Dario Argento
To mark the recent thirtieth anniversary of Sergio Leone’s death, this documentary sets out to pay tribute to one of the great legends of world cinema. The singular artistic vision of Sergio Leone has transcended national borders, creating the Spaghetti Western genre and transforming the international cinematic panorama forever with his innovative stylistic and narrative solutions, which have now become part of the language of the movies. The film, which is enriched with precious archive footage from the Cineteca di Bologna, including rare audio recordings and film clips shot behind the scenes, sees for the first time the direct participation of the Leone family and has interviews both with Leone’s longtime collaborators and with icons of Hollywood who have been profoundly influenced by his work.
Showcasing a live performance at Earth Theatre, London in 2021 and interviews with the artists he has collaborated with from over 35 years of scoring horror, fantasy and genre films, TRIPPING THE DARK FANTASTIC is a stunning record of musician Simon Boswell’s career. An exciting trip through such classics as PHENOMENA, DEMONS 2, STAGE FRIGHT, SANTA SANGRE, PERDITA DURANGO, LORD OF ILLUSIONS, SHALLOW GRAVE, HARDWARE and many others, peppered with appearances by the likes of directors Dario Argento, Alejandro Jodorowsky, the concert features Simon with his 12 piece band, Caduta Massi, filmed by acclaimed DOP Vince Knight.
'Giallo' is Italian for 'yellow', the color of the lurid pulp novels that inspired one of the most intense, extreme and influential genres in movie history. In this unprecedented collection, experience the full chronological evolution of giallo with more than 100 rare and classic trailers from such masters as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Antonio Margheriti, Umberto Lenzi and many more. Then slip on black leather gloves and set the mood with a Bonus CD of legendary soundtrack music from composers that include Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani, Bruno Nicolai, Stelvio Cipriani and others, along with all-new featurettes that thrust even deeper into the genre. "But be warned," says Gizmodo.com, "Once you start going down the blood- slicked giallo rabbit hole, you may become dangerously obsessed."
An introspective insight into the life and artistic journey of William Friedkin, an extraordinary and offbeat director of cult films such as The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer, Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A. and Killer Joe. For the first time Friedkin opens up, guiding the audience on a fascinating journey through the themes and the stories that have influenced his life and his artistic career.
A nostalgic journey to the universe of cinephilia and the passion for fantasy, told by its specialists, fans and world stars.
The greatness, fall and renaissance of Hammer, the flagship company of British popular cinema, mainly from 1955 to 1968. Tortured women and sadistic monsters populated oppressive scenarios in provocative productions that shocked censorship and disgusted critics but fascinated the public; movies in which horror was shown in offensive colors; dreadful stories, told without prejudices, that offered fear, blood, sex and stunning performances.
Feature-length in-depth documentary by High Rising Productions chronicling the Giallo film genre from its beginnings as early 20th century crime fiction, to its later influences on the modern slasher film genre. Featuring interviews with Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Luigi Cozzi, Richard Stanley, and more.
France, 1890. Inventor Louis Le Prince vanishes under mysterious circumstances right after he created a device that, five years later, the Lumière Brothers will call The Cinematographer. What if they had stolen Le Prince’s idea and wacked him afterwards? The mystery remains for more than a century, until Luigi Cozzi picks up a strange book called “The Roaming Universe” in the horror museum of his pal Dario Argento. The origin of this enigmatic book troubles him. This particular science-fiction novel would have materialized during a spiritual session in modern day Rome. At the session, an old woman revealed that the key to all these mysteries comes from 1895, a time during which the Lumière Brothers had denied lending their camera to Georges Méliès for an obscure movie called "A Trip to the moon". Not only does this film actually exist, but it raises a more intriguing question. Is our world the only one, or are there parallel universes ?
A loving portrait of reclusive comic-book writer Tiziano Sclavi, creator of Dylan Dog
When Englishman Jonathan Harker visits the exotic castle of Count Dracula, he is entranced by the mysterious aristocrat. But upon learning that the count has sinister designs on his wife, Mina, Harker seeks help from vampire slayer Van Helsing.
Actor and writer Mark Gatiss embarks on a chilling journey through European horror cinema, from the silent nightmares of German Expressionism in the 1920s to the Belgian lesbian vampires in the 1970s, from the black-gloved killers of Italian bloody giallo cinema to the ghosts of the Spanish Civil War, and finally reveals how Europe's turbulent 20th century forged its ground-breaking horror tradition.
Luigi Cozzi's memories about the production of Dario Argento's "4 mosche di velluto grigio".
This documentary is featured on Arrow Video's 2011 DVD & Blu-ray releases for The Beyond (1981).
In Torino, Celine, an American model, is abducted by a taxi driver while en route home to meet her sister Linda, visiting at her apartment. The next morning, Linda reports that Celine is missing - the sergeant in charge directs her to F.B.I. agent Inspector Enzo Avolfi. He's from the Special New York City Department investigating a serial-killer that kidnaps foreigners to destroy their beauty. When a Japanese woman is found at nearby a fountain, Enzo and Linda find that the girl is calling the abductor's skin is "Yellow" in color and Linda concludes that the guy might have jaundice. They go to the Policlinic di Torino to find the killer.
A short documentary about the making of Dario Argento's "Phenomena" (1985).
An ancient urn is found in a cemetery outside Rome. Once opened, it triggers a series of violent incidents: robberies, rapes and murders increase dramatically, while several mysterious, evil-looking young women coming from all over the world are gathering in the city. All these events are caused by the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the last of three powerful witches who have been spreading terror and death for centuries. Alone against an army of psychos and demons, Sarah Mandy, an art student who seems to have supernatural abilities of her own, is the only person left to prevent the Mother of Tears from destroying Rome.
Dario Argento discusses the genesis of The Stendhal Syndrome, the structure of its narrative, the unique atmosphere and tone of the film.
Meat Loaf Aday plays Jake Feldman, a furrier struggling to build a business while being tormented by his obsession for a stripper. When a sadistic backwoods trapper kills a strange group of pet raccoons, Jake knows their luxurious hides could make a coat that will change his fortunes forever. Only these are no ordinary pelts: the cursed furs will wreak vengeance on anyone who touches them.
An in-depth analysis of the "Video Nasty" scandal of the early 1980s in Britain.
Argento looks back at the making of his stunning debut, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE
In 1990, as a boy, Giulio was chased through the woods by two women after spying on them practicing witchcraft. Now a young film student in Turin, he watches his neighbors in the flats across from his third floor apartment, especially Sasha when she's naked or arguing with her mother. Giulio's girlfriend is disgusted with his voyeurism, but, after a murder occurs, Giulio is convinced that two relative strangers, just as in Hitchcock and Highsmith's "Strangers in a Train," have agreed to murder each other's bête noir. He follows his suspects, ends up with an intruder and a broken foot, and may be in real danger. Is he more than a peeping Tom?
Mario Bava Operazione Paura", hosted by Joe Dante, is an hommage of the Master of the Terror, the italian director Mario Bava
"Western all'italiana" is a documentary produced and broadcast by the satellite broadcaster Studio Universal in 2004, on the occasion of the broadcasting of a selection of Italian western films, the so-called "spaghetti westerns". In the course of the video, the birth, evolution and conclusion of the Italian western trend is told.
Policewoman Anna Mari is forced to play a dangerous game with the title serial killer. If she loses, she witnesses the maniac's tortured victims having their throats cut in explicit close-up detail via webcam. She teams up with British cop John Brennan to find out the identity of the murderer.
This documentary features interviews with directors Dario Argento and George Romero, Special Make-Up Effects supervisor Tom Savini, executive producer Claudio Argento, and Asia Argento. The interviewees discuss Edgar Allan Poe's classic writings and their tone, the conception of Two Evil Eyes, and the film's stylistic appearance and production history.
Documentary showcasing the work of prominent film directors in the horror genre. Featuring interviews with the directors, behind the scenes footage and clips from popular horror films, and hosted by Bruce Campbell, star of The Evil Dead (1981).
Documentary about the shooting of 'Suspiria' that details everything that lovers of horror genre can desire, including the inspiration of the plot, the director, the cast, the style, the music and, of course, its worldwide success. Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Jessica Harper, Udo Kier, Stafania Casini, Giuseppe Colombo, Luciano Tovoli and several members of the progressive rock band Goblin (Claudio Simonetti, Fabio Pignatelli, Massino Marante) are interviewed to learn about their work in the film.
Argento, Morricone, and co-writer Dardano Saccheti offer a thumbnail version The Cat o' Nine Tailsof the circumstances which led to the film's creation, complete with views of its successes and faults.
This documentary is featured on the Limited Edition DVD for Opera, released in 2001.
The life and works of one of the great masters of Italian cinema, Sergio Leone; a rich and fascinating portrait. Unpublished testimonies of collaborators, actors, directors and critics reconstruct every aspect of his creative activity.
A young Italian actress embarks on a self-destructive spree of sex, drugs and other excess while doing some soul searching to find the path for redemption.
Gory remake of the Gaston Leroux classic story, only this time, the phantom is not disfigured, but a man who was raised by rats deep under the Paris Opera House.
Another biographical video of Dario Argento, the Italian film director. Many special effects are covered along with interviews with associates and various film clips.
Paris, 1900: a couple are horribly murdered by a masked man with a metal claw who rips their hearts out. The sole survivor and witness to the massacre is a young girl. Twelve years later in Rome a new wax museum is opened, whose main attractions are lifelike recreations of gruesome murder scenes. A young man bets that he will spend the night in the museum but is found dead the morning after. Soon, people start disappearing from the streets of Rome and the wax museum halls begin filling with new figures...
Dive into The Eternal City - see Rome like you’ve never seen it before. Storefront robberies, bizarre murders, career dreamers, and cameos from Italy’s greatest directors and actors feature in this star-studded omnibus tale about life and love.
A young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man's obsession.
An anorexic young woman escapes from a psychiatric clinic and meets a young man who wants to help. She is caught and returned to her parents, who are soon beheaded by a garrotting stranger making the rounds about town, apparently striking only when it rains. The orphaned young woman and her new lover launch their own investigation and are endangered when a link is discovered with the victims and a particular operation performed years before.
A short documentary on the history of the horror film narrated by Christopher Lee.
A collection of European T.V. commercials directed by a variety of well-known directors from across Europe and the U.S. Compiled and produced by Jean-Marie Boursicot.
A documentary about the films of Italian horror director Dario Argento. Included are clips from many of his films and interviews with friends, actors and colleagues.
This stylishly photographed horror movie centers upon a beautiful, good-hearted schoolteacher whose life becomes a living hell after she is chosen to bear the son of Satan. Her horrible ordeal begins when an ancient enigmatic traveller places an ancient, supposedly extinct, insect up her nose. It crawls into her brain. She soon begins having terrifying dreams and more. When she learns the awful truth about her relationship with the Dark Master things get even worse. Still the baby is born and the poor woman faces a terrible and, genre-wise, surprising choice.
Two horror segments based on Edgar Allan Poe stories set in and around the city of Pittsburgh. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" concerns a cheating wife who is trying to scam her dying husband out of millions by having her doctor/hypnotist lover hypnotize the geezer into signing his dough over to her. The old man dies while under hypnosis and is stuck in the limbo between the here and the hereafter. The door to the physical world is opened and the undead attempt to enter it. "Black Cat" is the story of Rodd Usher, an alcoholic photographer/artist, who descends into madness after he kills a stray cat that his live-in girlfriend Annabelle brings home. One murder leads to another, and the complex cover-ups begin.
In medieval Europe, crusading knights massacre a village full of suspected devil worshipers and build a large Gothic church above the cursed remains. It is now present day, and this elaborate cathedral still stands. But when its sealed crypt is accidentally reopened, a group of people trapped inside the church become possessed by the fury of the damned! Can the blood of the innocent survive this unholy communion, or will the ultimate demonic evil be unleashed upon the world?!
This horror documentary is not the same as the 1986 TV special Stephen King's World of Horror nor the 1988 VHS release of the same name, which runs 45 minutes, was distributed by Front Row Entertainment and is about King himself. Instead, This Is Horror (copyright 1989) was a TV special which ran in four 60 minute increments. This new special used some framing footage from the original 'World of Horror' but is primarily newer interviews and behind-the-scenes footage about what was hot in horror in the late 80s. Here in the U.S., a condensed 90-minute version made its way onto video courtesy of Goodtimes in 1990. Elsewhere, the entire special was released as 2 different tapes running 90 minutes apiece. In the UK these were titled This is Horror: A Video Encyclopedia of Horror (Volumes 1 and 2) and in Germany they were called Best of Stephen King's World of Horror (Parts 1 & 2).
A documentary about the Italian cinema as art form and industry.
Documentary on horror/mystery film maker Dario Argento. Features an in-depth interview with Argento and covers his work from 1969 to 1985.
During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
As Italy becomes engulfed in a bubbling revolution to finally get rid of the ruling Austrian's,a patriotic prisoner called Cainazzo begins to wonder if he will soon get the chance to see the revolution in action away from his prison cell.Suddenly,a cannon ball comes flying through the air and knocks the main wall of the prison down. Excited in at last having the chance to see the change taking place in person,Cainazzo hits a bumpy road,when one of his former fellow prisoner yells out to all the revolutionary gangs that Cainazzo is not a patriot,but is in fact a traitor!
A very unlikely trio join forces in order to rob a bank: an ex-bandit called Smith, now a cheerful reverend, a nomadic artist and a pickpocket. Their plan is successful, however, and the three make off with the money from the bank's vaults, only to find themselves robbed of their newly-acquired wealth by a young schoolmistress.
Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, keeps receiving weird phone calls and being followed by a mysterious man. One night he manages to catch up with his persecutor and tries to get him to talk but in the ensuing struggle he accidentally stabs him. He runs away, but he understands his troubles have just begun when the following day he receives an envelope with photos of him killing the man. Someone is killing all his friends and trying to frame him for the murders...
A reporter and a blind retired journalist try to solve a series of murders. The crimes are connected to experiments by a pharmaceutical company in secret research. The two end up becoming targets of the killer.
While walking home one evening, Sam Dalmas, an American writer living in Rome, witnesses a violent struggle between a young woman and a black-coated figure in an art gallery. Dalmas attempts to intervene but is caught between the gallery's electronically operated glass doors, leaving the woman bleeding from knife wounds. Questioned by the police, the shocked author attempts to recall every detail regarding the incident. Convinced that there is an aspect of the crime he cannot recall, Dalmas begins his own investigation - putting himself and his girlfriend Giulia in line as the killer's potential victims...
Set during the Mexican Revolution, a man known only as "The Dutchman" has a plan, and brings in four of his old acquaintences, including an old army buddy and a silent Japanese swordsman, to help him out by promising a $1000 reward if it succeeds. The plan turns out to be a fool's mission: rob a train carrying $500,000 in gold that's guarded by dozens of heavily armed soldiers and passes through a steady stream of military checkpoints. Naturally, his friends agree to go along with the scheme
A British Colonel is angry with his superiors after his entire platoon is slaughtered by the Germans in what he saw as a suicide mission. So for his next mission, he takes along a platoon a convicted criminals - to prepare the Normandy beaches for the D-Day landings. Wartime drama from Italy, starring Jack Palance, Wolfgang Preiss and Curd Jurgens.
A liberal-thinking author watches his wife as she attempts to seduce his best friend at a dinner party. She ends up taking on another man as well, and the writer has an affair with the another dinner guest. Soon the three men and two women are entangled in a confusing series of partner-swapping sex sprees where everyone's morals are challenged in the wake of the sexual revolution.
A group of young girls stranded on an island, where they meet the reclusive Luca, who hides a dark secret.
Maria seeks revenge on the killers of her husband. She enlists the help of her husband's best friend, Manual, a reluctant, but skilled, gunfighter.
Set in Norway and has a crack team of Allies sent to blow up an underground Nazi factory where the Germans have taken a crashed Spitfire that contains a new radar system that the krauts want to copy.
Fourteen people of different ages - seven men and seven women - gather in a comfortable hotel by the sea to carry out an experiment inspired by the theories of an Austrian psychoanalyst. The creator - Professor Emilio Missiroli - wants to show that only a thousand breaking taboos' that stifle the sexual life can liberate man from his existential malaise. Every night, so, for a whole week, men and women of the group will couple through a draw, without giving any importance to their feelings, thus demonstrating that these can and should do without. Based on Wilhelm Reich's The Sexual Revolution.
A man, released after a jail term for a crime he did not commit, raises a gang to go after the man who framed him.
Northon is a retired gangster wants to avenge the death of his sister, who was married to Frank Cline. Cline disappeared while transporting a large shipment of the Organization's gold, leaving three dead bodies behind him. Northon follows the trail to the sunken ship and tries to beat rival gangsters to the lost gold.
Sgt. Sullivan puts together a group of Italian-Americans into disguise as Italian soldiers in order to infiltrate a North African camp held by the Italians. After the soldiers have knifed the Italians in their beds, they find a hooker living at the camp. Sullivan's commandos are to hold this camp and its weaponry until an American battalion arrives, all the while these Italian-Americans pretend to be Italian soldiers, often hosting the enemy. Lt. Valli is a young, "green," by-the-book officer who constantly argues with Sgt. Sullivan, who tells his superior that he has no idea what he is doing. One man on the base, probably a touch from Argento, is an entomologist who is needlessly killed. Things go terribly wrong after that.
A widow whose land and life are in danger as the railroad is getting closer and closer to taking them over. A mysterious harmonica player joins forces with a desperado to protect the woman and her land.
The story of the legendary star Alida Valli through the unpublished words of her letters and diaries, enriching it with other exclusive materials: photographs, family film in 8mm, new interviews with her sons, relatives, friends and collaborators, and much more archive material.
THE SANDMAN tells the story of Nathan, a young student in the city who struggles to forget his childhood trauma at the hands of the serial killer dubbed "The Sandman." Nathan killed The Sandman years ago, on Christmas Eve, after he witnessed the murder of his mother... until he sees the beautiful woman who lives in the apartment across the way dying at the hands of that same masked killer. This brutal murder plunges Nathan into an odyssey into the night country of his past, his dreams... and the buried secrets of The Sandman.
Five of the main players behind Dario Argento's classic horror shocker Phenomena (1985) sit down to take viewers through this exclusive, epic-sized, 52 minute making of feature documentary. This was compiled and created for the nationwide Arrow UK DVD and Blu Ray release of the film, which hit all British home video stores on March 7th 2011.
