Music and images from PSYCHOMANIA aka The Death Wheelers (1973) directed by Don Sharp with music by John Cameron. Loving this soundtrack plus this movie is bloody fabulous fun!
Archive for the UK Category
Goregirl’s Dungeon on YouTube: John Cameron Psychomania Title Sequence
Posted in Goregirl's Dungeon on YouTube, UK with tags 1973, Don Sharp, John Cameron, Psychomania, The Death Wheelers on March 10, 2014 by goregirlLISZTOMANIA (1973) – The Dungeon Review!
Posted in movies, UK with tags Andrew Reilly, children in costume, Classical composer, David English, Fiona Lewis, Franken-Wagner, frankenstein, giant penis, guitar machine gun, Imogen Claire, John Justin, Ken Russell, nazi, Nell Campbell, Paul Nicholas, Rick Wakeman, Ringo Starr, Roger Daltrey, Sara Kestelman, vampire, Veronica Quilligan on May 29, 2013 by goregirlDirector Ken Russell throws everything but the kitchen sink into Lisztomania! It is a biography, comedy, musical, drama, war, horror, fantasy thing. Franz Liszt is a flamboyant womanizing rockstar-esque classical composer and his peer Richard Wagner is a Nazi vampire who uses his compositions for evil. Needless to say Russell takes liberties with the composers’ lives! By the way, the Pope is Ringo Starr. Strangely, Lisztomania is not nearly as well-known as Ken Russell’s Tommy which was made the same year and also stars Roger Daltrey. What a shame because Lisztomania is definitely the superior film. Was it because of the Nazis? Did the living relatives of Richard Wagner protest? In my opinion, Lisztomania is one of the 1970s greatest underappreciated gems!
Lisztomania opens with Franz Liszt caught in bed with the wife of a Count. The Count challenges Liszt to a duel but settles with sealing Liszt and his cheating wife inside a piano and places them on a railroad track before a train approaches. The flash of a camera brings Liszt back to the present where he is about to perform a piece of music written by Richard Wagner. Liszt’s theatrics provoke his bonnet-wearing female audience to scream at him like a rockstar, and Liszt throws some chopsticks into the composition much to Wagner’s horror. During his performance he motions towards women in the audience to whom he would like to become acquainted. One of these women is Princess Carolyn. There will be more on her later.
There is a heavy emphasis on Franz Liszt’s relationship with Richard Wagner in Lisztomania. Liszt’s and Wagner’s first interaction in the film speaks volumes about the nature of their relationship. While Wagner has been participating in an uprising Liszt has been locked away composing music. When Wagner reappears he is a wanted criminal asking Liszt for money. At this point we learn Wagner is a vampire. You read that right. Richard Wagner is a vampire. Richard Wagner is one character that will stay with me forever and ever! This is one of the most outrageous and hilarious fictional interpretations of a real person’s life I have ever seen! Wagner is not only a vampire composer of classical music but an embracer of Nazi propaganda, which he incorporates into his compositions. Wagner’s Nazi leanings have compelled him to use his music for evil. Wagner is also a mad scientist and is working on a creature that will rid the world of Jews! Paul Nicholas is the cat’s ass as Wagner! As much as I loved Wagner it is Liszt who gets most of the focus. It is hard not to admire Roger Daltrey’s enthusiastic performance as Franz Liszt; he is just perfect as the arrogant and showy composer. Recruiting a rockstar to play a classical “rockstar-like” composer was sort of a no-brainer really, but Daltrey is nonetheless an excellent choice.
Look at those mad set pieces in Liszt’s boudoir!! Garish and showy like the man himself. Have I mentioned that Liszt is married with three children?! Liszt…you are such a dog! All is not well with this marriage. Franz and Marie’s ensembles are as gaudy as their interior design. Franz’s robe coordinates with the room! Marie’s voluminous frilly bright pink dressing gown is like a moving gaping wound. The sets and costumes are superb throughout Lisztomania; colorful, creative, quirky, and often comical!
Princess Carolyn wastes no time seducing Liszt with a proposition! For control of Liszt’s life, Princess Carolyn will grant him the ability to compose brilliant music. Princess Carolyn is a cigar-smoking, humorless and intimidating woman with a magnificent wardrobe. In Liszt’s hallucination, the Princess appears to him as the Devil and oh what a truly magnificent outfit she wears for the occasion! Princess Carolyn completely dominates Liszt’s life but like everything else, it too shall pass.
Liszt has a hallucination that he is being attacked by five of the Princess’ female attendants. But Liszt is able to tame the wild women with his music. They react so passionately to his music that it gives him an erection large enough for five women to ride like a carousel horse. They watch it grow and grow and grow and grow! I am not really a fan of musicals but I sure did enjoy this rousing crowd-pleasing number! It begins with a giant cock and ends with a guillotine. I am sure I would watch a lot more musicals if they incorporated giant cocks.
Richard Wagner mad with power! Artist! Vampire! Villain! Nazi!
Liszt decides to live his life as an abbot?! He is visited by the Pope who catches him in bed with a woman. The pope lays down the law; Liszt is to exorcise Wagner or he will be excommunicated and his music banned forever!!
Liszt arrives at Wagner’s castle where he lurks in the shadows observing a ritual where a man portraying a Jewish brute is seen raping and tossing women like rubbish.
Wagner unveils his creation to Liszt. The Frankenstein-inspired Thor creature was concocted by Wagner to kill Jews. Unfortunately the creature does not react in a manner that suits Wagner so it is back to the table for Franken-Thor. The creature is played by Rick Wakeman of Yes, who also scored the film.
Liszt’s eldest daughter Cosima is seduced by and marries Wagner. She fully embraces Wagner’s principles and together they lead an army of spirited children to world domination. “We will be the master race!” The children march in Superman like costumes that boast “W” in Wagner’s honor. “The flowering youth of Germany was raped by the beast!” Cosima’s Nazi leanings and her hatred for her father makes her Wagner’s perfect ally.
Nazi Franken-Wagner rises to kill the Jews!
Cosima leads Nazi Franken-Wagner through Berlin with an electric guitar machine gun!
No detail is spared…look at the work on that electric guitar machine gun!
I don’t want to spoil the whole damn movie for you but the finale is as wonderfully cuckoo as the rest of the film! “Peace at last!”
Lisztomania is truly one of a kind! It is cheeky, clever and funny as hell! I laughed heartily and often throughout. The film is perfectly cast and the performances are top-notch by all. The music is an interesting mix of rock and classical with a score from Rick Wakeman of Yes and lyrics written by Ken Russell and Roger Daltrey. The sets and costumes are astounding. The story while clearly a loose biography does actually draw from some non-fictional sources including Marie d’Agoult’s book Nélida. And Lisztomania is a term accredited to Heinrich Heine who used it to describe the response to Liszt’s actual performances. Lisztomania has been one of my favourite film experiences of the year and makes me excited to check out more of Ken Russell’s work! My highest of recommendations with whip cream and a cherry on top…a perfect score!
***Thanks for another fan-fucking-tastic recommendation Mr. Arrate!***
Dungeon Rating: 5/5
Directed By: Ken Russell
Starring: Roger Daltrey, Sara Kestelman, Paul Nicholas, Ringo Starr, Rick Wakeman, John Justin, Fiona Lewis, Veronica Quilligan, Nell Campbell, Andrew Reilly, David English, Imogen Claire
THE REFLECTING SKIN (1990) – The Dungeon Review!
Posted in Canada, horror, movies, UK with tags Codie Lucas Wilbee, David Bloom, David Longworth, Duncan Fraser, Evan Hall, Jason Wolff, Jeremy Cooper, Lindsay Duncan, Philip Ridley, Robert Koons, Sheila Moore, Sherry Bie, Viggo Mortensen on December 11, 2012 by goregirlI am officially neck-deep in the 90s! If I am going to be ready for my 90s feature in January it must be done! Surprisingly I haven’t run into one film I have hated yet; admittedly I am starting with films that actually appeal to me first. I will start wading through the dregs on the weekend. The Reflecting Skin is just teetering on the edge of horror. It certainly explores some horrifying ideas but it leans heavier towards the drama. The nightmare childhood of a boy living in a rural landscape during the 1950s is dark, depressing, strange and rather unique. Some minor spoilers ahead.
Seth Dove is a nine year old boy living in a small rural community in the 1950s. His browbeaten father Luke runs a small gas station on their property and barely speaks. His angry, depressed and abusive mother Ruth despises the smell of gasoline and spends considerable time berating her husband about it. His brother Cameron has been away at war on “the pretty islands” as Seth’s mother likes to call them, and will soon be coming home. Seth spends his days hanging out with his two friends lingering about the endless fields. The trio pull a cruel prank on Seth’s widow neighbour Dolphin Blue; when his mother catches wind of it, she forces Seth to go apologize to the woman. His father’s affection for pulp fiction puts the idea in Seth’s head that Dolphin is a vampire. This is followed by the disappearance of one of Seth’s chums and a dark family secret is revealed which results in tragedy. His brother arrives soon after and meets and falls in love with Dolphin to Seth’s dismay. Meanwhile a black Cadillac full of murdering perverts are driving around the small town.
The Reflecting Skin’s endless fields and massive sky add nicely to the film’s feeling of desolation. The Reflecting Skin is a UK film about American’s that was filmed in Alberta Canada. If they really wanted desolation they should have filmed in Saskatchewan. Having driven across Canada twice now I don’t think there is a duller stretch of driving than the great flat plains of Saskatchewan. In any case, the film really is beautiful and well made and its excellent score hits all the right notes.
There are some very strange trippy snippets that give The Reflecting Skin a dream like feel. There are weirdly random moments like Seth walking past two women chirping carrying a dead bird. Seth seems to immerse himself more deeply in fantasy as the film wears on. I won’t explain the hows and whys but a dead fetus becomes Seth’s confidant. There isn’t much in the way of graphic violence but what they include is very effective and at times disturbing. I really do not care for animal violence and The Reflecting Skin opens with a pretty nasty frog death. I don’t want to give away all the secrets but there is a suicide in the film that is just brutal! It is still hovering in my mind days after watching it. The Reflecting Skin has a very relaxed pace and leisurely unleashes a series of vignettes; one more bleak than the other. I found The Reflecting Skin’s mix of strange, melancholy and ugliness compelling.
The Reflecting Skin is very dark and is one of the dreariest films I have seen in a while. It is so terribly hopeless and full of characters you would hardly call likable. Seth is an abused child and I had empathy for him, but it wasn’t always easy. Seth is cruel, destructive and frustrating at various points in the story. Seth is only nine years old and by the end of the film he sees more trauma than most people see in a lifetime. Cameron Dove has just returned from his station in Japan and carries with him a picture of a Japanese baby. Due to fallout from the bombings the baby’s skin took on a reflective quality hence the film’s title. It is clear that the experience has affected Cameron both mentally and psychically. Seth’s mother Ruth is an intimidating, frightening and intense woman. The dark family secret she carries with her is no doubt a significant contributor to her bitterness. Seth’s father Luke is a sad man who tries desperately to lose himself in pulp fiction; much like Seth, fantasy is more comforting to him than reality. It can be said that he is also an abused member of this household. There is an eccentric sheriff called Ticker with a Prosthetic hand, a chewed up ear and one eye. Sheriff Ticker’s injuries are on account of animal attacks; the drawback of being the Sheriff of a tiny town where not much happens. Sheriff Ticker finally gets himself a body count and he is going to solve these crimes gosh darn it!
I found The Reflecting Skin a hypnotic watch and its slow grind added to that vibe. The Reflecting Skin was a fascination and its perfect slap you in the face finale could not have been better. Be warned that The Reflecting Skin is not exactly a horror film, or at least it is very thin on horror elements and high on drama. I have no idea how this film escaped my radar for so many years! The Reflecting Skin is a beautifully filmed, unique, powerful, strange, sad, hopeless, merciless, ugly slow grind and comes highly recommended!
Dungeon Rating: 5/5
Directed By: Philip Ridley
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Cooper, Sheila Moore, Duncan Fraser, David Longworth, Robert Koons, David Bloom, Evan Hall, Codie Lucas Wilbee, Sherry Bie, Jason Wolff
Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee?
Posted in horror, movies, UK with tags christopher lee, peter cushing on November 14, 2012 by goregirlPeter Cushing and Christopher Lee have appeared in twenty-three full-length feature films together; Hamlet (1948), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), The Mummy (1959), The Devil’s Agent (1962), The Gorgon (1964), The Skull (1965), Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), She (1965), Night of the Big Heat (1967), Scream and Scream Again (1970), One More Time (1970), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), I, Monster (1971),The Trans-Siberian Train (1972), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), The Creeping Flesh (1973), Nothing But the Night (1973), Arabian Adventure (1979), House of the Long Shadows (1983).
Christopher Lee said of his friend Peter Cushing who died in 1994 at the age of 81; “I don’t want to sound gloomy, but, at some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again”. (Quote borrowed from the Peter Cushing Wikipedia page).
Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are without a doubt one of horror’s greatest classic pairings! Is it fair to ask which of these two wonderful talented actors are your favourite? Probably not, but here it is anyway…Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee?
***Tomorrow I will be posting my TOP 10 Favourite Horror Films from 1964!***