The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

Unboxing DVDs that I’ve had in storage for several years, I didn’t realise I had this copy of Akira Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well (1960). So I finally watched it and it was excellent. Set in post-war Japan, it unravels the revenge plot set in motion by Nishi (Toshiro Mifune) who is climbing the ranks […]

Spirits Of The Dead (1968)

Following Lewis Rice O’Donnell’s recommendation, I watched Spirits Of The Dead (1968; Italian: Tre passi nel delirio, French: Histoires extraordinaires), a omnibus film of three stories based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe by different directors. The first starring Jane Fonda and directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim is about a debauched countess who becomes obsessed […]

Blood And Black Lace (1964)

Continuing the exploration of Italian director Mario Bava’s films, I watched Blood and Black Lace (1964), which really impressed upon me how creepy red mannequins are. A stylish murder mystery set in a fashion house where models are killed one by one. The use of bold colours, wind effects and shadows is pretty great, definitely […]

Day Of Anger (1967)

Riz Ortolani’s jazzy, bombastic, memorable score to Day Of Anger (1967; I giorni dell’ira) was used in a key sequence of Tarantino’s Django Unchained and is known from the soundtrack. Sitting down to watch this Lee Van Cleef spaghetti western, there’s also a similar plot to Django with an older, experienced gun fighter Talby (Van […]

The Devil Rides Out (1968)

Exploring the world of Hammer Horror, which I only know through the doco compilation series that was on SBS growing up, I haven’t seen many of the British studio’s horror films. The Devil Rides Out (1968) was a good place to start (and shout out to Joe Kapiteyn’s band whose name I presume is taken […]