Holidays continued

Hello all, and welcome to the last Eccentric Sphere of 2016.

With all the hullaballoo of the holidays I'm pretty tired, so it's going to be a short post today.
I want to thank everyone who continues to read my blog, you are what keeps me going week after week.
This is post 228, and I have no plans on stopping. I hope you will all continue to read my eccentric spheres in the coming year. Here's hoping 2017 will be a great year for everyone!

Until we meet again I'll leave you some entertainment and wish you a Happy New Year! Cheers!

The Marianas Trench

The making of The Godfather

The complete Speakeasy interviews

Jingle Bells

The year is coming to an end and the Holidays are upon us. In my case I have a lot of things to do, so I have to pull a fast one today.

But this can be a stressful time of year, so I figured you could use a suitable distraction. Here are two Youtube channels that can perhaps relax and lighten your load.

Documentaries:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh_IZEFAXi4caDRwPdL_wxQ/videos


Stand-Up:

https://www.youtube.com/user/justforlaughscomedy/videos


There are of course tons of others, but this is a small start. Have yourself a root around if you feel the need.

I have to run, so until next week, let me wish you a happy holiday!

Can a window laugh?

Hello, and welcome back to Eccentric Spheres!

This weeks topic is La casa dalle finestre che ridono, or The House with Laughing Windows (1976) for those of you, like me, who don't speak Italian. A good friend of mine recommended this film a long time ago, but it wasn't until last week that I sat down to watch it.

What we have here is an Italian horror movie quite unlike any other I've seen, and I've seen a lot of them. And I do mean a lot. Names like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava and his son Lamberto Bava, Michele Soavi and many others have created an enormous catalog of horror that I've spent a large part of my life enjoying, but The House with Laughing Windows is not by any of these power houses of Italian horror.

No, The House with Laughing Windows is by a man I had never heard of: Pupi Avati. I can honestly say I haven't seen any of his other films as far as I know. But on with the laughing windows.

Here we meet Stefano, a painter who arrives at an isolated town in order to restore a mural of St. Sebastian in the local church. He has been hired by the mayor, since the mayor thinks the mural will help boost the dwindling tourism numbers. He meets an old friend who is working in the town, who tries to warn him about a terrible danger. He also meets a pretty young girl, Francesca, who arrives at the same time to work as a teacher. Then things go wrong and nasty stuff happens. You know, horror things, this isn't a romantic comedy after all. I'm not going to spoil the plot, so I can't go deeper into it.

The House with Laughing Windows is in many ways an unusual horror movie. While it does use many conventional horror tropes, like the town drunk who spills the beans to the main character, it seems to do so with a good understanding of why they work. I didn't really find a single trope out of place here. Many directors lazily toss them in with no care for the overall effect, much to the detriment of their movies. Not so with Pupi Avati and The House with Laughing Windows. The overall atmosphere is excellent, not too heavy but constantly unsettling. There is something about this film that is hard to put your finger on. There's not that much blood and no real nudity nor are there any monsters, so the majority of he run time is filled with talking, but it never gets dull. The pacing is very good and it never hits you over the head with explanations. Most of the mystery is sort of explained, but not all. If you hate that sort of thing, be warned, you really have to pay attention the whole time.

I watched a subtitled version, and to be honest the subtitles were atrocious. I get that it's not easy but it was bad. Like when the mayor has picked up Stefano and his driver suddenly swerves, the mayor yells “Hey, are you asleep at the wheel?” and the driver, Coppola, turns around and very earnestly says, “No, not at all.” Hilarious. But bad subtitling is par for course with horror movies. I still remember trying to watch an Italian horror film (I forget which one) dubbed to french with dutch subtitling. Suffice to say that was impossible.

To sum up, I recommend The House with Laughing Windows if you want a different Italian horror movie. There are no zombies, cannibals, demons or murderers with black leather gloves to be found, but it is all things considered, excellent for what it is.

That's it for me this time. Until we meet again, have a great week!

Karnstein Trilogy

Every once in a while, the specter of Hammer Films returns from the shadows to haunt me.

This time it possessed me to re-watch the Karnstein trilogy. It's been many years since I saw any of them, and to my surprise I found two of them on Youtube of all places.

Anyway, the Karnstein trilogy is loosely based on Sheridan Le Fanu's novel Carmilla (1871-72), which predates Bram Stokers classic Dracula by twenty-six years, making it one of the earliest western vampire stories. At the time it was somewhat scandalous due to its lesbian content, something the films echo to varying degrees.

The Hammer Films trilogy consists of The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust for aVampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971). An interesting point is that the third movie is essentially a prequel, since the clothes are distinctly 18^th century, but in Lust for a Vampire they state that the year is 1830. A part from this fact, the chronology is all over the place. Carmillas birth and death dates vary from movie to movie. Not that it matters in the slightest. These movies don't take themselves too seriously, and neither should you.

Overall, the two first films have very similar plot. Mircalla (Carmilla) Karnstein returns from the grave and insinuates herself into the lives of innocent girls in order to feast on their blood. In the third movie, Twins of Evil, she makes only a brief appearance in order to make the current Count Karnstein a vampire.

The Vampire Lovers is really good. Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla is excellent, as she manages to be both vulnerable and predatory at the same time. Essentially she is a very tragic and rather sympathetic figure since she can't help but fall in love with her victims, yet she can't stop herself from devouring them either. The rest of the cast works well, and the movie although slow paced, never gets dull. This is the best in the trilogy by far.

The second movie, Lust for a Vampire, is the weakest. It's still enjoyable and to be fair it's not badly made at all, but the script is weak and most of the actors sleepwalk through the scenes. Ingrid Pitt refused to reprise her role as Carmilla and the role went to Yutte Stensgaard instead. I can't say whether it was the script or the direction, but she made a rather dull Carmilla compared to Ingrid. This is also the only entry in the series that don't feature the late great Peter Cushing, as his wife was sick during filming. I'd say watch it the once.

Twins of Evil is perhaps the most famous, as it stars twin Playboy Playmates, Mary and Madeleine Collinson. The title is a bit misleading, since only one of the girls is evil. Cushing appears again, but in another role from Lovers. Twins is again well made, but unlike the others it is funny. I have no idea if this was an intentional choice by the film makers, but it is at times pretty hilarious. Absolutely worth watching.

A couple of interesting points should be made about the Karnstein vampires. They can walk around during the day all they like, although they prefer to stay in the shadow. Sunlight does nothing to them whatsoever. They are hurt by crosses, annoyed by garlic, and fire is useless. To kill them, you have to stake their hearts and/or behead them. Also, they have to return to their graves but unlike Dracula, it seems they can't take their coffins with them.

A side note on staking: As in all Hammer (and many other) movies, the heart seems to be located somewhere in the abdomen, since that's where the stakes inevitably and up.

I could go on with a more in depth analysis of each movie, but it's better if you watch them yourself. I like them, and if you fancy Gothic Horror, you might too.

Until next time, have a vampire-free week!