Euro Horror recommendations

Check out the documentary called Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss.

 

Anyone picked up either of Shout Factory's recent "Naschy Collection" sets?

 

'Zeder,' a film by Italian director Pupi Avati, has stayed in my mind, even though it's been years since I've seen it. It's more of a low-key, atmospheric affair, contrary to the lurid zombie packaging and re-titling ('Revenge of the Dead') when it was marketed in the USA. Has to do with the discovery of unique plots of land which can reanimate the dead that are buried in them.

 

Argento's "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" is an amazing psychological thriller with a very gritty atmosphere - highly recommended!

 

Some spanish goodies

La residencia (The House That Screamed) The House That Screamed (1970) - IMDb
Angustia (Anguish) Anguish (1987) - IMDb
Tras el cristal (In a Glass Cage) Tras el cristal (1986) - IMDb
Tesis (Thesis) Tesis (1996) - IMDb
La cabina (The Telephone Box) La cabina (TV Short 1972) - IMDb <- it's a short film, but WORTH watching

 

I've been wanting to see that movie for years but have never come across a copy of it anywhere. The old Image DVD (part of their "EuroShock Collection") is long OOP, and the Cydonia DVD (which uses the "Revenge of the Dead" title) is an edited version. Code Red did release a Blu-ray edition earlier this year, though, so maybe my chances of finding a copy are slightly better now.

I do own a copy of Pupi Avati's The House With Laughing Windows, though.

 

I've got the first volume.
Horror Rises From The Tomb has Emma Cohen's walk along the lake at the end mostly edited out.
I think there are a few other issues but these are as good as its gonna get for these films for awhile.
It is fun seeing these films in Blu-Ray quality after years of watching bad prints.

 

I have the Code Red blu-ray of Zeder and recommend it. I'll never understand why Code Red makes it so difficult to get their stuff. And then Bill Olsen complains on forums because so many of their titles sell poorly. For what it's worth, I'll recommend Ronin Flix if you haven't ordered from them before. They usually ship within a day of placing your order. If you go through Code Red directly-as I did once-you'll end up waiting at least a month before your order ships.

Ronin Flix l Curated Blu-ray Fan Shop

 

That's strange about the missing footage... I know there are a few different edits of the film out there, but the Blu-ray was supposed to be the fully uncut version.
The reviews I've read gave this set a good rating... what "other issues" have you heard about?

 

Code Red's stuff used to be fairly easy to track down... I picked up about a dozen or so of their DVDs when they first started out... but then a few years ago, they seemed to suddenly become tough to find. As I recall, it had something to do with them no longer releasing their titles to retail stores and only having them be available from their website. To this day, there are still a bunch of their releases on my wishlist that I've never picked up because of that ridiculous business decision.

 

You can always look to Japan too if you want get creeped out.

 

Cant remember the details.
Good discussion on both volumes over at The Latarnia Forums in the Paul Naschy section.
More Naschy coming in 2018 from Code Red and Mondo Macabro.

 

I have both sets and they are very good considering the Shout Factory had to make do with the masters sent to them by the rights holder, Victory Films. Horror Rises From The Tomb, Blue Eyes Of the Broken Doll, and Hunchback Of the Morgue are my favorites from the two sets.

Werewolf Versus the Vampire Women and Count Dracula’s Great Love are two other favorites, with Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu Ray of CDGR being a real standout.

 

Rather dark, but potent.

 

I picked up the first set recently and have been working my way through it. One small glitch I've noticed is that the audio commentary tracks seem to repeat their last line on a loop for a few seconds at the end of the film. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the movie, of course, but it's a weird little glitch that I'm surprised made it into the final product.

As for the missing footage in Horror Rises, I'll have to compare the Blu-ray to a couple older DVDs of the film in my collection. I've got the Mondo Crash DVD from 2004 (which actually contains 3 different cuts of the film), and the Deimos "Special Edition" DVD from 2007, but I don't recall if the scene is in either of those.

Looking forward to picking up Vol. 2 of the set... I don't think I've seen any of the films in that one before.

 

I have, or have had, just about every Naschy horror/thriller title out there. I've seen a few others that I probably won't bother collecting-Crimson, Dr. Jekyl vs the Werewolf, People Who Own the Dark, inquisition. The last one he made that I think is good is Rojo Sangre (2004). I think it won't disappoint anyone. One I haven't seen yet is Howl of the Devil, with Howard Vernon! it comes from a period just after some other top notch films he made such as El Caminente, Human Beasts and the Frenchman's Orchard. All recommended.
Here is a list that contains a lot of rarities-

The Films of Paul Naschy - How many have you seen?

 

I've only seen a couple Paul Naschy films, but the ones I have seen are at the very least interesting.

 

I have both volumes of the Scream Factory Blu-ray sets. While most of the Naschy films are Euro-camp fun, Night of the Werewolf is the exception—I seriously believe it's one of the most underrated horror films out there.

 

I'd say the first stop for many is Mario Bava. Just about anything he did was worth seeing.

On Argento, my personal favorite is Tenebrae - which has a killer soundtrack from Goblin. Mind, Suspiria is quite something too. For a giallo, his best was Bird with the Crystal Plummage, imo.

And then there is the wonderfully silly Lucio Fulci. His films really took a nose dive toward the end of his career when he stopped caring, but The Beyond is immense. He made a giallo too, and City of the Living Dead and on. They're films for gorehounds, and not for those that demand a coherent plot. But - it's classic cinema.

Paul Naschy? Nothing to add to what others have said - fantastic, get them all.

It's a very fertile area, with lots of places to look. I mean, Hammer is European! Amicus too!

It really depends on what you're after. Arthouse, gore, mystery. My wife and I used to watch giallo's on Saturday nights. They're completely mad, and you can never guess the killer. Although it's usually the person wearing black gloves.

 

This is Brazilian, but really great nonetheless.

 

Italian horror all the way. Argento, Bava, and anything that is a “giallo” is terrific.

If you want one film title, watch “Torso” if you like slashers, and “Deep Red” if you like art cinema and that’s what draws you to the Euro stuff.

 

It's basically a remake of Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman, 1971, and is one of my favorites too.

 

Tenebrae may be the best Giallo out there! As for Fulci, he has some top level Giallo types as well. Or at least different than his gore series. My recommendations are The Psychic, Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Don't Torture a Duckling, and Perversion Story, also known as One on Top of the Other.

Bava, love him and Bay of Blood.

 

Fulci was a good film maker. Sadly, as he reached the end of his life, illness and a cynicism affected what he did. His gore classics also somewhat over shadow his other work. That said, I actually like his late films. By the time he reached them he really did kinda lose the plot, and anything went. Cat in the Brain is a classic, imo.

Oh, and I earlier forgot to mention Argento's Sleepless - another giallo with a killer soundtrack. Argento has lost it too, sadly. The third mothers films was quite poor, imo. Still, when you have the like of Inferno in your filmography, you can make a dud or three.

 

I'd love to see a proper uncut blu-ray of the Spanish horror flick Bell from Hell. I have a 3rd gen VHS dupe somewhere and it was a pretty creepy slow burn as I recall. The DVD version is cut from what I recall. I think this is also the film in which the director fell to his death while making it.

Still waiting on my shipping notice from Mondo Macabro for the limited edition version of The Devil's Nightmare. That was one of the first DVDs I ever bought back in 2000 ish.