The Mercenary (1968)

In my never ending quest to watch movies scored by Ennio Morricone (particularly as popularised and used by Tarantino – ‘L’Arena’ from this film was used in Kill Bill Vol. 2 when she busts out of the grave), I watched The Mercenary (1968 – Il mercenario), another spaghetti western. A smooth Polish mercenary with a […]

The Haunted Palace (1963)

In The Haunted Palace (1963), Vincent Price gets to play a sinister warlock burned to death by angry townsfolk in the opening scene – and 100 years later, a distant blood relative who moves to the town with his wife on account of inheriting the Warlock’s palace. Braving the cursed, suspicious townsfolk (check out the […]

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)

While a Criterion Collection streaming service is still absent in Australia, SBS OnDemand at least offers a good selection of art-house titles and acclaimed foreign films in its library. The recent season (from Sony Pictures networks, I believe) of Quentin Tarantino programming a ‘Swinging Sixties’ line up of movies from that era, to tie into […]

The Brides Of Dracula (1960)

Back into the vaults of Hammer Studios and viewing for the first time, The Brides Of Dracula (1960). There’s no Dracula, no Christopher Lee. Instead, a school teacher (Yvonne Monlaur), travelling to her new school, inadvertently spends the night at the castle of Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt) and unwittingly frees the Baroness’ imprisoned golden haired […]

Persona (1966)

It’s always a revelation when you finally see an art-house classic and understand all the references and influences that have flowed on ever since. So it was with finally watching Persona (1966), part of my catching up on the filmography of director Ingmar Bergman. My initial understanding was that the film was about two women […]