Psychotronic Movie of the Week: Hercules In the Haunted World (1961)

HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD
(aka HERCULES IN THE CENTER OF THE EARTH)
1961
Woolner Brothers
Italy

Produced by Achille Piazzi
Directed by Mario Bava

Michael J. Weldon writes in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film:

This is the only Hercules movie that really makes it as a fantasy.  Depending on your mood (or age), it can be scary and exciting or pretty funny. Hercules (Reg Park) goes to Hell! Yes -- he and a pal go to Hades to obtain a precious plant to cure an ailing princess. They encounter many wonders, including Christopher Lee as the evil Lichas, servant of Pluto, some giant rock men, seas of lava, and a tempting naked maiden in chains. Hercules throws boulders and overcomes all obstacles. Lee does not play a vampire (as implied in some of the ads). Hercules and the Captive Women, also with Park is worth catching as well.

 

Psychotronic Movie of the Week: PARANOIA (aka ORGASMO) (1969)

PARANOIA (aka ORGASMO)
1969
Fanfare, Italy

Produced by Salvatore Alabiso
Directed by Umberto Lenzi

Michael J. Weldon wrote in Psychotronic Video #2:

"Caroll Baker was nominated for an Oscar (BABY DOLL, '56), studied with Strasberg, co-stared in GIANT (also '56), and was on the cover of Life Magazine three times, but says she was blacklisted by her studio, Paramount, after '66. From '68 and until the early 80's, she worked only in Europe, starring in some pretty sick movies, which she ignored in her autobiography. She starred in two back to back Italian features directed by Lenzi, now known for MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY and other controversial cannibal movies. This one was also known as ORGASMO, and received an X in America when released by Fanfare. The other, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL, was also called PARANOIA, causing a lot of filmography confusion.

This PARANOIA has Baker as Mrs. Katherine West, an alcoholic rich ex-New York artist, arriving at her late Italian husband's villa. A sarcastic hustler (Lou Castel, who later showed up in Wender's AMERICAN FRIEND) worms his way into her life and home. They have sex in the shower, on the lawn, by the pool,... He brings his sexy short haired "sister" (Colette Descombs) along. They both have sex with the confused widow and each other, drive away the servants, drug her, tie her up, blackmail her with photos, and torture her by playing the same bad rock and roll song over and over.  At that point she's suicidal. "When I think of myself, I want to vomit!" Like most 60's Italian exploitation movies, this one has jerky camera work, with lots of fast zooms, and funny music with female voices merrily going "da da dee dee....". Lenzi throws in thunder and lightning, some psychedelic sequences, a discotheque scene, and Baker being served a toad by her captors.

Psychotronic Movie of the Week: The Dirty Outlaws (1967)

The Dirty Outlaws is a classic lesser known spaghetti western from 1967. It's filthy. Most of the people are deplorable, the towns are all mud, dust, and scum. The plot is based around an outlaw who comes across a dying Confederate and assumes his identity to try and get his hands on a stash of money being kept by the soldier's blind father. Franco Rossetti was a film critic who started writing screenplays, and this was his directorial debut. As you might hope, The Dirty Outlaws has some very cinematic moments that only a film fanatic would concoct, a great screenplay, and is described by the Spaghetti Western Movie Database as "an atmospheric, mean, brutal, and sinister film." What makes this a great spaghetti western is that it's full of style but with lots of plot, archetypal but still full of surprises.