The October Horror Film Diary: Day 5 - October 6, 2019 DOUBLE FEATURE

Maybe it's because we felt guilty for missing a film on Friday.  Or maybe it's obsession. But the first Sunday in October had us taking in two (2) horror movies.  It was a sorta round the globe in the early 1970s sorta thing.

The Bird With Crystal Plumage, Italy, 1970; Dir by Dario Argento; Starring Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall

Giallo is italian for yellow.  It is also refers to a type of Italian murder mystery movie. Dario Argento is Italian for batshit insane giallo and supernatural horror movies.

In post WWII Italy, there was a type of pulpy crime novels that became very popular.  These novels always sported yellow covers.  So when the first films based on these novels began to appear and, like their paperback counterparts, became very popular, they became known as giallos, sort of similar to how the dark crime films Hollywood in the 1940s and early 50s became known as film noir (noir is french for "black")

Most famous for his lurid, primary color drenched Suspiria, Dario Argento's first film is The Bird.  Though he would push every thing further and further as his career progressed, most of his basic trademarks are here:  Elaborate murder set pieces (often in art galleries and other modernistic rooms), private citizens conducting police investigations, bright red “blood”, holes in logic and plotting and twists and turns you never see coming.

Argento is one of those directors for whom the typical Hollywood standards we apply to what a good movie is goes out the window. Dialogue is often wooden and contains awkward plot exposition, and victims and murderers alike eschew obvious actions to accomplish their goals (ie survive and/or murder) in order to accomplish the same thing in a convoluted but visually garish manner. 

The plot here involves American citizen Sam who, while walking home after celebrating the publication of a book he's written (and, most importantly, his check for that book), sees an attempted murder occur as he’s walking past an art gallery.  A woman and a shadowy figure (iliterally dressed in all black with a black hat and mask) are struggling over a knife when the figure jumps down a staircase and runs away while the woman staggers down the stairs clutching her stomach.  Sam tries to help but enters a glass walled vestibule only to find the actual gallery entrance door is locked. The killer must still be around as soon Sam is trapped in the vestibule when the automatic doors he entered through close, trapping him in the vestibule. The woman staggers towards Sam, finally collapsing in a pool of blood in the middle of the gallery.  So now Sam, trapped,  awaits the police, who find the woman to still be alive and Sam to be a suspicious witness.  

Though he is supposed to return to America the next day, the police confiscate his passport, prompting Sam to conduct his own investigation, aided by his model girlfriend.  More murder mystery than straight horror movie Giallos could be very dark and bloody - they are often considered one of the precursors to the slasher films and, like those films, generally sport a cold, cruel, blood thirsty killer.

While the murder ultimately gets solved the real appeal with this film is the numerous twists and many interesting and stylish (60s/70s stylish) set pieces and outfits.  To reveal much more of the film would be to spoil much of the fun - peculiar characters, truly puzzling decisions made by characters, and of course some fabulous outfits and set pieces.

It must be said Argento is a master of atmosphere and building tension, and he also creates interesting set pieces that are often as beautiful as they are convoluted. This is definitely the sort of film that a viewer must be willing to go along for the ride with, but for those who are willing it is a very enjoyable ride.

Blind Woman’s Curse; Japan 1970; Dir by Teruo Ishii; starring Meiko Kaji, Hoki Tokuda
We followed up the Italian Giallo with a very strange Japanese horror/yakuza movie from 1970.  Not a standard horror film, Blind Woman's Curse is more of a film of warring yakuza clans (ie organized crime families) mixed with some horror and supernatural elements.

The gist of the story is the Tachibana clan, led by Akemi who is the daughter of the late previous head, is being challenged for their territory by the Dobashi clan. Akemi is played by Meiko Kaji, who japanese film fans may recognize as Lady Snowblood. Lady Snowblood was a famous bloody revenge/crime film and sequel from the mid 70s that has had great influence around the film world, including on Quentin Tarantino. Many elements of Kill Bill, most obviously the famous sword battle in the snow between Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu, were heavily influenced by Lady Snowblood.

Yakuza films can be very confusing, and this one is no exception.  In addition to the two main clans fighting over territory there are several other characters - a loner yakuza who seems to be cut from a similar cloth as Toshiro Mifune in Kurosawa's Yojimbo/Sanjuro movies or Clint Eastwood's The Man With No Name from his trio of films with Sergio Leone, the mysterious blind woman in the title and her hunchbacked servant, and yet another gang led by a foul smelling gentleman who for some reason walks around wearing a very western shirt, vest, tie and bowler hat and a loin cloth.  There are many  shots involving him that cheekily show half his bare posterior in the frame with whomever he is speaking to.

Fairly early in the film several women who had spent time in jail with Akemi come to join her clan, that Tachibanas.  To show their loyalty they all get large yakuza tattoos on their backs that, when they line up together, form a long dragon.  Soon the women are targeted by somebody who is killing them and removing the skin with the tattoos.

After much bloodshed, back stabbing and some weird supernatural happenings we discover the mysterious motivations and have a final showdown. Without giving it away, it does not quite live up to Lady Snowblood or Kill Bill's showdowns. And overall the film is an interestingly twisted mix of ideas that don't really all come together in a completely satisfying manner.  And much like Argento's Bird, there are many inexplicable actions on the parts of characters. 

Overall Blind Woman's Curse is an interesting mix of genres and ideas, but no doubt once it ends one will be wondering what they just saw. As a horror movie it's, well, not really a horror movie despite some horror elements.  It is a good introduction to the charismatic Meiko Kaji, who later in the decade would go on to star in both Lady Snowblood bloody revenge movies and Female Prisoner Scorpion movies (the latter being essentially Japanese women in prison exploitation films, with the added twists of artsy production and pro-female empowerment).