^ECBOJfOMICOj^

SPECIAL VAMPIRE ISSUE

RICHARD STANLEY
REDEMPTION VIDEO INTERVIEWS
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST
BLOOD & BLACK LACE
SPAGHETTI WESTERNS
NAZI FILMS
 1 . : 1

NECR0N0M1C0N 2

W
seems
lication
to
elcome again as Necro*
nomicon reaches its sec-
ond issue. An awful lot
have hap^ned since the pub-
of the first issue,

has been good news I'm glad to say.

and most ctf it
and Warhol, whilst Fox have
leased a widescreen edition of Inferno.

things
For years we have been bemoaning
the lack of decent titles available but
seem to be changing for the
Even in other genres, this improve-
ter.
just re-

bet-
4.

7.
Blood
CONTENTS
Kedc'inplion
& Block l.acc

10. \it/i l iliiis

Almost all the feedback I've had ment is being reflected in the likes of
about the mag has been complimen- Aktiv who are releasing such classic 14. C'uiuiibal floirrcaust
tary,backed up by some pretty decent spaghetti westerns as A Bullet For the
15. l.ilUrs"
sales to boot and it's this combination General, and with an absolute "must
which results in you holding this issue see" scheduled for release in a few 19. Nainpii'c Special !

in your mits' now ! months time I'm told. 43. Kicharc) Stanley Inl.
The only bad news on the horizem Hell - even the BBFC have got in on
has been this issue's price increase - the act and have seen the sense in pass-
45. Spajjlielti Western
know that 1/3 is a steep jump but I hope ing Peter Jackson's outrageous gorefest 50. Neknnnaiitik 2
you'll agree that what with 4 pages of Braindead uncut - definitely the most
53. Sherlock Iltdines
colour and neariy twice as many pages "serious” abuse of tomato sauce in one
this time anxind, the mag still compares film I've ever seen !
55. rrac> Dick (ttoer !)

favourably with others that are cur- I think It's important that now these
57. 1.tiiid & Stnmd
rently available. kind of films are being released we
As far as the contents go, the main actively sup^rt them and continue to

thrust (if you'll pardon the expression) press these companies to release other
similarly neglected classics.
CONTRIBl TORS
is a special vampire feature. I couldn't
hi iiloit. Sti i>iirl
let the current glut d* "fang epics* pass There seems to be a gniwing realisa-
iiii'l \nil\ tiliK-k I :ill iiiicivclilt-il

by unnoticed, especially as most the tion among certain sectiems of the film
li-iiliirt-'. I.

other vampire "specials" I've seen have industry that many film fans are tired of \KI\MrRK
either slavishly concentrated on Cop- the jaded outpHit which passes for "ma- Ml ,|«-ll I iUM'ctU'i' I'M'i'i’l I'lirllu- uiiillii

pola's release or merely skimmed the jor" releases these days, and this is now • 'll VliM I lie:)-..

surface in their coverage, c^ten neglect- being reflected in the "cult" product tOMPl 1 1 K (.R MMIK
ing previous classics. which is rapidly becoming available - Viidrvu (illkird

Hopefully, this issue will go some long may it continue !

IniMk-- ii>
way to redressing the balance but if On the subject of cult films, a cou]^e I

iEil>s<;i. ,|i>liii (ulliilui'. liiiin. \klo.

vampires am't top of your favourites of months ago I attended the Film
Sli-vi> Miiluiiilcr. I’cUT Kliiiiit'll--l<K-|i.
list there's still an ecclectic gathering Extremes Festival at the Scala which
r OliiMilii;! Iri.'-lnr. Miv.in Ikii'en'B't"-
here, from the sand and sage bush spa- was great fun, thanks mainly to the hard Vs-iitiiiifs. Niacl M ^ i|K'i>.

ghetti westerns, to the jackbooted march work put in behind the scenes by the Kii-IUll'll ( >>lBI"ll'. I ill'lull. S(K' < 'M>k.

of the nazis, whilst there's a special organisers. I don't krtow how many saw ll;irM'> >1-|)|..II. Irn<ri ll;irli->.P;iiii>k

feature on Cannibal Holocaust and "The Little Picture Show" TV feature R(-ilt'iii|ilinii \ itiect. .Iiii'u itiillai'ivil.

Andrew Man Behind the Sun

Stroud's on the event but I found the interview I llllll('|)| < 'ilK'lllilBlUIMlivd.l’nKltK'lM'll-.

keep the gorehounds at bay

article to ! with The Dark Side's Allan Bryce rather ( .(Oil ac- lU- IU-:iiiroaiir<l. I <>|< I ilni.

There’s also an interview with Dust misleading. Mi>ii:iiyIii:i I Iiii'-.I 0 ( iiu'iiiiiloaoiricn

lliimim i- 1 ilni'. l‘'lvarillIl. VII’. I Ml.

Devil supremo Richard Stanley - if you Although I do actually enjoy the
Mot < iBIlUU-t. t llOl-l'sill. pMI llllliXIIII
haven't seen the film yet it's a visual magazine, I found his willingness to
Pic iiii-i-.. « iii-iu r Hr--'. I .•iii\ I iliii'.
treat which mote than compensams for take sole credit for the emergence of
< I ilni|ii'<i<liikli<iii. R-iw l iliii'.

a perfunctory plot, whilst the future honor zines rather brash -

1 prefer to
liliiBirt Iihut'hI I.-huI-'Ii

plans of Nigel Wingrove’s Redemption look closer to home with the likes of I IS I iliii' VIU .1 llill' M<nl» i nc-'.< :iilr.

Video label brings me on to an even Samhain, and to a lesser extent. Absurd I itiii'. I ilniv«M \ '. sli'i" kiiu>. < 'iiH'v<>u.

more optimistic note. and Shock Xpress more deserving of Miimi I iliii'. I’i;in:i I ilin . Wi'l'iii'r

Is it me or are things gradually be- any kudos, having been around long n<-i-/<>u (diiiiioni cX Hk'lBii'il Slaiili->.

giiuiing to improve «i the video front ? before the birth of The Dark Side .
i

Rlaok from I5
You'll glean from the Redemption Anyway, that’s enough of my rat- I'lilili'litsl li\ \i)<l\

.|iil>il<<- Ki-a-l. NioMoil M-l)o|. IK\on.

piece that there are some exciting re- tling on fcM* now so enjoy the mag and

leases in store featuring the likes of let me know what you think of what is,
Priiiliil I'l Pi iiil«<-'l 1 1-1. I vi U r.
Mario Bava, Argento, Franco and Rol- hopefully, a clearer layout and improved

lin product. Besides this cheering news design. Until next time then. Ml i'ii|>\ nulil rt'MTl' I- iiiili> i-liial

Vipco have some exceptional future (-<iiilril>iil->i''.

releases planned from the likes Fulci

Andy Black (June 93)
 NECRONOMICON 2

Blood and
BLACK LACE
Is a crime to be beautiful ? WeU, yes, ifyou're a fashion model in a Knmis style thriller and there's
it

a faceless killer on the loose. Rules are made to be broken and fashion isn't a statement but an
invitation to death in the weird and wonderful world of the Giallo film. Appropriately enough, the
grandaddy of them all kicks off the first in our regular series on that percutiariy Italian creation.

Look at his face, he hales

nspector. In giallo films love is no longer neces- Hell yes, Ihe murders arc hung around
I women." Taken in any context this sary, what is necessary is a pathological one (rf thcBC convduted, "penny-dread-
IS a disturbing, sweeping statement, but desire to covet something, or more im- ful" type scenarios which so often
if anything, succinctly explains the portantly, someone and accelerate the haunted Bava throughout his career,
pnme motivation behind the vast ma- "passion" until its momentum topples but if anything, the illegal drug-taking
jority of Italian giallo films. The word over into the most extreme act of "ani- and petty Jealousies amongst the girls
itself, is derived frcHu the garish yellow hilation" to quote Argento's Tenebrae. only serves to complicate the plot, in-
colours adorning the covers of a par- terrupting Bava's lyrical mise en scenes
ticularly land sen&s c^' paperback thrill- with intrusive, police procedural se-
ers - a spaghetti version if you will, of It is the cfolieisiii nfhvauty quences.
the old Edgar Wallace inspired thrillers ant! its desires which As the body count piles up and the
« hich inform the German krimis films. complexities inherent in the film un-
pruvoke the iniinleroiis
Basically, these films consist of al- fold, the killer is revealed to be Max
res/n)iise in the t^iallo film.'
most entirely trf maskcd/gloved mani- (Cameron Mitchell) whose self-hatred
acs slashing theirw ay through an as- at the desire provoked in him by the
sortment of victims, male and female coterie of exquisite giiis who dominate
but often comprising of beautiful wesnen With these pre-requisites of the giallo his every day, and whose very pres-
among their victims. film firmly in mind, it is clear to see that cence compels him to kill, so eliminat-
To dismiss the series as stagnant Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace ing his "weakness”.
'stalk and slash" mediocrity would be ( 1964) forms the seminal role model for Upon this discovery, his lover, fash-
ill-Judged however, as unlike their this particular genre. ion house supremo Christiana (Eva
A merican counterparts, the best of the In Bava's film numerous killings are Baitok), conspires to help him cover his
giallo films ccmibine atmosphere, mys- perpetrated but it is the motivatjon be-
tery ,
su.spencc and an outlandish sense hind these murders that is more charac-
of style. a.ssimilating themselves into a ter-revealing than the violence itself.
unique sub-genre. The victims are guilty of only one
Where the sex "act" will uniformly salient crime - being voluptuous, at-
equate with death in the Amencan tractive women and thereby providing
mtxlel. it isthe emticism of beauty and the catalyst for the most hideous dis-
Its desires which provokes the murder- play of male paranoia and frustration
oas resptinse in the giallo film. In the encapsulated in the misogynist killer.
twisted mind of the killer if you can't The Christian Fashion Salon in Rome
hav c beauty yourself then the compul- is the setting for the murders with its
sion IS to destroy it. It is a perverse haute couture models providing the vic-
generalisation on Peter Lorre's obsses- tims. In a perveise irony, the chic mod-
M\c behaviour in Mad I^ve (1935), els live for fashion but will ultimately
'you always hurt the one you love." die becau.se of it.
NECRONOMICON 2

tracks only to find that she too is to be

one of his unwilling victims. * You
loved everything, everything but me.*
Although undoubtedly attracted by the
idea of inheriting Christiana's fashion
salon and its financial wealth, the kill-
er's main impetus is remarked upon by
another character; "Perhaps the sight of
beauty makes him lose control him-
self and kill.”
Max and Christiana's j<Mnt deaths,
entwined together proves fitting as
murder has now turned full circle-tbe
desire which fuels Max's homicidal rage
conversely motivates Christiana, if she
cannot have her own ’love*. Max, then
he too will die.

l\ rfui/>\ tin \ii-ht of

hcauty maki \ him lose
control Iff himscll niul
of us as no real attempt is made to fashion accoutrements draw attention
kill.-
rationalise Max's actions or to diffuse to the fetishistic elements contained in
his motives • he is simply left to repre- the film.
sent the sharp end of male phobia and There is the paradox (rf* having char-
Max's refutal of style and beauty, sexual frustraUon. He is, in effect, one acters with a craving for illicit drugs,
along with his inability to control the step away from the Buffalo Bill serial whilst the killer exhibits a craving for
emotions it arouses within him, is ulti- killer from Silence of the Lambs, who the illicit pleasures ch* "fix” he gains
mately demcnstiated in the white gauze craves not simply the destruction of frcrni sexual arousal followed by killing
mask which cloaks his face during the female beauty, but to actively replace it - providing him with his own perverse
murders - be is quite literally a faceless by creating his "own" by immersing orgasm/relief
(charctericss ?) individual, an interest- himself in their skin • the ultimate cra*- This is a fascinating parable fen* mod-
ing fexerunner to the modem day, anony- ruption of feminine radiance. em times where both sex and drugs are
mous assassin - the serial killer. Just as the appearance of the faceless viewed as forbidden, and where sex can
This "nameless* aspect is particu- killer recalls the eerie, swathed lovers prove as addictive as a drug - and where,
lariy distuiMng as it poses the the alarm- of Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, so ironically, both can be viewed as the
ing theory that killer could be any one too does the prescence of drags and height of fashionable behaviour in the
trendy, image-conscious 90's.
Bava's "ullimaie fever dream" as Tim
Lucas has dubbed the film, is ^ its most
disturbing when detailing the killer's
gruesome acdcuis.
His orgy o( virdeoce displays a dis-
quieting amount of sadistic zeal as one
gill's face is pressed into a red hot stove,

another has her bead bashed repeatedly

against a tree trunk, whilst a Made-lined
mask is slammed coto the face of an-
other victim (shades of the maestro's
Black Sunday perhaps).. In other mo-
ments delerium one girl is strangled
whilst another is found drowned in her
bath.
Bava's restless camera also serves to
highlight the visceral nauire of the killer.
Although very little actual blood is

s
 NECROWOiMCOW 2

superlative Stagefrighi (1987) and

Lamberto Bava's own above-average
Le Photo di Gioia ( 1987) both feature
scenes with grisly, still-lire tableau's of
dead bodies a la Blood and Black Lace.
If anything, this was the film to launch
Bava's career, but despite its success,
he remained "too much of a homebody’
and spumed the lucrative advances
the US distributors who beat a hurried
path to his door.

//'v ironic lo think lhat

‘Six women (nr an a\sa\\in'
\lioiihf have heeonie
one hlaeprint for a
glimpsed during the killings), instead polemic will testify describing the film
i’eneration offuture
the rov ing camera lens takes in an accu- thus, " Has minima] plot and consists of •giallo films."
mulation of strident red subjects rang- a string of brutal murders, each staged
ing from the cnmson drapes, telephones with relish and in the most redolent
and diarv to the elegant dresses and the hues, altesung to the fact that Bava is

model's finely manicured fingernails. simply trying to titilate a very special-

Urbaldo Tersano's striking cinematog- ised segment of his audience that re- The longevity of the film's themes
raphy adv anccs rhythmically over om- quires neither rhyme nor reason." and stylistic devices have proved the
m|xcsccnl fashion mannequins, a creak- Whether you agree or not, Bava’s most poignant comment on its undeni-
ing sign buffeted outside by the wind, work here has undoubtedly influenced able quality, it's ironic to think that " six
and a llixiresccnl water fountain silhou- a whde generation of film-makers, from women for an assassin* should have
etted against the night sky.while all the more obvious names such a.s Ar- become one blueprint for a generation
around shafts ol incandescent light re- gcnlo, to themore obscure such as Pic- of future giallo films.
veal furtive figures as the strobe-lit, cio Raffanini's Obsession - A Taste For
nctm ncihcnv orid of violent criminals Fear ( 1988) and Carlo Vanzina's Noth-
and decadent beauties informs us c^' the ing Vnderneathi. 1985) which both in-
knmis inllucncc at work here. habit the fashion world milieu erf* Bava's
The intneate, ornate interiors and picture, whilst Michele Soavi's
art-deco designs of the salon echo the
sumptuous costumed beauties w ithin,
though the chinu-doll ornaments and
I igunnes also indicate the delicate, frag-
ile artistic temperamenLs of the girls -

all Ux) apparent as they bitch ^hh each

other, canng not for those who have
died and only concerned as to if they
w ill be ncM. Like the mannequins which
proliferate the hou.se, they are almost
statuesque objects loo easily pursued,
liK> easily "broken" and condemned to
pensh at the crushing hands of the mur-
derer.

.Although almost universally ac-

claimed and acknowledged as the prime
exponent of the giallo film. Blood and
liloi k iMce has also rufllcd the feathers
ol others - as Carios Clarens fdlowing
 "

NECnONOMICON 2

Redemption Video -

VISIONS OF ECSTASY ?
Nigel V^ngrove, supremo at the emerging Redemption Video label has, in a varied career, published

a punk fanzine, worked as a designer in Paris, seen his own fiim “Visions of Ecstasy" banned for
blasphemy in the UK and has cracked the whip over such diverse magazines as “Skin Two" & “The
Nursing Times” - ( I think there is a tenuous link there somewhere ). I

Now, like a breath of fetid air, hie company are releasing a plethora of perverse titles inciudirtg cult
classics, “fetishistic vampires, gestapo sluts and killer nuns" > our kind of films, you bet I

Not content with preeiding over this explosion of exploitation, our Nigel also designs the video
sleeves and supervises the photography of the distinctive black & white covers which adorn the films
as well as publishing his own magazine, the glossy gore and fashion hybrid,“Redeemer.”
Intrigued ? Then read on

Your launching a doubla aaault at tha which people Ike, can package them, you
I

moment with Redeemer magazine and can buy the rights to these films for "x*
Redemption Video. What are your omM- amount and still make a profit, so thatV how

tiona for both of theae 7 the label came about. When saw the maga-
I

zines which tvere out I got quite nostalgic and

Quite a number o( things but the main reason wtth my contacts in the film Industry and
is that I'm ttiirty-flve now and grew up right
I fashion world, thatV how Redeemer came
through the 1980's and always been
I've about.
so
Ibertarlan polittcally but qutte right wing, I

grew up with the punk phBosophy that If you
doni like what somebody else Is doing then
you produce sometfiing better yourself. love
those sort of fims myself anyway, they're a
lot of the films grew up with and like very
I I'm quite closely involved
much and you couldn't buy them. On the
underground there's obviously a huge mar-
ket for these films which is growing all the
Bme.
You aaam to apectaflae In Go(Mc flavoured
and art houee type ffima . WhM do you
I tfVnk la the appeal of theae kind of ttma ?
now with some of
the main magazines like Divinity and The
Dark Side. There's a certain amount of hero
worship of people like Dario Argento and
Mario Bava and people ring up and say are
you going to put out these sort of films - the
answer Is yes If they're going to sell. We're

/ grew up with the punk

going to put out an the Jean RolHn films. I've
got the rights to eight Mario Bava films and
A
philosophy that if you don't we've got tie ri^ta to Deep Red which we're
like what somebody else is putting out In September and rm trying to get

doing then you produce Tenebrae but cani get the rights to Inferno
yet from CBS Fox. The crux of It again is
something better yourself. money - are the Utlee going to set suffidentty
to put them out. Instance, I've just put Oalamano's Venue
In Furs through - most of the people know I

Ithink that theae will be popular releeaea who have got copies have got from German
it

So could go to potential video label finan-

I (conalderable underatmement I), but haw TV which for some reason has got about forty
ciers and say, look, these are the magazines do you tNnk they7l fair at the handa of the minutes of this stupid dialogue going on,
like yours and The Dark Side right the way ceneora 7 whera's the version I've got is letterboxed
through. These are the m^azines on the and is virtually sex all the way through. ITs
market. You cani have all these magazines, TheyVe actually never dasstfied Deep Red actually quite a good filmi They wanted a tiny

all this enthusiasm without some Interest. I before but the censors say It wll get through cut where there is a rape sequence and the
haveni encountered anything like this my- withan '18’ certificate but there might be the woman begins to took as if she's enjoying the
sell since the days ot punk. It realy surprised odd cut IfB one ot those things where you rape, which only amounts to about forty-flw
me how much was going on. So go to the I can throw your atirs up in horror but you can secottds ot cuts. In Kfler Nun the cuts were
financiers and say look, these are the films always dld»ss things with the board. For thirteen seconds and haveni really altered

7
 NECRONOMICON 2

sounds a bit dodgy. One of the advantages of

doing what we do is that we get to see loads
of viewing tapes, often uncut and IVe seen a
lot of Franco stuff recently and must admit
I

that a k>t of it rve been disappointed with. I

saw The Safe Breasted Countess and I

loved the title but often the titles are better

than the fim and would more than happily
I

have put that out but when sew the film It

I

was rubbish and didn't want to release it. I

just want to Introduce a lot of people who

doni Imow these Urns to the genre and think I

that If you spend £13 and take it home, put

in toe video and then say tuck IT - I'm not
going to buy any more of their films again,
then nothings been gained.

Ielmye thhtk ofFtmneo ee being slmHer

toMttn In that some of their films an
momentarily fascinating, but many an
simply boring.

Yes, wtto Rollin some of his stuff I quite like

We're putting Ffisson. Requiem Pour un
Vampfre and La Vamfrire Nue out first, with-
out subtities as there's liMe or no dltdogue. if
they sell reasonably well then 111 use the
money to pay tor the subtitling of other films
such as t.evras Oe Sang. These are toe films
people eulogise about in half the magazines
and I'm sure that half the people have never
seen them • toe/re really difficutt to get hold
of. My brother lives in Marseille and used to I

liw in Paris, but even then, living in France,

thek not that easy to track down.

Hava you got plans to release Fnneo's

Venus In Fun as wen as Oaftarnano'a ?

It's on my original lisl. Basically, we've got a

major list ot films, not just honor but the
continental type movie as weU, like Dalla-
the film except for those with a kind of Irain oftertstve and they want to ban It. I'm playirtg mano's 1/000$ In Furs, a lot of the late 1960^
spotter” mentality. I'm not saying there woni it by ear at toe moment, but I want toe label earty 1970'8 erotic turns as weN. and Franco's
be future cases though where we might en- to work. By this time next year well have fRms are deftnltely on that list, doni want the
i

counter problems Recently for Instance. I released thirty-to-forty films, all ot this type label to be just horror, but a rnixture erf erotica,

was offered the rights to Flaw's • Rebel Nun which r>o or>e else is doirrg except for Vipco very much more the Gothic than the gore
which I haveni seen yet who are more gore-orientated. stuff, or 'hasty* seilal kier ertd of ttte market

Yea, I've seen It. only titled as Flavla - You seem fo be In Mw rijgbf market given
Priestess of Violence. the Jaded state of mstnatnam drtema at
die moment.
/ don't nant the label to
Most peqile seem to think might have a I lot
of trouble wito getting that one passed. We've actually outlaid a lot ot cash acquiring be just horror, but a
toe rights to quite a number of films, with over mixture of erotica, very
Yes • from e/het I rememberl one hundred on our *htt Hsf already, but toe much more the Gothic
tans sometimes forget toat It costs a large
rather than the gore
I've gotMark of the Devil which Is also amount of money to obtain the rights and "
coming out In September • they said they submit the films to the censor. end of the market
would pass toat wtto a tew cuts. We've got
the rights to Cannibal Man which was on the I cant nsist the question any longer

'nasties* list but theyll pass toat with virtually have you any Franco films lined up for I Imagine diM this approach wItt give you

no cuts probably, and we've also got the relesae 7 an advantage widt the oeneors becauae
rights to Blood and Black Lace and Baron you're concentrating on Gothle,styllsh
Blood which will also be passed. We may SucoOms is out now - It's the only one we've features as opposed to realistic vio-
have trouble with The Story of 0. doni know 1 actually signed for. haveni seen It yet but
I lence ?
what the fuss Is about. toink It's just the s &
I I'm interested In Sadist Erotica just because
m thing, they want to cut that's not so bad,
if was made around toe same Ume as Succu-
It 1 doni know yet I'm hoping that might be the

it's when toey cani decide on a particular cut bus. We’ve been offered the rights from case as I'd like to release other films like
but rather that the tone of the whole film Is Germany for things like Sadomania which Flavla or even Pasolini's Sato, which I've
NECRONOMICON 2

talked to the censors about already. One ot

them fell It was a masterpiece and the other
one felt H was a flawed masterpiece, but they
both agreed that to cut the end sequence Td love to try and build up
would ruin the the film. To be fair to them,
the definitive collection of
they actually said have you seen todays
Daily Mall which had an article saying that erotic horror from the
Dennis Potter^ ‘UpaVck on my Coeaf was a beginning of cinema, right
video nasty and the censor's attitude was
*God save us from the Dally Mall*, so basi- from The Cabinet of
cally they have to respond to public opinion through to
Dr. Caligari
ar)d to the law.
The Texas Chainsaw
Neve you ^cpertancad slmfer moral pan- Massacre and beyond
lea In other eountrtaa ?

Well, we are now exporting these titles to

Germany, Holland, Sweden and America, so
what we're probably going to do is set up a when was fifteen
I or sixteen, the main films
parent company in HoHand and we'll also Hke SoUler Blue, Straw Dogs ard Last Tango
acquire the rights simultaneously tor Europe m Parts, whether they were violait or sexual,
- because always thought that the label had
I were aclualiy powerfui in their own right, they
potential worldwide and know it has as I were good films. Then all the independent's
we're ei^orting so much, but weH lust sel the went bust In Ihe 1 QSO's and closed down vtd
same titles. For instance, with Sale, that If you had the mafor studios producing very
was refused a certificate over here, Ifs not superficial, very shallow product and even
just theBBFC's fault. It's never had much things where they boast about an emotional
luck even in the c^ma. but if I acquire the aspect such as FatafA/tracttor) were rubbish
rights tor mat in say Holland, then I could as wel. think the newer stuff, v^lch Is being
I

package It In the same Redemption style and tagged with this 'Irew violence' label • forget
then export It from Holland to other countries the ‘Violence* bit, but think Bad ^Mufenanf,
I

and people Imow in Errgland that the film

let Reservoir Dogs and even Man Bites Dog There are some good signs now, with films
is mot way. We've also got some
available which dto And quite dteturbing, but nonethe-
1
such as Boxing Helena and Faking Down,
and rm hoping that there wont just be vio-
quite Interesting, very old 1920's pictures less they were all powerful films.
lence but also some good human relation-
Haxan and Seven Foolprinis to Satan which
ship type films. It's looking interestmg the
we've tracked down, and they are being
video processed, vmich is a new technique to way ifs going.
take out all the surface scratches on the film
and Improves the sound when there is sound
and also the blacks and whites.

The censor s attitude was

God save us from the
Daily Mail, so basically
they have to respond to
public opinion and the
law.

So you're keen to ralaaae oU Ihma m

mil?

I'd love to try and buHd up the definitiva

coiecdon ot erotic horror from the beginning

ot cinema, right from The Cabinet ot Or.
Caligarl through to The Texas Chainsaw
Msssaoe and beyond, right up to the proeont
day.

H aaema that thinga are tumbtg ahnoat

hiHeMarrlthlUmaaa people are looking
beck to theae atyllah Ikma.

Idoni know. I think the 1980's artd 1990's

were dreadful for Wm with titles like Fatal
Attraction and Basic Instinct. remember I
 NECRONOMICON 2

Dedicated
FOLLOWERS OF
Fascism /
The dreaded sight of the swastika and the ominous sound of the jackboot heralds the indelible rise
and fall of the Third Reich as two recent releases. The Damned and Salon Kitty march forth onto
unsuspecting video shelves .....

1 alwaj's strikes me as a most intrigu- sexual trails, and Her Passolini's val- The comparitively decadent bour-
1 ing, not to mention ironic stale of edictory Salo - 120 Davs of Sodom geoise lifestyles and sexual freedom
affairs when you consider the diverse, (1975) to link unfettered political mega- which propel both Luchino Visconti's
thematically stimulating array of films lomania (fascism) with unlelhered The Damned ( 1969) and Tinto Brass's
which seek to explain and/or portray sexual perversion, with Brecht’s The Salon Kitty ( 1976) especially, have their
the rise of Nazi Germany. The irony ResistaNe Rise of Arturo Ui providing roots in the inhuman practices and Aryan
being of course that had the Fuhrer an incisive satire of the swastika soci- master race doctrines espoused in Hit-
succeeded in imposing his political ety. ler'sChildren (1943) and Women In
dogma and social injustices upcm us all,
Bondage (1943) • both based on the
then these pictures would almost cer-
infamous real-life "Lebersbom Experi-
tainly never have been made. ment" requiring the siring of a German
In general, mainstream cinema has super race.
been unwilling ti> pursue any accurate It's very much a case of "imitation
investigation into the Nazi's meteoric being the sincerest form of flattery" as
nse to power, their political ideology Salon Kitty, with its art-deco selings.
and indoctrination, preferring instead pditical intrigue and camp perfcHmere,
to highlight the harrowing tortures and treads similar ground to Visconti's ear-
vicious pograms inflicted upon mil-
lier film. Brass even recasts that film’s
lions. in a decidedly sensationalist ap- star, Helmut Berger as well as includ-
proach.
ing some of the theatrical song and
To this end, TTte Gestapo's Last Orgy dance routines which so characterised
(1977),SS Experiment Camp (1976), Bob Fosse's Cabaret (1972).
Beast In Heat (1981) and the outra- What both The Damned and Salon
geously kitsch Hsa series have plun- Kitty attempt to do, though with vastly
dered the exploitative aspects of the differing approaches, is to explore the
regime, leaving the likes erf Fritz Lang's concurring themes of family disinte-
Hangmen Also Die (1943) to present gration, social class divisiois and sexual
the nazi's as social and sexual pariahs, obssessions - all set amidst the turbu-
riddled with syphillis and 'deviant’ lent conditions prevailing and caused

10
NECRONOMICON 2

by ihe growing influence of nazi pro-

poganda as it gradually begins to make
inroads into "normal" society.
Their diverse approach to family life
isone indication as to how both films
converge on ideology but diverge on
stylistic approach.
A powerful family (rf German indus-
trialists, (xxitinually bickering and ham-
pered by their own political in-fighting

and back-stabbing ethos, pervade Vis-

conti's picture, whilsta brief dinner-
table gathering in Brass's film is the
only indication of any family life -
though here it is shown to be merely
exisung as opposed to thriving, with the
remainder of his film played out in a
brothel which is used to uncover poien-
lial traitors to the Third Reich. Here, the

malcontents are not only stripped of

their clothes, but alsi^ of their twn po-
litical identities.

The scIf-dcstructive tensions trf fam-

ily life in Viscemti’s film echo the death-
throes of the Italian aristocracy in the
director's native country, although the differing political beliefs as a young coffins’, proving to be his (philosophi-

Essenback family here is more closely Hitler supporter castigates her more cal) epitaph.

modelled on all the German industrial- "conservative" elders over the dinner The insinuating influence of na/ism
ists wh<.isc financial backing fuelled the table; " Don't you realise you're a dead upt)nGerman society is a theme which
Nazi war machine and whose approval generation." informs both films, a spectre of omi-

ensured the credibility of the nazi mani- That the elder's consider themselves nous power gradually gaming a vice-
festo. To use Hiller's own words, * wc to be socially and intellectually supe- like grip on the country .

arc an elite scxiiely w here everything is rior is ironic in itself with its echoes of In The Damned, the very opening
permissible." fascist dextrine - especiallj’ as one din- scenes with their strident, turbulent
ner guest anncHinces that " Tixlay, Ger- music, inter-cut with calmer, pastoral
man law is the most advanced socially, moliffs before circus style, almost the-
farmore than the fascist code in Italy”, atrical melodies spring forth suggest-
whereupon this claim is rudely eroded ing that "equilibrium" is about to be

by the ensuing debau: over the "physi- shattered, most glaringly apparent dur-
cal characteristics" of the Italians, cou- ing the repeated cut-aways to the domi-
pled with bouts of belching as the whole nant steel factory as a new force in
issue becomes Irivialised. .society is literally about to be forged.

The fascist war upon that most basic Nazi regalia abounds in both films,
This denial of personality and indi- of human rights - freedom of speech, is from the regular intrusions of Hitler's
vidual autonomy in favour of a slavish also shown as fast becoming a danger- rhetoric booming out over the radio to

indulgence and belief in the dictator's ous reality as one strong-willed soldier the asserted pictures of the Fuhrer whidi

rule is best cncapsulaUid in one ol'ficer's declares during his visit to the brothel, adorn many walls and streets. Soldiers

poignuni sUilemenl that " The collec- " Man belongs to humanity, not to a in swastika-clad unifonas [Mle onto boat

Lve thinking ol' our peofrfe isnow com- nation or a race or to a religion." Stir- trips, visit tnerkeliers and gang rape one
plicity" as the immolation of mind and ring words, but also words which will unfortunate girl in The Damned with
soul by na/i propoganda is now com- eventually lead to his own death on a Dirk Bogarde's ambitious industrialist
plete, illustrating fascism's" remorse- charge of "treason". His equally elo- leader even getting married against a

less utili.salion of people, who become quent cHitburst, ’ I thought I was bom to backdrop of a giant nazi swastika.
mere objccls." build places to live and love in. Instead. In the same film, a most frightening

In a similar vein. Salon Kitty clearly I'vebecome the architect of a horrible precursor to the later Jewish Holocaust

drau s up the demarcaticm lines between cemetery without graves, without occurs in the film's recreation of the

11
 " " !

NECRONOMICON 2

infamous "Night of the Long Knives" - a massive indictment of those indus-

as nazi stormtroopere massacre a group trialists and pcJiticians who spincle.ssly
of soldiers indulging in transvestite or- backed the fascist indoctrination of
gies - the rivers of blood here immers- Germany.
ing any libertarian principles which are To quote the Freud model. Martin is
now swept away on a wave of fascistic very much a Thanatos figure of "per-
tyranny.The proclamation that " In verse fascination" - a powerful leader
Berlin the Reichstag is burning" is an and yet an utterly repellant specimen of
all too obvious sign that democracy is humanity - the ultimate denouncement
about to vanish. of the nazi cause.
In Salon Kitty a professor lectures on Brass's film .though certainly more
"inferior" races and abbaioir scenes of focused than his yawn-inducing, over-
pigs being gutted arc closely followed blown "epic" Caligula remains a par- .

by a whistle sounding to signal the'kick tially interesting feature, too superficial

off* as a group of would-be Aryan- in its equation of sex with jackboots
bearing women are given over to libidi- imagery, whilst the director's fatuous
nous soldiers in order that they might claims ctf "inspiration" frcMti the likes of
sire future soldiers for the nazi cause, Marcuse, Reich and Fromm, also alleg-
Your duty is to refuse nothing" they are edly portraying "provocative eroticism"
told. which in reality amounts to Berger or-
This cattle-market style breeding is dering his victims to "
Take off your
* -
symptomatic of the ordered, uniform panties hardly cause for claiming a
sex which permeates both of these films. "real understanding of fascism" and its

Unbridled passion is generally consid- inherent eroticism

ered anathema, even in Kitty's bordello Neither Salon Kitty or The Damned
"regular" sex is submerged beneath a address this issue head on. though Boga-
gamut of fetishistic pleasures as "slaves" rde's promise in the latter that " I will be
“ Harcii'l yttu learnt
are whipped in one bedrocrm, masked in command" certainly endears him to
figures and chain abound in another, Baroness Sophie (Ingrid Thulin) who anylliitit’ fnnn rite
one General e\'en projects film of the fitwn the evidence cf their ensuing "love" fall of the liniiian llnipirv.
Fuhrer onto the bare flesh of one paK- session discovers that pKiwer acts as a
) on inn\! love anil sini’
titutc - the ultimate merging of fetish- potent aphrodisiac.
if you want to eominer
ism with fascism. This connection is also alluded to by
Although both films detail Weimar- Madame Kitty as against a garish back- the world." I Madame kilty)

style cabarets, with transNCStite imper- ground of deviant red lights she purrs,
’
sonations rtf such revered German Icons Haven't ytw icam't anything from the
as Marlene Dielriche, and much deca- Roman Empire. You must love and
dent revelry, neither picture really seeks sing if you want
conquer the world."
to Given the abhcarence of fascism, it's

to investigate the relationship d* power Global domination is left as the next probably quite appropriate that both
with that of sexuality and violence. In "logical* step in each case here as Vis- films ( to an extent ), alienate their
Charlie Chaplin's audacious The Great conti's film ends with Martin (Helmut audience due to the dearth of sympa-
Dictator ( 1940), the comic genius him- Berger) safely esconsed in power - his thetic, and therefore "likeable" charac-
self plays the Fuhrer whose hol-btooded uniformed image ghosting over the ters on show here.

rhcionc causes him it) s[^ash water onto steelworks to indicate the ultimate col- The relentless march of fascism con-
his trousers - at once implying the in- laboration between industrial muscle cludes each film so it's not exactly
trinsic link between fascism, fetishism and militaristic might, whilst the ex- "happy ending" time on either occa-
and sexuality as " his genitals are as ploding windows in Kitty's brothel are though trivia buffs will be keen to
sion,

overheated as his tonsils." a vit^ent sign that war is fastly envelop- note the appearances in Kitty qf Teresa

ing us all. Ann Savoy who doffs her kit here in

Inevitably, it is Visctwiti's film which preparation for the same direeux's afeve-
One General projects carries the greater impact • its stylised mentioned Caligula, in which she also

film of the Fuhrer onto settings and colourful frames creating a stars, whilst Italian sleaze regular John
real visual flair, together with the salu- Steiner is quite literally given the "axe"
the bare flesh of a
tory ending as Martin - who during the in Dario Argento's Tenehrae
prostitute - the ultimate
course of the film rapes his mother, (1982).
merging of fetishism
injects drugs and shows paedaphilic The particularly fecund nazi film genre
with fascism.
tendencies, is left triumphantly in chaige however, rdled onwards - ( if not

12
 NECRONOMICON 2

necessahly upwards with future releases The overt slave/master relationship

such as Lina Wertmulier's Seven Beau- cultivated by the nazi propoganda if

ties (1976) and Uliana Caviani's The anything, appears to have ctmversely
Night Porter (I97i) which again reu- rendered if almost the exclusive do-
nites Visconti's stars Dirk Bogarde and main d
free-spirited, s & m fetishists

Chariotte Rampling. who have immersed themselves in the

If anything, the af^^eal d* this genre is aesthetic elements d the nazi regalia
one of filmdom's great paradox's - the and improvised their own theatricality

copious couplings and risque stage around the nazi image - incorporating
shows that propel the films were just other equally ‘deviant* ide models such
the kind d unstructured, wanton dis- as the punk and biker fashions.
plays of emotion which the real-life Whatever your view, no one can ac-
nazi counterparts completely shunned cuse this genre of becoming loo em-
to the pdnt d banishing them from the broiled in political and social concerns
social agenda. at the expense d more hedcmistic pleas-
In addition, the starched unifcxms of ures, with these films very much like

the jackbooted nazi's were equalled by their jackbooted stars - namely, leaving
their strict organisational minds - their a firm impression behind on the feral

regimented regime had no place for soil of movie history.

wild crgies, free-thinking and other fri- You will enjoy these films - or else 1

vdities.

togetherwrthyournaineaiK.*u«..^~
-
one per hou« Samh^-
out. UK
(offer limited to said about

IS
 NECRONOMICON 2

CANNIBAL
HOLOCAUST
ove

L
it or loathe it, whatever (im)morality of a supposedly "civilised"
your opinion, the importance cS human
Cannibal Holocaust is that eve-
The \ilest iihominulitin race.

Deodato, formerly an assistant to

rytwe does have an opinion on the film, e>er conmiitted t(» I’iiin ? Roberto Rossellini, uses a cine-verite
so strong are the reactions that it elicits
rile mrisf cdiilroxersiiil approach, utilising the scratchy film
from the viewer. Although it is a film footage to suggest a veneer of verisi-
you must see, it very nearly fell into the
featiii*e e\er to he made ?
militude to the drama unl'olding bef ore
category of you won't see when it was Alt audaeimis triumph us. whilst spurious warnings flash across
banned in Italy for three years uptxi its the screen thus, *
for the sake of authen-
or a sickening failure ?
initial release until its director, Rug- ticity. some sequences have been re-
gero Deodato won the subsequent court \V h:ile\ or \oiir \ icw xoii’ll tained m their enurely."
ca.se, thereby refuting the charge brought iieei.! a siroii^ sloiiKich His quest for realism, ushering in a
its
against the film - namely that it was
documentary-style approach is coupled
"guilty" of showing "cruelty to ani-
ue Jt>iime\ inU> the ( ireen
with the central conflict of "civilised"
mals". Infei no and i|tiesli(>n Jiisi western man entering hitherto uncharted
Animals, or precisely who are the and hospitaUe regions in ixdcr to "edu-
w ho are ihe ei\ ilised laee
animals and who are the civilised hu- cate" the barbaric inhabitants into rec-
mans, figures prominently in this fero- and \\ ho are ihe sa\ ayes. ognising the "superior, enlightened"
cious assault upon the senses as a TV Read on.w.. culture of "civilised" man.
documentary crew journey deep into To this end, Deodato’s film seeks
the Amazixuan jungle in search rtf' "ical- inspiration from a vast cycle of earlier
life'cannibais, only to then vanish, Hollywood epics, from the colonialist
whereupmi an explcaer, Prerfessor M<m- how they themselves suffered the va- expansionism of Tarzan - The Ape Man
roe (pom film regular Robert Kerman garies of the hostile jungle environ- (1932), to the tcnsicm-fillcd Five Came
aka Robert Bolla) discovers the crew's ment, perpetrated their own acts of Back{\9i9), the big-budgeted Suddenly
film-spools and with it, the horrific barbarism against the native "savages", Last Summer (1959) and The Naked
truth behind their disappearance. culminating with the frenzied eviscera- Prey (1966).
tion of the entire film crew by the venge-
ful cannibal tribe - all captured with
"
/'or the \akc of gritty realism by the ever-spooling film
camera.
aiit/umicin. \oiiif scciu-s
Whilst it is left to Monroe to chastise
havr /h cii rclaiiicil in
the crew for the cruelly they have shown,
their entirety." and by inference, invited their own gilsly
demise, the explotational actions of the
tv station moguls, who value sensation-
A darkened pmjectitxi room provides footage and high viewing figures
alist

a suitably nebulous backdrop for the over the inhumanity and sadism in-
grim reality to unfold as we learn, by upon fellow human beings, acts
flicted
way of the crew's grainy film footage. as a salutory indictment of the

14
NECRONOMICON 2

15
NECRONOMICON 2

Deodato's leaming curve culminated camera Alan's glib remark that "what unnacceptablc.
with the release of his own trial run for you are about to see may simply be Munroe's initial expedition into the
Cannibal Holocaust, Ultimo Mondo described as a social surgery" cannot jungle, in advance of the picture's cen-
Cannibale which featured real- disguise the fact that his trendy, liber- tral film-within-a-film structure when
life cannibals in Malaysia and the Phil- (anan commentary removed from
is far the documentary footage is found, still

ippines. the barbaric punishment on show as a seeks sensationalism as the professor

None of which can prepare us how- diseased giri is hung up and brained to and his guides experience a dislocating
and sheer vis-
ever, for the atrocities death by baying natives. scene of social "justice" as they witness
ceral impact of Cannibal Holocaust This merciless display of human a young native's "ritualistic punishment
which combines Hollywood genre con- impropriety culminates with two of the for adultery ".

ventions with the documentary mondo crew raping a native girl and feigning This involves a helpless native girl

films erf Gualtiero's The Sky Above. The "horrified" expressions as they drool being rammed with a giant rock dildo
Mud Below (1961) and Jacopctli and over the macabre sight erf a giri impaled by her capta-, before being pushed out
Prosperi's intense Africa Blood and Guts via the mouth on a long stake, each to sea on a row beat and presumably, to

(1966). autxhty "lovingly" captured by the ever- a watery grave. The mud which the
Whilst the graphic scenes of vio- present camera. characters have been wallowing in also
lence within the film arc undoubtedly
harrowing, it is the film crew's gradual
descent into savagery » hich is the most
horrifying aspect here as Decxlato's
unflinchingly misanthropic picture un-
firls.The youngcrew, Alan Yates, Mark
Tommaso, Faye Daniels and Jack An-
ders are shown beginning (heir expedi-
tion in high sfxrils and "gung-ho” mood.
Such feelings soon evaporate as the
tropical "Green Inferno" begins to live
up to its name. Faye is reiKlcrcd hysteri-
cal while a deadly spider is removed
from her and a guide is bitten by a snake
and his leg cut off in a vain attempt to
save him.
Elsewhere, the basic need for food
betrays a baser instinct as a live turtle is

sickeningly cleaved open to provide

food - even Faye's toiletry functions are

filmed for all to see by the leering crew.

When the "savages" appear it is they
who are frightened as their fleeing num- The crew's gruesome demise - each threatens to engulf the viewer here,
bers are fired at by the crew - a calcu- systematically cornered and ritually although Riz Ortolani's evocative synth
lated shot to the leg allowing them to dismembered by the now enraged na- score, with ominous chords and plain-
follow one wounded native back to his tives, is very much a case of their vio- tive strings, has never been more effec-
tribal dwelling. Once there, a tethered being meeted back out to
lent cruelty tive.

btHT is shot dead frexn point-blank range them, "an eye for an eye" as it were, Dsewhere. our faces arc literally

by the crew before they then proceed to very much the law erf the jungle. "rubbed in it" during Monroe's jcximey
torch the huts, raising the entire village Deodato vehemently denies any ac- as a guide falls onto a decaying skeleton
to the ground - Alan quipping (hat they cusations that his film is purely exfrfo- - its maggot-infested features caught in
will call it a film of inter-tribal war, " In tative rather than addressing any erf the full squirming glory by the camera,
the jungle the daily violence of the greater thematic and emotional issues likewise, the still warm, human entrails
strong overcoming the weak," he an- which the film so controversially raises. which Monroe is forced to eat when a
nounces dispationately. His main problem is that, well made "guest" of the Tree ftople tribe.
This same, sneering callousness is (hough the film is, aixl as convincing as McKiroe's discovery erf the "lost" film
later evidenced as the crew remorse- Its performances are. his own pursuit of however, strung around the skeletal re-

lessly film the forlorn figure of an old authenticity carries him perilously close mains of one of the crew and now
woman left to die in the jungle, her to the thin dividing line between artisti- painted ochre to ward olT evil spirits, is
emaciated form coldly captured by the cally acceptable and socially one of the film's most startling

16
 "

NECRONOMICON 2

moments. We are guil^ erf* (laying with natural

Whilst his practice of killing animals minerals and resources as if they were
Today /h o/iIi wdiil
on screen in order to add authenticity to mere commodities on the stock ex-
the assented human auocities in the film change, ours to control via the ebb and \ci\\alioii(di'>ni.

is thcwoughly conlemptable, the real flow of market fcwces. I Iti 'iHoi c you rape
questicMi the film raises is d mans own This continual display of greed and l/icir \ the
inhumamty to man. The obvious com- avarice, coupled with our demands for
happier they are .

parisons between "civilised man* and more extreme forms eniertaiiunent,

"uncivilised savages* aside, Deodato's is neatly encapsualled by one hard-
Tiim does make us examine our own nosed tv executive who explains; "To-
approach to and those around us.
life day, people want sensationalism. The
The colonialist boast by one crew more you rape their senses the happier preferring more mainstream titles such

member that; "Difficulty doesn't exist they are." as The Phantom of Death (1986). The

and the impossible just lakes a little One only has to look at at the effects
more time" is indicative of the underiy- of the recent Gulf War
ing macho attinide which prevails here resonance behind these remarks as a
Barbarians (1988) and Dial
to glean the Help{l989).
Disappointingly, the once much-
touted sequel to Cannibal Holocaust,
Cannibal Fury, was announced but
never made, ditto his histexy of zombie
movies, Voodoo Revenge - an intrigu-
ing idea and something I'm sure would
have been fascinating to see.
Even if Deodato, as it currently seems,

is unable to scale the dizzying heights

of emotional angst portrayed in Canni-
bal Holocaust, he will still be reme-
bered for leaving his indelible mark
behind on not just the cannibal film
genre, buton the film world and society
asa wh(^e - even those diametrically
opposed to it, cannot deny the reso-
nance of Cannibal Holocaust.

" Teen those ihariielrieally

"pposed to it. eaiiiiol

ili ii\ till ri sofiaiii I of

( aiiiiduil Holoeansi."

- that the strong will survive at the virtual "TV battle" was waged by the
expense of the weak. squabling stations - all eager to trans-
There's also the egotistical belief that form the horror war into prime-time
western man can conquer all in his path, "entertainment" and so triumph in their 4 TH INTERNATIONAL
and also quite happily ruin the planet own private ratings war. FESTIVAL OF
and his fellow men with no compul- Moruoe's final question, "I wonder
FANTASTIC FILMS
sion, as a guide remarks poignantly to who the real cannibals are" offers us a
Monroe; "If hell-holes like this didn't salutary viewpoint on humanity, and
exist I'm sure you'd invent them." our lack of it. CannitMl Holocaust is a Sacha 's Hotel ,Tib Street,
Although the "ethics' of colonialist powerful, but brazenly tdeak film which Manchester
expansion have to some degree been paints a painfully severe picture of hu- September lOth’llth 1993
successfully renounced, we still dis- manity's ravenous desire for self-de-
Over 35 films to be shown-
play a petremising attitude towards third struction.

world countries and smaller conununi- Deodato himself suffered sesnething Guests Include Caroline Munro
ties than our own, and man is still ccxi- o( a creative bum out folowing this, not and Peter Atkins.
lent to pillage the natural jungle envi- surprisingly. In the intervening period
rrmment in his relentless pursuit of fi- he has only briefly returned to the jun- Tel-061 929 1423 for info.
nancial gain. gle fer films such as Cut and Run ( 1984),

17
 NECRONOMICON 2

Whatever your vtmfn on NECRONOtuncONMUke to hem them Wh0th0rtn9y 00 good, bedor

just plain ugly I Or, if you want to air your views on wider aspects of the horror/fantasy genre
t/ien let's hear from you - ail letters to toe following address: relish as this particular flkn is one of the best
Holmes treatments have seen. await artl-
I I

degree which will not be possible in "Necro- des on Rathbone with bated breath.
nomicon", artd to my mind it rather disrupts The U.N.C.LE. page could do without I

the feel' of the magazine to come across an but this Is a minor gripe In an otherwise
Evil Writes
article on this material alongside reviews of perfect publication.
15 Jubilee Road Bava, Ararrda etc. Please, please, please more Bava, more
NEWTON ABBOT 2. Presentation of film reviews could be Fulci, some Soavi and if you must cover
Improved. The ideal is the 'Sight arrd Sound" Argento (the absolute master film-maker)
Devon format of full technical and cast listings fol- lets have a refreshing new approach to his
TQ121LB lowed by a plot synopsis ar>d seoerate com- work, though topping John Martin's "Magic
ment If this cant be achieved could you at all around us" In "Samhain" wlH be a very

least list; title as originally released {eg. La hard task Indeed.

Dear Black, Novia Ensangretada). country of origin, al- am also very glad to see
I ttiat "Necro" wW
ternative ones, director and dnematogra- be a Jason & Freddy free zone. The two film
Thanks for issue 1 of ‘Necronomlcon’. pher. screenwriter and prindpal cast mem- series of these two characters feel have I

<^lch seems to be wel up to 'Samhain/Fllm bers ? Also the timino of the review copy ? diminished the horror genre to mere parody.
Extremes/Glalto Pages standard, look for- l PS. Any plans for an artide on "Godzilla'
ward to issue 2. Paul Bowes as rve got this real soft spot for the ugly great
don't know whether the comments of a
I Swinton lizard.
new reader are of interesf. but here goes : Manchester
PLUS POINTS:-
1 . Quality of illustrations - excellent. I was Phew Thanks .' for the comments Paul. I'd

paidculaiiy impressed by the dartty and dze patbculefty Bke to hear from readers If they
of reproduced stills - a point on which too »idff)edlyBrslty here ^Jarring. Idontplan No plarts for any GodzMa^ unless you fans
many fanzines fall down to start listing full credits etc. as this simply out mere want to persuade me otherwise I
2. Editorial policy - 1 heartily agree with the takes up too much space but I'd certainly
decision to concentrate on older material. consider Incorporating brief title details and Dear Andy.
Many magazines doni seem to realise that credits tt there's enough feedback on this.

the audience for 60's style "splatter' and Thanks very much for the copy of "Necro-
older horror are substantiaity different. know I Dear Andy, nomlcon* which I thoroughly enfoyed. The
I'm not atorre in seeing a dedining standard Living Dead Is one of my favourites and in
after the early 80's as special effects take Many thanks tor my copy of "Necronomi- ) looking at it in "We Belong
over from the creation of atoiosphere and )n*. What you have here is a wofKterfully Dead’ '5.
films appear to be aimed more and more written, nicely produced and well balanced There was a really interestirrg mixture of
explldtly at a teenage audience. magazine. artides and re^ws. Nice to see the under-
3. Film reviews • a good selection and know we share a common love of zom-
I rated Brides of Draata toere, definitely one
nteigenfly handled (further below tor a quib- biemovies and it was your book "ZOmbies’fa of Hammer's best vampire (Urns. Another
ble). most excellent read by the way) - ( yes, the favourite of mine is Murder By Decree so it

4. Vipco Interview - excellent. Nice to see In the post I ed ), that riKived me to was good to see a lerrgthy article on toat.
9 well that you were prepared to give a send for "Necro". Although Stephen KnlghTs case tor the Iden-
The only print of TTie LMng Dead I've tity of the Ripper is full of holes, it makes an

seen is the European Creative Films print imerestlng story. As R^jperologist Robin OdeN
& LMng Dead At The Manchester Morgue thafs available at the moment so ft was great has said, when we are all standing in heawn
- good to see this excellent film given more see some stHls of the missing scenes. and the Identity of the Ripper Is at last re-

than the faint praise it usually receives. It Is As lor the other artldes:- vealed. we'll ail go "who* ?l also have to I

not dmply an Interior copy of Romero's over- Hammer's Brides of Dracula - the more admit I enjoyed the Love Otes review !

praised Night of the Living Dead. Hammer the better II

MINUS POINTS:- The RoMn artide, all can say is rd I like to Eric McNaughton
1 . 1 think that the coverage of TV-based hear more about his work and where I may Nottingham
The Man From U.N.C.LE.) and
material (eg. possibly get my hands on some. (Redemp-
mainstream fantasy ( Fu Manchu and ^ter- fipn Video have the rights to at Botin's vam- Asmostof you are m doubt aware. Ericedtts
iock Holmes) belongs elsewhere. appreci- I pte Sms vmth ate due lor release during the me excellent Hammer line 'Y/BO' artd wU, I

ate your editorial calls for diversity but other rtext year ed.) hope, be contrlbuOng Hammer articles to
magazirtes spedalise in this material to a read the Sherlock hiolmes artide with
I future editions of 'Necronomkxin''.
NECRONOMtCON 2

Dracula
Considered by many to be redefines them, also redesigning key warmly welarming Marker. Desple this

areas df the script to produce a taught, well-mannered personna, we learn of

the very best Dracula film more overtly dynamic reading to sat- Marker's true intent - not to act as the
of ally Hammer's usual pa- isfy the requisite demands of the cin- Count's librarian as he spuriously an-
ema. nounces, but to end the Count's "reign
nache and period flair are
The horrcM' fantasy aspect inherent in of tenor" which also spreads to a \ am-
well to the fore as the arch the story is deliberately underplayed pirised girl (Valerie Gaunt), whom
vampire faces his nemesis, here in favour of a cogent, equally resil- Marker ciKounters. His own inevitable
ient theme of abnormality intruding inter demise at the hands of ihe Count is
in the shape of crucufix- everyday normality - it's as if a shadow signalled by the (Hninous shauow l<x>m-

wielding Van Helsing. is continually insinuating itself into ing across the crypt wall as the dtxir
every frame, a creeping malevolence slams shut, (bunging the nx>m into dark-
which will not be denied. ness - a virtual ccclipse indicating
" The Castle appeared innocuous
It is Bernard Rc^inson's richly fash- Marker's imminent dcaih.
enough in the warm afternoon sun. All
ioned sets and attention to detail w hich The grandoisc selling of Dracula's
seemed normal but for one thing, there
enables this insidious menace to flour- opulent castle, w iih its labyrinth corri-
were no birds singing." ( Jonathan
ish, cultivating an atmasphere of civi- dors, marble archways and exquisite
Marker in Dracula ).
lised calm only for it to be later under- dcctx is then mixncntarily displaced by
mined by Dracula's unmannered evil. the rathermore prosaic stKicty encap-
couple of bnef sentences maybe

A but they speak volumes

mer^ vibrant presentation of
Bram Stoker's supreme vampire vil-
for
Ham- As Marker (John Van Eyssen) jour-
neys to Castle Dracula he glimpses the
imposing gargoyles and Gothic archi-
sulated by the Holmwixxl residence,
across a continent in the book, but
merely across a border
plot conceit which adds greatly
in the film
to the
- a

lain. It's one of filmdom's great para- tecture, dismissing the cold, chill air as
film's kinetic finale.
dox's that a company so villifled for its being "due no doubt to the icy wtuers ol'
Intruding into this s(x.'iciy of civi-
"lashings* of sex and gore should be the mountain trarcntl had just crossed."
lised behaviour and etiquette, wc find
equally championed for its often under- These innocent thoughts will later
both Dracula and Van Helsing (Pcicr
stated ^proach to horror and its much evapor^ in the [Mcscence of the Count
Cushing), with the latter "fresh" from
vaunted attention to period minutiae. - an earlier camera pan over his crypt
slaking the vampirised Marker, and with
Both factors loom large in what for revealing the words "Dracula" embla-
the unenviable lask of informing both
many (myself included) would suggest zened on a coffin, before blood oozes
Marker's fiance. Lucy (Carol Marsh).
as the best overall film adaptation of over it hideously in the shape of a cross.
"Dracula". It is a salient reminder that faith in God
Coppola's version effuses a myriad wil be needed to defeat the vampre, but
of colours, Herzog's exhibits a dream- on it's own, may not be enough. The
like atmosphere. Kumei's, a heightened dripping blood is also a mocking paral-

sexual tension and Mumau's an eerie lel to the avowedly religious symptoms
chiascouro-dominated influence, but the stigmata.
Terence Fisher^s Dracula is an amalga- Fisher's handling of the Count's ini-
mation of many of these qualities, cou- tial af^iearance (|riayed imperiously by
l^ed with performances and action se- Christopher Lee), is equally masterful,
quences which render it an utterly con- accentuating a deliberate air ambigu-
vincing and memorable experience. ity as instead of seeing some kind of
Whilst not a verbatim retelling of fiendish miscreant as expected, it is an
Stoker's landmvk tale, it does capture who glides
urbane, cultivated gentleman
the diverse central themes and down the main staircase and into view
 NECRONOMICON 2

nance fade as her natural beauty re-

turns. It is the emotional strength gained

from this encounter which enables the
duo to eventually seek out and destroy
E>racu]a, as Van Helsing’s pixxnise that
'
this unholy cult must be wiped out ”
is

thankfully fulfilled.
The real success of Rsher's film stems
frwn the lucid script whose only depar-
tures from the novel are specifically
crafted in order to enhance its cinematic
appeal by condensing the action and so
intensifying its dramatic impact, and
from Lee's magcstcrial Dracula. Cush-
ing's authoritative Van Helsing and a
superbly ordered supporting cast.
and her parents, Arthur and Mina Hnl- evokes not screams of fear but sighs Vampirism here is presented as a
mwcxid (Michael Gough & Melissa rapture as this tail, dark and handsome two-edged sword, sensual and allunng
Sthbling), of his untimely death. Prince of Darkness prepares to feast on a purely superficial level, but perni-
From here tm in. Van Helsing has to upon Lucy's now unfettered fcminc cious and unequivocally evil on a deeper
race against time, and combat the initial spirit His arrival - .signalled by Autum- level and therein lies our fascination
intransigence of the HolmwcxxJ's in nal leaves llouting outside the window, with the vampire and our repulsion for
order to "release" thesampmsed Lucy npplmg music and ihe sight of Lucy his activities. As in other Hammer lllms,
from her undcad slate and finally to excitedly readying herself, lying breath- convincing action scenes carrying a
rescue Mina. In a gnpping climax. Van less on the bed, and inviting the vam- considerable visceral impact, coupled
Helsing tracks Dracula back to his fam- pire's deadly caress. with a prevailing essence of ruinous
ily lair, ingeniously defeating him by The scn.sual appeal and relative calm evil, show the plague of Nampmsm a.s a
dashing across a refectory tabic, tearing of Ihe vampire contrasts vividly with malignant threat to scxiiety. an omni-
back the drapes and forging a crucifix the .seemingly barbaric instructions present cancer ready to eat away at the

from two nearby candleabms - the \ am- which Van Helsing is obliged to give. very heart erf civilisation, iLs bite lethal.

pire now trapped in the shafts of sun- This contrast, and the moral dilemma Its infection everlasting.
light which IIcxhJ the nx>m, causing the pniiagonists face, is chillingly por- The phenomenal succes of both Lee
him to disintegrate. Only a mound of trayed as Arthur accompanies Van Hels- and Cushing in the leading roles fur-
dust and a solitary ring left behind as ing on a midnight vigil over Lucy's nished Hammer with a plethora of other
stirring music rings chimes out, wind grave. They see the spectral figure of vampire films, non quite matching the
rustles through the remains and slaincd Lucy enticing her little sister to her side, level of achievement here, but creating
glass W'indou's evoke a crusading, ec- bcftxe Van Helsing's outstretched cru- some interesting features in their own
clesiastical moliff. cifix repels her. burning her flesh. Van nght, aixl <rf axjrsc. this film proved ihc
Besides this exhilarating final flour- Helsing's clinical, scientific mind im- benchmark by which all subsequent
ish, the latter stages of the Him arc most mediately realises that the mesmerised vampire films are judged - the ultimate
memorable for Van Hcising's ullempls Lucy can lead them lo the vampire's accolade for w hat might Just be the
to alert the unsuspecting Holmwixxl's lair, but Arthur’s understandable reac- ultimate in vampire films, so far !

of the heinous vampire evil they are tion in not wanting his sister " pos-
about to face, and for Dracula's gradual sessed by evil a second longer " finds
immojalicn of innocent souls using the humanity triumphing over reastxi m an
guise of erotic pleasure to conceal the emotive scene.
execrable pain his bile will signify. Their subsequent staking of Lucy,
Van Helsing, "a very eminent man" ihrxjgh outwardly barbaric, offers a sfxr-
we are informed, attempts to educate itual release as Van Helsing reminds
those around him. placating a local inn- Arthur that " This is not Lucy the sister
keeper with the salutory notice that you loved, it is only a shell, possessed
"This is mcTC lhan superstition I krK)w, and corrupted by the evil oC DraculaTo
the danger is very real" explaining that liberate her soul and give her eternal
*
the whole world will benefit " if his peace we must destroy that shell, fex all

purge on vampmsm is successful. time. Believe me, there is no other way."

As if to prove the point, Dracula's In clear vindication of these words we
later appearance at Lucy's bedside then witness Lucy's vampiric counte-

20
 !

NECRONOMICON 2

THE Vampire
LOVERS
I Ik‘ i-inphasis suitclu-s Ironi tlu-,jiii>[i]ar to the hosoni in llaiiinu'i' l iiiiis saii^tiinan
(ali- of \ anipii'jsni atui scviial ax^akt niii^ - I i-l llu‘ lo\ i->hi(cs coniini’iu i' !

H ammer studios -

to let current trends

never ones
and fash-
ions pass them by, quickly
realised that with the emergence of more
explicit, 'adult” orientated exploitation
other girls breathe. Once safely
Carmilla's erotic fantasies begin to tease
and tcMment the sleeping hours of both
Laura and Emma, both eventually suc-
cumbing to the intoxicating mix of epi-
installed, Laura's anaemic ccHidition prior to her
detUh is diagnosed as being due to a lack
of 'greens and red meat", to "put
bUxxl back inui her" the dtxtor orders,
though without thinking of performing
some

films during the permissive 1960’s, so curean pleasures and {jcrculiarly femi- any transfusion
too must they increase the sexual con- nine fulfillment that Ingrid Pitt's vam- Just as Carmilla's experience glar-

tent erf* their own films. {>ire epitomises. ingly illustratesEmma's innocence, so
Very much in the vanguard as far as There's a kind of rhythmical fatality too do her sumptuous dresses (which
this more "enlightened” approach was to these scenes as firstly young Laura is Emma tries on), indicate Carmilla's stv
ccmcemed. The Vantfnre Lovers (1970), the recipient of Carmilla's ntxtumal phisticated stKicty air us oppexsed to
based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s lesbian advances, loved and lusted al ter before Emma's unassuming country trails.

vampire 'Carmilla', {Moved the lust- eventually being drained o( all her life- Emma, now "pale and listless",

filled launch pad for a trilogy of like- blood and left to die, with Emma then slowly being drained by Carmilla's vam-
minded films, with Lust For A Vampire gently ushered in to be the next victim. {jiric methods is warned. "You musn’i
(1970) and Twins of Evil (1971) com- The girl’s relative innocence and nai- allow yourself to be terrorised by your
pleting the licentious triumvirate. vety provides a vivid contrast with Car- own imagination" but Carmilla's fatal

If anydiing, the horror in these films milla's more 'worldly-wise" manner. prcscence is very much removed Inim
is almost irKidental, taking secottd {dace Laura's a|:^)reciative ' Mircalla, your so being mere fantasy. Having clearly ex-
to the overt sensuality and libidinous kind to me. I swear I shall die when you pressed her disinterest for the male spe-
desires which are elevated to centre leave* proving to be ironic, whilst cies. Carmilla implores Emma " to be

stage.
It is the fulsome figure of Ingrid Pitt,
portraying Carmilla (though in the guise
of Mircalla/Marcilla here), whose sen-
sitive nature lures both the willowy
nubiles, Laura (Pippa Steele) and Emma
(Madeline Smith), and whose sexual
chemistry inveigles the more ex})eri-

cnced Governess • (Kate OMara no

less!).

As Carmilla insinuates herself into

an aristocratic household, her singular
nature and exotic desires {)ermeate the
walls, the ccMridcMS, the very air the

21
NECRONOMICON 2

22
NECRONOMCON 2

It is also indicative of the malaise sur-

rounding the (premature) demise of the
British "sex' film.
By co-[Mxxlucing the picture with the
US Hammer - AlP, both
version of
companies sought to open up new
boundaries, and more importantly, new
commercial markets, but their eschewal
of nationalistic constraints only serves
ultimately m diluting the eternal strength
of the vam|Mre whose sensual exploits
ecclipse any more profound thematic
concerns. The vampires parasitic power
to supplant family bonding by bringing
its own irresistable, in this case, matri-
archal, dominance to bear remains un-
hindered.
Hammer were to encounter similar
pre^ems in later years as they unsuc-
mine for ail your life.” The diametri- of truly exploring the burgeoning sexual cessfully tried to surpass the occult re-

cally opposed natures of die two *lov- passions of particularly the younger galia and possession pictures such as
ere* is highlighted however, as Car- women in the film, or the puritanism of The ExorcisI (1973) and The Omen
milla laments that ” the sun is too bright the pious father's who sadistically pur- ( 1976) with the convoluted To the Devil-

for me, it hurts my eyes *. whilst Emma, sue the vampire to purge themselves of A Daughler ( 1976), whilst the pot-pourri
conversely eulogises, * It's glorious, their own frustrations as much as any of western doctrine and oriental myths
you can feel the warmth penetrating. loftier motives of ridding the world of combined uneasily for The Legend of
It's like life.* this deadly evil. the 7 (tolden Vampires 1974). (

It is now that Caimilla's all-ccmsum- The soft-core lesbian couplings are At least Pitt's alluring/emme fatale -
ing passion rises, sweeping up all in her also guilty of denigrating such fervently- an open invitation to Join the vampire
path, as first Emma, then the governess felt emotions to the level of coy, gig- legions, drew enough blood to mock

are seduced by die hedonistic lure of the gling schoolgirl humour, which appears the film's impotent plea that ' before
vampire. to be so arcbetypaliy English and seem- God may we be spared from these su-
A circular ccmclusion (echoing the ingly forever to doom any semi-erotic pernatural happenings again' .as the
film's Mef iMologue), sees a vampire- picture made on these shores. vampiric bloodline flows (Xi undeterred.

hunting Peter Cushing as General

Spielsdorf staking CanniUa, befcne theo
beheading her with a razor-edged sword.
As (neviously indicated, for a Ham-
mer film, very little blood is spilt as the
honor is very much restrained with the
(DOW) unfettered sexuality more than
compensating for the muted 'gore*
scenes.
The major IxxTcn- atmos|:^rlcs are
contained in the prologue/conclusioo
pasages as a shrouded vamjnre figure
hovers menacingly in a fog-bound an-
cestoral castle, a painting dissolving
into a skeletal shs^, symbolising the
vampire's death - the nearby church
with its shining stained glass windows
providing a spiritual backdrop to the
scene.
Despite Ingrid Pitt's stirring perfonn-
ance, complimented with Cushing's
dynamic hunter, the film still falls shy

2»
 NECRONOMICON 2

LUST FORA VAMPIRE

Strange Love, voluptuous vampires, blood and sex.
Just your typical Hammer Film really !

H
( 1970), is
o( on the

ers (1970),
heels cf
Baker's The Vampire Lov-

a stirring sequel, with a more

painterly visual style
eroticism which threatens to engulf the
Ray Ward

Jimmy Sang-
slcr’s Imsi For A Vampire

and a burgeoning
behold, lightning flashes and heavenly
singing erupts as the ruby liquid seeps
through the shroud, transforming the
skeletal outline inui a "fleshed-oui" fig-
ure (111 say!) as the sheet quivers and a
body rises - an artful camera angle
providing us with only a side profile to
film are relatively few and far between,
it's

that

tite
to the eroticism inherent in the story
we
ment” and cheap
turn to for 'spiritual enlighten-
thrills !

In fact, the titilation piresent here

just that, serving only to
as o(^x)sed to satiating it
whet the appe-
is

meagre plot without quite succeeding increase our anticipation. Stensgaard, equipped with her azure
(more's the pity !). Having 'recreated this dust of centu- blue dress and quaint bonnet, exudes a
Michael Jcrfinson is the rather wooden ries', Mircalla then esconses herself in 'butter wouldn't mell in her mouth'
English novelist. Richard Lesirange (oh the nearby finishing school, its array of (but blood presumably would) look as
dear !), whose Journey into nineteenth girls and lecherous tutors her new vic- she entices her victims, beguiling her
century Styria for literary research, be- tims in waiting. room-mate with her fatal caresses.

trays decidedly more carnal interests as Mircalla's sanguinary 'charms* also

he inveigles himself into the nearby account for Ralph Bates egregious lech-
girls finishing schod under the i^e- erer (sorry, lecturer!), Giles, who upcm
tence of being a relief English teacher, learning the vampire's true identity
ihcxigh unoffictally it is human biolc^y pleads; '1 want only to worship you. To
where his main interests lie ! be your servant A servant of the Devil.'
The object of his desires, ( and evCTy- (Looking at Ms. Stensgaard he's got a
one else's come to that) is the ravishing point !).

blonde actress Yutte Stensgaard who The most priceless moment here is
plays the vampiress Miicalla - yes, she when Mircalla. clad in virginal white,
of Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla*. gently removes the glasses from her
It's fair to say that her radiant lodts willing victim, before engorging her-
have caused a few hearts to flutter and self on her prey amongst the mist-
groins to tremble over the years but the shrouded graveyard setting.

same doesn't apply to her thespian 'abili- Giles inevitable self-destructicm is

ties'' which remain perfunctory to say more interestingly mirrored by the near-
the least destruction of Le Strange who also al-
Her initial appearance, is equally lows the vampire's allure and his own
breathtaking • a young maiden is sacri- Unfortunately, this impressive open- romanticism to cloud his judgement
Heed in the ancestoral home of the ing scene is never matched any of the when inviting Mircalla's deadly ca-
Kamsiein's, her throat slit open with a subsequent events the film supplies resses.

large sword as her crimson lifeblood which consist mainly of school^rl fum- The writer, who by his own admis-
spills into a gold chalice. blings, schoolboy immaturity and an sion sees the witches and vampires in
To the accompaniement d Count inevitability to the eventual outcome as the fiction he writes as bang merely ” A
Kamstein's (Mike Raven) Latin incan- Mircalla and her guardians are inciner- [xoduct of my own un^nation *. now
tations, the blood is poured upon a ated in their castle by a torch-wielding has this belief thrown beck at him as
'
skeletal llgure swathed in a shroud - mob. whose prescence imitates Univer- Mircalla challenges him: Is the fa-
Turn now this fresh, warn blood into sal's 'Frankenstein* series during the mous writer Richard Le Strange a peas-
a body of thy making, this innocent 1930’s. ant at heart Do you believe in your own
spirit into evil", he intc«ies- Then, lo and Given that the horrew elements of the mystery and imaginali<»i.*

24
NECRONOMICON 2

This intriguing existential dilemma

is then rudely dissipated by the musical
strains of 'Strange Love", which usu-
ally evc^es laughter rather than passion
as it bursts forth inappropriately onto
the soundtrack and the mood is lost
The idea that we can invite evil,
somehow welcome the devil and with
him, the seeds of our own destructicMi.
IS one of the more engaging ideas in the
film, with Le Strange's melancholic
outlook on occasions suggesting the
kind of forlorn figure usually reserved
for Greek Tragedy.
It is the primal instinct fen- survival as
exhibited by the enraged locals, and
divine intervention which defeats the
creatures as for once, the ecumenical
world defeats the secular world as a
doctor remarks poignantly, ' We are
talking about matters beyond science,
about the dartt imaginings of man, about
met^hysics, the nature of good and vampire, usually <k riguer in these films fear turns to relief as they are revealed
evil. You don't need a doctor, you is crnly fleetingly gimpsed here when to be the local students from the girts
need...', his words trail off as a priest Le Strange first enters theKamsiein school - never the less, the ambiguity
enters the room. castle cxily to be encircled by a group of here suggests the dual nature of evil and
The "predatory" aspect of the female steadily advancing, hooded figures, but its intoxicating influence.
With all this groping around, there's
{xecious little in the way d* social com-
mentary to weigh the film down but a
thinly veiled class bias is revealed as
the school governess cordially wel-
cemes Le Strange into the fdd because
he is " the son of a Lord*, but her later
inaction when girl students begin to go
missing is 'spurred* not by any altru-
istic thoughts of protecting their par-
ents feelings, but by a desire to protect
her own investment in the school by
keeping it free of scandal.
When a foreign student does disap-
pear, the local police crfTicial warns her,
*
This girl is a visitor here. A guest in
this counUy. There could be serious
political consequences.’
As mentioned though, this strand of
reasoning and its ramifications are left
undeveloped in favour of highlighting
the considerably developed charms of
the seductive Mircalla.
If the face df evil is always this entic-

ing then we'd all be renouncing religicMi

and moving to a warmer climate, fore-

saking the pearly gates and heaven's
angels to indulge in more worldly pleas-
ures !
NECRONOMICON 2

NOSFERATU Softly spoken, nervous and apolo- institution. In Herzog's versiem, Ren-
getic, he has two desires, neither of fieid is equally disturbing simply be-
\Vi-i-iuT flcr/oji's niiisivrl^
which can ever be fulfilled. His fnimary cause he is free, and highly unpredict-
\osl'cr(itii is <iiu-ai'(lK-<l l»\ wish is to be able to die. He tells both able.

Ni'crimtmiican's own >ain|)ii ii- Jonathan (Bnino Ganz) and Lucy (Isa- Even more disturbing however, are
belle Adjani), that death is nothing eexn- the dream-like sequences in the town,
sci'ilx.-. I'a^an. ^\ho also sinks
"
pared to the torments of immortality. as Lucy is surrounded by people danc-
iK-t'I'an^s into llu "iiiinoru'ial
To be unaUe to grow old is terrible.'' If ing and eating "a last su[^r” amidst the
si'(|iii-l. \ni>nsto ( aniinilo’s
he cannot die he has another wish - to bodies and coffins of the dead. As they
I (iiiipirc ill \ fiiicf. partake of the love shared .between attempt to draw her into their dark fes-
Who will sln'^ IM' an<l w hat w ill Jemathan and Lucy. tivities. the borders between illusion

In.' kl'l <»rtlK'iii ?! Uvad on His need for true love can be seen in and reality, sanity and madness becevne
theway in which he drains the blood blurred.
from Lucy, with a tenderness and gen- The towns-folk are victims of the
tleness, ai (Kids with the violence that plague mentally, even before it physi-
he "nosfefatu" can never die, one might expect. cally attacks them. This is a danger

T
cially
venture
if

is
and

tive
neither, it

Francis Ford Coppola's recent

an)'thing to go
seems, will
tempts to produce ihe defini-
vampire movie, espe-

by. However,
at-

and
Kinski manages to evoke pity in us,
it is

sion for him.

impossible not to feel compas-
He seems
battling with himself, trying to
bloodlust under control.
to be ccwsianlly
keep his
Lucy

she
when
also faces -

is
it would be easy
her too. to see her death as pan of an
inevitable pattern of events, something
powerless against, especially
the deterioraUen of Jtmalhan
for

from
in my opinion at least, it would take The vampire here is himself a vic- his previous sanity and good health is

something extraordinarily spectacular tim, plagued by this all-consuming ill- so obvious. Eveniuall)' however, it is

to surpass the beauty ofWerner Her- ness. It is an illness that is both mental her strength and her love for Jonathan
zog'smasterpiece, Sosferalu-The and physical, emphasised throughout which enables her to destroy Ehacula.
Vampyre (\9T9). both versions of the film. It is interesting that in the original

The film is a remake of the German However, in Herzog's film, mental version, Mumau selected scenes from

silenl classic, Nosferalu ( 1922), directed illness becomes a far more disturbing Bram Stoker's novel and altered the
by Friedrich Wilhelm Mumau, which feature. Heizog cuts a number erf" scenes main storyline dramatically.
was banned after legal wrangles with from the original in which Renfield. the In the novel Lucy dies, becomes a
Bram Stoker's widow, and although the estate agent who employs Joiathan and vampire and is later destroyed, and it is

court ordered all cepies of the film to be is responsive for sending him to Dracu- Mina who then becomes the focus of
destroyed, fortunately some survived. la's castle, is later commited to a mental Dracula's attention.
The earlier version starred Max
Shreck as the evil count, with his rat-

like teeth and sunken eyes. Shreck's

stilted movement gives a constant sense
cS rigor mortL^, and his glazed eyes
suggest a creature in a state cf scxnnam-
bulism.
Shreck plays the count as the em-
bodiment of pure evil - he seems to be
in complete control, sinisterly calculat-

ing every move he makes. It is impossi-

ble to feel any cemipassion for the vam-
pire, and he is seen only as being evil
unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.
Klaus Kinski however, changes the
the whole tone of the film with his
portrayal of Dracula in the remake.
NECnONOMICON 2

species, and Kinski returns as a creature

awakened by a seance,
of total evil,

killing priests and mocking the sign of ZOMBIES -

the cross.
The lender, suffering vampire of
Herzog's film has turned into a purely
I /IMS HIM CALI.
Satanic figure and the sheer beauty and I Hi: i)i: \i> ro risi:
artistry which so informed Nosferatu -

The Vampyre, with its awe-inspiring

'iixiunislin- cunt ciUi iiiiiiiiiif’' -
shots of natural scenery' and scenes with
Adjani which could have been taken Shaun Huistiu
straight from the Pre-Raphaelites, are Tiili i A lioiiu rii T.oDihii s.llu/ian
also lost. liiil-cnini hcn. oru nlal i>on\
Considered on it's own. Vampire in early cUis\ti \ and many marc
Venice is an excellent vampire movie, Ml in this l.^. perfect hnnnd
but it remains entirely in the shadow of
hank with over 12(1 pr/.t'c*.
Herzog's Nosferatu - The Vampyre,
incliidiiii; la paqe\ of\llll\.
which stands out as a veritable work W
Also, is interesting. Van Helsing. \iailahle from the anthor at the
it
art, and, in my opinion, remains the
Jonathan and the other men who are greatest vampire film ever made. Sceronomieoii £'V.7.i

responsible for the ultimate destruction Pagan. oereop) line. pXpt.

of the vampire.
In Mumau's adaptation, Lucy
it is

who has the power to destroy the vam-

pire. as. in cme of the greatest deviatiens
from Stoker's work, it is " a woman,

pure of heart, who gives her Wood freely

to the vampire and keeps him there until
al ter the cock crows. " who is able to
end the creature’s reign.

Heizog retains this section of the

film, but because of Kinski's portrayal
of Dracula, the destruction the vam- W
pire is not the triumph over evil that is
symbolises in the earlier versicMi.

Instead, it is an inevitable ending to

a pattern of events which is out of
control and our sympathies lie with
both Lucy and the vampire. Herzog
also adds a final twist to the conclusion
which enables the "nosferatu” to live on
and so permeate future sequels.
The most salient images however,
remain the ethereal mountain landscapes
of the vampire's country.the haunting
music from Popol Vuh and Rorian
Ricke, together with the poignant shot
of the vampire's sail-boat drifting into
view - its prow cutting through the calm
waters to signify the imminent threat of
the vampire's insidious prescence.
Of the (so far) solitary sequel, it is

unfortunate then that Kinski's resunec-

tiem in Vampire in Venice ( 1988), does
not live up to its predecessor.
The "nesferatu” has become the title

of a single vampire rather than an entire

27
NECRONOMICON 2

T
he mercurial Spanish di- film's best performances. True to the

rector has repeatedly spirit of the novel. Lee docs begin the
delved into the Dracula my- film as an archaic figure, rxily to appear
thology to supplemenl his progressively younger with each vic-
diverse oeuvre with titles such as tim's blood providing him with the nec-
"
Dracuta-Prisoner of Frankenstein and essary elixir of youth".
La Dracula e! Filles springing most Oracula's all-important first appear-
readily to mind, but Ei Conde Dracula ance on screen is well handled In’ Franco
marked his
furnish Christopher
finitive Dracula
appearance and
avowed

role,
intent to finally
Lee with
both
the de-
in physical
El as Lee's suitaUy mysterious,
coachman
the frightened
floats into
Marker (Frederick Wil-
shadowed
view to pick up

in characierisution and liams).

script. This is then the ettt for the "children
This admirable purpose however,
flounders with the zoom-inducing
nancial constraints of a shoestring
fi- Conde of the night” to get earned away
as wolves howl, voices groan, birds
shriek and the audience ennge
slightly

budget and an array of no less than five Upon entering Castle Dracula.
wnters, each oTwhose creative imfHit is Marker is cordially welcomed by the
considerably diluted as a result.
Claims of literary accuracy prove
spurious as one of Stoker's main pro-
Dracula Count, but not the austere stone rooms
and cold castle walls
milieu is at cxids with the
whe^
warrmng
spartan
fires

tagonists. Arthur Holmwood is omitted which glow in Stoker’s bix>k.

from the film entirely, whilst Franco's Franco's annoying habit of instantly
occasional stylistic nourishes are tar- zooming into faces whenever the wmds
nished by repeated shots of Renfield " for flic first time, "Count Dracula" are uttered is rather
(Klaus Kinski) gazing from his asylum more effectively employed here as a
towards the Count's
M-e retell lirain Stoker's
cell lair opposite. close-up of Lee ushers in the Count's
It's not all gloom and doom though Dracula exactly as he most memoraUe, rather baleful speech.
because Franco's film does follow the
wrote it."
"The shadows of my past remain
source novel quite closely in other re- here.We are the second Magy rs. we
spects and true to his word, docs at least have a right to remain proud, for in us
portray the Count as an ageing, white- flows the blood of many brave races,
haired and moustached figure to ensure the blood of Attila is in these veins. To
.\n iiiiprcwivc < hiim. hiii
physical autheticity. us was entrusted (or centuries, the guard-
Where El Conde Dracula does swne- w hen ilie lilin in question ian of our lands. The Lombart, the Bul-
times fail is in its stilted dialogue and gar, the Turic poured their thousands
is less l-'roiii'o's. yon know
plodding pace - there are few dynamic against our frontiers - we drove them
sequences in the film, giving Lee's arch wluil to eA'peel from the back.
vampire little to do, a disappointing Spanish niaesiro ! The Dracula's have ever been the
waste of his authoratative demeanour heartsblood. the brains, the sword of
and commanding screen prescence. our people. One of our race crossed the
It is Lee, aUy supported by his egre- Danube and destroyed the Turkish bosL
gious servant Renfield. who give the Though sometimes beaten back, he
 1

NECflONOIIKX)N 2

came again and again against thd en-

emy until at the end be came alone from
the boody field for he alone could tri- s/i(i(/o\\ oj niy /Kisl iiKiui lu re. inr l/h
‘
I ill \ rt
um(A. This was a E>racula indeed. But
now the wind blows coldly through the M citml Mdi^yrs. »r< iuin a riiihl to remain fnoiul,
broken battlements. But although this for in ns (lows the hlond of many inave raees. llii
is my home I must move cm.*
blood of \tlda IS in these veins."
Having thus powerfully established
Dracula's heroic ancestry, the action I < oiMil Driii'iilii I

then switches to Van Helsing's (Herbert

Lorn) clirtic in London where a now
vampirised Karker awakes. receiving little becking from the
Even within the convalescent supporting cast. Perhaps if

envirorunent here, the Counts Franco had been able to sustain

insidious influence penetrtfes a nxve supemaUual, dream-like

as the tortured soul of Renftdd ttiDOsphere then the film would
awaits his master's arrival with have succeeded Instead there is

anticipation and revulsitm - only an infrequent "suspension

truly tormented figure who ap' of disbelief* on the audiences
pears reconciled to his unbol} part and precious little in the
fate. way of any pathos-inspiring
In a moment of rare hocror, moments to ponder over.

Mina (Maria Rohm), then en- Only isolated scenes carry

ters Ljicy's (Scdedad Mirande any resonance, of Lucy's black-
bedroom cnly to find the Conn dad figure, beckeming to a child

engorging himself on hit before then leading her from an

victimjiis blood smeared fw amaie graveyard and off into
seemingly mocking the sanc- die distant woods, and presum-

tity erf* the life which he prom lUy. the child's doom. Or, the
so adept at stealing. Muffed animals who threaten to

Dracula's ftnal ccmfrootalian liecome animate and whose

with Van Helsing eschews this icfeams signal Dracula's dra-
visceral approach in favour of • matic appearance in one scene.
momentanly idecdogical bank These moments aside, El
^ Conde Dracula simply cannot
as the scientist explains that,

All my life I’ve studied the Btail overoome the paudly of its script
Arts. It's strange to finally cob- and budget, "radiating cheap-
frcHit the Prince of Daiknear ness" as one critic commented
himseir, with Dracula coun- upon the film's initial release,
tering,"You've leam't much which is a major disappoint-
You can do nothing." ment given the potential quality
A cross fashioned from fin of the cast that Franco managed
saves Van Helsing from U: to assemble here.
doom but equally enaUes Ik Who knows, if Franco hai
Count to escape, whereupen b been allowed more time and
is chased back to his anceston' more money then maybe El
lair where gregtxlan chants her- Conde could have lived up to its
ald the appearance of a torch-lit ptoces- Count's regal history, it singidarly fails ambitious claims as being the authentic
siem of locals who ambush the vampires to pemray the Count's inner misery - Dracula film - as it stands, the film
entourage - now engulfed in
his ccrf'no that he is condemned to live fta eter- remains the perfect example of Fran-
flames and tif^ied over the castle battle- nity. a lonely, unloved 'master* for co's enigmatic film-making.

ments to perish below. whom not even death can provide a

Ji^rbourFrigl^^S
"Whilst the Count lives, lime and merciful release.
meaning*, be- The motivation 26-27 June ai the Rex cinema.
space have very little for his actions are
sides being Van Helsing's profound left undeveloped, unexplained. He is
Wareham, Doresl. Starts midnight
comment here, also indicates to us the simply required by Franco to exist, with send £19JO to Voodoo Penguin
real failure of Franco's film. While the the unenviable result of being fcMced lid. 82 York Road, Broastone. Poole

picture does successfully estaUish the almost to act as if in a vacuum. BH188EU.

 ^

NECRONOMICON 2

OF THE VAMPIRES
The unusual sight of vampires quite literally "having a ball"
(even if not exactly "putting on the Ritz") can be seen in Roman
Polanski's enigmatic vampire comedy as snow flakes mingle with
blood amongst the Italian Dolomite mountains.

Thanks to him, this evil would

T he term 'honw comedy" is usu- destroy.

ally a terrifying prospect for all at last be able to spread across the
the wrong reasons, namely that world."

the horrorbecomes diluted and the hu- The irony implicit here is completely

mour lacklustre. If you try recalling the in keeping with the largely irreverent

more memorable films from this par- trme of the piece. After all. it's amazing
ticularly problematic sub-genre, then to think how over the years Stoker's
only the likes of Young Frankenstein novel and Hollywood movies have laid

(1974) and The Return of the Living down the rules of vampirism, the fiends

Dead (1985) will spring readily to mind. own modus operandi if you will, and
Polanski's own brand of horror com- we have all been comprdienstvdy suck-

edy lacks the outrageous humour of the ered into believing everything that we
Mel BroeJes film and the sheer verve of see. I'm sure that Stoker would
Dan O'Bannon's, being an altogether
more subtle parody of the (at the dme)
hugely successful Gothic horror's pro-
duced by Hammer Films. (Polanski himself) and Professor Ab-
Instead, of Hammer's ornate period ronsius (Jack MacGowran) stumble
(Hoductions and sumptuous costumes. their way into the vampire lair of Count

Polanski relies cm a succession (rf* sight von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne).

gags, near sl^stick and minimalist set- Their bungling attempts to dispose
tings (basically a castle and an inn), to of Krolock and his gay vampire schi,

gently mock the paucity of the mainly Herbert (Iain Quarrier) flounder, whilst
shoestring budgets erf* the time. their rescue of a young maiden, Sarah

This combination has led certain (Sharon Tate), ultimately fails when
unkind critics to condemn the film as having survived the titular evening
being "excessively laboured, more dance of the undead, they flee cmly for

clumsy than cmnic". but this is a rather the now vampirised Sarah to infect both
severe reading of this mildly amusing Alfred and Abronsius.
fllm, where any explicit horror is pur- As the film's nanatex' succinctly ccxi-
posefully implied rather than shown. cludes; "That night, fleeing from Tran-
Italy's Dolomite mountains (»ovide sylvania, Professor Abronsius never
the snowbound setting for the Him as guessed he was carrying away with him
two "fearless vampire killers", Alfred the very evil that he had wished to

30
 ! !

NECRONOMICON 2

The urbane, sophisticated Count also his flight from Herbert’s fey vampire is

delights in imposing his supericH- intel- short-lived with Alfred running full cir-

lect upon the "teamed" Professor with cle round the castle landing to once
*fang-in-cheek" asides, ditto. " I had an again face the grinning vampire. Then
Aunt who was a sleepwalker ” and ’ I'm there's the sight Bass's Jewish Mood-
a mght bird • I'm not much good in the sucker mocking a crucifix vainly bran-
daytime." dished in frcMit of him - "YouVe got the
Even when Abronsius does show his wrmg vampie” is his response, whilst
mastery of vampire lore it is to comic elsewhere the pungent smell of garlic
effect as he immediately uncovers the cxily succeeds in suffocating all mortals
biteson a victim in one scene - found as opposed to repelling the immortal
not on the neck as expected but at the vampires.
bottom of the legs and other freakish The most impressive scenes how-
places. ever, are those detailing the film's vam-
Scenes of Abronsius ^d Alfred pires in their various incarnations.
sneaking around the outside of the cas- Krolock's suave Count is the CMator for
tle, black specs amidst the snow -laden the vampire's cause proclaiming, "Soon
setting, recall the matchstick men of the we will be victorious and triumphant.
painter Lowry as well as Max Schreck's We shall then heJd sway over this earth
rodent-like portrayal of Nosferatu which awaits our coming as autumn
appreciate the gullability erf* us a)] and ( 1922) - not quite the image you'd ex- awaits winter."
allow himself a small chuckle in his pect from these would-be vampire slay- Polanski's most lyrical passages also
(undead ?) grave! ers. feature the Count as his gaunt face is
It is these very rules of engagement In similar vein, the plebbish Alfred, pressed against Sarah's window, later
which Polanski most noticeably enjoys when ordered to stake the sleqxng Count descending through the roof and into
poking fun at, although the important Krolock retorts, "Oh no. not that mas- her bath to claim her • white snow-
distinction here is that we laugh with ter, please," - echoes of a certain insect- flakes silently falling into the now rap-
the character and rtot at them, untrue of gulping Renfield I believe idly reddening water.
the majority of other such (intended) The oafish Alfred however, provides Similarly snowbound frames capture
satires. an equal number of farcial moments - the amassed undead climMng from their
As such, the genre conventions are his initial appearance, riding a sleigh graves ready to join the vampire ball,
continually usurped and transformed and frantically trying to fend off a pack itself a buriesquely-mounted dance of
into parody. Take the "intrepid" duo, d* baying huskies, sets the tene, as does "manners and etiquette”, it's thinly
Abronsius and Alfred - not exactly the his mesmerised expressiem when ogling veiled attack on aristocratic society
fearsome foe of which Van Helsing's the shapely features of Sarah as she (parasitic vampires also maybe), itself

are moulded. bathes. curtailed with the startling appearance

Abronsius can't even combat the dull- His attempts to stake Alfie Bass's of Sarah from behind some drapes -

ing native climate, never mind the arch Jewish vamfxre fail as he only succeeds resplendent in a vivid ruby dress.
vampire, Krolock, as he is hurriedly in spearing a vat wine • it's crimson The ghoul's make-up here is as effec-
"thawed* inside the inn having been liquid gushing symbolically free, whilst tive as that seen in the majority erf'

found frozen stiff outside. Although

now "animate" again, Aliuonsius doeai't
exactly "warm" to his task of tracking
the vampires, first becoming stuck in
one of the castle turrets, tripping down
stairs and later, leaning unknowingly
on a caimon - his most obvious means
of escape from the tower he finds him-
self imprisoned in
His "expertise" on the subject of vam-
pirism is in the fc»m of a tome he has
published, "The Bat and it's Mysteries*
(!), and his reaction when infonned by
Alfred of Herbert's vampire not castiag
a reflecticMi in a mirFcv is, "I'd love to
have seen that* t
 NECRONOMICON 2

"serious” horror pictures of the time, It's also entirely appropriate that the
and Alsmsius and Alfred’s attempts to expected MGM lion logo which intro-
join the dance are appropriately scup- duces the nim credits should unexpect-
pered by vampire lore as the assorted edly transfexm into a green-tinted imp -

creatures cast no reflection in the ball- it's an indicatiem of Polanski's own mis-
rocHn mirror - unlike our* intrepd' he- chievious desire to poke a stake at the
roes ! relatively solemn conventions of vam-
Although traces of Kraft-^ng are pire lore.
present with the depiction of vampir- Alfred may miss all of his targets but
ism here as being some kind of sexual at least Polanski's film strikes all of its
disease/perversion - Sarah and Herbert intended victims and objectives.
both use their differing sexuality to The greatest horror in fact, was to be
"lure” potential victims, the overriding provided later, not by the film but by the
impression is that Polanski has created notorious Charies Mansion gang who
an inventive epic, self-indulgent and shc^y after the film, killed the unfextu-

pedantic in parts, but visually appeal- nate Sharon Tate - a most untimely
ing and humerous enough to forgive death if ever there was one and making
such minor flaws. her appearance in Dance all the more
Dance also boasts one of honor- poignant.
dom's most visual and exquisite scores
- courtesy erf* Krzysztof Komeda's East-

em-orientated melodies and gregorian

chanting.

"dElMUm
ONE ISSUE
OUT NOW! w
DELIWUM is .he most

?;rssr.=fSf-r“
mchaOf
such as
The
Corpse,
^
The Red Headed
Blood, Su^
Of ’^Z^sSexudle, Naked And Wro.

sci-fi,

WIP movies.

Containing, as it does
"'“"'"^fu'ilid^^DELUUUM
sele«edrev.ewcapsulesanda“^nde^^
a must for any 500 copies.
print run ot omy
is

as DELUtTOM has a lumted

92
NECnONOMICON 2

DAUGHTERS
OF
DARKNESS
o( the whole mythos cf course - vampir- males, even as victims, is not a surprise
Harvey Fenton delves into die deca-
ism is after all, by it's very nature, given the male-dominated film indus-
dent world of European vampires
symbc^ically a sexual act The essendal try. What is of interest though, is the
and encounters the eternal appeal
seduction and compliance of the vic- overtly lesttian overtones the femme
of the legfindary Countess Bathory. dm, the willingness of that victim to vampire genre, on first appearances
surrender control of their body to a mere testament to the perculiar voyeur-

A
ters
Belgian/French/West German
co-production filmed in Bel-
gium in 1971 , La Rouge Aujc
levres (more widely known as Daugh-
of Darkness and filmed as "Erze-
predaUM*

dm's
the
who usually makes its approach
at night, invariably invited into the vic-
own bed, where they succumb to
axisummadng penetradem and shar-
ing of bodily fluids, is uixJeniably sexual
istic fascination
many heterosexuals.
for so
Many films of this genre
which lesbianism holds

the lesbian angle purely to satisfy the

craving for decorative female cou|:dings,
intrcxluced

bcih") is writer/direclor Harry Kumel's with little regard for the complexities of
visually stunning entry into the precu- sexual politics, whilst others treated the
liariy European strain of female vam- lesbian angle as an indication of the
pire pictures which were the horror character's formerly "correct* behav-
sensation of the seventies. iour descending into base depravity as
The trend during the late sixties to- a result cX contamination by the vam-
wards increasingly erode horror films pire curse.
found its logical conclusion in 1970
through the films of Hammer
{Coun- Moii\ jHiin ofilii\ iifiirc

tess Dracula, Lust for a Vampire and iiilnnliiccil llic tc\hi(iii iiiti'l

The Vampire Lovers), Jean Rollin (Le l>iiicl\ In \iiii\J\ the cmvin.
Frisson Des Vampires) and Jesus Franco
Jnr tlcinnilixf Jciiuilc
{Vampyros Lesbos Die Erbin Des
i niipliiii^x. II illi lilllc n iidn
Dracula). This trend condnued una-
jnr the l oiiipk .vilu x of
bated throughout the decade, high-
si xiuil pohlics
lighted by the likes of Hammer's Twins
of Evil and Rollin’s Requiem Pour Un
Vampire (both 1971), Vincente Aran- In other words, lesbianism as a perver-

da's La Sovia Ensangremada/The Blood in every respect Truly the ultimate sion. as a manifestation of impurity, the
Splattered Bride and Jorge Grau's Cer- one-night stand ! Bringing the sexual piroduct of evil forces beyond the previ-

emonia SangrienfaJLegend of Blood element the vampire myth to the fore ously chaste victim's control.

Castle (both 1972) and Rollin's Levres with the addition beautiful, scantily 'Daughters' is distinguished by its

De Sang (1975). A decade's worth of clad, sexually adventurous blood-drink- boldly feminist approach to the sul^ect-
blood-sucking females was capped in ingfemme fatales made explicit what Countess Bathory (DcIpAinc Seyrig) is,

fine styleby Jean Rollin. the genre's had, up to this point, merely been hinted whilst not exactly likeaUe, at least open,

most prolific exponent, with his 1979 at straightforward, in control and capaUe
entry Fascination. The fact that so many of these films of tenderness and compassion.
The sex appeal of the vampire has chose to ccmcenti^ on the female form, The main male character, newly-

always been an important component often to the almost total exclusion of married Stefan (John Karlen), is

33
 ! "

NECBONOMICON 2

however an unlikeable characler, a chau- confused sexuality and insecurity, he they might have been, being left under-
vinist with a sadistic streak. Hiding his takes his rage out on Valerie, not spe- developed in favour of the more instant
past and much of his true nature from cifically because their marriage has appeal of lush visuals and the film's
his Ixide Valerie (Daniele Ouimet). he driven a wedge between himself and carefully maintained erotic charge.
rewards her love for him by exploding Mother but simply because she is a Indeed, Daughters of Darkness is

into a furious rage and beating her with woman. distinguished b>' being perhaps the most
on their third day of marriage
his belt Stefan's fear of women is confirmed beautifully phourgraphed film of the
and committing adultery with Batho- in the climactic struggle for domination female vampire genre and undoubtedly
ry^ companion and servant Ilona Hanrzy of Valerie which takes place between one of the most irresistibly erotic hewror
(Andrea Rau) later that same night himself and Bathory. He relies on his films ever made. This is a stunningly
Stefan's attack is a pivotal scene in feeble attempts to assert his "masculin- sensual film dominated by cool blues
the film as up until this point his true ity" and what be believes is his unques- and vibrant reds, suffused light lending

nature has not been revealed, although tionable right to dominate and possess the visuals an added aura of mystique.
plenty of hints have been dropped re- his woman, her opinions and desires With many shots displaying the scxl
garding his potential for evil. being entirely irrelevant to him. d* fetishistic attenticm to detail reminis-

We first meet the newly-wed Stefan When he realises that this approach cent of Borowczyck at his very best,

and Valerie as they are on their way to is no match for the feminine allure of every scene is permeated by a delirious
visit Stefan's Mother, who at this point the irresistible Bathory, he resorts to atmosphere of unrestrained eroticism.
does not know about their marriage. brute force. Bathory manipulates Much of the credit for this atmos-
Stefan is nervous phere must be taken
about the prospect ol by the photographer

%
telling Mother the Eddy van der Enden.
news, for years she and Francois de Rou-
has been telling him. baix who composed
"Stefan, we are dif- the excellent score,
ferent. That is God's but it is the perform-
gift to us. We must ances of the incred-
never debase iL" Ste- ibly attractive lead-
fan tries every trick ing ladies, particu-
he knows to delay in- larly
“ Delphinc Sey-
1
forming Mother but rig and Lina Romay
Valerie insists, so look-alike Andrea
eventually he sum- Rau, which really
mons the courage to leave their mark.
make a phone call.
^ For the definitive
The viewer's suspi- telling of the Bathory
cions reagarding Stefan's true nature Valerie through the power ol gentle legend I wouIiThavc no hesitation in
are confirmed when we discover that persuasion, cempassion and pure sexual pointing the interested reader in the
Mother is in fact a rather effeminate aixl energy, promising, if not freedom, at direction of Jorge Grau's chillingly clini-
sinister-loc^ng MAN - a kind of camp least the prospect of eternal sensual cai and genuinely horrifying Ceremo-
Bela Lugosi type character ! fulfilment. nia Sangrienia, but Iot the casual viewer
When Mother learns that Stefan has Valerie is entirely under Balhory's in search of an instantly gratifying fix

married his reaction is cryptic and for- spell, the subtle power of female guile of visual splendour and a real taste of
boding, "...what you did wasn’t foolish appealing to her feminine nature. So the erotic appeal of the vampire ethos.
Stefan, it was merely unrealistic". "Ste- Stefan loses the battle of wills bul most Daughters of Darkness is hard to beat
fan, besides, whatever in the world will notably, Bathory gets the better of him Harvey Fenton
we do with her ?...That poor little even when he resorts to brute force, she
Valerie, the day she hears about us, oh battling his uiKXHitrolled anger with cod ••
Tins is a sliiiiiiiiii’lv sriisiml
1 hate to think about that..." intelligence as she breaks a glass bowl
Jilin (liiiiiiiuitfil hy coni hliics
The exchange proves too much for over his head - the sharp edges finishing
(iikI cihraiit reds, siijfiiscd
Stefan and as he puts the phone down, him dT as they slash his wrists. Valerie's
on the verge of tears, his emotions submission to Bathory is completed as lii'/ii li ndnni the visiuds iin

change from sorrow to rage. He begins she Joins the Countess in drinking lier atldcd eiiirn oj' niyslUinc.

his attack upon his defenceless wife, dying husband's blood. ... t'l cn set ne is perineated
the suggestion being that Valerie has Unfortunately, these attempts to in- hy a delirious utinospliere of
come between himself and Mother. troduce an clement of subtext into the liiiresiraiiied erolieisiii."
Unable to face up to the fact of his own proceedings arc not as fully realised as

34
 !

NECnONOMICON 2

LE FRISSON DES VAMPIRES

Saturated colours, midnight rituals and nubile vampire girls baring theirfangs and everything else,

can mean only one thing - yes, Jean Rollin is back again !

hades of E)on Sharp's Kiss of dominates the picture, headstones Jut- churchyard as red and blue lights pro-
Vampire ( 1962) as a hon- ting through the mist-enshrouded at- vide an eerie glow.

S
ihe
eymoon couple. (Sandra Ju- mosphere with smt^e billowing across Rdlin's roving camera also caresses
licn and Jean Marie Durand), the illuminated night sky. If you've ever the interior settings of the castle, its

visit a relative’s medieval cas- seen Alice Cooper's ’Welcome to my bizarre embellishments including a
tle only to be infonncd that the hosts are Nightmare* concert video you’ll know skull-head cxnament on the mantlepiece,

now dead. where the ’gore-rocker’ got his ideas skull candlehc^ders adorning the walls
aiut lo crompiete the skeletal influence -
This revelation is followed by the from 1

appearance of a pair of voluptuous a ’decorative' skull lies sub-

female vampires who seemingly merged in a fishtank

adcm the castle like baroque orna- Elsewhere, contorting
ments, and a couple of pontificat- branches twist around the master
ing, kaftan-wearing hippy vam- bedtocmi, books throw themselves

pires - Michael Delahaye and off library shelves whilst vampire

J^ues Robicdlcs (who later went girls indulge in lesbian foreplay,

on to become a film-maker loo). ravishing each other atop a fur-

After much prc^ound comment lined bed.

and lengthy nocturnal graveyard Besides these diversely dislo-

ceremonies, Durand fails in his cating images, where else but in a

attempts at saving his wife from Rollin film would a grandfather

the mark of vampirism as she ex- clock's midnight chimes herald

pires during a ’sun-kissed’ finale. the dramatic entrance fmn within
Though last issuesLevres De it, of a gorgeous vampire (Domi-

Sang is probably Rollin's most nique). or her equally startling

critically acclaimed picture. Fris- later on - signalled by

son is his best known thanks to its thunder as she oozes

unusually wide (for Rollin!) Eun> freon behind some gigantic

pean and US distribution, and is in (kapes - ccm|:^te with black cloak

many respects, his most acccssi- id silver spkes protruding from

Ue vampire film. 1

His usual |»eoccupatioas with As if to reinforce the theatri-

saturated colour schemes, lengthy cabQ' of the proceedings, she then

dolly shots, eerie architecture and pounces on a victim, draining their

lush, sandy beaches are all present, blood a cheneographed attack

in

but are also helped alcmg with resembling a perverse blood bal-
sewne stunning imagery and a breath- Low -angled shots show the castle let

taking guitar scese as notes scream and towering skywards whilst female vam- The final scenes show Julien vam-
wail before giving way to chugging pires cradle giant candleabras - the light pirised on a bleak beach locale, despite
chords arxJ an infuriatingly catchy rifil shimmering through the gloom as weird the attempts by Durand to save her.
Genre critic David Pirie has termed Inrd-like whoc^ punctuate the night Instead ,
he has to watch helplessly as

Rollin. "the Claude Lebouch" of the air. Towards the end the film the Julien becomes the ’filling* in a deadly
vampire cinema - a director overdosing graveyard plays host to a succession of vaminre sandwich - one bite is enough,

cm image over cxmient and Frisson is no other painterly images as a pigeon bleeds but the frenzied attack, accompanied

exception. on a gravestone before the final

to death by a soaring guitar, sees all three perish

A suitably imposing graveyanJ blood cerememy takes jAdce in the in a dual d^tth/orgasm - their twitching
 !

NECRONOMICON 2

bodies disintegrating in the rapidly ris-

ing sun.
Rollin's eye for a picturesque scene
is scMnetimes hampered by his ear for a
purportedly "profound" comment or
two from his "enlightened" bloodsuck-
ers who ccmtinually debate the existen-
tial predicament of the vampire. Thus.
"The dead are present with us, and that
is not fanaticism. Those who dm't know

us accuse us erf* sacrilege and blas[:4)emy.

Our time is devoted to pursuing the

memory of eternal darkness."
Although they "despise their situa-

tion", these angst-ridden vampires

explain, "It is a great honour. A very
important privilege You couldn't es-
.

cape your destiny. Cultured people of-

ten come to us. You can't elude your
destiny." So we don't just have vam-
- Instead, sufficient to heed the warn- lasting eternity, and pursued for ever,
pires here but bourgeois vampires it is

ing from one female character that, their fatal destiny." For Rollin's vam-
even worse
"This malediction which ours must pires here, the real horror is that their
With much of Rollin's work, it is is

not be passed onto others", concluding lives will never end, instead condemned
better ti> your eyes upon the sump-
feast
to scratching out a miserable existence
tuous \ isuals rather than sti^ to ponder her poignant statement on vampirism
by explaining the creature's ever- as they continue their living "death".
the finer intricacies of vampire life. "

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NECRONOMICON 2

unsettling enough, but as he turns to

know what you're thinking.
Why a tv movie in a film maga- walk away, Straker springs up into view,
glares, growls "Good Evening" before

I zine ? Well, the glib answer

so it
would be that
released theatrically in Europe
docs constitute a film, but what the
Salem's Lot was
Salem ’s walking off into the distance, the
lamps providing a spectral

is
light.

Straker's startling initial appearance

later added to by an exquisite shot d*
street

heck - it's actually one of those increas-

a good tv him posing in his antiques shop^ sitting
ingly rare specimens - film.

Fot once, the "deadening propriety"

oT the small screen works to this film's
advantage as the accelerating pace and
Lot next to a macabre skull artifacL
Hooper also accentuates the tension
by conventional means - namely, the
loathcsome Barlow, although the om-
atmospheric flourishes converge to f«m
II Mill ciin imagine nipotent villain of the piece, he isn't
a captivating conclusion.
There is very little visiWe violence in ri->l(ii) IMaci.'. tinh nith actually glimpsed unbl almost half-way
through the film, though his reputation
the film, just an all-pervasive threat o f Naiupiri’s
violence continually bubbling beneath
certainly proceeds him. As Straker quips

the story and which creates a cogent

*•
Doalh is Inn llic to the inquisitive Mears; " Youll enjoy

degree of tension. monstirs ycl nou.” Mr Barlow and he'll enjoy you," ho,bo
indeed !

Stephen King's best-selling (of

( Mark Pctrii in Sak iii's I .nt i

Elsewhere, Hooper's visual deceits

course!) book detailing a sleepy Maine
are in full flow on numerous occasicMts.
township invaded by vaminres doesn't
exactly scream the wads "Tobe Hot^r An illicit affair is broken up by a shot-
gun toting husband, the amorous lov-
direct", but he certainly proved to be a
a new book based the eerie house on er's escape into the night air proving to
shrewd choice.
the Marston House, now be short-lived as a bony black hand
HcK^r .if anyone can. perfectly dem- the hill -

"home" to Straker and Barlow. reaches out menacingly tow 2iFds him.
onstrates the fickle nature the film
industry and its audience, first hailed as Although from the outset, we know
the new messiah fa his primal classic what is going to transpire, it is to Hoop-
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( 1974), er's considerable credit that what fol-
then universally condemned for the lows is an altogether gripping piece,
long-awaited sequel he finally deliv- both physically and mentally.
ered, befoe being ccwisigned to relative For starters, this is one of those rare

oblivion with a siring of big-budget occasions in film where size does mat-
box-office flops including Invaders ter - the longer tv version running al-

from Mars ( 1 9^), Lifeforce ( 1 985) and most twice as long at 3 hours than the
Spontaneous Combustion (1990). truncated theatrical version, and skill-

The garish title of Chainsaw, its con- fully managing to build upon the char-
temporary setting together with its acterisation of all the town's diverse

equally modem killer, is a quantum inhabitants.

leap from the traditional vampiric crea- The shorter film version is unbal-
tures which King's novel evokes. How- anced • featuring too much expositiem
ever, Hooper’s ability to suggest ex- and too little acbon in the first half, with

treme violence without actually show- the exact opposite being true of the

ing it in explicit detail in Chainsaw remaining half.

serves him well in Salem's Lot and its These minor quibbles aside. Hooper
attendant tv restrictions. manages to tmbruc the film with con-
The basic plot, of a centuries old siderable stylistic elan - far removed
vampire, Barlow (Reggie Nalder) and flat-looking, zoom-
frem the obligatory The Click brothers midnight short-

henchman, Straker (James

his egregious happy cameras which frequently be- cut, back through the misty woods is

Mason) moving to a quiet New England tray their tv film origins. then curtailed as one boy falls down in
town with the express aim oL transform- Here, the camera is fluid, ever mov- the suddenly gusting wind, whilst his

ing it into a vampire colony, is rela- ing as high angle shots, low angle and brother stares in close-up into the cam-

tively straightforward. artfully composed dolly shots abound. era only for the cloaked figure of Straker

Enter the struggling author, Ben One early example sees Ben staring up right in front of him without
to rear

Meats (David Soul), who, upon return- at the ubiquitous Marston House on the warning - a real jaw-dropping shock to
ing to his honetown, begins to research night d* his amval, its sinister aspect is the audience.

37
NECRONOMICON 2

Hooper then expertly stages several down to the "inviting" coffin below. (Ed Flanders) lifted up and impaled on
other frightening surprises to jolt the Once he finally jumps down and opens a wall of deer antlers by Stiver, the
Mike finds the motionless nefarious servant is then finally shot - a
viewer further. Ben is attacked by a the coffin,
who bursts out of a corpse, a cut-away shot to his face volley of bullets eventually killing him.
jealous boyfriend
bedroom wardrobe to land a knock-out dispelling the danger only f<x a side- Destroying Bartow proves even
punch, before he himself becomes a profile shot to then reveal the boy sat harder as Ben and Mark stake him re-

victim- only this lime of the vampiric bolt-upright and ready to pounce on the peatedly through the heart before his

Barlow whose bony hand caresses open mesmerised gravedigger. gnarled features dissdve into dust - all

Mike himself then returns to haunt the while, the remaining vampires creep-
a prison cell door, his cloaked pres-
cence the epitome of evil as his eyes the living, the metronome sound of a ing agcmisingly closer to the duo before
glare and his mouth utters an animal- creaking rocking chair indicating his they realise the danger attd board up the

like snarl as he swoops to claim his fvescence to school-teacher Jason Burke adjacent door which seperates them
(Lew .Ayres). After an uneasy silence frean the vampires.
victim.
under Jason's watchful stare, Mike's Having then torched the whole house,
The most celebrated scare set-piece
however, is when Danny Click's vampire eyes then glare open and a we are then left to listen to the agonised
younger brother, now vampirised, floats flickering longue ordering him to "Look screams of the creatures trapped inside,
window, surrounded at me teacher. Look at me." whilst a final shot of a full moon with
eerily outside the
ethereal mist, his taloned fingers A well-positioned crucifix, ie. in front Barlow's features superimposed on it
by an
scratching the glass, beckoning his of his face, disperses this vamjMre but fsovides a disquieting, almost sublimi-

him Datmy respcMids not the master himself as Bartow makes nal final image.
brother to let in.

accordingly whereupon the obligatory a dramatic entrance - crashing through Whilst Hooper's film doesn't capture

vampiric fangs come into view as the a window into Mark Petrie's (Lance all the diverse themes and nuances of

Kerwin) house, a twitching mound the lengthy source novel, it certainly

boy rears above Danny before bearing
heaped on the floor for a single momoit generates enough atmosphere and vin-
down to bite his neck.
know it's pretty silly when
1 you've before moving rapidly to smash the tage set-pieces to remain a compelling

endured such harrowing as Can-

titles skulls together of Marit's helpless par- variatirm on the bot^.
nibal Holocaust and Last House on the ents. Marie's own escape is facilitated Even with a lengthy running time,
scene always by a cross-bearing priest who is chal- screen limitations force Hooper to cem-
Left, but this particular
lenged by Straker thus; " Your faith dense the action on film to a small
chills my spine like no other.
against his faith (Bartow's). Is your sectiem of the town where'as in the book

faith enough ?'. Ultimately, it proves an CTiire town is destroyed by Bartow's

hmlln not as the fxiest and crucifix are crushed all-embracing evil.
l)anii\ \ y(iiiiiii< r r,

by the vampire. One of the book's most disturbing

iitiw \-anii>in\c{l. JliKiis
As the local sheriff flees the carnage; passages is also jettisoned to satisfy
ccnlv nul'-icli the u illthiu
stringent tv guidelines, so there are no
"This town's falling apart and you're
MirroiimU il hy <in t ilu ri al
running* Ben shouts acusingly, the now scenes of the young mother, who, in a
mist. hi\ la/oiu il liiiin /• rapidly-increasing vampire numbers state of shock, continues to spoon-feed

liiiiii (It i/u y/</Ns make the Marston House their lair, her now dead baby. Also Barlow, a

where they are tracked to by Ben, his cultured, almost urbaite villain in the
(111(1 In i koiiiiii' hi'< hniilu r
girlfriend Susan (Bonnie Bedelia) and novd, is rendered on film as a hideous,
to k I kllll III."
^xecfales demon, his lat-loodied fanp.
Mark. Having seen a fellow survivor,

Having survived this scare though,

proves to be only the beginning, as
during Danny's funeral (his death being
accredited to "pernicious anemia"),
clouds swirl across portentiously to
en\ elop a hriherto clear sky as the wind
begins to howl and the town gravedig-
ger, Mike (Geoffrey Lewis) finds him-
self transfixed by the boy's gleamirig
metallic coffin awaiting its burial.

The tension is really milked here as

low angle shots from the coffin stare
unblinkingly back up to Mike, before
high-angle shots gaze unflinchingly
 )

NECRONOMICON 2

bald head and hypnotic eyes evoking

the memory of F W Mumau's Nosfer-
am (1922).
The film does also add to King's
vam^Mre mythos in a varied of diffeient
ways. There's an unnerving real-life

similaritybetween David Soul and

Lance Kerwin which provides a Iditd of
brotherly bonding, highlighted by
Mark's fascination with horror films
which enables him to thwart an earli^
vampire attack, this specialist knowl-
edge being paralleled by Ben's almost
mystical obsession with the Marston
House which indeed becomes a "fle-
shcd-out" character in the film.
It's rotting, rancid interiors mirror
the festering soul of the vampire, it's

dusty atmosphere conjuring up a Gothic

milieu, whilst the imposing staircase
proves to be as much a centrepiece as
Hitchcock's similar stairwell in Psycho
(1960), and the stained glass windows
suggest religious connotations which
are at odds with the vile occupants of
the house.
Mason's superb performance as
Straker is also an intriguing variant cm the scenes of the jilted husband having An entirely unconnected, lame-

the Rcnfield character from "Dracula". caught his "rival" yTagranfe delirio wirh brained sequel, A Return To Salem's
No fly-eating or slavish devotion for his wife, and fcHcing the terrified man Lor (1987) surfaced later from the spo-
him - he is almost as powerful as his to put the barret of a loaded shotgun into radically interesting director Larry Co-
master, Barlow, is certainly more ur- his mouth and pull the trigger, and ot' an hen, but forget this imposter and re-

bane and positively oozes malevolence equally jilted boyfriend who leaps fremr serve a place in your own horror pan-
•most noticeable as he visiMy 'preens" out of a wardrobe to punch Ben, are theon for the original film - a chilling,

himself whilst unwrapping the body of both rendered almost as terrifying as fear-filled epic which will certainly have
the young Click boy, a 'tasty morsel' the supernatural prescence of the lllm's you investigating any weird scratching
he is pleased to present before his mas- vampires. noises on your bedroom windows at

ter. Despite these minor flaws however, night

it’s stilla majestic work from Hooper,
his sweeping camera movements and
ti\ rolling, ram it! audacious shock tactics more than com-

inU riiin pensating, as do the (fex once), well-

iiiirnu' tjte
drawn characters who inhabit the small
'Iht you hclievc a thint’
f'csiirini’ soul iifi/ic
town locale. can he inlicrciilly cvH.
yampin-." During the course of the film Ben
HiniM * Do you believe
( an it he evil in its
('flu asks; a thing can be
Can it be evil in its stone
inherently evil. stone f'iniinlalions, its

foundations, its wooden beams, in the WiKulen beams, in the

,

Harry Sukman's straining strings glass of its windows, the f^aster of its
think that an evil house at-
li/aw (tj its svindnws,
score the film to perfection, though ceilings. I

somewhat derrivative of Bernard Her- tracts evil men." the plaster of its eeiUni’s.
mann's staUng score for the aforemen- Well, having watched the film you'll
/ think that an evil
tioned Psycho. find this a persuasive argument, per-
If anything, the film's only major fectly enc£q}sulating the insinuating evil house attraets evil men.'
flaw is Hixipcr's own talent (or f»esent- which seemingly emanates from inside
ing natural, everyday scenes of horror the house, and also flagrantly mani-
to us in a convincing manner. As such. fests itsdf in the vampiric bests it houses.

30
 "

NECRONOMICON 2

RAM STOKER'S

A lavishly mounted, technicolour extravaganza from one of Hollywood's most

visionary directors - but does the film really live up to the hype ? Why not find out...

W hilst

la's
Francis Ford Coppo-
big-budgel Dracula
does laudably follow
closely the varying plot contrivances of
its literary

ticn
inspiration, its chaiacterisa-

of Dracula himself stresses roman-

Vlad The Impaler, are an indication of
the sumptuous ’’pleasures" which cot-
timially unfurl.
It's this disquieting

mated coprees hung

imagery
on wooden
limfriy

stakes soaring skywards, which evokes

- erf* deci-
the cross, before fwoclaiming, *
nounce God
who feed off him.
in hell

••
-

I
so shall
- and

n-inniiu c (ttnl
If
!
all

my
you hypocrites
beloved burns

anil
1 re-

ticism rather than reality and main- a kind of perverse religious iconogra-
all \'Hi hypiH iili '- who
stream expediency as opposed to the phy, and indeed, it is the subsequent
maverick creativity of its director. inversion of this spiritual theme which fccil of/' him. H my
Stoker'svampre, though undoubt- hclomi hiinis in lu ll -
"
edly alluring to women, and possessing flit II so shall I
a powerful erotic charge, is still basi-
cally a tormented soul, condemned to
Vlad's impassioned response here as he
eternal life (not love), far removed from
dirusts a lancet into a giant stone cruci-
the o\ erly romantic figure portrayed in
fix is to literally strike into the heart of
this film.
God, as Wood effuses from stone an-
However, emee you can force your-
gels to fcom a torrent gushing down the
self to accept this extensive artistic li-
altar steps - a microscopic view of the
cence, and the disasterous casting an
"living cells" in Elisabeta's Wood sym-
ineffectual Keanu Reeves as Jonathan
bolising that the "Wood is the life".
Harker, and the vaf»d Winona Ryder as
If anything, the emotional impact
Mina/Elisabeta. then you may actually
a and physical dynamics contained in
find yourself enjoying the film for
these scenes prove to be the apex of
variety of different reasons.
Coppola's achievements in the film -
You may think it sheer madness to
none of the remaining sequences can
liaise a film given these circumstances
equal, let alone better this opening sec-
but cinema, as the word implies, is a
ti<m.
purely visual art, and it's the consider-
For the remainder of the film, we
able \ isual elan here which elevates the
have to rely on old style effects and
film to classic rather than catastrophic
provides Vlad Dracul with his sangui- camera tricks (Orson Wells, circa
status - image over content yes. but then
nary motivation as he finds his love, 1930's) to enliven the proceedings and
far too many contemporary films pos-
Elisabeta, strewn across a church altar supplement the unfolding drama.
sess neither.
- dead. With this in mind, there arc (thank-
The saffron hues which envelop the
As Vlad declares' " 1 Dracula, fully), no scene-stopping, and there-
opening scenes of Vlad Tepes, essayed
Voivode of Transylvania, will arise frem fore, stealing, pyrotechnics to obscure
ina bitter ccHtllict with the Turks, count-
my own death to avenge hers with all the varying human emotions at the exm
less bodies speared high on stakes, ec-
the powers of darkness ", in a parallel of the film. Instead, more subtle embel-
nly silhouetted against the reddening
with Christ's own own resurrection fnati lishments occur so ominous clouds
sk\ and so earning him the sobnquet ctf

40
 )

NECRONOMICON 2

personalities, being capable of ambigu- beyond all human experience,,., an enor-

ous sexuality - deliciously licking the mous power", and whilst admitting that
blood from Marker's shaving razor and Lucy ' lives beyiwid the grace d God ",

also romancing Mina, or pouncing sav- Van Helsing understands the true hor-
agely on a victim like a drxxrling wild ror explaining that " we fight not one
beast in order to suck their very life beast but legions, that go on aga after
from them. age. feeding on the blood d the living."
It is this kind of diversity, together The snow-capped ctmclusion amitisl
with the captivating picture of evil as the hostile environment of Dracula's
presented by Lucy (in Sadie Frost's Carpathian lair secs even Van Helsing
bravura performance), which com- momentarily altraclcd by the lure of
pletely overshadows those who repre- evil ashe contemplates a decidedly
sent the side d leiigiixis purity - it poses carnal caress with the possessed Mina,
the question, maybe the devil really before regaining his senses to ward off
does have all the best "tunes” after all. both her advancxis, and thtise of Dracu-
Whilst Anthony Hopkins mugging la's vampire brides who materialise
of Van Helsing's valiant character ex- before him, (mly to be vanquished by
hibits thesame weaknesses as Sir Lau- the circle of flame Van Helsing creates.
rence Olivier's perf ormance over a dec-
ade earlier in John Badham's version,
dissolve into shots of Dracula's hyp- Lucy is seen as a vibrant person in life, JVt not one beast
notic eyes while ethereal blue flames enjoying the implied eroticism of the but legions, that go on
cloak Castle Dracula with the expres- "Arabian Nights" and as an alluring age after age. feeding on
sionist veneer of F W Mumau's Fausl. vampire temptress in "death" - her
the blood of the living.
"
Marker's approach, ascending the chalky complexion and ruby Ups de-
stone steps to the imposing castle, (
Van Helsing in Dracula'
is scribed thus; " 1 a>uld see a white face
bathed in translucent light, lending a and red, gleaming eyes " as she beckons
gleaming, faiiy tale aura to the proceed- her husband to "come to me" before a
ings straight out of Herzog's visionary hastily thrust crucillx breaks the spell. Dracula's easuing death, slabbed with
NosferalU (1979). It is as if even in death. Lucy is a bowie knife, does restore some au-
Other, equally stylised aesthetic in- desirable, " Never did I .sec such baffled thenticity to Hollywtxxl's usually "un-
fluences shine through the film, from malice on a face.... The beautiful aMour faithful" adaptations of the bivok with
the arm-shaped torch holders which became livid, the eyes seemed to throw the dying vampire king's emotive last
adorn the castle walls (it's own unique out sparks of hell-fire." breath uttering the plaintive, " Give me
architecture inspired by the paintings of From the bullish Van Hcising, it is peace."
Kupka), to the earth and elemental sym- verbal sparks which fly, diagnosing his So. as an accurate retelling of the
bols - birds, dragons, snakes and fire prey thus. " We are dealing with forces original novel, well yes, it Just about
which permeate the opulent costumes
and sets, also invoking the piescencc of
Dracula's distinctive crest.
As if a combination of all these ele-
ments, Gary Oldman's excellent por-
Uayal d" the Prince of Darkness is nota-

ble not only for his dynamic range but

also his chameleon-like appearances
throughout the film which reveal the
depths of his personality and betray the
longevity of his miserable existence.
His numerous incarnations as Dracula
include an androgenous appearance with
flowing red cloak and bleached white
hair, his train billowing behind like a
vivid sea of Hood, a debonair city dandy
complete with hat and tails, to a mon-
strous werewolf creature with erubes-
cent eyes.
He runs a whole gamut d differing

41
NECRONOMICON 2

cits H. bit as an accurate po(tra>al of Draoda

himself - well forget it. He is shown to

become mcve a Valentino than a pretMory

vampire- not exactly one of Stoker’s more

salient themes, but such concerns are soroe-

what swamped any case by Coppola's
in

elaborate visual style, as the director him-

self admitted to fostering " a kind of evoca-
TO TRACI?
CAN YOU SAYNO
tive, poetic use of imagery , in order to

render " almost a dream state" here.

Coppola's fascination for symbcdism. very

much an aesthetic, artistic reaction to the
rapidly growing inTuence of science and
industry in an increasingly secular world,
coupled with his drug absinthe-laced rebel-
lion against bourgeoise society, provides an
added sub-text to the picture to complimerH
the compelling visuals.
In his opulent sets, decorative costumes
and imaginative staging. Cc^ipola has at the
very least, presented us with an unusually
attractive addition to the crowded vampire

genre, and may even have provided the

catalyst fra- a Dracula renaissance as regards
the celluloid canon
His influence in terms of inspiring crea-
and undoubted mass appeal,
tivity. quality

so renewing interest in the genre once again,

is appropriate given the vampire's ability to
revitalise and regenerate its own eternal

existence.
If Coppola's film does provide this impe-
las then w ouldnH that be a deliciously ironic
legacy for croppola's film to symbolise.

42
 NECRONOMXXm 2

After the critical success, of the pop-promo styled

” Hardware” jNecronomicon spoke to director
Richard Stanley about his latest feature^ filmed

in the arid Namibian desert and discovered how

of a soul-steaUng serial killer defied
this tale
production problems to rise phoenix like from
the ashes and materialise on our screens.
With influences ranging from Sergio Leone's
Spaghetti westerns to the thrillers ofAlfred
Hitchcock, " Dust Devil” has been described as

" combining Pale Rider's mysticism with Hannibal

Lecter social skills.
'*

Intrigued ? Then follow our journey into the

ancient myths and magic of deepest Africa and learn
about Stanley's ambitious future project.
Your going bt^k to your oumroatmwlth embreting -Hremlnda me of Hhehceck'a InDual Devil you have to believe In AM-
Dutt DovU • a verypetaonal film ? camera apiraling round acreen lovera In can magic to eombef evil. Ancient cue-
hla lllma. la he a big Influence and who toma and the aupematural aeema very
kind of my obHgation mom to that part of elae Inapiree you ? Important here ?
the world. floured that belore moving on
I

and trying to write movies about America or I'd say a lair amount. A lot of people here
any other place don't know that well,
I 1 missed the fact (or a long time that the
needed to try and say something about hitchhiker character in Dust Devil
where came from. couldnl walk away from
I I named 'flitch''. This Is just as
15 years of back history without getting in a cock nod as it is a hitchhiker
word edgeways really.
The vrmy he made Hlma - would you eay
Iwas very inbigued at the number of myths
which show up worldwide and that Nunibia
was nick- and South Africa are full of avenging hitch-
much a Hitch- hiker stories where people you pick up then
referertce. disappear out of your car and the usual,
realy reliable accounts from local policemen
and all sorts of other people who daim to pick

Has H bean a catfiartfc Ifim. Have you he haa been more of an Influence
ffiaf these guys up. The core of the Oust Devil
exorclaed
^mona on the ecreen
some of your
?
omt pereona! than aayArgento
tioned ?
who la frequently mart- figure
with a
is the 'Night Walker', who ^
can trap
magic stick and quite a few ideas like
this carved stick which you use to catch flie
I'm not sure we succeeded m exor-
whether The Italians are a huge influence on me. The thing ar)d the way that the Oust Devil has this
cising them or whether we just managed to whoie bunch obviously are a lot more impor- problem with either its shadow or its reflec-
Invoke something (laughing). As turned It tant than anything thafscome recently and tion also appears In Are film. The Image of
out things got pretty hellish. most people have trouble seeing back much itsetf seems to be so dose to the ideas of the

further than say Near Da/kot The Iktcher. western vampire myth mat I'm often quite
The Duet Devil tigura la beeed on a real- amazed.
figure from your own experienee ?
life
A kjt of modam IWma am leeMatlc do you -

He's kind of a composite of a whole bunch of think we need more ffima like Dual DevU
things. AtIts most primal level was trying to I wNfi Ita mythical quellOea ?
find this figure ofThe Man With No Narrte*.
the walking man, this character who seems Well, certainly think mythology Is very ne-
I

to show up In ail the spaghetti westerns and glected In a way. People seem to be torget-
in so many different novels and rock songs, •ng very rapidly ar>d are overall very dsinter-
lthink he's been around a hell of a tong time ested. I’m not so sure whether one could
but they haven't quite got as tar as showing make more movies in that there's a resound-
the Arora monster model kit from H arrd at the Irtg lack of interest ki it all. Very few people
same time I think he's clearly Identfflable. seem to have the slightest Interest In myths
I've just him with the real-life
kind of linked tttesedays.
from Bethany who was never
serial killer
re^ caught, so theretore one can set one^ There'a a very Gothic abnoephem In Cop-
own imagination loose on the whole thing... peWa Dreaila though on a mom opUmle-
He note?
You've mentioned Spaghetti Waatam to-
Auertcea butthefbmaleoMaplaveeldnd I think Dracula helped Dusf Devk a little in
of Hitchcockian tenalon. There'a aleo a that it at least got It off the sheff. A year ago

greet blrde^ya vtem ahot of the lead rto one urtderstood anytting about what was
pleyefa on the edge of a precipice, goirrg on in Ousf OewH. At least after Dracula

43
 NECRONOMICON 2

came out aN of a sudden people seemed to world theyYe in (In the tlm), R almost starts to versfor? of TTie lelsnd ot Dr.Moteeu, ‘kt
understand wttat was going on a bit better hinder their discovering that theyYe actualty the tradition at Cennmel Hoktcauet
artd didn't keep asking questions about bow in a movie, l-lteh's photographs also serve as
he comes to appear and dsappear the whole continuity potaroids Ike that. I toink I was taktog the pies toal day t It^ quits
time In the film and what the hell's going on,
80 they w«re very confused about 1 2 months TheDustDevaseemstobesnsms/gsms-
ago. So Dracula helped Dust DevfTs cause a
What we re aiming at is
tlenolmsnydlllStentehsiwelsrs-lsttthls
little. which ghee him his power ? trying to pull off something
like a Planet of the Apes
kiDust Devil you explen earthier Mnge I figure that the actual classic Mack magician of the 90's. What I'm hoping
such as rsdsm msring Its ugly heeil srtd character in a way is probably quite heavily
man^rMa humsn relstlonsMps. Is this related to all these archetypes and think toat I
we don do 't is wind up

•guaiy fmportanrin tfM Mn *1 addWon to elements ot werewolves and vampires tend rrcaiing another Nightbrced.
the mythicsl elamentt ? to naturally fit together quite well. And apart
from the tact that vampires have a habit of nasty. It contains, Hke Dust Devil, a whole

Wen. figured wanted to tie It in to ideas of

I I turning into wolves and things, know that a 1 bunch ot different genres welded together by
red horror and If there's golr>g to be a devil I lot ofHack magicians are either meant to be the time Ifs over.l've been working with
had to tie him Into ideas of where evN lay. On able to suck peoples vital essences or turn Michael Herr, the writer of "Dtopatches". the
one level was trying to use those two plot
I Into werewolves themselves. VIetoam war novel and Apocalypse Now and
threads to pinpoint what figured were the I
Full Meta/ Jacket, and who came on as the
two worst problems In South Africa at the Have you ultimately achieved whst you American dialogue writer. We've bastoalty
morrrent. eet out to with the releaee ot Duet Deva? oome up wflh a re\toton and an update of the
Wells novel.
fa been guMe a battle lor you to gel the
I Ifs probably too eaity lor me to be able to
IHm releeaetl ? How will H G Wells sllsgsd support lor
concen tration camps Inllusnos ths pl^
Yes. Palace ceased to exist before the film turs?
got finished and then It kind of got dropped
and shooting was never quite completed. I doni buy It personally. I'm quite a big
Towards the end. script pages were tom out defender of Wells and think that just be- I

In handfuls and then everything just wourtd cause he writes about mese things we can't
down and there were about eight people toll rally condemn hkn as necessarily speaking
in the crew by the end ot the shoot. Every* vMh the ’Votoe* of Moreau, in that feel In I

thing just disappeared Into limbo for about 2 most of Wells' work, utopia Is Ike The Time
years and has been finished as best we Machine or under Dr. Moreau, things are
could, basically out ot my own pocket There pretty dodgy from the outset and think I

have been quite a few problems where tor •is/d be hard-pressed to think that Wells is
instance, we couldn't use certain footage actually approving ot life on ths Island.
and also couktol afford to bring the cast her*
again to re-shoot. So on the whole. Ifs been Your version eeunde ekteer to the eertter
a bit ot a patchwork affair, trytng to weave t» tetend of Loet Soule (1»U) then the JW-
reins of it back again. immeke, The Island ot Or. Horesu
(1§77)7
7?w eiMeepf of time Is nolleesbie In essh
ersi scenes • the Dust Devil takes potsS" Yas. hated the remake. found very little
I I

eUeolNsvIctlmt, aelf^mosttocaplum worthwhile in IL In the script at the morrwnt

s portion of thek ms, end In a Irter ehteim we've tried to portray Moreau as a kind of
scene the Him Itself flickers snd fSlls off cross between an Old Testament prophet
scree n • sn Interesting sub-text ? figure that out. IH have to steep on It a whHe and Josef Msngele (I) One of the characters
and take a look at the rrwvie in a couple of origInaRy referred to toe island in the script as
There's kind of two things going on. Partially years and cross that question ! "Auschwitz on sea", but we had to remove
It'scapturing the soul, in a lot of African that after complaints from the Ameitcarts. I

countries taking a photograph Is construed
as catching someone's soui.Also, toere's the
more complex idea of the black magician
character trying to escape
and escape back Into the spirit world to try
and break through the barrier between worlds.
In a lot of African countries
taking a photograph is
construed as catching
someone's soul.
Beceueeotthewtoueproblemeyouhed
In making the fttm towarde the end ot ttie
ehoot, Ite poeelbly not the version you
kom lirrear reality envtaeged making si ths start ?
I'd say on the one hand but at the
that's true
same time the chaotto and at times, pretty
catastrophic progoss ot the movie In some
ways has made It fairty unique. lYn not realy
sure It coukt have been made under any
other circumstances. think that a sense of
I fonvard to the cheUenge ?
the accidental probably translates onto the
screen quite well. Like the film snappir)g or
the car accident in the last reel,
of that feeling of everything being terribly
tried to retain toe war crime aspect ot It all.
and by up-dating it I've also tried to bring tt out
a bit more by making toe castaway character
Into a CM righto lawyer wortdng tor the Untied
Nations, rather than making him just the
gentleman ot leisure in the rtowel.
Thsrs's going to be a Isrgs numbsr ot
creatures hare, something ebeerrt from
your ptsvloua IHme - arm you looking
Ine^taMy. Ifs a coloesal chalertge but this
is
I think a lot a 'Ynake or break* project tor me In that If R al
goes wrong Imagine wool be working
I I

chaotic and almost incidental kind ot comes again. At thesame time, H H al goes itghL we
Time is very much
a concept applyirtg only to across quite well. just might end up with some kind of cross-
our probably the first thing to snap
reality. ITs over ino>ae. n k^
a horror audtonce happy
and be discarded. think as the characters
I
but at toe same time be retovant enough for
start to understand the parameters ot the Tail me about your next profeet • e SIS toe mainstream.
 NECRONOMICON 2

A monumental picture of unrequited love, greed and avarice, dreams and revenge - all
set in the sometimes beautiful, sometimes hostile sage brush of the American West.
Cowboys and Indians it ain't.

O nce upcm a time, in the

ing pararie wastes of the

American mid-west, lived a
prevailing Hollywood myth - that all
yawn- cruelty, couf^ed with
stylised violence. Silent
extreme but very
honour and
revenge abound in jMctures populated
with sleazy figures and desperadoes, all

cowboys and lawmen were good, hon- egocentric characters appearing like
est men. If not, they would be clad all refugees from some pasta-land horror
in black and however despicable a film.

character, however cunning a gun- Leone further peeled back the fron-
man, they would undoubtedly perish tiers of the western genre by juxtapos-
at the hands of one of these oh so ing familiar myths with catholic sym-
righteous men. This American Dream bolism and accentuating the vastness of
was about to be shattered, and by d* all the landscape by creating operatic, al-
people, an Italian !
most ritual style film requiems - their
The late Sergio Lecme had grown length echoing the very background
up with the now stilted, formula pic- they were filmed in. Here, Leone re-
tures ofJohn Wayne and others that wrote the boc^ as Almeria in Spain
rxile

preached heroism and dwarfed the generally substituted for the US/Mexi-
screen with arid landscapes, calling can border. His first western, A Fistful
themselves High Noon (1952) and of Dollars (1964) was in fact a co-
Shane {1953) to name but two. Alter- production between Germany. Spain
natively, others such as Howard and Italy, so it was in every sense, a
Hawks would reuse the same ingredi- European western. The remainder of
ents, only adding elements of comedy synonymous with his name. Leone's this film trilogy. For A Few Dollars

as in Rio Bravo (1959). Leone em- westerns, as the name implied, were More (1966) and The Good, The Bad
braced a new realisation sweeping more cosmopolitan, combining differ- and The Ugly (1967), both improved cm
across America in the 1960's as native ent elements that would gel like the and sealed Leone's
their predecessors

American Indians, previously ridi- colourful ingredients in his native cui- collaboration with composer
fertile

culed as "redskins" and "savages" be- sine. So, radiant sunshine would be as Ennio Morricone, whose epic, yet
came known and recognised (if not smouldering cheese and garish blood- quirky scores give each picture even
accepted) as fellow Americans. Leone shed became its tomato accompanie- more individuality.

used these cultural changes to push ment - all set out atop a gaping land- Leone's Europiean approach to the
back the hitherto insular boundaries scape which formed a doughy base. western mean't for taciturn anti-heroes
of the Western film and so coin the Instead of heroism and moral forti- such as Clint Eastwood, in his case
phrase, "Spaghetti Westerns", now tude. Leone emphasis^ greed and motivated by greed in The Good. The

45
NECftONOMICON 2

Bad and The Ugly or by revenge, the hitherto unseen Henry Fcmda. The shock
mobve forCh^es Bronson in Once
sole for audiences at the time must have
Upon A Time In The West ( 1968). Leo- been awesome. For here, before their
ne’s use of strong, silent characters, very own eyes stood the wholesome,
contrasted with loud bursts of gunfire American film hero Fcmda, yet here he
birds squealing has stamped an in- is the merciless orchesirator of a fami-

deliUe mark on modem-day film-mak- ly's destruction.

ers. Eastwood's calm, unruffled figure Worse still is to follow as one of

acted as the forerunner to the present Fonda's henchmen asks, " What are we
day actioneers such as Sly Stallone's The film has been described as an going to do about this one Frank ?*. A
Rambo series and Amie Schwarzeneg- "opera where the arias amt sung, they're pregnant pause ends with the chilling
ger's iron man personna. This silent, stared", and that is certainly the case reply; ' Well now that you've called me
omnipotent character has also pervaded here as eye contact is made between by name....". The pleading look in the

the hOTTor genre with an army of unspo- "Harmcmica" (Brenson) and his would- innocent boy's eyes fades as he stares
ken killei^ from "The Shape" in Hal- be assassins. Having learnt that Frank, into the barrel of Frank's gun - the

loween ( 1978) through to Jason in the his expected opponent is coming. Har- gunshot merging into a jump cut of a
plethora of Friday the 1 3th films. monica quickly proves that he can also screaming steam train, indicating that
Given this pedigree it should come make his gun "sing* by summarily des- the boy is dead.

as no surpnse that Leone's finest work. patching the trio. Fonda's famed, all embracing baby
Once Upon A Time In The West was co- As if this gradual accumulation of blue eyes have now become as barren

wntten by none other than Dario Ar- tension is not enough Leone then sur- and unforgiving as the hostile desert
gcnio. He too has since gone on to passes himself in the film’s piece de milieu. So great are the impact of these

invest many of his own films with Leo- resistance. The setting switches to opening scenes that the remainder of
ne's filmic signatures and combining Sweetwater Farm", out in the wilder- the film, to be brutally honest, can't

equally stylised violence with a motley ness as the McBain family prepare for a quite emulate the pathos and high drama
collection of bizarre charcters whose celebration meal to greet the imminent evoked here, and no wonder.
psychological instabilities are often the arrival of McBain’s new wife (Claudia Until the equally inspiring climax,

catalyst for bouts of frenzied killing. Cardinale). the following scenes arc mainly exposi-

For Once Upon A Time In The West Impending doom is indicated how- tory. Having arrived by train, Cardinale

Leone manages to aimbine all the ele- ever, as the birds stop singing and an is introduced to us as Mrs. McBain,

ments of his umque film style, decorate eerie silence reigns. Still silence, and grimly surveying the outstretched bod-
them with a memorable Moniawie score then, a gunshot rings out and in long ies of her new husband and his family,
and also play out a harsh, Argento in- shot we see a young girl fall to the lying in funereal repose on primative
ground clutching her stomach as a (lock The arrival of Jason Robards as
spired scenario that emfJoys both noMe tables.

re\enge and dream driven passions. of birds scatter noisily overhead. Cheyenne, and his subsequent rescue
The film boasts a trademark Leone Next follows a running shot of the of Harmonica from the clutches of old
opening with little dialogue but spades distraught father, McBain, as he races blue eyes, Frank, and his accomplice,

of natural sound as a three-man death to his daughters aid, only formore gun- railway entropeneur Morton, also be-

squad await an oncoming train at a shots to blast out, this time killing both gins to reveal the diverse motives which

deserted railway station in the bleak McBain and one of his sons. drive the film's protagonists.

mid-west. A constantly creaking wind A pov. shot rushes past the inside of
vane punctuates the silence with the the farmhouse as a young boy emerges
precision on a metronome, elsewhere a to look out at the devestauon now in
telegram machine rattles out its mes- front of him with virtually an entire

sage stoecato style, water drips tortur- family massacred in seconds - the bod-

ously onto a hat and a fly whins inces- ies stretched out on the spartan ground
santly in the background. ahead forming a macabre tableau.
This cacophony is pierced by the It is now only now that the unseen

whistle of the now fast approaching assailants emerge , five trench-coated

steam train. The locomotive’s arrival figures appearing from all comers of
only disappoints the deadly triumvirate the sage brush. Their menacing ap-
however, as it fails to disgourge the proach is superbly captured in the frame

visitor they are expecting. Only as the as the five gunmen all converge on the
train chugs off, accompanied by the helpless, frightened child.

haunting strains of a harmonica, does Then, a masterstroke as the camera

the frame reveal the lone figure of (taking the child's viewpoint), spirals
Charles Bnmson. onto the the radiant blue eyes of a

46
NECRONOMICON 2

47
NECRONOMICON 2

Cardinaie is not so much a grieving

widow as a voluptuous schen»r, trying
to find her late husband's unspoit wealth.

Her motives are tapered to converge

with both Cheyenne and Harmonica's s
we learn how the late McBain had as*

tutely tied lus money to his life l<mg

dream - his cherished visicm of building
and running his own private railway
station.
The ensuing battle involves the pro-

tagonists franbcally trying to erect the

unbuilt station before the fast-approach-
ing railway line is ready to be laid
through iL (A clause in McBain's docu-
ments requires the station to be built
before the track reaches it or else for-
feiting their rights to the existing land
and its potentially lucrative money
value). Battle lines aredrawn up as
Frank and Mcwton attempt to buy up the
station in their zeal to own the entire rail
complex in the west.

The grand finale inevitably culmi-

nates with the anticipated duel between
Frank and Harmonica, who, through-
out the nim, has maintained his mys-
tery identity fmn an exasperated Frank
who can vaguely recall meeting him
before. carrying the weight of his brother who
hanging perilously from an archway pulls to. The strangled tune that ema-
Harmonica will only reveal his iden- is
nates from the instrument is the leitmo-
ut\ to Frank "at the ptrint of dying". The with a rope around his neck. It is Har-
monica's support which is saving his tiff that Harmonica frfays throughout
harsh guitar strings and straining har-
by preventing the noose the film.
monica set the tone as the men traverse brother’s life
from tightening. The mastermind be- As we suddenly return to reality.
their battleground before Hnally turn-
hind this nefarious torture - yes, none Harmonica's granite stare is the precur-
ing to face each other. It is then, via
other than Frank, who callously shoves sor to his cathartic shooting of Frank.
tlashback, that we learn the reason be-
The final irony has him placing the
hind Harmonica's obssessive a h2irmcmica into the youngster's mouth
so condemn- haimcmica into the dying Frank's mouth.
pursuit of Frank. Wc see a monstrous just before he collapses -

tableau of figures surrounding a very ing his brother to his death as the rope He now knows Harmonica's identity, at

the pcxnt of dying as pcrmiised, only it is

)oung Harmonica, who, kneeling, is
his own.
The a whole remains a com-
film as
(rfete standout ftN- a number of reasons.
Morricone's evocative score is full of
lush orchestral movements which lend
the film its grandiose, epic feel, inter-
spersed with his own customary music
signatures and sapient phrasing.
The musical "character-building"
here is impressive. Whilst Harmonica's
plaintive motiff is the most salient, we
also have Cheyenne's wounded state

and eventual death signified by an

abruptly ending piece, with the sump-
tuous main theme conjuring up the feel-
ing erf* McBain's cherished railway

48
 NECRONOMICON 2

in Argento's film style, as he gives the

killers in his own films particular psy-
chological motivations in the likes of
Deep Red (1975) and Tenebrae.
Morton's deep look into a painting of
his beloved sea also surfaces in Lucio
Fulci's The Beyond (19SI) where pain-
terly landscapes become reality.
Above alt though. Leone's success
relies upcxi managing to inveigle us into
his particular world, full of desperate
men with hiddenmotives which almost
always encompass horrific violence.
It is this kind of bloodshed, coupled
with the revenge motifTs and the thought
that the'good guys" might not win -

they might not even be the "good guys"

in reality, which gives these films such
a wide-ranging appeal, especially to
dream that may yet become reality - the scales point to his downfall, the drown- fans of both the horror film and martial
perfect musical epitaph for his treas- ing of a dream, but like McBain before arts genres.
ured, epoch-making railway vision, him, he has desires, wishes to fulfill. It Leone's esche>N ai of accepted west-
aimed at transporting the primitive mid- isas if Leone is expressing his own ern genre conventiems has also opened
west into the mechanised Steam Age. view that "eadi man must have a dream". up this brand Spaghetti cinema to oth-
In addition, it is the diverse charac- As is so often the case with Leone it ers. Extreme close-ups of sweating
ters, each with their own personal, often is the visuals first, story second, a trait faces, cloying hands set against a pere-
mysterious motives, and who interplay that has been closely followed by the mally hostile envircmmcnl , are the type
superbly thoughout the film, each given aforementioned Argento in his own of stylistic trademarks which have in-
their own intricate character foibles films. References abound such as the formed so many other similar films.
which enhances the proceedings no end. climbing camera which soars above the He may have been cast in the role of
railway station to reveal an entire town a comparitive outsider loking in, but
beyond it in Leone's film. Note Argen- Leone's western's revitalised the whole
to'ssimilar camera moves in Tenebrae gerue ( in real danger of self-parody due
(1982) as the camera scales an appan- to its anachronistic nature) and saved it

ment block before angling its way in- from a rapid demise.
side. As such, his impact here is undeni-
The revelatory flashback in Once able. Leone may have handed in his
Upon A Time In The West which ex- gun but his image-conscious films will
plains the reason behind Harmonica's contioue to fascinate and inspire a whole
angst is another trait that has wound up new breed of willing desporadoes.

As such,Morton, though almost an inci-

dental figure in some respects, is not
merely a power-crazed railway mogul,
purely driven by his own zest to own the
whole western railway, but by a persist-

ent desire to see the litre reach the Pa-

cific Ocean so that he can gaze out o(
the train and tmto the water.
This perpetual dream stays with him
even to his death as fatally woutKled, he
crawls towards a gaping pool that is to
him, a minute oasis amidst the sprawl-
ing desert scrub. The descending music

49
 !

NECRONOMICON 2

KEEP
AN
EYE
OUT
FOR
JORG ! merely be dismissed as "kitchen sink”
dramas however, instead they actively
challenge the viewer to sympathise with
their "relationship", the physical aspect
helped if anything by the corpses con-

tinual stale of rigor mortis (!). but not

the characters, to understand their ac- by the putrifying mess he eventually

tionsno matter how violent or extreme becomes.
they may be and then asking each of us Without blinking an eye, Monika
to question our own morality. calmly dismembers the body and throws
Buttgereit's willingness to tackle it out with the rubbish in plastic bags,

taboo subjects such as nccrof^ilia stems saving only the head and that most
Horror art or horror pom ? not from a simplistic desire to nauseate, personal part which ends up wr^ped in
-
clingfilm on a plate in her fridge
Original and visionary or but rather to attempt to unravel such
unwholesome pursuits, as one critic frozen meat indeed !

sickand demented ? What- observed of the films, they are " insinu- With tongue firmly in (rolling)

ever your view, German di- ating, almost subtle films, not the silly cheek. Buttgereit then has Monika re-

bloodbaths of popular imagination." place her lost love with a new man - his
rector Jorg Buttgereit has
If anything, the ultimate goal of "profession" involving doing "voice-
certainly produced a Nekromantik 2 is glimpsed in the film's overs" for pom films
Once he finally realises that Moni-
thought-provoking ode to opening quotation from ma.ss murderer
Theodore R Bundy who proclaimed " 1 ka's lift doesn't quite reach the top floOT,
death with Nekromantik 2. want to master life and death." it's all too late as she strings him up,
Society's continual fascinatirwi with before later punctuating their lovemak-

film-making lalenl of and death, birth and rebirth, is star- ing with the ultimate "coitus interrup-
The precix.'ious life

tlingly evoked opening black and tus” as she .saws off his head (yeuuch!)
ytxing German director Jorg Bullgeteil in the

IS no ordinary one. and his most recent white sequence (replayed from Nekro- and replaces it with the coveted head
feature ilm, Nekromantik 2 is no ordi-
l mantik) where a man simultaneously from her dead lover to continue the sex
stabs himself in the stomach whilst in act.
nary film.
the act of masterbaling. His eventual BuUgereil's self-confessed cschcwaJ
His previous works such as the ongi-
-
nal Nekromantik and Der Todeskin il- ejaculation is of blood - a macabre of filmic etiquette " I show what 1 feel
" makes for a disturbing
metaphoralludingto the close proxim- is necessary
lusiralc u deeply personal approach to
liv ing and even more so. lo dying. Gro- ity of sex with death, that is, the act of journey into the dark obssessions of the

tesque scenes of gore and violence are procreation producing life and auto- human psyche.

i>ften merely sporadic intrusions into a matically to follow later, death. Whilst the "body in the bags" scene

more prosaic, mundane view of "rou- Death is only the beginning for betrays one of his main influences, the

Une" and are rendered all the more

life Monika M here as she exhumes her work of Abel Ferrera (whose Angel of
disturbing for that. These films cannot dead lover from the grave to "resume" Vengeance includes a similar sequence).
NECRONOMtCON 2

the primary drive behind Nekromantik virginal white Monika kisseshim be-
2 is Buttgercit's own highly individual fcHC placing a cardboard box over his
style. head and burying her stiletto heels into
Time and again formulaic images it
are presented as bizarre and confronta- However gratuitous, however grue-
tiona] rather than merely stilted compo- some all of this may be, nothing com-
sitions. The opening masturbation se- pares with the sight c^ a group female
quence may elicit sensual excitement in "necrophiles’ engourging themselves
a pom film, l»it the grotesquely rhyth- cm a diet ctf chocolates and obscene TV
mical knife-thrusts here provide a far sensationalism as they watch an ex-
more unnerving aspect to the whole plicit documentary on seal culling which
scene. features real-life atrtx:ities as seals arc
Likewise, the sight erf* Monika in M summarily eviscerated on camera.
a slinky dress, stockings and high heels The sight of the sc^s ha|^ly swim-
and wearing garish red nail perish, con- ming and playing in ihc sea befexehand,
jures up visions of a femme fatale -
a makes the whole "spectacle" even more
fantasy which soon evaporates with the jolting and callous.
thud of shovel on earth, soil on timber, What we are seeing, in elTect, is the
as she unearths her lover's corpse in an hidden cruelty of "civilised" scx;iety
act of grisly defilement. being exposed, a veneer of respectabil-
When she's not busy pondering over ity being peeled back as surely as the
her own existential deliberations, the lacerated skin fnxn the seals face in the
incongruity of Monika's ail-conquer- distanced from Monika as he is from abhorrent shockumenlary.
ing "love" for her boyfriend is readily to the girls cm the screen he ga/cs at during Elsewhere. Butlgereit invests his
the fore. Thus, she plants a smouldering his "working" day. Intimacy and love own inimitable style upon the film by
kisson the corpses decaying head. Jo- are out • he is more a spectator than a way of the historical signposts he im-
vialmusic accompanies her one-sided participant in the now "mechanised" brues it with. Take the early sequence
"lovcmaking" bouts, whilst willing act of love. where a slow pan over an imposing
flowers indicate the all-too putrifying Buttgercit's penchant for abstract whitewashed house evokes the spirit of
inescence of the OMpse, ikiw laid out in symbolism also rears its head as a lizard the silent classic Nosferatu and ditto,
stale on a table in her flaL crawls free from the grave Monika is the slowly piowHng camera which peers
busy unearthing, only to be later at- through the shackled cemetery gates,
tacked by an insect as it rolls over in the undercranking, hand-held camera
slow-molion. Mcmika also watches an similarly conjuring up a feeling of lime-
she plants a siiionhierinii
art film with her new boyfriend where lessness and the stylish chiascouro im-
kiss on the corpse's
naked men arc shown eating row upon ages of German Expressionism.
decayin'^ head "
row hard bcsled eggs - the ending of
life perhaps ?
Later, they go to the zoo where life,

if not ended, is certainly held captive. It

The grim ritual of dismembering the is as if the quality of life, for animals
yyiiai an- sct ini:
body becomes almost routine as Mcxiika and humans, is in some way diluted,
sets systematically about her work, com- fragmented like Monika's fragile men- ill cjfcrt. is ilu
plete with rubber gloves, as if all in a tal which fluctuates from the hap-
state hidden criu lty of
days work. It is as if everything has piness she experiences cm a fairground
linhsfil '
soiiclY
beceme bland and regularised in a drab ride to the visions of her lover's decay-
hciiitt exposed, a
and dreary society. Everything we fan- ing features which continually perme-
tasise over, sensualise over, fetishise ate her thoughts.
veneer of respeclahilily
over, is reduced to a prosaic, everyday In a similar way, lurid fantasies/ heini; peeled haek as
level, no better exemplified than in nightmares pervade the film as a faintly snri lx as the lacerated
Monika's new boyfriend whose lifeless Reudian image appears of Mcxiika sing-
skill from the seals Hue
attempts at sexual relations arc a legacy ing, a pianist pounding the keys widi
ill the ahhorrent
of his own voyeuristic, passive "voice- venom whilst a skull floats and a corpse
over" wcffk cm the pom films he w^hes revedves against a nebulous background. iloenmeniary. ”
and seemingly drain him of genuine Monika's boyfriend then dreams of be-
emotions. He is as remote and ing buried up to his neck in grass as a

SI
NECRONOMICON 2

AIlhtMigh Nekromaniik 2 showcases a witnessing her gradual descent into

more professional gloss than the origi- complete madness, it is still her whom
nal film, it lacks that film's raw visceral we feel the most affinity for - despite
punch, whilst the slower, deliberate her decidedly homicidal, not to men-
camera style, though an intended rebel- tion necroi^liaca] tendencies. Not con-
lion against the kinetic pop-video style tent with mastering and death,
life

filming currently so much in vogue, it Monika also wants to conquer immor-

does also render some scenes as being tal love and whose to say that she wont

rather loo lengthy, with some plodding

"pacing" U) overcome.
succeed if a Nekromaniik 3 ever ap-
pears on the future horizon.
GRAND
On the plus side however, is
certainly a welcome departure from
most ( Look out for an exclusive interview

with the man himself in issue 3 as he GUIGNOL

genre (and mainstream) constraints by talksabout his new film, Schramm •
attempKing to prov ide a story tdd solely which explores the diseased mind of a Charity Film Festival
from awoman's viewpoint After all, it serial killer. Nccronomictm will also be
is Monika who is the film's main pro- giving away some limited edition T- on October 30th
we appear to be
tagonist and although a special competition - you
shirts in
have been warned, so be there ).
( AU proceeds to the
!

Marie Curie Cancer

Care Trust).

For further details

please send an SAE
to Alex J Low,
1265 Pollokshaws Rd.
Glasgow
G413RR
 NECRONOMICON 2

THE Hound of
THE BASKERVILLES
Given the current mystery surrounding the ''beast of Exmoor", Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle's fabled tale of a devil hound materialising from out of the
eerie Dartmoor mists, seems all the more convincing as Sherlock Holmes
investigations reveal
Der Hand
F irst filmed in 1914 as
von BaskervilU in Gennany and
more famously with Basil Rathbone
and Nigel Bruce essaying the leading
it^es of Hdmes and Watson in the later
1939 version, this particular Conan
Doyle story is very much his prime
Gothic bonrcM' tale. His general preferal
of Holmes logical mind and scientific
art of detection are relegated to second-
ary status here next to the forboding
aunosphere d* the moots and the super-
natural aura which surrounds the hound.
In much the same way that Thomas
Hardy's Egdon Heath becomes a cen-
tral "character" in "The Return of the
Native*, so too doesDartmoor lend an
imposing prescence to The Hound of
the Baskervilles. Whilst Hardy drew
inspiration for the heath from the very
real-life Dorset countryside, so too does
Conan Dcyle use actual places to deco-
rate his own deviish story. Though opin- Baskerville family which manifests it- a story where Holmes is largely absent
ions still differ, it's generally consid- self in the guise of a demonic bound. as Conan Doyle allows the moorland
ered that Brent Tor is the "grey, melan- Hammer Hlms treatment d the story atmosphere and legends to take delib-
choly hill, with a strange jagged sum- in 1959 is most probably the definitive erate centre stage.
mit" that Watson beheld, with Lew version, for a number of reasons. First Though Cushing is mainly crfT-screen.
House Lew Timichaid standing in for
at off, the cast is unifonnly excellent Pe- his charact^sation is strong enough to
Baskerville Hall, Widecombe for ter Cushing as Holmes is operating al- leave a lasting impression upon the
Giimpen and Grimspouixl for the book's most as a minor image of his revered viewer. AUe support is suppli^ by the
dreaded Grimpen Mire. portrayal the vampre slayer Profes- solid and dependable Andre Morell as
The stay, very briefly as I'm sure sor Van Helsing from Dracula{]9SS). Watson, with Christc^er Lee provid-
you're all familiar with it, centres cm Sir Both characters are scientinc, rea- ing enough regality and emotion to pOT-
Henry Baskerville inheriting his ances- soning men battling against the super- tray the wealthy and fiercely passioniue
toral home upcm the sudden death of Ms stitions of the ecumenical worid. As Sir Henry.
uncle. Sir Charles Baskerville - whose such, Cushing is an ideal choice for the Hammer also realised that their pbe-
mysterious death is ^tributed to the role of Hc4mes, offering a calm but ncmtenal success with both of the com-
legendary curse placed upon the authoritative extericM’, sorely needed in pany's Frankenstein and Dracula

53
NECRONOMICON 2

lengthening shadows as if to 'reinforce

the point.
Given these facts. Hammer wisely

“ T
1 licrcfon'. take
licrcfon', heed and beware
decided not to concentrate on the hound
but rather the potentially fascinating
subtext uncovering a layer of human
the moor in those dark hours when cruelly and evil beneath all the high
profile supernatural episodes.

evil is exalted, else yon will surely To this end, it is the povert-stricken,
socially embittered Stapleton's whose
meet the hound of hell." almost pathological envy drives them
to murder in order to improve their
circumstances. Stapleton is a terse man,
whose first appearance -
barely civil,
remakes couid be replicated here by Having been introduced to Sir Henry, when lecturing Watson on the need for
accentuating the horrific aspects of the and saving him from an active and very animal traps across the moor, indicates
story, and in particular, the vein of deadly tarantula, the action then his true nature - namely someone who
human cruelty which runs through the switches to the moorland locale, center- is oblivious to those around him, caring
sloiy but remained undeveloped in ear> ing on Watson, who acts as Sir Heiuy's neither for humans or animals. Cecile,
tier film versions. bodyguard, and the eccentric neigh- despite her hot-blooded Latin tempera-
A rampaging opening sequence ex- bours, Stapleton (Ewen Solon), his ment, can be an equally cold and calcu-
plains the origins of the legend as the daughter Cecilc (Marla Landi) and the lating "killer", calmly ushering Sir
sadistic Sir Hugo Baskcrville tries to sherry-tippling Bishop Frankland Henry to his clandestine assignation,
rape a servant girl during one of his wild (Miles Mallescm in a delightful cameo). and anticipated death.
parties. The garish red hunting jackets Although red herrings abound in the The sole vestige of humanity upon
of Sir Hugo and his decadent aristo- shape of escaped convicts and servants the bleak moors is provided by the
cratic companions are highly ap^n'opn- with strange nocturnal rituals, Hermes Baskerville's housekeeper, Mrs Barry-
ate as he sets off in pursuit of the help- eventually discovers the truth behind more who secretly fvovides food and
less girl. ”
Hounds - let loose the pack”, the hound - it is secreted away in srnne clothing for her escaped relative.
his blatant threat, with ”
May the hounds old tin mines and kept in a perpetual Cushing's Holmes however, despite
of hell get me if 1 cant hound her down" state of hunger by Suqileton and Cecile the brevity of his appearances, still re-
proving to be ironic as he comers the - who are illegitimate heirs to the Bask- mains foremost in the viewers mind.
girl in the Abbey ruins on top of the ervillc fortune and plan to unleash the His astute brain deduces that the bound
mocM-, stabbing her in a cruel frenzy hound on Sir Henry, the last surviving is being held in the tin mine -
" What is
before thunder rumbles overhead and a member of the «der that they
family, in one likely to fiixl find under the ground.
^tostly hound growls, it's shadow fall- might claim their "prize". The conclu- Bones perhaps", whereupon he discov-
ing over Sir Hugo to signal his deserved sion sees both Stapleton and Cecile and beef bones,
ers the animal's scraps
doom. perish with Sir Henry saved by Holmes whilst also displaying Hdmes cusUmi-
'And so the curse trf Sir Hugo came and Watson. ary petulance. Having delighted his
upcHi the Baskervilles in the shape of a In the cold light of day, the story friends by surviving a mine collapse he
hound from hell, forever to bring mis- doesn't appear the most convincing. can only relcwt; " Most gratifying. Now
fortune to the Baskcrville family. There- The idea that a gigantic hound could be when the general applause has died
fore, take heed and beware the mtxir in somehow smuggled into a close-knit down I wonder if we could get back to
those dark hours when evil is exalted, moorland community without arousing the hall. I've hurt my leg, I'm cold and
else you will surely meet the hound of suspicion strains at reality, which is I'm hungry."
hell, the hound of the Baskervilles." or why Conan Doyle cloaks the story with It is these idiosyncracies, coupled
so Holmes is informed as he is intro- the brooding menace of Dartmoor and with Holmes alert, reasoning mind, that
duced to the ca.se by the Baskcrville the suggestion that something super- so endear the character to us. Cushing's
physician. Dr. Mortimer (Francis de natural is occuring. As he states in the success here led to him reprising the
WolfO. book, the hound *
could not possibly be rt^e of the great detective in a TV series
As the mysterious circumstances sur- any animal known to science... (it) was and. to lesser effect, in the somewhat
rounding Sir Heniy's death are re- a huge creature, luminous, ghostly and stilted Tybom film TTw Masks o/Death.
counted, Mortimer remarks that ” the specual." Holmes himself heightens the Cushing's vibrant interpretation of
strange thing was, there were no foot- tension exclaiming that " 11161? is mexe Holmes, together with Hammer's re-
prints" to give credence to the legend of evil around us here than 1 have ever nowned attention to period detail and
the hound with Holmes replying that encountered befeve*. as sunlit views of sullying lucid scripts elevates the film
the case is a "two-pipe problem." the moors are gradually ecclipsed by to being well ahead erf* the chasing padc.

54
 ! !

NECRONOMICON 2

he opening
* erection lechnologj" -
( perhaps we

T
film's titles.

Tracy Dick - The Sensual need her to firm up the "green roots" of

I keep an eye
Investigator.
on your privates," imme-
The Adventures economic recovery we're always hear-
ing about I) and her will to sec the case

through. ’ It's a matter of professional

diately sets the irreverent
tone for this wacky hardcore comedy of pride."
Traci's intimate acquaintance with
bash. Any similarity to Chester Gould's
famous character is purely accidental -
don'tgo looking for Warren Beatty or Tracy Dick Magnet's lawyer then
geous, but rather original plot conceit
which dictates that
re\ cals the outra-

Magnet's will is
Madorma here either, although the Him
is enough for the con-
certainly sleazy emblazencd on his most personal wl

troversial rock pop queen to have organs - but only readable in u slate yt
Donning Ihc niinctiut, .

"graced" it
high excitement. It seems that his bank
Diving straight into the action we appropriiitch ciKiii^h, to balance is now as impotent as his sexual

see Traci's sexy sleuth conducting her micoMT ttfthc performances, hcncc his reticence to

own investigation into finding the hith- "unfrcc/c" his prime asset.
missiii” -stiCf" (uhem!) is
All is not lost howetcr. as Traci
erto "missing" G-spot, her "eureka"
moment "At last. I've found it" is cour- Nora
noiU‘ titiuT than pcrccplix cly remarks. " Where there's a

tesy of the monstrous vibrator she's will(y) there's u way ", cue u sudden
l.ouiscKii/ma - rather
using which lakes on the appearance
- burst of sub - B52's music as the now
of a kind of mutated electric tooth-
better knoMii as Traci bcHind Hannibal is forced to w atch Traci
brush! Ltn'ds. as Chester (iould's strut her stuff, along w ilh a mcnagcnc
of female helpers as a lesbian orgy
cartoon detecti>e
i’anioiis threatens to overwhelm the helpless
re>eals much more than Magnet - w hat an awiul torture to en-
dure
his in\ esti^ati> e mind !

Thixigh I’m obviously guilty cd read-

here! ing mure into this film then was in-

tended, it is still interesting to note this

inversion on the typical mule laniasy
scenario as Magnet struggles iini to
Along with her nerdish a.ssistanl, the watch the spectacle unfolding right in

long-donged, pantie-sniffing Arthur front of him - at one point in the pro-

Dork (I), Traci sets about prising Mag- ceedings one of the girls even has to
net away from his beloved diet of TV prise his cyc-lids open and hold them
football - something which many long- still, forcing him ux watch a la A Clock-

suffering wives may well be able to work Orange (1971), though that's
relate to where any similarity with Kubnek's
Having revealed her identity to him film ends !

(and that's all at this juncture !), Traci As expected, "mission impossible"
explains to Magnet ” I'm an expert on is accomplished making the reading of

Our intrepid "tec* is called in on the

case of business mogul. Hannibal Mag-
net, whose apparent wealth allows him
to attract willing nubiles with the ease
his surname implies. Unfortunately, de-
spite having the amorous attentions of
his wife, mistress and assorted entou-
rage. the rrnly "hard* currency Magnet
deals in is cash, as his "limp" love-
making testifies.
Having been thus called onto the
case, Traci assures us that her sensitiv-
ity fen* such matters is "In all the right
[daces and at all the right times." !
NECRONOMICON 2

the will here one of the most unusual in

film history, but it remains a literal inti-

climax as Magnet leaves his diminish-

ing "wealth* not to his wife or coterie of
female companions but to his lawyer
instead.
Whilst one case closes another opens
in the shape of a female client whose
failure to orgasm is "cured" by assistant
Doric’s indiscriminate use of his wed-
ding tackle to, leaving yet another satis-
fied customer, who having passed out
at the moment of climax .
then recovers
to sigh contentedly " Great therapy."
"We aim to incase" is Dork's instant

rejoinder and the film is certainly an

entertaining change from the more seri-

ous "slam-bam? Hesh epcs which seem

to proliferate these days.
Although only a minor entry in the
"great sex films of our time" compen-
dium, The Adventures of Tracy Dick
does at least have a semblance of a
story, bursts of humour, a clutch of
eccentric characters and scxne bouts of
energetic but not wholely repetitive
hardcore couplings.
I'm afraid though that if push comes
to shove, the choice between hiring ace
detective Sherlock Holmes and super
sleuth Tracy Dick beccMnes ik> chcace at
all. Move over Sheri' !!!

( Special thanks to Andrew

"Mr. Creosote" Gillard for supplying
the "research " material here /
j.

Look out for the queen of llalian pom

next issue - yes, CiccioUna herself will be
appearing. Definitely the only Italian
in the

MP
FLESH & BLOOn
.A. Summer 1993
who will ever grace the pages of this 'ere

mag a

"My God! It’s

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The most comprehensive cataloguing of 1970s British Horror ever
published. Production credits, cast listings and capsule reviews
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NECRONOMICON 2

LOVD & STROUD

Yes,it's time for Andrew "shadows in a land of death' Stroud to peel hack another

rotting layer of skin and reveal more pus-filled "delights" as Necronomicon's

goremeister digs up the dirt on the oriental shocker "Man Behind The Sun enter

at your own peril

H
trails
ello there again.
you've recovered your

and gathered up your en-

fw another exciting video review.
Well my friends, here we go. a gem
for ya this time luds caDcd Man Behind
I

shattered nervous systems

sec The

way from
sadistic

her, then applies

Her aims
guard

the cold.

check for complete

are
who watches o\’er
more water over a
penod of 10 hours (we arc told), after
which time she would have died any-

whacked with a cane

stiiTness - the sound
to
in

the
the
Next

boy
"treat" in store is

an operating theatre
explains "there will be no problems"
is

surgeon wastes no ti^c

an incision along the stomach as he
removes the boy^ heart and liver.
a young boy
a.s

anaesthetised in seconds and

a surgeon

in making

The Sun ot Ijjs Hombres Detras Del Sol of which is very ocmvincing. When the
for Spanish readers guard is satisfied she is ready he humes
Picture the setting, Japanese farm- her in.side before she defrosts (!).

ers working in the fields, the sun is all As they enter the room (reminiscent
but gone as winter approaches. They of an old Frankenstein movie) her grav-
are working hard for their families just ity defying arms are placed in a tank of

to put a little food on the dinnner table warm watCT. Relief enters her face, but
but after a hard day in the fields they the doctor up's the temperature until the The co^fae Ux)ks fiirly real but n

like nothing beaerflm getting invotved water is alive and boiling. a patch on RomenD^ Day of the Dead
in a few miliary experiments. Ha\’ing removed her from the tank, gil(-spil1ing scene a>urtcs\ of Mr. Sa-

the doctor then ixooeedB to pull the skin vint.

from the arms, like an elbow length After all Ibis, the doctor proclaims

glove, revealing muscle tissue and bare pre-pubcn\ organs are hard to come by
bone. The special effects are very and the boy's remains lae carted off to a
graphic and realistic - almost too real conveniently placed furnace nxim to be

As you recover from this scene, you jdispexsed of - common practice in films

As the film begins so the story are then confronted with a man whose of this particular genre.

unfolds, event hough the Japanese dia- hands are inside a quick-freezing unit. Now. ontoa b/of explosive testing

logue does gel slightly annoying and As be pulls them (xil he is made to place as crucified vlclims wait for the shells

the subtitles fly along so quickly you them on a table whereupon his f: k) hit home and as the smoke clears, the

have no chance of reading them, but fingers are unceremoniously shattered cl’lecLs ol the lest cun be seen in all ihcir

after a bit you can just get the general with what appears to be an old schcxvl dcvcslaUBg gUvrj The victims still im-
.

gist of things. (Also, you'll need a 30" ruler. As his "fish lingers" lly about the paled on cn*scs hav e their limbs bkvw n

TV to get aiqf chance of reading the place he screams io tenor in true Japa- off and faces melted away by the

subtitles). nese (ovcr)acting style. blast as jAfdple's eyes hang out suuck ,

Anyway, on with the show and as As the plot trickles aloDg we arc by waves of shrapnel.
far as I can grasp, the Jap army is shown some real I^vreua war footage as As diey scream in terror the triKvps

putting it's fimslung touches to it's explode on enemy tar-

artillery shells inspect the carnage and death - (he

chemical and explosives arsenal with gets and suicide bombeis crash irtto a exporimen* being deemed a "success",
the farmer^s and village's the reluctant convoy of ships and blowing them to obviously
volunteer's after being captured. pieces. Victim's with their limbs still intact

A young woman of about 20 years is make a tun for it but arc sixm gunned
//?(' doctur then ci ds Io
subject to some sort of freezing experi- down or run-over by the military might
pull tin- '•kiD Iroiii ilic amis. whilst back at HQ the evil Commander
ment in which her skin is welded to an
icy fence with freezing edd water. Soon, //At an olhim- Uiiiitli I'/oif, tosses a cat into a rixvm full of starving

icicles begin to form as her flesh turns iTwaliin’ iiiasclc tissue and rats. The animal- needless to say, is uxn
fixxn pnnk to to pur^e and almost black. to pieces in an extremely graphic scene.

57
NECRONOMICON 2

With scenes like this 8 out oT 10 cat

owners had better stay well clear this

particular film !

The film goes slightly haywire from

here as enemy troops attack the base
and destroy its contents, which include
babies in pickle jars - the like of which
also appear on the front cover of the
video.
Well, everyone doesn't live happily
ever al ter as I'm sure you've gathered.
Maybe some will be joining the NHS,
may
or there be a new doctor with an
evil grin starting at your local surgery,
who knows ?!

Well, that just about wraps it up for

another issue. Hope you enjoyed it, if
you didn’t you'd better check under
your bed at night for grey old ladies
with black eyeballs.
See ya soon, and oh yeah, 1 almost
forgot - stay sick and "peace"!!!
Andrew Stroud

Fans of "Ijoud & Stroud’ may like to

THE INNER SANCTUM
(

know that Andrew's column for the next

Movie posters, stills, books and magazines, plus TV spin-off
issue is a panegyric devoted to one of
his favourite idols - yes. you've guessed items and annuals:- 22, New Bridge Street, Fore Street, Exeter.
it, Mary Whilehtnae ! Ed . ). Telephone 0392-427237 during normal working hours.

» ^
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.j

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