LISA E IL DIAVOLO - Carlo Savina - "Lisa And The Devil In The House Of Exorcism" (1974)

Well, let me see if I can make an ass of myself by putting together back to back, or as it were in this case, head to bald head, movies that starred cool & crazy dude Telly Savalas, who even though he can be pretty creepy, didn't make a whole lot of horror films, but then those 118 episodes of "Kojak" kept him pretty locked down from 1973 to 1978!

"Lisa And The Devil", a title re-released as "The House Of Exorcism" is a weird movie, and why shouldn't it be, it's just another in a long line of strange films from Mario Bava, who knows more than a few things about weird, and it ain't no coincidence that the bald demonic cat in that fresco looks just like Telly Savalas, or as he is known here, Leandro!!

60's blonde goddess, the lovely Elke Sommer as Lisa, turns in quite a performance as the victim, and also evil personified, in some very nice flesh!!

Mr. Telly Savalas as Leandro is just a little strange, and has quite the dummy fetish, but is mostly just misunderstood! Right!

This here get together of the bodyless leftovers raises a lot of money every year in their annual Telly-Thon!! Call in right now with your donation, that's 1-800-666-7734, our operator's are on permanent standby and are waiting!!

It's all too much for Lisa, and she does a tailspin from Hades, and ends up where even God doesn't know! That Elke is quite an actress! That's quite a look for a beauty queen! They say Elke was fluent speaking in seven languages, but I don't think talking in tongues was one of them!

Hey!!! This woman is sick, somebody call an ambulance!!! Are you sure you don't want to take her temperature first? At least her eyes rolled back into her head!!

Here's a shot of Leandro partying with a few of his closest and most beloved friends, who all came over to watch Telly-Mundo on the Telly-Vision with him!!

The devilish music for this film was composed by Carlo Savina, a man with a long history of making music for Italian films with titles that translate into English like "The Mini-Skirt Murders," "Crypt Of The Vampire," "Hey Amigo, A Toast To Your Death," "Mr. Superinvisible," and "School of Erotic Enjoyment."

There's just one small problem, All of Leandro's friends are Dead!!! Talk about your Dead Man's Party!

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Lisa is having a few friends from Hell over herself, unfortunately, they are all up inside her head, but not to worry, they've called a priest, and everything is going to be just peachy keen in no time what all! Sure it is!!

I'd say we've got a little tongue in cheek diabolical humour going on here, or is that called Tootsie Pop in cheek humour?

In a cheap attempt to tempt the priest into giving in to a mental submission hold, the wild and depraved Lisa turns into the seductive and very naked Carmen Silva. Go for it, man!!

No kidding, I used to be able to do this very same maneuver until just a few years ago! Not a position you normally see in movies like this! Lord knows the Devil would have something to do with it!

So, that's it for this installment of Mario Bava's version of "Father Knows Best!"

INVISIBLE GHOST / Astor Pictures - 1941

Hello again everbloody, and welcome to Mittwoch Oldie Moldie B+W Spook Theater! Starting this Friday, we're rearranging our schedule a bit, so, I, Tabonga, will post on Wednesday and Friday, then he, Eegah!!, now has Saturday and Monday!..

This week we gots another feature starring Dungeon best pal, Bela Lugosi! Check out the misspelling of Polly Ann Young's name on that classic Mexican lobby poster.

Astor Pictures also distributed FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE, ROBOT MONSTER, CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON, SHE DEMONS, GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN, MISSILE TO THE MOON, FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, THE BLOODY BROOD and PEEPING TOM!.. Some good shit there!

What an awesome title card!! The cartoonish music is all redone stock compositions from their vast library of sounds, so we can move along...

Lil' Dungeon pet Rufus the Gnat just finish his banana smoothie and say he all ready to push that big red 'GO' button and start today's Eariffic Earclip rolling up the hill! Okay, he push it, here's!.. INVISIBLE GHOST!

Bela opines about his dead beautiful wife to Evans the Butler.

This SUC-KER! gets mixed up with his girlfriend's maid, and now she's trying to blackmail him!

For no reason ever explained, Bela's 'dead' wife comes around at times and gives him the evil eye...

...And, commands him to do things!

Actually, bad things! Like, smothering the maid with his jacket!

Of course, frisky train driver is blamed and gets thrown in prison!.. Dames!

Bela gets the vibe again.

Guess it's time for another surprise attack on some unsuspecting victim!

The very best part of this flick is that Evans the Butler, played by Clarence Muse, is the most intelligent person in the house, and doesn't speak in the stereotypical way as others did. Now, that's damn refreshing!

She's baaack!..

Im beginning to understand!.. I'm dead!!

Everbloody gets to see for theirself that Bela's not entirely in control of his own actions.

Great Caesar's Ghost!!

OPERAZIONE PAURA - Carlo Rustichelli - "Dead Eyes" (1966)

"Operation Fear" would have been the literal translation of this title, but in an effort to be more shocking, they came up with "Kill, Baby, Kill"!!! It was also released as a living dead title, this time as "Curse Of The Living Dead!" Killer title card!!

Almost smack in the middle of Mario Bava's directorial career, we find him with his hands all over the camera, along with co-cinematographer Antonio Rinaldi, creating one atmospheric scene after another!

The music is provided by Masestro Carlo Rustichelli, who composed his first film score in 1939, worked with Mario Bava on some of his classic titles like "Blood and Black Lace" and also wrote the music for a number of titles in the "Toto" series and more, like "The Day The Sky Exploded," "7 Men and One Brain," and "Black Lemons!"

Giacomo Rossi-Stuart as Doctor Paul Eswai, a man on a mission!!! Yet another take on that age old question, why are all these people dying?

Did you ever get that feeling that people are looking at you, and you're not really welcome?

I'm really going out on a broken limb here, but I am willing to say that without a doubt, this is the best shot ever of a lantern in a movie!!

Barely there, but just enough to be pretty dang odd!

There seems to be some real confusion about who the dead little blonde girl is, the IMDB lists the role for Valeria Valeri as Melissa Graps, and have Valeria's year of birth as 1925, that would make her 41 in this role, and they list another character, Micaela Esdra as Nadienne, and say that she was born in 1952, making her 14 when this film was made. There are also claims that it wasn't a little girl at all, but a little boy, according to some sources!

I've stated this fact before, but the truth is, you just can't go wrong with a good stairwell shot, especially a spiral staircase!

W H O A! Whose hellacious old ass is this? Giovanna Galetti as Giana Gomorrah Giocatrice Grant Graps!! The mother without a cause!!

Creepy Hallway!

Creepy oil painting of Melissa Graps!!

Creepy Tombstone, ah, so she's only supposed to be 7 years old!!

Creepy out of focus shot! Melissa even haunts the camera!

I just really dig these two shots, the top one looks like a classic painting to me, the lighting and hot and cold colours are freakin' prefect!!

"Kill, Baby, Kill!" Let's face it, there's nothing much creepier than a demonic, but cute, little blonde girl! It's worked before, and it'll work again, especially when a guy like Mario Bava was pulling the strings!!