Movies

Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) Directed by Paolo Cavara, who got his start in film as a shockumentarian with Mondo Cane. The gimmick this time is that the black-clad gloved fiend murders naked women by paralyzing them with a needle in the back of the brain and cuts their bellies open while they are paralyzed and fully conscious, as explained by a scientist in a white lab coat and stock footage of a fight between a spider and a Tarantula Hawk Wasp. This seems more a transitional phase between the Giallo and Eurocrime forms since the protagonist is not the woman in peril but the disillusioned police detective, played by Giancarlo Giannini. This is not a very strong story, rather baroque - lots of little offshoots spiraling into dead ends which were never made to seem important in the first place. There were some interesting scenes and settings, such as a room full of mannequins in the back of a furrier's shop, but nothing super-great.In fact the most interesting part of it for me was seeing mod decorative props re-used from Seven Bloodstained Orchids. Kept my interest but wasn't really enthralling. 5/10

Rectilinear b/w stereophonograph and abstract paintings in

Black Belly of the Tarantula

... and in Seven Bloodstained Orchids

Movies

I have decided to enjoy some Italian thrillers for the next week or so.

Seven Bloodstained Orchids (1972) Directed by Umberto Lenzi who would later gain notice for the grisliest zombie and cannibal movies, this is an exemplary entry into the giallo genre. Which is to say it is an example of it. A black-gloved killer is murdering women and leaving behind an enigmatic talisman. The protagonists must discover how the women are connected to prevent more murders. The story is excessively contrived with multiple layers of misdirection and concealment so that when discoveries are made they provide little emotional relief. It is made as lurid as possible with gratuitous female nudity and gay junkie drug parties, and the psychological implications of the violent attacks on vulnerable women at that sociohistorical period are obvious and have probably been investigated deeply and repeatedly. The two really good things about this are the settings and soundtrack. Each interior location has a completely different style of art on the walls, and one fabulous country hideaway is laden with as much freakish Italo-mod design as it can hold. Riz Ortolani's harpsichord-based themes are the perfect accompaniment to the numerous scenes of a convertible sports car tearing down country highways. 5/10

Seven Notes in Black (a.k.a. The Psychic) 1977, directed by Lucio Fulci (who also would go on to the most gruesome of zombie movies), is much more sophisticated in every way. Its basic conceit is perfect for a mystery thriller - a woman's clairvoyant visions of murder are a set of disconnected snapshots, puzzle pieces that can be put together in any pattern. This concept of providing the primary clues without a context works extremely well in setting up the maze of discoveries which must follow. Jennifer O'Neil must first convince a world of scoffing men that her visions are valid, then work with them to discover where and when and who. This seems to have passed beyond the crude emotional reactionism to societal change evident in Seven Bloodstained Orchids and most other films in the genre, but relies still on a woman in peril who must enlist the aid and strength of men. I think it is these social settings that interest me as much as the simple enjoyment of making it through a contorted plot. 7/10

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