Dr. DVD

Okay, I have recently gone on a wave of getting Spaghetti Westerns (The Once Upon a Time in Italy collection), Hong Kong flix (The Ten Faces of Sonny Chiba), and another 10 movie set for a low price with a bunch of Westerns (It's got Death Rides a Horse, but they're not all Italian.) A lot of this can be attributed to Quentin Tarantino, who has gotten me to crave these movies with his Kill Bill films, and while some are not as good as his, I still find them highly entertaining.

I have heard the Italian filmmakers Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci made some good horror movies. Could you please recommend some of these to me? Bear in mind that I do love foreign movies, but can't stand bad dubbing. The Spaghetti Westerns haven't bothered me much, but the dubbing isn't that bad IMO.

drjay

I haven't dabbled in the genre too much, but Mario Bava is the godfather of Italian horror, as I know it.

Supermallet

If you think the dubbing in spaghetti westerns aren't so bad, then your standards must be pretty low. You shouldn't have a problem with the horror films dubbing, as they're not any worse than the westerns.

Now, for anyone starting in Italian horror, I have to recommend Deep Red. It's the one film I show to everyone I know and it has never failed to be a big hit. Simply a brilliant piece of filmmaking. Suspiria and Tenebre are two more good Argento films, as is Phenomena. If you end up liking Suspiria you may want to check out Inferno, but be warned that the ending will probably seem disappointing, especially for such an intruiging set up.

There's also Fulci, whose Zombie (or alternately known as Zombi 2) is a zombie film classic. I also enjoy City Of The Living Dead and The Beyond (especially The Beyond), but some others might disagree as to the quality of those.

And then there's the father of them all, Mario Bava, who I personally don't like, but still respect. While I can't recommend much considering I don't like him, the ones I usually hear thrown around are Black Sabbath, Blood And Black Lace, and in another thread scot was talking about Planet of the Vampires.

Sessa17

Hey, if Tarantino can get people into these truly brilliant movies, over the redundant fluff that is coming out now, then I am all for it.

Argento is my all-time favorite director, so I say start with some Argento work your way through his library. Deep Red, Suspiria(my personal favorite), Opera, Phenomena, are all good starting points. Keep in mind though, I think Spaghetti Westerns, & Hong Kong films are a lot easier to get into that Italian horror, they are an acquired taste (especially the music Argento uses) & are certainly not for everyone.

Dr. DVD

Well, just visited Blockbuster and they didn't have any of them. My area isn't strong on local operators, so I really am kind of at a loss as to where to get them. I could try Hollywood Video or Movie Gallery, but once again they are chains.

BTW, the DVD set I got for cheap is called The Law and the Lawless. It looks like they didn't really letterbox everything like it says on the package as Death Rides a Horse looks poorly done with logos and names being cut off and everything.

TomOpus

Have you thought about Netflix? I've never used them but I would imagine they'd have 'em.

Sounds like you're limited to the big chains, and they usually won't carry the obscure horror stuff.

cultshock

If you wanted to check out some HK films, Sonny Chiba films were a bad idea, because those were Japanese films.

As far as Argento, my favourites from him are Suspira, Deep Red, Tenebre and Opera. I have to admit not being one of Fulci's biggest fans, but I did like Don't Torture a Duckling quite a bit (an excellent giallo ) and The Beyond and Zombie are decent. Italian horror can be an aquired taste though,and there is a lot of crap out there, so be careful about the first films you watch in the genre, or you could be turned off them completely.

Giles

it ain't high art, but I liked Lamberto Bava's Demons it's a glossy splatter flix with tons of gore

Giles

his film "Twitch of the Death Nerve" (aka Bay of Blood) is also a film that is always mentioned as a forerunner to the 80's American slasher pics.

wendersfan

There aren't any video places near UT that carry that stuff? College kids love the cult/horror stuff, from what I've seen.

More to the point of the thread:

Argento -
Bava - not so much, but I haven't seen as many of his films.

Dr. DVD

There might be, but I don't go out exploring beyond work that much. I just ordered Inferno and Deep Red from Netflix, I should have them viewed by the end of next weekend.

Question:just how big is the gore factor in these movies? I need to know if I should or should not be eating anything when they play.

Norm de Plume

Some of these lean more toward Suspense or Giallo rather than Horror:
The House with Laughing Windows (1976)
The Forbidden Room (The Lost Soul)(1976)
Deep Red (1976)
The Fifth Cord (1971)
Death Occurred Last Night (1971)
Rabid Dogs (1974)
Cannibal Holocaust (1979)
The Double (1971)
Murder Obsession (1980)
Who Saw Her Die (1971)
Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971)
Hitch-Hike (1977)
L'Arma (1978)
Illustrious Corpses (1976)
Opera (1987)
What Have they Done to Your Daughters? (1975)

Ghostface180

My personal favorites are:

Deep Red
Tenebre
The House With the Laughing Windows
The Beyond
Don't Torture a Duckling

Jazzbutcher

I have Zombie, The Beyond, and City of the Living Dead out from Netflix right now.

The Beyond was a chesse fest, but I still loved it.

I have the three disc of Suspiria and would recommend it.

Giles

Noted essential Italian horror flicks (with new additions *):


Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve)
Bird with the Crystal Plumage*
Beyond, The
Black Sabbath
Blood And Black Lace
Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Ferox*
Casa sperduta nel parco, La (House by the Edge of the Park)*
Church, The*
City of the Living Dead
Death Occurred Last Night
Deep Red
Dellamorte Dellamore*
Demons
Don't Torture a Duckling
Double, The
Dr. Butcher MD*
Eaten Alive*
Fifth Cord, The
Forbidden Room, The(The Lost Soul)
Hitch-Hike
House by the Cemetary*
House With the Laughing Windows, The
Illustrious Corpses
Inferno
L'Arma
Man from Deep River*
Murder Obsession
Notti del terrore, Le (Burial Ground)*
Opera
Phenomena
Rabid Dogs
Short Night of Glass Dolls
Stage Fright*
Suspiria
Tenebre
What Have they Done to Your Daughters?
Who Saw Her Die
Zombie

sadly not on video but definately worth noting,
Riccardo Freda's 'L'Orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock' (The Horrible Secret of Dr Hichcock / Raptus, 1962) and 'The Devil's Commandment (Vampiri, I )

Dr. DVD

I am currently watching Deep Red from Netflix, and while I do not know if it is intentional or not, the audio seems to alternate between Italian and English a lot. Because of that, I cannot take the subtitle option off at any time. Movie looks great though!

Supermallet

The cut of Deep Red featured on the DVD was never made available in America until now, which is why some parts are in Italian only. It's kind of jarring at first, but you get used to it.

Dr. DVD

I think I get it. Kind of like with the Spaghetti Western collection where the extended scenes had stuff in Italian only because they never made an English track. Weird, but I guess it might grow on me.

FWIW, this movie seems to like to blend wit with suspense. Haven't seen anything totally horrific in terms of violence yet. Maybe QT and modern horror has me numbed.