Not every filmmaker gets to do only what they want. Sometimes they take movies to get a paycheck. And, as we have seen in this look back at the films of Mario Bava, this is more often than not the case where Bava is concerned. ‘Roy Colt and Winchester Jack’ seems to reek of a …
It’s a tired and worn-out tale, but it’s probably the truth: everyone who is not a rock star wants to be one and most rock stars spend a lot of time trying to just be another guy on the street.
With the success of ‘Black Sunday,’ and ‘Black Sabbath,’ Mario Bava was given full creative control over his next film, 1964’s ‘Blood and Black Lace.’ The producers of ‘Blood’ expected a basic murder mystery film, but Bava, in being true to himself, delivered something else.
‘The Mask of Satan’ (also sometimes known as ‘Black Sunday,’) was Mario Bava’s first directorial effort and even to this day, it is still highly regarded as one of the pinnacles of horror filmmaking. Shot on a modest budget, the movie shows Bava’s ingenuity as well as his unique eye for framing and camera angles. …
The sub-title for this long-winded movie could have been, ‘well, we all gotta eat.’ In 1966, saddled with a contract that he wanted out of, Mario Bava agreed to take on ‘Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs,’ for producer Fulvio Lucisano. The film is a follow-up to the US hit, ‘Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini …
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ‘Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom,’ is a difficult film to review. Not necessarily because of it’s challenging and unblinking content, but because of the controversy that has surrounded the film since the day the production wrapped. Director Pasolini was run over twice and killed by a male prostitute shortly after finishing …
Do you remember when the first ‘National Treasure’ came out? The reviews weren’t kind, saying in effect that it’s no Indiana Jones.
Editor’s note: The BFI recently asked a group of writers and filmmakers to submit their ideas for a great double bill. In the spirit of playing along, the editors of Lonely Reviewer have asked their contributors to do the same.
Anthony Mann is known for his edgy westerns and large-scale epics.
Most remakes generally fall into two categories. There’s the ‘God awful’ category, which most remakes seem to strive to get put into. The other, much less used category is the ‘surprisingly good.’ However, ‘The Invasion,’ the latest version of ‘The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,’ needs a third category to be created: ‘Eeeh.’