Films like The Possessed, or La Donna del Lago in its original Italian, are the reason I constantly try to seek out new films whenever Hooptober comes around. A proto-giallo that also functions as an Italian noir evoking the dream-like narratives David Lynch would forge just over a decade later, it’s a gorgeously shot film that takes the plot mechanics of what the genre would come to be known for, but drapes it under a blanket of striking black and white photography and ambiguous sequences that play as both dream, premonition and clues to the mystery surrounding its characters.

ChrisSeptember 17, 2025September 20, 20251 Comment

Reviews

Hooptober 10.0 – Phenomena (1985)

Being Film #3 for Hooptober 2023 Man, there is just something about Dario Argento. Excepting The Five Days (only because I haven’t seen it) his run of films from 1970’s The Bird With the Crystal Plumage up to 1996’s The Stendhal Syndrome (I’m giving a soft pass to 93’s Trauma because I barely remember it) is remarkable, full of style and crazy ideas, with running … Continue reading Hooptober 10.0 – Phenomena (1985)

ChrisSeptember 18, 2023September 18, 2023Leave a comment

Reviews

Hooptober 8.0 – Lisa and the Devil (1973)

Being Film #21 for Hooptober 2021

By the time the “Master of Italian Horror” got around to 1973’s Lisa and the Devil there was really nothing left to prove. Since 1960’s Black Sunday Mario Bava had crafted numerous classics that would grow to influence not just to the Italian horror genre (particularly giallo) but to the international film world. So it’s interesting to see a filmmaker whose legacy is firmly in place continue to work, and in Lisa and the Devil he weaves a slightly convoluted tale of demons and doppelgängers that – while ultimately not entirely successful – shows a nightmare logic that reminded me of David Lynch. It works here, even when it kind of doesn’t.

ChrisOctober 11, 20211 Comment

Cinema Dual (TEST SITE)

Examining a life through the media we consume. In other words, I’m reviewing all of my physical music media in alphabetical order, one day at at a time. Except when I don’t, as has been the case for the past few years. Still, we march onwards…Coffee essential, but not mandatory

Tag: italy

Hooptober 12.0 – The Possessed (1965)

Hooptober 10.0 – Phenomena (1985)

Hooptober 8.0 – Lisa and the Devil (1973)