Category: Italian Cinema

  • La Notte (1961)

    La Notte (1961)

    La Notte (1961; aka The Night) is the middle of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s trilogy including L’Aventura and L’Eclisse, and the one I’d always wanted to see. Antonioni’s slow, dispassionate style is intentionally alienating and difficult to wrestle with; I completely understand those who get bored by his work. Yet I do find something of… Read.

  • The House By The Cemetery (1981)

    The House By The Cemetery (1981)

    On the night of Halloween, I intended to finish Lucio Fulci’s ‘Gates of Hell’ trilogy by watching the final film, The House By The Cemetery (1981; Quella villa accanto al cimitero). I have to agree with the consensus out there that it’s the weakest of the trilogy; I still enjoyed watching it however. It’s basically… Read.

  • The Beyond (1981)

    The Beyond (1981)

    The main thing I remembered about seeing The Beyond (1981; E tu vivrai nel terrore! L’aldilà) a long time ago was the eerie ending and several scenes of ultra violence (the sequence with the spiders is the first that comes to mind). Rewatching it again for Halloween in an effort to watch all of director… Read.

  • Amarcord (1973)

    Amarcord (1973)

    I really became swept up in Amarcord’s (1973) approach to depicting a place, a time, a memory. Directed by Federico Fellini, and while not strictly autobiographical, the film is based on his memories growing up, set in the village of Borgo San Giulano during the 1930s and Benito Mussolini’s Fascism. Rather than having one character… Read.

  • City Of The Living Dead (1980)

    City Of The Living Dead (1980)

    I’m familiar with Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci, having seen Zombi 2 and The Beyond (though a long time ago; I mainly remember the eerie ending), but have never seen his complete ‘Gates Of Hell’ trilogy (The Beyond is the middle film). Maybe I was reluctant because I knew how gross and violent these films… Read.