looker, provides both welcome nudity and looks stunning in a tight blue cheongsam during the film’s opening sequence.

Veteran actor Philippe Leroy is also onboard as the temperamental police chief, whose character is obviously patterned after the grumpy police chiefs seen in numerous American “buddy cop films”. Leroy acts on auto-pilot in the clichéd scenes where he’s arguing with Michaels Woods, so he obviously took his part only for the money. American actor Burt Young–best known for his role as Sylvester Stallone’s brother-in-law in the ROCKY films–is mildly amusing but saddled with a mostly clichéd and poorly utilized role of the revenge-seeking mobster.

The thing that struck me the most about CIRCLE OF FEAR is how the eye for detail and visual style Aldo Lado displayed in SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS and WHO SAW HER DIE? is completely missing. For the most part, his direction is just lifeless and impersonal. What little energy and life the film does have is solely due to Sacchetti’s story and some gifted supporting actors. Either Lado had lost his touch, or he just didn’t believe in the project. Regardless, it’s really sad to see how he is unable to get anything decent out of an interesting story.

The North American DVD from the budget Canadian company Madacy Entertainment is surprisingly good. The image is fullscreen but this looks to be the correct framing. Image is generally nice and sharp, with good, solid colours. The English dub track (featuring the usual gang of familiar dubbing voices) sounds clear and fine too. The only extra is a trailer, which spoils the killer’s identity and looks cheap and home-made. There are also a few preview trailers for other Madacy releases. All in all, this release isn’t spectacular but is pretty solid – especially for a cheap budget release.

It’s sad to see a talented director like Aldo Lado direct with such little enthusiasm. Sacchetti’s story has a lot of potential and could have been turned into a really nice little film had the direction, visuals and the leading actor been better. But as it is, CIRCLE OF FEAR is a missed opportunity. It may nevertheless warrant a viewing because of a few talented supporting actors and some good ideas.

(Johan Melle)