Back again

I know that it's been a loooong time since the last update, but I've finally got my act together. I've posted the majority of my collection over these last couple of years, but I've still got a few locandine left. I'll post a couple each week over the next couple of months. For those of you who feel a bit sceptical, not all that suprising considering I promised to be back in august in the last post, there's no need. I've sorted out all the photos and written the majority of the posts already.

Quick round-up of giallo related news since the last update:

• Fin de Siecle has finally released their great looking DVD of Romolo Guerrieri's Il Dolce corpo di Deborah. Make sure you support them and buy it. You can order it here (and make sure you pick up the soundtrack for Omicidio per Vocazione while you're at it)
  
  

• My favourite release of 2009 however is Shameless release of Footprints that was mentioned in the previous post. The DVD turned out just as great as I hoped and I'm very pleased to finally have this excellent film on DVD. Make sure you pick this one up as well.

• One that has been releases before but that I've supplied scans for is Neo Publishing's Lo Strano vizio della Signora Wardh DVD. I've also supplied scans for a few other upcoming releases (but since I'm not sure if the scans will be used or not I'll hold off mentioning them for now)

Hopefully we'll see more great giallo relases in 2010! There are still quite a few great titles that haven't been released on DVD anywhere yet.

I'm getting rid of some of my doubles that I've got laying around, so if you're interested in any of the posters below just send me an email. I'll either sell them (prices from about 15€ and up) or possibly trade them for giallo locandine that I haven't got. Most of the posters below are the ones that have been posted on the blog, but I'm happy to send more on the individual posters.

The posters up for sale are:

Spasmo
Shadow of Death
The Card Player
Mystere
Knife of Ice
In the Eye of the Hurricane
The Iguana with a Tounge of Fire
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
Opera
Naked Girl Killed in the Park
The Weapon, the Hour & the Motive
Double Face

Deep Red
Updated 100130: Added Deep Red locandina

Ok, that's it for now. I'll have the next locandina up by New Years Day!

Have a great summer!

Like last year I'm not going to post anything during summer, so this will be the last post for a while. I'll start posting sometime in august again. Thanks to everybody who's visited the blog during and even bigger thanks to those who have posted comments or linked the blog.

I'll leave you with the cover for the upcoming Shamless release of Le Orme/Footprints for which I've supplied the artwork. It looks like this will be the definitive version of this fantastic film. Both Italian and English audio, trailer and alternate opening titles. Make sure your copy from Amazon.

Have a great summer and hope to see you back here in August!

Chi l'ha vista morire (Who Saw Her Die?)

Chi l'ha vista morire is one of my favourite gialli. Excellent performances by the cast (both George Lazenby and Anita Strindberg deliver career best perfomances here), great soundtrack by Morricone and the Venice locations are beautifully shot by Franco Di Giacomo (Four Flies on Grey Velvet). Poster art by Enzo Nistri.

Giallo Napoletano (Atrocious Tales of Love and Death)

The three posters for Sergio Corbucci's Giallo Napoletano. The top poster and the title are a bit misleading since the film is more a comedy with thriller elements rather than a giallo. The last and third one even includes a picture of Hitchcock to push the the thriller aspect of the film.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by it the first time I saw it though. Marcello Mastroianni is great as the hapless mandonlin player Raffaele drawn in to a murder mystery. No info on the poster artists.

Il Diavolo nel cervello (Devil in the Brain)

Sergio Sollima is best known for his excellent westerns and poliziotteschi, but Il Diavolo nel cervello is a great murder mystery that unfolds in a series of flashbacks. It also features one of Morricone's most beaautiful scores. No info on the poster artist.

Malocchio (Evil Eye)

Mario Siciliano's Malocchio (or Eroticfollia as it is also known) is a unusual mix of giallo and supernatural horror. I love a good hallucination/nightmare sequence and since this starts off with one I got my hopes up the first time I watched it. Unfortunately the mix of genres isn't entierly successful and the end result turns out to be a fairly average. Pretty cool score by Stelvio Ciprianni though.
No info on who did the top poster. The one blow is by Ferrari (Studio Paradiso)

The last and third certainly pushed the erotic angle the furthest. I don't really have a clue as to which order the came, but my guess would be the third one is a fairly desperate attempt to sell the erotic angle after the frist two failed to make a dent at the box office. Again, this is purely speculation.

Giochi erotici di una famiglia perbene (Thrilling Story)

Giochi erotici di una famiglia perbene is yet another one I haven't seen but considering the story and screenplay is by Renato Polselli and it stars Erika Blanc, I'm sure it's must see.

La Donna del lago (The Lady of the Lake)

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a fansubbed copy of Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rosselini's La Donna del lago a couple of years ago and like ...a tutte le auto della polizia, La Donna del lago is one of those hidden gems that you wish you'd seen sooner. It's not your typical giallo, but this black and white 1965 murder mystery is well worth seeking out if you're a fan of Bazzoni's other work.

La Sanguisaga conduce la danza il marchio di Satana (Bloodsucker Leads the Dance)

You hardly expect a film set in a castle on Ireland in 1902 to be a giallo, but that's the setting for Alfredo Rizzo's La Sanguisaga conduce la danza il marchio di Satana. It's a very poor genre entry though. Rizzo tries to keep the audience intrest up by serving up plenty of nudity, but not even that can save the film. It'

s a very poor script, the direction is flat and the first half of the film is excruciatingly slow. Just about the only good thing about it is the poster art. I've got two alternate posters. Unfortunately I'm not able to make out the signature on the top one and on the bottom one there's no info on the poster artist.

Una Tomba aperta... una bara vuota (An Open Tomb...an Empty Coffin)

It's only recently that I've managed to come across a fansubbed copy of Alfonso Balcázar's Una Tomba aperta... una bara vuota and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, so I can't really comment on the film. Great posters by Renato Casaro though.

Mania

Renato Polselli's Mania might be impossible to find, but as you can see the poster is around. For those who don't know, Renato Polselli 1973 giallo is like the Holy Grail of the Giallo genre. In the years that I've been trading I've never come across anybody that has claimed to have seen it. No info on the poster artist.

La Bambola di Satana (Satan’s Doll)

Ferruccio Casapinta's La Bambola di Satana is another gialli that I haven't seen, but the poster art (no info on the artist) certainly looks good.

Solamente Nero (The Blood Stained Shadow)

The two alternatie posters for Antonio Bido's Solamente Nero proved quite tricky to track down for me, but I finally managed to find both of them. I'm fond of the top poster (by L. Crovato) which I find quite striking and atmospheric. The bottom poster by Studio TEF on the other hand is more in line with their frankly rubbish posters for Bido's Il Gatto dagli occhi di giada.

And yet another post where I start off by excusing the lack of updates recently! This time it's not due to any slacking on my part though. It solely due to the incompetence of UPS. They've done their best to keep an order of a folder, 25 foglie and posters away from me by sending sending the package back to Italy without givning me a chance to accept it. And on top of that, they refused to correct their mistake. It's taken a while to get that sorted, but package is finally here. The camera battery is charged and I'm getting ready to photograph about 20 posters or so. I'll have the first proper post up in a day or two. Anyway, moving on...

Some other giallo related news while I'm at it. I've provided scans that will be used for the upcoming releases of Arrow Video's Masters of Giallo series for the Sleepless and The House by the Cemetery releases. The DVDs will be released on June 29th and the artwork will be used for the reverse covers. You can check the covers out in this thread at Lovelockandload.

I'm also very happy to have been able to provide a scan of the Footprints locandina for the upcoming Shameless release. I think Footprints is a fantastic film and even though it's in a very, very small way, I'm immensely proud to have been able to contribute to this release. I urge everybody who hasn't seen this extraordinary and hauntingly beautiful film to pick it up when it's released in July. Kudos to Shameless for releasing this!

Code Red are releasing Weekend Murders on July 28th. Anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and surprisingly good extras as well. An audio commentary with star Peter Baldwin, Scott Spiegel and Lee Christian, an interview with Baldwin, a still gallery and the original trailer

And finally, another must have release is The Sweet Body of Deborah that Fin de Siècle have announced that they'll be releasing later on this year (along with Margheriti's Killers are challanged and Lenzi's Daughter of the Jungle)

So there's some good stuff coming our way later this year (along with the ones on the list posted at Mirek Lipinski's Mya blog).

So a lot of good releases on the way, but still a few essential ones missing. When are we going to see English friendly releases of the rest of Lenzi and Tessari's gialli? And La Controfigura, La Volpe dalla coda di velluto...?

I'll have the first new locandine up by monday. While waiting for it, make sure you check one of the great mixes avilable from the newly started Sonny & Girly blog.

Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso (Seven Blood-Stained Orchids)

I took me a while to get my hands on it, but the locandina for Umberto Lenzi's Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso completes my collection of posters from the directors fantastic 60's & 70's gialli. Poster art by Renato Casaro.

Il Tuo dolce corpo da uccidere

The fact that my DVD-R of Alfonso Brescia's Il Tuo Dolce Corpo da Uccidere is in Italian without any English langauge option is one of the reasons why I haven't watched it yet (the fact that it stars George Ardison is another).
There might be some hope for an English language friendly DVD release though. According to a recent post at the Mya DVD blog, the film is among the many upcoming titles from the company. There are some great gialli on that list and I sure hope at least a few of those releases will see the light of day.
Poster art by P. Franco.

Indagine su un delitto perfetto (Perfect Crime)

Giuseppe Rosati's Indagine su un delitto perfetto is described as an "Agatha Christie-style whodunnit" in Adrian Luther Smith's Blood & Black Lace and that's a pretty apt description. You would have to be a novice to the genre not be able who the killer is early on, but the film features a star-studded cast (Gloria Guida, Adolfo Celi, Janet gren Joseph Cotton, Leonard Mann and Alida Valli) and I found it more enjoyable than expected.
Poster art by Piovani.

Suor Omicidi (Killer Nun)

I doubt Anita Ekberg ever thought she'd would ever have to play a role that required her to roll around naked on a bed with a fellow nun after her breakthrough in Fellini's La Dolce Vita in 1960. And if she thought she was slumming it when she starred in La Morte bussa due volte 10 years earlier, I wonder what she made of her role as sister Gertrude in Giulio Berruti's Sour Omicidi? 

No info on the poster art.

Gli Assassini sono nostri ospiti (The Killer Are Our Guests)

Vincenzo Rigo's Gli Assassini sono nostri ospiti is somewhat similar to Castellari's Gli Occhi freddi della paura. The fact that it's not your typical giallo is reflected in the great looking artwork by Piovani which leans more towards poliziesco territory.

Interrabang

Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to see Giuliano Biagetti's Interrabang yet, so I can't write much about the film. What I do know though is that it features a great lounge score by Berto Pisano. Poster art by Ferrini

L'Assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora (The Dark Is Death's Friend)

Luigi Cozzi's L'Assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora is not your typical giallo. There's no amateur sleuth trying to solve the case, instead you know the killer from the very beginning. George Hilton is not given very much to do, instead most of the running time is dedicated to Laura (the very cute Christina Galbó from What Have They Done To Solange?) and Luca (Alessio Orano) being followed and stalked by the menacing Michel Antoine. Worth watching but I found this an average genre entry. The script feels like it’s stretched to its limits to make to 90 minute mark. The scenes with Michel Antoine works well though.
No info on the poster art.

Bestia uccide a sangue freddo (Slaughter Hotel)

I'm a big fan of Di Leo's crime flicks, but I've never really been a fan of his only giallo La Bestia uccide a sangue freddo. I know it's got its fair share of fans (usually die-hard Rosalba Neri fans), but I find it crude and uninspired in a way that his superior poliziesco never were.
Poster art by P. Franco.

Omicidio per vocazione (Deadly Inheritance)

The poster for Vittorio Sindoni's Omicidio per vocazione. It also known as L'Assassino ha le mani pulite and there's a alternate locandina with that title available (haven't been able to get my hands on it yet). The film itself is a fairly poor giallo that not even Femi Benussi can save from mediocrity. Poster art by Symeoni.

Gli Occhi freddi della paura (Cold Eyes of Fear)

As far as I know Gli Occhi freddi della paura was Enzo G. Castellari's only foray in the giallo genre. I say giallo, but the film really seems to have been more inspired by films like William Wyler's The Desperate Hours than any of the other Italian thrillers on release at the time. 

The locandina by Renato Casaro was quite tricky to find, but I finally managed to get my hands on it.

Il Giustiziere sfida la polizia (A Dragonfly for each corpse)

I’ve always thought that A Dragonfly for each Corpse is a fantastic title, but the film is a very average genre entry. Like a lot of Naschy’s work, this leaves me fairly cold. I tend to find him quite wooden but he’s ok here and at least Erika Blanc is on hand to provide some well-needed glamour (and nudity) to the proceedings. The murder scenes are quite good, especially the first murder, but there’s an unintentionally hilarious scene where a suspect is trying to escape the police on a roller coaster. Giallo completist will want to seek this out but those with a fleeting interest in the genre are advised to pass on this one. Poster art by Aller.

Quel ficcanaso dell'Ispettore Lawrence (The Killer with a Thousand Eyes)

As you can probably tell from the poster art, Juan Bosch's Quel ficcanaso dell'Ispettore Lawrence is a poliziesco/giallo hybrid. Unfortunately it's not a particularly successful one. Anthony Steffen (who also co-wrote the script) stars as a special agent sent to Lisabon to solve the murder of one of his collegues. There are a handful of murder scenes that could appeal the giallo fans, but overall the film focuses far more on police procedure and the poorly staged fight scenes. Like the poster art though, but unfortunately I've got no info on the artist.

I'm back from my well deserved vacation and it's time to start posting some locandine again. Most of the posters I mentioned in my last post has arrived, but due to the incompetence of a certain international courier I'm still waiting for a few of them. Not to worry though, I've got enough unpublished ones to keep us going until they show up.



Before I get started posting else, I want to send a big thanks to Mirko from the excellent Marisa Mell Blog. Mirko has been kind enough to award Giallo Locandine with a Premio Dardo Award. I feel honored that somebody enjoy the blog enough to even consider it for the award. For those who aren't familiar with with the Premio Dardos, it's an award given by bloggers to blogs you appreciate. When you recieve the award, you pass it along to other bloggers that you appreciate. I hope to do this in the near future.
Make sure you check out Mirko's blog where you'll find all the info you ever need on Marisa. It's a must for those who enjoy her work and let's face it, is there anybody reading this that doesn't?

I'll leave you with the alternate poster for Harald Philipp's La Morte bussa due volte which has just been added to the original post.

Sorry about the lack of updates lately! It's been more than a month since I last posted anything and I even managed to miss Giallo Locandines first anniversary during that time, so I thought I'd better post something to let you know that the blog isn't dead. I haven't been completely idle during this hiatus though. Over the last few weeks I've been fortunate to find quite a few posters that have been high up on my want list. In a couple of weeks or so the new posters should all have arrived and with any luck I've had time to photograph them, write some comments and start posting again. Hope to see you back here then.

To make sure there's at least something new to look at while you wait for the upcoming posters, I've posted the alternate poster for Ferdinando Baldi's Nove ospiti per un delitto/Un Urlo nella notte.

Sette note in nero (The Psychic/Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes)

1977's Sette note in nero was Fulci's first giallo after a 5 year hiatus from the genre. Quite different from his earlier classics A Lizard in a Woman's Skin and Don't Torture a Duckling, The Psychic is still an excellent thriller and it still keeps growing on me on subsequent viewings. No info on the poster art.

La Morte bussa due volte (Death Knocks Twice)

The two locandine for Harald Philipp's 1969 thriller La Morte bussa due volte. Roger Moore lookalike Dean Reed plays a private detective who's hired by a wealthy businessman to find out who killed his young wife and among the suspects you'll find Adolfo Celi, Anita Ekberg and Fabio Testi. The film features a great Piero Umiliani score, but apart from that there's not much that makes the film stand out.

Le Foto di Gioia (Delirium)

Le Foto di Gioia from 1987 really isn't one of Bava Jr's best. There are a few effective sequences in the film (the department store one springs to mind) but the gimmicky way are shown through the killers demented eyes isn't as great a Lamberto had hoped it would be and comes off a bit silly. Whoever designed the poster for Lamberto Bava's Le Foto di Gioia obviously made sure to prominently display as much as possible of Serena Grandi's ample talents.

Opera (Terror at the Opera)

I love Renato Casaro's beautiful poster art for Dario Argento's Opera. I've been fascinated by the striking image of the the pins underneath the eyes ever since I saw it in an issue of Fangoria back in the 80's. Many consider the film Argento's last truly great giallo and unfortunately it was the last time time he'd opt for painted artwork for the poster.

On an Argento related side note I picked up Njuta Films Profondo Rosso DVD recently and found time to listen to Thomas Rostock's interesting and informative track commentary track last weekend. The commentary track alone makes the DVD worth package up, but add the fact that you get the international cut and restored opening and end titles and you got a must buy package.

Casa D'Appuntamento (French Sex Murders)

Considering it features a fair amount of location footage in Paris and stars Barbara Bouchet, Rosalba Neri, Howard Vernon and Anita Ekberg, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Ferdinando Merighi's Casa D'Appuntamento would be a lavish production with no expenses spared. Sadly enough, that's not the case. Unfortunately it's one of the cheapest looking, most poorly shot and directed gialli around.

L'occhio dietro la parete (Eyes behind the wall)

Giuliano Petrelli's L'occhio dietro la parete is something of euro cult version of the Rear Window theme. Fernando Ray is a wheelchair bound writer who spies on his tenant to find inspiration for his books. I don't want to spoil things for those who haven't seen it, but unsurprisingly Petrelli's film is a bit more sleazy and perverse than Hitchcock's film. Giuseppe Caruso's soundtrack sounds a bit like the De Angelis' A Blade in the Dark soundtrack. No info on the poster art.

Il Vuoto Intorno (Shadow of Death)

Any seasoned giallo fan will have seen their fair share of convoluted plots, but the one in Il Vuoto Intorno where Denise (Teresa Gimpera) is planning to drive her husband John (Larry Ward) crazy by making him think that he's commited a murder with the help of his twin brother and her lover Peter must be one of the more improbable ones. That doesn't stop it from being a fairly entertaining film though. Don't know much about the release history of the film, but I'd guess the film didn't do too brilliantly at the boxoffice the first time around and that it was re-released under the L'Assassino fantasma title as seen below. Artwork by Renato Casaro.

Ragazza tutta nuda assassinata nel parco (Naked Girl Killed in the Park)

The naked girl in the title isn't found until past the midway point in the film, but I suppose it's a catchier title than the "Fully dressed old bloke killed in the Tunnel of Horrors" whose murder really is the film's central mystery. Alfonso Brescia's thriller stars the always wooden Robert Hoffman with support by Philippe Leroy, Adolfo Celi and Howard Ross.

Extrasensorial (Blood Link)

I love Symeoni's beautiful artwork for Alberto De Martino's Extrasensorial. It will no doubt be be very familiar to the owners of Adrian Luther Smith's Blood & Black Lace (and I reckon that'll be quite a few of this blogs readers). While one doesn't necessarily expect too much from 1982 genre entry from Alberto De Martino, Blood Link is actually a very good film with an excellent performance by Michael Moriarty as the psychically linked twins Keith and Craig.

NonHoSonno (Sleepless)

The poster art for NonHoSonno might be uninspired and poor, but the film was a return to form for Argento following the disappointing Phantom of the Opera. I know opinions on the film are somewhat divided, but I like it. Hopefully the upcoming Giallo starring Adrian Broady will be more along the lines of this, rather than the very, very disappointing Third Mother.

Il Sorriso della iena (Smile Before Death)

I'm sure that Barbara Bouchet and Rosalba Neri's naked frolicking has ensured that Amuck will forever remain Silvio Amadio's most well known giallo. But to me, Il Sorriso della iena is the better film of the two. It's an underrated early giallo, full of twists and turns and featuring a great cast (Silvano Tranquilli, Rosalba Neri, Hiram Keller and last but certainly not least, Jenny Tamburi). It remains high up on my list of films I hope will surface on DVD one day. Great artwork by Renato Casaro.

La Morte negli occhi del gatto (Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye)

Antonio Margheriti's second giallo following 1968's Nude...si muore. A Scottish castle with secret passages and a gorilla called James aren't things one necessarily associates with a giallo and La Morte negli occhi del gatto really is a slightly curious mix between Margheriti's beloved gothic horror films and a traditional giallo. At least there's a razor wielding maniac around to liven up the proceedings. Poster art by Piero Iaia

La Polizia brancola nel buio

I had given up on ever seeing La Polizia brancola nel buio, but thanks to the good folks at Cinemageddon I recently got the chance to see Helia Colombo's very, very rare giallo. It's a low budget affair, but considering how many times I've been let down by rare films that I never thought I was going to get to see, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find out who's responsible for the poster artwork. 

Un gatto nel cervello (Nightmare Concert, A Cat in the Brain)

A guess hell finally froze over. It feels like we've been waiting for about a decade for the notoriously slow-moving Grindhouse to release the definitive version of Un Gatto nel cervello, but if nothing happens unexpected happens along the way Fulci's 1990 thriller should hit stores at the end of March. Considering Grindhouse seem to have picked up the pace lately, we might even get to see their release of Lenzi's The Though Ones before the end of the decade? Poster art by E. Sciotti

And we're back again...

It seems a bit late, but Happy New Year to you all!
Sorry about the lack of updates during November and December. I've had a lot on at work during the last couple of months, but things are easing up a bit and I've finally had some time to photograph some posters and write a few comments. I'll try to post at least 2-3 posters per week during the next couple of months. I'll have the first new locandina post up by lunchtime tomorrow!

Managed to pick up a few new posters during the break. One of them was one of my most wanted posters, the alternate locandina for Mario Bava's 5 bambole per la luna d'agosto. Had to spend a few euros to get it, but it was certainly worth it.

Shameless ended up using the scan I submitted as the reverse sleeve on the Oasis of Fear DVD. Even managed to get a credit on the sleeve. Not sure if the scan for Strip Nude for Your Killer was used or not since I haven't got the DVD yet. If you've got the DVD, please let me know.