Lots of interesting films coming out on Italian DVD again this week: Giuseppe Capotondi’s well-received thriller La doppia ora, Giuseppe Tornatore’s Baaria and Francesco Gasperoni’s giallo Smile. And, what do you know it, not one of them has English subs. Good grief. Well, hopefully at least two of them will get some kind of international distribution soon (I’d guess Baaria and La doppia ora will, who knows with Smile).
There is one film, though, that does have English audio: Domiziano Cristopharo’s House of Flesh Mannequins (aka La casa dei manichini di carne). This is a new one to me, but here’s the blurb from the press release:
A nostalgic homage that winks at the classic films from the 70’s. The cinematography of Mirco Sgarzi recalls with personality the atmospheres of the best Fulci and Argento movies. This is cinema by one who loves cinema, a movie which evokes the surrealism of Lynch, passing through Cronenberg body horror as well. International porn stars and regular actors working together for the first time with extreme body art used in torture scenes. Everything is real, but at the same time, everything is done for the purpose of creating a movie, which is anything but real. The movie presents a compelling case against the use of gratuitous violence, on TV, as well as the self-righteous, sanctimonious ways that society chooses to confront children’s issues.
Which is frankly rather unhelpful… what’s the plot??? Anyway, in the cast are Domiziano Arcangeli, who’s been popping up in Italian exploitation films since the early 80s (and who also popped up briefly in Bruno!) and splatter favourite Giovanni Lombardo Radice.
Meanwhile, there’s also another batch of DVDs from US label MYA: Family Scandal is Mario Sabatini’s Peccato originale, about which I know absolutely nothing, beyond the fact it stars Philippe Leroy. The Lady Medic is another one of those ‘sexy doctor/teacher/policewoman’ type films, with Edwige Fenech and directed by Nando Cicero. The Real Emanuelle is a retitling of Pier Ludovico Pavoni’s Amore libero – Free Love, an early Laura Gemser film which didn’t actually have anything to do with the Emanuelle films. The Last Decameron is a decameroticon from Joe D’Amato. Human Cobras is possibly the most interesting of the bunch, a very rare giallo from Bitto Albertini and starring Giorgio Ardisson – it’s not a great film, but it is interesting. As always, none of these will exactly be of jaw-dropping quality, but even seeing the darned things with English options is to be welcomed.