Showing posts sorted by relevance for query daria. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query daria. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday, January 8, 2011

SCHOCK - I. Libra - "Beyond The Door II" (1977)

"SCHOCK" is a dark, depraved, and lonely movie, no matter how you spell it, that's perfectly suited for a foggy and cold Saturday night in The Dungeon, so grab yourself a blanket and a bottle of red Italian wine, and we'll get this Giallomania ball of fire rolling!!

"Schock" starts off innocently enough, just another story about a nice family moving into their new country home, but, oh, yeah, this is a Mario Bava film, all bets are off!! Let's welcome now Daria Nicolodi as Dora Baldini, and David Colin Jr. as her loving son Marco, to the party!!

Daria Nicolodi was born June 19th, 1950 in Florence, Italy, and she began her acting career at age 14!

I don't like movies with creepy kids in them, and apparently neither did David Colin Jr. His first film was at age 3, and was called "Beyond The Door," his second and last film was this one, which besides "SHOCK" was also known as "Beyond The Door II." Naturally you would assume "Beyond The Door II" was a sequel, but not in this case, the stories are pretty much unrelated except for both being evil! After "SCHOCK," David Colin Jr. called it quits, and hung up his acting shoes forever!!

In the early 1970's, Daria Nicolodi met director Dario Argento, and he cast her in her first major role in the classic, "Deep Red." They both loved the works of Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft and thus The Dario & Daria Show was born!

Strong espresso, and razor blades in between the piano keys, it's starting to get weird!!

Dario and Daria never married, but they did have children together, actress Fiore Argento, and actress/director Asia Argento!

Ask yourself this one question, would normal people keep an old smelly, rat-infested, bed bug congested mattress laying around?? Now you know what this movie is about, not normal people!

Besides being a very talented actress, Daria Nicolodi was also the co-writer of another Argento classic, "Suspiria." Daria said that "Suspiria" was based on a real experience her grandmother had, when she went to study piano at an acclaimed music academy, and found out that it was a front for the study of black magic!! Wowzers!!

Jeepers Creepers, Creepy Peepers!! It's really not that much of a shocker that David would quit acting after this movie!

John Steiner has the role of stepfather/airline captain Bruno Baldini! John's big break came when he played the calculating property tycoon Beauty Smith in Lucio Fulci's "White Fang" in 1973, and in the sequel, "Challenge to White Fang" in 1974. Steiner worked for Fulci again when he portrayed the hilarious homosexual vampire Count Dragalescu in "Il Cav. Costante Nicosia Demoniaco, Ovvero: Dracula In Brianza" in 1975. After all that, it's probably no surprise that he currently sells real estate in Beverly Hills!

Marco has become possessed with the jealous vindictive and revengeful demonic spirit of his dead father, and he has some major issues with his mother and his stepfather!

Daria Nicolodi was also in Argento's "Inferno," "Tenebre," "Phenomena," "Opera," and Luigi Cozzi's "Piganini Horror" for which she also wrote the screenplay!

The classic Marantz component stereo system, these people were living in style!

The Music for "SCHOCK" was written and performed by a group called I. Libra. The three members of I. Libra were V. Cappa, Alessandro Centofanti, and Walter Martino. Walter was also the drummer with another Argento associate group, Goblin, the guys responsible for the music in "Suspiria" and "Deep Red!"

Dora's shrink doesn't see anything out of the order in the drawings of her 6 year old son!

The Shock, Schock, Schlock cinematography was done by Alberto Spagnoli with hands on guy Mario Bava's assistance!

Daria Nicolodi has lots of looks and most of them look good! As far as I know, she is still doing fine today!

For more on all things Daria, head on over to her very cool official site right here and get the whole story firsthand in Italian!! Grazie!!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

UN OMBRA NELL'OMBRA - "Ring Of Darkness" - "SATAN'S WIFE" (1979)

"Un Ombra Nell'Ombra" or in English, "Satan's Wife" is an interesting gal, but she just ain't that much fun!! The music for this feature was written by a well known name deep down here, Stelvio Cipriani!!! Where to start and where to stop? Stelvio has over 200 insane titles to his composing credit like "12 + 1," "Overrun," "Whirlpool," "The Beast," "The Lickerish Quartet," "The Devil Has Seven Faces," etc etc. The list goes on and on!

Here's an intimate moment from the wedding ceremony!

The Devil's gang signs!! This looks like one of those awkward moments when you go to shake somebody's hand and you don't know which kind of hand shake they are going to use!

The 13 year old actress Lara Wendel as Daria Rhodes is the only thing that makes this movie even remotely interesting! You know what they say about if looks could kill! Lara's got that look down pat!!

"Satan's Wife" is not a film without talent, "Miss Great Britain," 1950, Anne Heywood, towards the end of her career plays Daria's Mother, Carlotta Rhodes! Anne Heywood's name at birth was Violet Pretty, but after her first film in 1951, "Bikini Baby," she changed it! Anne played The Brain's wife in "The Brain" and had the role of Fulvia in "Carthage In Flames!" Back in the day, she even posed for Playboy!

The priest summoned to do the exorcism is played by none other than John Phillip Law who we know from "Barbarella" and "Danger: Diabolik!"

My, my, that is quite a headdress she has on!!

If you have some kind of insane burning desire to see every devil worshiping "Exorcist" wannabe flick ever made, then put this one on your list for sure!! Not at the top, but on there somewhere!!

Flaming pitchforks almighty, it's the God Damn Devil his self!!

A more than generous portion of this film is dedicated to ceremonies conducted in the altogether, and nudity is not necessarily a worthwhile substitution for a good script in my humble opinion!

I think I read that the producers of this film stirred themselves up a bit of controversy because Lara Wendel briefly appeared nude in a couple of scenes!

I don't quite get it, but Lara Wendel is a hard one to find information about! Born Daniela Rachele Barnes, her parents were both actors. Her Mother was Britta (Wendel) Barnes who was in two Italian flicks, and her father was former professional football player turned actor, Walter Barnes! Walter was a big man and was in "Captain Sinbad" as Rolf, and many of the western TV shows of the 60's, like "Maverick," and "Gunsmoke!"

This looks like a shot from a lost "Married With Children" episode titled something like "Al Goes To Hell!"

Lara's name was a combination of the last two letters of her first name Daniela, and the first two letters of her middle name Rachele! Here's that look again, notched up a gear!!

So I guess you probably figured it out, if Daria's Mom is "Satan's Wife," that makes Daria the daughter of The Devil, and not one to be trifled with!!

Among Lara Wendel's credits are "Fellini's Intervista" and Dario Argento's "Tenebre!" I have no idea where she is or what she's doing these days, but we'd love to do an interview with her!!

That's one cab fare you should have probably skipped, Amigo!! How ironic, today is 6-6-12..........

Saturday, May 16, 2020

INFERNO - "Hotter Than Hell" (1980)

This Saturday Night Special is a 1980 art exhibition from Dario Argento!

I took a film class in college and the only thing I have always remembered is that the instructor talked about the importance of  "Hot and Cold," and Dario Argento definitely graduated from that same school of thought!

And the very cool soundtrack is by Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer fame!

There are no alternate titles for "Inferno, but if there was one, it would surely be 
"The Three Mothers!"

Writing in cursive is sadly a dying art, and we're doing everything we can to stop it from happening!
Because some things are important!

"Inferno" is a look! 
There's hardly any dialogue, but the composition and lighting on each and every freakin' shot is meticulously thought out!

If you just took out all the grisly murders,"Inferno" would be an amazingly beautiful presentation!

But that's just not the way Dario Argento works!

Who else is going to go to all the trouble to get a shot like this just for the Hell of it?

Years ago I downloaded almost this same exact picture from somewhere on the internet, and I never knew where or what it was from until I watched '"Inferno" yesterday! 
Funny thing is that after all this time, I still don't get it!

Okay...Spoiler Alert: This movie is 40 years old, so I hope this isn't too shocking, 
The Three Mothers = Death!

In Argento's world, there's a fine line between mysterious and ambiguous!

I do know one thing, he likes shots down long hallways like this that make great wallpaper!

The mix of beauty and wanton violence is unnerving at best, just the way it was planned!

Cats also play a predominant role in the order of disorder, lots and lots of cats!!

The quick shots like this are endless!
Looks like something from a fine art gallery!

I don't exactly know why, but Daria Nicolodi is one of my favourite actresses! She has been Dario Argento's partner for many years, but they never got hitched!
Some other disturbing films Daria has been in are "SHOCK!"
Unfortunately, Daria hasn't done any acting since 2009!

The fire and ice scenes never cease throughout the whole film!

I've seen lots of phones, but this push button design is a little different!

Three Mothers is Death, or Three Mothers are death,
when everything goes completely to Hell, I guess we'll all find out!
Dario Argento hasn't done much film work the last few years! He has a couple of films possibly coming out in 2020, one that will star his and Daria's daughter, Asia Argento called "Occhiali neri," that was written in 2002, but got shelved when the production company went bankrupt!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??