as the dust unsettles by karen g.

There are some movies that are strangely unremarkable or even forgettable at times, but moments from those films stay with us for certain reasons.  A disturbing scene, an eerie noise in the soundtrack, whatever it is, not all of these films were particularly terrifying but all had an unsettling and suspenseful element that even now, lingers with me to this day.

And Soon The Darkness (1970)

Everything starts out just beautifully, as most horror movies do, with two friends cycling through the stunning French countryside.  Suddenly, one of the girls goes missing, and on this lonely road, the other must ask locals if they can help.  The locals are strange and unhelpful and when a mysterious detective shows up to help, things take a creepy and suspenseful turn.

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970)

Here lies the directorial debut of the man who soon became known as the Italian Alfred Hitchcock – Dario Argento.  This movie centers around an American man who witnesses a vicious attack on a woman in Rome. Unable to help her, he soon finds himself the target of a killer.

Duel (1971)

David Mann is driving along, hurrying to get to an appointment.  He passes a big rig on a lonely road and this immediately turns out to be the wrong move as he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the truck and its mystery driver.  This made-for-TV thriller led executives to sit up and notice the movie’s young director, Steven Spielberg.

Let’s Scare Jessica To Death (1971)

When Jessica is released from a mental institution after a devastating breakdown, she finds terror lurking around every corner in the outside world.  Jessica believes herself insane as supernatural murders start happening around her.

Play Misty For Me (1971)

Another directorial debut, this time for the young, and dashing Clint Eastwood.  Radio disc jockey Dave soon notices the endless calls from a female to “play Misty” for me, and when a chance-meeting with an obsessed fan leads to a steamy love affair, Dave soon realizes that he may have stumbled into a brief affair with the wrong woman.

-Karen G.

red lamp, necklace & hell-portal: a fulci triple feature

The films of Lucio Fulci vary in content and how gory they are (The New York Ripper is one grimy shocker that pushes the graphic limit about as far horror can go).  Though few of his films are as polished or sophisticated as Dario Argento's (whom Fulci often voiced personal contempt for) giallos, Fulci definitely has a distinct style. His 1977 The Psychic (aka Seven Notes in Black) is one of his more under-seen films.  It centers upon a woman (Jennifer O'Neill, another one of Fulci's ravishing but emotionally distant leads) renovating a villa.  She begins to piece together a mystery through her violent psychic visions.  It sounds a bit like Eyes of Laura Mars, but Fulci's film predates the glossy Faye Dunaway flick and it's a bit more subtle and eerier, though undermined by schlocky dubbing.  Cinema afficiandos may catch that Quentin Tarantino lifted portions of its music score (by Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi, Vince Tempera) for Kill Bill, Vol. 1. **1/2

I actually enjoyed his Manhattan Baby more than I thought I would (it usually appears on his worst-of list).  A wealthy Manhattan family's trip to Egypt unearths an evil spirit within a necklace that the young daughter is given.  Fulci's film isn't nearly as intense as its inspirations (namely Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby) but it finds a groove in its dream logic. Part of the reason why it works is that it seems to have fun in its referencing; note that one of the kids and the doomed au pair are named after a character and the lead from Halloween (Tommy and Jamie Lee).  There's even an unsettling scene right out of The Birds, this time with swooping killer stuffed ones, that is flamboyantly filmed and edited.  It's pretty tepid plot-wise and takes too long to get going, but I reveled in its late-70s, early 80s Manhattan-set cheesy horror vibe. **1/2

Most thrill-seekers consider The Beyond Fulci's masterpiece.  In this blood-soaked, New Orleans-set fever dream, a young woman is also doing some renovating -- this time at a haunted inn which houses a portal to hell.  It's familiar territory for Fulci but The Beyond is especially gory in its death sequences. These violent scenes, including one with flesh-eating tarantulas, in which I had to cover my eyes, are almost-agonizingly long. The Beyond has some arresting visuals, including an eerie moment set on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.  There is something about the highly stylized nature and the gruesome pitch of Fulci's death scenes, which mixes shock and black humor, that is pretty much unparalleled in horror. Many have wondered if Fulci's sad past (his wife committed suicide and years later, his daughter died in a car wreck), have shaped his artistic vision and the relentless cruelty that's afflicted upon his characters.  Even if the films can have shoddy production values, their garishness and viciousness still can pack a punch and haunt the viewer afterward. ***

-Jeffery Berg