PSYCHIC VISION: JAGANREI (Teruyoshi Ishii, 1988)

#TeruyoshiIshii #EmiSatô #PsychicVisionJaganrei

...extremely ahead of the curve. Very excited to explore more.

This was the year I finally entered "Japanese 1980s/90s shot-on-video horror" stage of cinephilia, which so far has been paying dividends. JAGANREI isn't particularly scary IMO, but its commitment to the found-footage bit is effectively creepy and, as far as I can tell....

PSYCHIC VISION: JAGANREI (Teruyoshi Ishii, 1988)

#TeruyoshiIshii #EmiSatô #PsychicVisionJaganrei

EVIL DEAD TRAP (Toshiharu Ikeda, 1988)
SERPENT'S PATH (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1998)

#MasakiTamura #ToshiharuIkeda #MiyukiOno #EvilDeadTrap #KiyoshiKurosawa #TeruyukiKagawa #SerpentsPath #sidebyside

...of the abandoned military base where the film is set, the first time she and we have taken a breather from all the madness going on below.

...and proceeding through a series of daring and disgusting setpieces. And just when you think you have the movie figured out, it switches to yet another mode, the highlight of which is these POV shots that (if I'm not mistaken) were conceived by the great experimental...

EVIL DEAD TRAP (Toshiharu Ikeda, 1988)

#ToshiharuIkeda #MasakiTamura #MiyukiOno #EvilDeadTrap

EVIL DEAD TRAP (Toshiharu Ikeda, 1988)
SERPENT'S PATH (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1998)

#MasakiTamura #ToshiharuIkeda #MiyukiOno #EvilDeadTrap #KiyoshiKurosawa #TeruyukiKagawa #SerpentsPath #sidebyside

...of the abandoned military base where the film is set, the first time she and we have taken a breather from all the madness going on below.

...filmmaker Takashi Ito. For all the gonzo creativity of the horror sequences, it's also worth noting how good Ikeda is with the quiet moments here (similar to the underwater parts of MERMAID LEGEND). Maybe the film's most beautiful shot is of Miyuki Ono on the roof..

...and proceeding through a series of daring and disgusting setpieces. And just when you think you have the movie figured out, it switches to yet another mode, the highlight of which is these POV shots that (if I'm not mistaken) were conceived by the great experimental...

Was surprised to learn that Ikeda was not a fan of the horror genre, since the only other film of his I've seen (MERMAID LEGEND) approaches slasher movie levels of grisliness. Plus, he REALLY goes for it here, opening the film with eye violence that would make Fulci proud..

EVIL DEAD TRAP (Toshiharu Ikeda, 1988)

#ToshiharuIkeda #MasakiTamura #MiyukiOno #EvilDeadTrap

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (Mario Bava, 1965)
ALIEN (Ridley Scott, 1979)

#MarioBava #AntonioRinaldi #PlanetoftheVampires #RidleyScott #DerekVanlint #Alien #sidebyside

...the characters used later on, surrounded by perfectly lit red and green plumes of smoke. Equally amazing is the breadth of this film's influence. Take away the Pop Art palate and it's pretty easy to everything that inspired Ridley Scott's ALIEN.

A masterpiece of mise en scène. It is frankly amazing how good this looks given how little money Bava and his crew had to work with. Nothing seems out of place, from the macro landscapes and architecture to the micro futuristic details, such as the video communicator...

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (Mario Bava, 1965)

#MarioBava #AntonioRinaldi #PlanetoftheVampires

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (Mario Bava, 1965)
ALIEN (Ridley Scott, 1979)

#MarioBava #AntonioRinaldi #PlanetoftheVampires #RidleyScott #DerekVanlint #Alien #sidebyside

...the characters used later on, surrounded by perfectly lit red and green plumes of smoke. Equally amazing is the breadth of this film's influence. Take away the Pop Art palate and it's pretty easy to everything that inspired Ridley Scott's ALIEN.

A masterpiece of mise en scène. It is frankly amazing how good this looks given how little money Bava and his crew had to work with. Nothing seems out of place, from the macro landscapes and architecture to the micro futuristic details, such as the video communicator...

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (Mario Bava, 1965)

#MarioBava #AntonioRinaldi #PlanetoftheVampires

A giallo of sorts that substitutes the colors of a Dutch still life for the genre's usual Pop Art palate. Almost functions as a meta-commentary on the trajectory of Italian horror in the 1970s/1980, the genre simulating death in increasingly realistic and gruesome ways.

THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS (Pupi Avati, 1976)

#PupiAvati #PasqualeRachini #LinoCapolicchio #TheHousewithLaughingWindows

A giallo of sorts that substitutes the colors of a Dutch still life for the genre's usual Pop Art palate. Almost functions as a meta-commentary on the trajectory of Italian horror in the 1970s/1980, the genre simulating death in increasingly realistic and gruesome ways.

THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS (Pupi Avati, 1976)

#PupiAvati #PasqualeRachini #LinoCapolicchio #TheHousewithLaughingWindows

...by the house's ventilation systems riffling through a plastic plant. But how is one supposed to see body after body hanging from trees and not think of America's history of racial injustice (esp. when you throw in the shot-gunning of the young black boy later in the film...

...into sharp relief. There are the 9/11 parallels, most obvious in the film's opening scene. And the even more topical allusions to the Great Recession, when the character briefly take refuge in an empty housing development, where everything is fake and Wahlberg gets spooked...

THE HAPPENING (M. Night Shyamalan, 2008)

#MNightShyamalan #TakFujimoto #TheHappening

...along with the pivotal scene that takes place in a house that hid runaway slaves). Such things make film feel as prophetic as it is pessimistic at the end: Nature has delivered a warning, but everyone seems determined to go back to normal, however impossible that is.