Update

Lost my review of Dagon in the transfer from Windows to Linux

Werewolf Woman

Werewolf Woman

(1976)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074829/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_Woman_(film)

Alternate Titles

Wolf Woman

La Lupa Mannara

Daughter of a Werewolf

Naked Werewolf Woman

She-Wolf

Terror of the She Wolf

The Legend of the Wolf Woman

and probably many others

Staring Annik Borel

Howard Ross

Dagmar Lassander

Directed by Rino Di Silvestro

Italy

Wow That fall WAS gay

Werewolf Woman is pretty much a B-movie among Italian exploitation films. If movies from directors like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci are what comes to mind when you think of raw, graphic Italian fare the movie Werewolf Woman, and it's director Rino Di Silvestro, is what you think of when you try to visualize of their B movie, grindhouse equivalent.

In his short career Silvestro made around 8 movies which some might call pure sexploitation trash, Werewolf Woman being one of the most notorious.

Is that a fair label for this movie?

When you first look at the cast, Dagmar Lassander and Frederick Stafford in particular, that label is already put into question. But giving credence to it, and also giving the movie some notoriety, Werewolf Woman was dubbed a video nasty in the UK during the days of video censorship and banned in that country.

The movie opens like all movies should open... with a naked female werewolf. She does some sort of black mass and then hides from a gang of villagers who are out looking for her. She comes to stalk what seems to be the alpha male among the villagers and precedes to tear his throat out. If you can't see the sexual significance in this I guarantee you will see it throughout the movie. Like all horror openings this all is part of our heroine's, Daniella's, dream.

Through exposition with a psychiatrist we learn Daniella had been raped at a young age and that has left her mentally unstable. She's both repulsed and attracted to the opposite sex. She has also developed a connection with a old small painting of one her ancestors, who looks identical to the young Daniella. This ancestor was involved in an ancient legend, which we are led to believe ended with her being killed and burned as a werewolf.

Daniella's father then learns from the psychologist that lycanthropy is scientifically proven. My first thought - I'm obviously going to the wrong school.

When Daniella's sister returns from America with her new husband Daniella has an obvious attraction to the man - but she's is also repulsed. The man is the splitting image of the man who appeared in her dream - the one she killed. There's also some Oedipus complexion going on as the sisters visit interrupts the planning of a vacation between Daniella and her father.

This is when the movie gets weird. It becomes almost a soft-core porn with our “heroine” having sexual hallucinations of lizards, and pleasuring herself as she watches her sister and her new brother-in-law in bed together. This all ends with a murder, and Daniella ending up in a mental institution.

By now your probably wondering where's the werewolf and why is she using an axe? Well this is a totally different movie then the title suggests. Remember the psychologist claiming werewolves are science.

By now one of the main complaints made, that this movie just soft core mascaraing as horror, has become apparent. This IS a valid argument, some of the more sexual scenes linger on, but I think this also ignores the themes of the script. And for horror fans, themes of both repulsion and attraction are very potent. We're used to molding these duel aspects of our personality together, which probably says something potent about us.

At the hospital they tie her up but don't sedate her very well, if at all. When she manages to steal some scissors from a nurse you know this isn't going to end well. After another extensive sex scene she escapes with another killing.

Keeping with all the sexual imagery she even dresses in red - like a reverse little red riding hood - and then roams the forest watching people have sex and attacking them.

But she does manage to find some happiness later in movie, despite being pursued by the police. But like other Italian films the world doesn't allow for happiness. It will destroy you internally, and externally.

There are some complaints I think can be legitimately thrown at Werewolf Woman. The first being that it doesn't leave anything ambiguous to the viewer. There are several scenes where the good psychiatrist explains everything to the audience, using the police or the father as a stand in. Sometimes it gives the impression of the writer saying, “hey look how clever our script is.” This becomes awkward and leaves too much exposition.

The second is the implication of the ESP into the movie. This is difficult to explain without ruining the movie but certain supernatural aspects of the story don't need to be there.

The third complaint is that aspects of the plot seem missing. Time becomes a liability. We go from Daniella starting a relationship in montage form to revenge territory to the exposition so quickly none of this plot can be appreciated.

One of the complaints I think can't be made is that this film's a gore fest. There is some gore yes, but Werewolf Woman has surprisingly little. This may actually be a disappointment to many movie goers but this movie is more concerned with the psychological aspect behind a series of events.

You can't say this movie is just pointless sex either. There is a lot going on here. Yes sometimes the sex drives the plot, but this is an over generalization. It doesn't work all the time, but there are times in which our main character is moving towards inevitability. These moments are very effective.

Do I think this movie successful overall? Partially. Overall it has a good atmosphere and deals with some interesting themes. It does explain everything, but in some aspects the explanations seem to be there as mere convenience. Despite what I think are some flaws I did enjoy this movie quite a bit.

Also the music, despite being grainy, is great. Then again the music in most Italian films is good to begin with.

I'm not sure if its the film stock, or just my copy, but this is a very grainy, gritty film. It's sometimes hard to notice what is going on, but that just adds some atmospheric “class” to the experience.

I didn't know this but according to IMDB Quentin Tarantino selected the movie for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest though he had not seen it at that time. Apparently he loved it so much kept adding surprise movies to his later festivals calling them the “Wolf Woman” picks.

Probably one of the more stranger things I can address is French actress Annik Borel's career. She played bit rolls in sexploitation flicks all the way till Werewolf Woman. She made two other movies, one of which was just another bit part. After she quit acting and according to B-Movie legend she then pretty much vanished off the face the earth.

Dollman

Dollman

(1991)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101751/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollman

Alternate Title

Microcop

Staring Tim Thomerson

Jackie Earle Haley

Kamala Lopez

Directed by Albert Pyun

“Did I tell you to tell everyone in the neighbourhood I have a spaceman in the house?”

Albert Pyn has made around 50 schlocky movies to date. Including an unofficial sequel to “Masters of the Universe”, the sequel to “Kickboxer”, the “Nemesis” series, and the cult classic “The Sword and the Sorcerer.” He is responsible for the late 80's action movie “Cyborg” (which is the unofficial sequel to "Masters of Universe" I already mentioned) which helped launch “Jean-Claude Van Damn” as an action commodity. People like to compare his film making abilities to everyone from “Ed Wood” to “Jean-Luc Godard”. Personally I like to compare him to one of my favourite French directors “Jean Rollin” for his ability to constantly twist genre rules and to mold several genres together, though unlike Rollin he has been restrained by studios throughout most of his career.

Like or hate Pyun's films he has managed to make his movies despite having problems with finances, problems with actors, problems with studio interference, and the list continues. Sure his movies range from B-Grade to Z-Grade and the scripts range from confusing to manic, but Pyun does have an artists eye and a range of creative energy that is admirable. In many ways Dollman is the typical Pyun film, feeling both familiar and different at the same time.

First thing you notice about Dollman is that the movie stars B-movie comedic action staple Tim Thomerson and Pre-Rorschach Jackie Earle Haley. So on acting alone there's some weight behind it.

The Planet Arturos is the typical late 80's, early 90's science fiction hell hole. There Detective Brick Bardo (Thomerson) is your local Clint Eastwood impersonator, who is known by his cocky strut and ability to get the job down at any cost. He even carries what one kid excitingly calls the “most powerful gun in the universe.” He seems to be at odds with the powers that be, even after he saves some hostages by threatening to blow a hole right through some “fat lady”. It's hard to explain, but that scene will give you some laughs. He then squares off with his nemesis - a severed head on a hoverboard (I'm not joking). The resulting chase sends him into our dimension, more specifically Hollywood's idealization of the Bronx – where everyone is either a drug dealer, or a drug using prostitute. There we meet Kamala Lopez's character, who is at odds with the local scumbags. She organizes the Neighborhood Watch and even goes as far as kicking and throwing rocks whenever she sees someone sporting a urine stained leather jacket.

Despite playing a poorly written character Lopez is really good here. Even when she has to play the damsel in distress she never appears weak. It's a fresh departure from the damsels which commonly inhabit these roles.

She eventually comes at odds with one of the leaders of local gangs headed by Jackie Earl, who is sporting the best mullet he's ever had. Bardo comes to her aid and takes down a few of his men. This local gang then teams up with the severed head, who has also traveled into our dimension, and vows revenge.

Here comes the fun part. Apparently there is a size difference between Earth and Arturos. Although Bardo appears to be human... he's 11 inches tall. In fact one of his first sentences when arriving to earth is “the place is full of giants. I hate giants.” The whole movie is played for fun in that way. A tough detective from the future, who's the size of a Ken Doll, cleans up the streets of New York with the most powerful gun in the universe, which happens to be the size of half a toothpick.

This review might give you the impression this movie is funny, but its more fun then funny, or at least the first hour is. The climax and the showdown do seem to drag as nothing happens for a little while, other then Jacky Earl babbling nonsense, which I admit in itself is kind of entertaining. There is practically no conclusion to the movie and a subplot about trying to repair his ship with the help of two boys is never even hinted at after it is abandoned.

However the movie itself is only 80 minutes long, and over five of those minutes is dedicated to a music montage of stills of the characters, which isn't so bad since the music is cheesy, synthesized, science fiction entertainment.

If any movie screams for a VHS rerelease it's this one. It just doesn't feel right watching this on DVD. Plus the transfer from the original stock is not of the best quality.

Snotty movie goings, or people more accustomed to summer blockbusters will be turned off by Dollman due to it's horrible effects, writing that goes no where and the obvious budget restraints. If you could look over these restraints you will find a movie full of good creativity, wild energy and solid acting.

Dollman represents point of view, a microcosm of a larger world. A world which is corrupt, dark and violent. A world which we may feel we are struggling against and on the losing end. We feel like we're miniatures in this struggle, but as Bardo at least hints at it's not if you lose but if you quit.

The writer Charles Band (creator the Puppet Master series) made a sequel called Dollman vs the Demonic Toys. I haven't seen it.

La Casa 4

La Casa 4

(1988)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096453/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Casa_4

Alternate Titles:

Witchery

Evil Encounters

Démoniaque présence

Demonic Presence

Ghosthouse 2

Evil Dead 4

The Haunted House

Witchcraft

Return of the Exorcist

...and probably many others

Staring David Hasselhoff, Leslie Cumming, Linda Blair

Directed by Fabrizio Laurenti going under the alias Martin Newlin

Country: Italy

Well I Wasn't Expecting Phantom of the Opera.

I tell you there is a feeling of dread that goes over you when your about to watch a horror movie staring David Hasselhoff and Linda Blair, directed by the guy who brought us Troll 3 (well one of the Troll threes – an unofficial sequel containing the killer plants). This all seems worsened by the fact this movie has so many alternate titles you could full an entire shelf with the same movie and make it seem you have a sizable collection of unrelated horror films.

La Casa 4 is the first unofficial sequel to La Casa 3, which in turn was an unofficial sequel to Evil Dead 2. Yes it's an unofficial sequel to an unofficial sequel. Technically the movie is named “Witchery” but it is most familiarly known as “Ghosthouse 2”. This confusion begun when the low budget American horror movie “Evil Dead” was released as “Le Casa” in Italy, meaning “The House”. The sequel “Evil Dead 2” therefore became “Le Casa 2” and then when “Ghosthouse”, a movie unrelated to the series, wanted to boast sales it did so by slapping on the "La Casa" title. So when Fabrizio Laurenti's “Witchery” took the title of “Ghosthouse 2” it also inherited the title of “Le Casa 4”.

Produced by D'Amato's notorious Filmirage La Casa 4 boasts a pretty good script for this kind of movie and an interesting, if not surreal world, but the movie hampered by poor production and having too many points of view. For example we're introduced to the father of one of the “victims”, a sheriff and a girl in a wheelchair who each have a point of view to the story and each of these points of view are entirely pointless. This sort of movie making works in a Fulci movie where plot, character, and a sense of time are intentionally distorted but in a movie comprised of a loose federation of subplots this becomes downright annoying.

The movie opens with a very suspenseful chase scene as a pregnant woman desperately tries to flee several pilgrims with pitchforks. This leaves one to believe that witchcraft is involved. These suspicions which are partially confirmed by the sight of a sacred flickering crystal worn around her neck. She runs into a good old spooky house with a long seamless Dario Argento-style white hallway, stumbling and desperately trying the doors. Her pursuers close in. She then desperately jumps out the window and out of Linda Blair's nightmare.

The film is about the Linda Blair's character (kind of) who is named Jane Brooks. She is young, single and pregnant. Her mother and father have just bought an old hotel located in the middle of a remote island (cause when I'm on a vacation I love the convenience of finding a boat every night I wanna go to sleep). They hire an architect to come along with them and do a financial assessment of the place. She is played by Cathrine Hickland and although she's a total nymphomaniac in the movie, and spends two scenes in her under garments we get to see nothing juicy. At least in the version I watched. When they call her under recommendation she say's she never heard of the family who recommended her, meaning something sinister is working behind the scenes.

I'm beginning to see a problem with this movie. Linda Blair, Cathrine Hickland, the Hofster, and even Hildegard Knef. That's a lot of semi-recognizable names for a cheap Italian horror movie from a company that specializes in quickly made exploitation movies. That's a lot of the budget and driving force for the film tied up in obtaining your actors.

Jane and her little brother start to see visions of this lady dressed in black (Knef) who can manipulate the world through the use of the magic stone seen in the dream. The little brother in the movie talks in such a slow deliberate manner that it goes from laughable to downright jaw-droppingly horrible.

That brings us to another major problem of the movie. The acting is all over the place. This of course is related to first problem I mentioned. The semi-A list actors do their job and do them well and the B list actors are all relatively good, minus Cumming who is very wooden, but since they must have spent all their budget on getting Linda Blair and David Hasselhoff (I know, I know, just roll with it) the people they got for the smaller bits basically read their lines directly. It's noticeable.

But I know what your all asking... The only question worth a damn here. How is the Hoffster? Well believe it or not he's really good. He spends the whole movie trying to get Leslie Cumming into bed with him (she plays a virgin) but he's the one character who remains likable throughout the entire movie. His character, and Cumming's, are on a separate journey at the beginning of the movie, documenting the island's infamous "witch lights", when the Brooks family shows up on the island. This being on private property the amateur paranormal investigators hide and don't really come back into play until the Brooks' sea guide is killed by the lady in black.

Then characters are transported and picked off one by one in this “otherworld”. Although the “otherworld” scenes are the best scenes in the movie the transportation scenes are just silly. The character is seen screaming and waving their arms in front of a green screen which is just a bunch cheesy swirling colours.

That brings me to another problem with the movie. It goes from atmospheric story to cheesy nonsense at such ease that it can't be taken seriously. The scenes in the “otherworld” are disturbing and well done, (including an infamous scene where a character gets her mouth sewn shut) but you can't appreciate the effect cause your taken off guard by the cheesy special effects in the transportation scenes.

The script flows to the inevitable conclusion (you'll see it coming) that would be effective if the acting wasn't so deliberate. Why the rely so much on Leslie Cumming I have no idea. Everything is resolved to a degree but we never get to see the effects of this resolution on the characters, and more importantly everything is weakly tied together.

This brings me to my second last problem with the movie.

You ever watch a movie where they adapted a novel completely to screen, without cutting everything out. This is what this movie feels like. Every subplot is weak and uninteresting cause only time delegated to each is how it loosely ties to next subplot. For example the “witch lights” ties to a silent movie actress who turned reclusive and to black magic, which in turn ties in to an executed witch seen in the actresses final hidden movie, which in turn ties into devil worship, the rebirth of Satan, and Jane Brook's strange nightmares. The whole movie is just a bunch of connected subplots. This maybe due to first time director Fabrizio Laurenti's inability to keep everything together in the amount of time allotted to him or to a screenplay with a bunch of good ideas and nothing else.

And this brings me to my final problem. There's some goofy stuff going on. Not enough to ruin the experience but enough to be noticeable. Night turns to day, exposition comes at the most convenient times, or after establishing a tape recorder has run out of batteries it works fine at the climax.

For all this though the movie is never not entertaining. It's bad yes, but not worthy of the extremely low rating it has on imdb. It's by far watchable, and possibly enjoyable by some, it is just very poorly executed.

*Also imdb screwed up the plot outline and has used the plot outline for the first “Withcraft” movie.

*Also I forgot to mention that the dialogue is a mess and it is a little upsetting that no where in the movie does endless David Hasselhoff's mold into each others crotch or Linda Blair tells someone of theirs mothers activities in hell.