Blog Posts

Recently, Anchor Bay released, at long last, Cemetery Man< to DVD. In so doing, they made available one of the last gasps (for now) of truly first-rate Italian horror, and it might be worth while to spend a few minutes considering the director, Michele Soavi, a man who has been nowhere near as prolific a filmmaker as might be devoutly wished.

In my piece on Joe D’Amato a few weeks ago, I mentioned that the best film he was involved with was Soavi’s debut, StageFright (1987). One of the fascina...ing aspects of this effort is that, while Soavi had been assistant director on films either directed by Dario Argento (Tenebre, Phenomena) or produced by him (Demons< .I>), Argento had no role to play in the making of StageFright. His influence, however, looms large. We can be thankful that it was his aesthetic sense that was a model for Soavi, and not D’Amato’s. In event, this film did wonders with its basic slasher set-up, and its killer’s mask (a gigantic owl’s head) is one that is not soon forgotten by any viewer. Micro-budgeted but a feast for the eyes, StageFright promised much for the future of its director. It remains, as well, his most purely terrifying film.

With The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee became the new kings of British horror, and their frequent co-starring roles made them a tandem the likes of which the industry hadn’t seen since the heyday of the Karloff-Lugosi double-threats of the late-30's. Their films for Hammer and Amicus have long been fan faves, but the film I’m going to sing the praises of here doesn’t have quite the same profile as the likes of Horror of Dracula. Most horror fans of a certain vintage no...doubt have a soft spot for it, but for the few out there who haven’t had the pleasure yet, allow me to direct your attention to Eugenio Martín’s Horror Express (1972).

At the turn of the 20th Century, anthropologist Lee finds, in the mountains of China, what for all the world looks like a dark-haired abominable snowman frozen in ice. He loads his jealously guarded prize onto the Trans-Siberian Express, much to the curiosity of rival scientist Cushing. It turns out the creature isn’t dead, and it also turns out it can pick locks and has other useful skills, as it absorbs the knowledge of whoever meets its eyes. Unfortunately for those individuals, their brains are boiled away. The apeman is inhabited by an alien life force, which soon transfers itself first to one human being, then another.