Splatter

Red Riding Hood

redridinghood

Red Riding Hood (2003)

After the death of her politician father and subsequent abandonment by her mother, 12 year old Jenny (Susanna Satta) feels that it is imperative that the guilty are punished because God forgets their sins (no matter how miniscule) too easily. With the help of her mysterious friend, George, Jenny begins terrorizing Rome by punishing sinners with deadly justice. All is going well for Jenny until her grandmother, Rose (Kathleen Archebald), comes to take Jenny back to New York with her. Jenny imprisons Rose in her apartment so that she won’t interfere with her plans to confess her love for her tutor, Tom (Roberto Purvis). When Tom starts to suspect that something is terribly wrong with Jenny, he tries to stop her and George’s killing spree before he himself becomes a victim.

For a first time director, I have to compliment Giacomo Cimini. Although flawed, Red Riding Hood is a fine first feature and shows great promise. Some of the credit goes to one of the films co-cinematographers, Sergio Salvati (Fulci’s The Beyond and The Black Cat), who manages to add some of the old school Italian horror flair to the filming. The script and the plot are well done and become especially tense in the final act.

The role of Jenny is a difficult one and is handled fairly well by the young Susanna Satta. Unfortunately, many of her lines are delivered too mechanically. But to Satta’s credit, she portrays an evil little girl perfectly and has great control over her expressions and the physical aspects of her screen presence. This was a tough first film role for her and I’m interested to see what she’ll do next.

Kathleen Archebald is very good as Rose who suffers a great deal of torment from her twisted granddaughter. The actor I’m least impressed with is Roberto Purvis. The character of Tom isn’t developed well in the script and isn’t given much depth by Purvis until his last few moments of screen time.

The music of the film is creative but distracting. It is some merry sounding business with lyrics that seem to refer to the plot but overall just doesn’t work in the film. The incidental music is fine but this jaunty theme keeps coming back. Some upbeat music would have been perfect for many of the strange scenes in the movie but the filmmakers have made a poor choice here.

Jenny’s companion through much of the film is George, a mysterious figure in a black jumpsuit, red galoshes, black cloak, and a white wolfish mask. George looks pretty silly and just isn’t creepy at all. My last complaint is about the film’s pacing. It slows down a little in the middle but not for too long. Just long enough for a viewer to wonder when the film is coming to an end.

Okay, enough griping, why is this film worth seeing? For one thing, the murders are very cool and bloody. The effects aren’t over the top or disgusting but a couple of them are inventive and memorable. The movie has some very twisted humor in it that will appeal to horror fans. And finally, this film is just plain nuts. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie this odd in a while.

Red Riding Hood is a likeable flick with some very strange elements thrown in to keep it from being just another slasher. The setting of Rome and the Italian crew give this film just a hint of Giallo, which is always pleasant. Despite a couple of flaws (some wooden delivery from a couple of the actors and George’s costume), I had a great time watching this. Prepare to be weirded out and enjoy the show.

Embalming

embalming

Embalming (1999)

Reiko Takashima plays Miyako Murakami, an embalmer who discovers a needle in the eye socket of the corpse of a young man named Yoshiki, the son of a prominent official, believed to be a suicide. The same day, Miyako is threatened by a religious crackpot named Chief Jion (Kojiro Hongo) because he believes that embalming is a sin. While she is away at this meeting, thieves using knockout gas steal Yoshiki’s head from his body from the hospital in broad daylight.

Her suspicions raised, Miyako shows the needle to Detective Hiraoka (Yutaka Matsushige) who is now convinced that there is more to the case than simply suicide. One of the key suspects is Dr. Fuji (Toshio Shiba), a once-prominent surgeon who now works in the black market organ trade. Soon, clues point to the Yoshiki’s girlfriend, Rika (Hitomi Miwa), as the one who not only stole the head but also has an even more awful secret to hide. As Miyako and Hiraoka dig deeper into the details of the case and the number of suspects grows, they enter a situation even more dangerous than they could have imagined.

Shinji Aoyama masterfully directs this enthralling and complicated film. EM – Embalming evokes a cold and clinical theme with its emotionally detached characters, brooding music, and nonchalant presentation of an embalmer’s trade. The camera never shies away from the gruesome tasks of Miyako or Dr. Fuji and the effects are well done.

The acting in the film is top notch. Reiko Takashima is a fine actress, able to portray a character confronted with death on a daily basis but still vulnerable to uncovering her past. Veteran actor Kojiro Hongo (Wrath Of Daimajin, Destroy All Planets) puts in an unsettling performance as the hypocritical and Jim Jones wannabe, Chief Jion. The scene-stealing award goes to Yutaka Matsushige (Ringu, One Missed Call) whose sniffling and wisecracking Detective Hiraoka adds some much needed noir-inspired characterization to the ensemble. The part of Rika is played by Hitomi Miwa (Ju-on, Crazy Lips) and is no easy task given the complexity of the character. The cast is rounded off by a dual role from Masatoshi Matsuo (Tomie: Replay, Kaïro).

The outrageous plot contains layers of storyline, numerous flashbacks, and even doubling of certain characters to keep the audience on their toes. The mystery of EM – Embalming may be confusing the first time around but not unpleasantly. This is a wholly satisfying film and is rewarding with each viewing so picking up those missed details doesn’t feel like a chore. This is a challenging film but one that delivers with its grotesque embalming scenes and moments of extreme violence. Gorehounds will be richly rewarded by these sequences but this film has so much more to offer. The grim tone is effectively contagious and will stick with the viewer long after the film is over.

Eccentric characters, a haunting soundtrack, and clever cinematography also serve to make EM – Embalming an unforgettable film experience. It’s plotting is over the top but is braced with rich imagery and impeccable performances from the cast. Although director Shinji Aoyama has been at work for many years, this film is a sign that he has much more to offer Japanese film fanatics in the future.

 

Night of the Devils

nightofthedevils

Night of the Devils (1972)

A man suffering from amnesia (Gianni Garko) staggers out of the woods, injured, and catatonic. He is brought to a hospital where a doctor (Umberto Raho) runs tests which determine the man has suffered a terrible shock that has reduced him to this agitated and paranoid state. The only person who can identify this man is Sdenka (Agostina Belli), a lovely young woman who claims she met the patient a just few days ago. She identifies him as Nicola, a business man from Italy, but then disappears after the very sight of her drives Nicola into a frenzy.

The film then flashes back to a few days before to the events that drove Nicola mad. While purchasing lumber for his company, Nicola’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and he seeks help from a family returning from a funeral and living in a nearly abandoned village in the woods. Jovan (played by Roberto Maldera) agrees to help Nicola but it must be in the morning because there is said to be a blood-drinking witch who prowls around at night. This turns out to be true when the patriarch Gorca (Bill Vanders) returns from attempting to kill the witch but is now a vampire himself. As each member of the family falls prey to vampiric forces, Nicola tries to rescue the lovely Sdenka, the lovely daughter of Gorca with whom he has fallen in love with.

Night of the Devils kicks in with one of the most attention-grabbing opening scenes in Italian horror. Gianni Garko (or Sartana to you spaghetti western types) comes stumbling out of the woods into a clearing. He passes out near a stream and wakes up in a hospital where he is being examined by doctors. During his tests, we see into his mind where he is tormented by horrific visions of rotting corpses, a woman’s face getting shot off, ghoulish figures ripping the flesh from a naked woman’s body. This sequence is spell-binding. Its cheesy for sure but it is impossible not to wonder just what happened to this guy. Curiosity = piqued? You know it.

Director Giorgio Feroni (Mill of the Stone Women) remakes the ‘Wurdulak’ segment of Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath but makes it his own by amping up the sex, the gore, and the cackling madness of the vampires. The soundtrack by Giorgio Gaslini (So Sweet, So Dead) is great with its haunting vocal pieces and tense and minimal freakouts. Spanish cinematographer, Manuel Berenguer, keeps things nice and claustrophobic. While the countryside is nice, it is never pretty. Instead, the entire film is very somber and cast in shadows (without being overly dark). When there is a brightly lit scene, it screams danger and madness. If I have to find faults with this flick then it would be that the pacing is a little slow and the gore effects are looking a bit gamy.

Oh, this cast is great. Gianni Garko is always good. The lovely Agostina Belli of Holocaust 2000 and Scream of the Demon Lover is excellent as the sweet (or possibly evil) Sdenka. You might remember Roberto Maldera from The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave where he played the very unlucky groundskeeper. The luscious and hypnotic Teresa Gimpera of Crypt of the Living Dead gets ripped to shreds in this one (and it’s not by the critics). The always dependable Umberto Raho who usually plays police inspectors gets to flash his skillz by playing a doctor! And then there’s Maria Monti as ‘The Witch’. This is a truly eerie performance from an underused actress who had a small role in What Have You Done to Solange? I also have to mention young Cinzia De Carolis who grew up and played the freaky jailbait who tries to seduce John Saxon in Cannibal Apocalypse.

Night of the Devils is one of those forgotten masterpieces and a genuinely gore-soaked relic. This is the kind of cinema that drives me nerdily on. This film proves that if you think you’ve seen every last scrap of Italian junk, chances are there is one more title out there you need to see. Creepy, sleazy, bloody, melodramatic, nasty, and, as an added bonus: mind-fucky! The somber tone never lets up for a second and you just know that this ain’t gonna end well for our deranged hero. This is good stuff, y’all.

“Television? Now that’s something I’ve never seen!”