The Perfume of the Lady in Black

I decided on a shot in the dark and watched:

 

The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974).

 

Directed by Francesco Barilli and starring Mimsey Farmer (Four Flies on Grey Velvet) as the main character Silvia Hackerman.

One could be forgiven for thinking this is a Giallo, but it really isn't. It is Italian and made in the 70's, but it is a thriller/horror movie. There are few to none of the classic Giallo tropes in Perfume.

Silvia is a successful young manager at a chemical plant with a nice boyfriend, Roberto. She does however have a lot of anxieties that sometimes make her hard to deal with. We learn that she had an unhappy childhood, with an absent father in the navy or merchant marine (I'm not sure which). Her relationship with her mother was not good until the mother died while Silvia was very young.

Silvia's life starts getting stranger and stranger and soon enough she starts hallucinating, seeing her mother and others in such vivid imagery that it drives her into a panic. And this is where the movie shines. One could perhaps say that The Perfume of the Lady in Black uses an unreliable narrator, but that would be wrong. An unreliable narrator lies to you, while Silvia herself doesn't know what is real and what isn't. The movie might be lying to us, but Sylvie herself isn't.

Weird things keep happening, with mysterious things appearing in her apartment when she is out. A vase in a shop window vanishes and the owner swears she has never had such an item, only for the vase to appear in her home gift wrapped. It reminded me of the psy-ops the East German secret police, Stasi, used to unnerve and break down people they were after.

Little by little, Sylvia starts to break down, and this paranoia is felt by the watcher every time a person greets her, smiling politely only to stare after her with inscrutable suspicious glances. Some things can only be hallucinations and other things must be real since there is no way Silvia could know about it, unless she imagines things. Ultimately it is very difficult to know what did or did not happen. It could be a story about a mentally ill young woman, or a story about a victim of a sinister conspiracy. The wonderful creepy almost non-musical soundtrack really helps and the actors all do a credible job to create a really strange and creepy atmosphere.

I won't of course spoil the ending but I did not see it coming. In a way, everything makes sense by the end but you could be forgiven for believing that none or almost none of what happened took place.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black is a confusing movie that takes slow burn to a new level, but it had to. In order to slowly ramp up all the mysterious happenings, it needs to show you what is normal first. Some have compared it to Rosemary's Baby, and I can see why, but that isn't totally accurate either. The Perfume of the Lady in Black is it's own thing and you have to deal with it as it is.

So, do I recommend The Perfume of the Lady in Black? Yes and no. I had a great time in the end, but there were several moments when I was asking myself “What am I watching?”. I think it was worth it, but you have to be prepared to watch a really slow, strange film. If you are, go for it, otherwise watch something else. 

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

The Island of the Fishmen

It's time for some old school horror with;

The Island of the Fishmen (1979).

Fishmen is directed by Sergio Martino who's work has been featured on this blog before, most recently Torso (1973). It stars Barbara Bach, Claudio Cassinelli and Richard Johnson amongst others.

First off I need to point out the oddity of the US release which is the one I watched. It is called Screamers and was released under Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Corman added a new fifteen minute long beginning that has a hard time meshing with the rest of the movie.

So in the beginning we learn that the year is 1891 and a couple has come to the island to look for a legendary treasure. Soon the fishmen arrive and kill everyone in extremely gory ways. That's it.

Then the real movie begins. A small group of prisoners have survived a shipwreck together with the ship doctor. They wash up on the unnamed island where most die off quickly. The doctor and two prisoners soon meet the master of the island, Edmond Rackham (Johnson) who is very clearly the villain of the movie. He lives in a mansion tended to by a group of natives. We also meet Amanda Marvin (Bach) who takes a bit of a shine to the doctor. The relationship between Amanda and Rackham is a mystery at first but all is eventually explained. The eponymous fishmen lurk everywhere, killing where they can, and it is here we get the biggest disconnect between the new intro and the actual movie. I mentioned the heavy gore in the intro and that is nowhere to be found anywhere else. No one gets their head ripped off anymore, instead a light scratch across the face is enough to kill. I don't need the gore, but why add it in such a large amount if the movie isn't that bloody? Makes no sense to me.

Over all, The Island of the Fishmen is much more adventure than horror. Once you get to know more about what is going on, the horror essentially disappears and you are left with an old school adventure movie, and that is pretty awesome!

Unfortunately I can't explain anything more about the plot without ruining it, but this is an underrated gem of a movie. Yes, the effects are a bit cheesy, and the dialogue is a bit cheesy, in fact, it could be called The Island of the Cheesemen, but that is also the movie's biggest charm. It is a kind of innocent adventure movie with some pretty decent horror elements, sprinkled with a little bit of romance.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes I do. It works well within its budget, the effects are decent enough and the acting is fine. I found the movie on a list of Lovecraftian horror, and superficially it fits, but The Island of the Fishmen is its own thing and oozes with silly pulp action charm. If that is your cup of tea, then watch this movie.

That is that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

The Lighthouse is pretty heavy.

I crossed another movie of my to-watch list:

The Lighthouse (2019).

Written by Robert and Max Eggers and directed by Robert Eggers, this strange, weird, downright odd movie stars Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattison and Valeriia Karaman. The entire cast is ten entries and that includes Sully Seagull who actually is a seagull.

The Lighthouse is shot in black and white, on 35mm Double-X film that requires a lot more light than normal film. This creates some very vivid shadows and does wonders for the atmosphere. It is also shot on an aspect ration of 1.19:1 which is the same that was used in the early days of the talkies, and used by early directors like Fritz Lang and George Wilhelm Pabst. This was intentional to heighten the old-timey feel and to increase the claustrophobia.

The story is set in 1890 off the northeastern cost of the US. Two lighthouse keepers, veteran Thomas Wake (Dafoe) and newcomer Thomas Howard (Pattison), arrive to spend four weeks on a desolate rock in the cruel Atlantic. We quickly get a feeling that something is wrong, a feeling the only increases with every passing scene. Wake, as the senior is very demanding and assigns all the harsh physical labor to Howard. The one thing he insists on tending to is the light itself, turning very aggressive when Howard asks to go up to the top. A great part of the movie follows Howard as he struggles through his duties, becoming increasingly frustrated from day to day. Since Howard is the point of view character we practically sit on his shoulder as he suffers from day to day with his work, his sexual frustrations and what are probably hallucinations. I say probably, because we don't really know for sure. There is an element of unreliable narration, but not just against us. It also concerns the characters.

Most critics have labeled The Lighthouse a horror movie, and I don't disagree, but one critic stated that this movie is too odd to pigeonhole, and I absolutely agree with that. It is at times grim, brutal, gloomy, shocking and even funny. Time and time again I asked myself “what am I watching”, but at no time did I want to turn the movie off. It is absolutely brilliant, but as much a fever dream as it is a movie.

Robert Eggers has stated that "it's a movie where both Jung and Freud would be furiously eating their popcorn", and I can see why. I'm by no means a psychiatrist, but the psychology is clear for all to see. From the suggestive shape of the lighthouse to the complex relationship between the two men, I can absolutely believe that statement. Another huge influence on the movie is Greek mythology, mostly Oedipus and Prometheus. If this sounds extremely weird for a movie about two lighthouse keepers, or wickies, you would be right. It is odd, but it works!

The reason it works is two fold. On the one hand, The Lighthouse is incredibly well shot. Every scene is amazing in composition, shape and lighting. On the other hand these two actors act their hearts out. Both Dafoe and Pattison are incredible in this movie. Dafoe is often a bit odd in his roles but Pattison goes up to Daniel Day Lewis levels of acting and there were times when I had to remind myself who was actually on screen.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, I really do, but not to everyone. You have to be able to sit through 1h49m of sheer insanity that not only gets worse and worse but almost drags you along with it until you aren't really sure what is up and what is down. If that is alright with you, than watch The Lighthouse as soon as possible.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week! Oh, and stay away from old lighthouses.

 

Finnish Humor.

Today I have a trio sampler of the Finnish comedian Ismo Leikola and his observations about the English language. This wasn't my original plan for this week, but time, like a cat, didn't want to cooperate. Oh well, at least these videos are pretty damn funny. They are in English as well, so no need to worry.

So without further ado, please enjoy and I'll see you next time. Until then, have a great and funny week!