Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[The Great Owl]

Elizabeth, a gorgeous blonde played by Erna Schürer (Strip Nude for Your Killer), has inherited her late uncle's enormous castle in the countryside. When she arrives for the reading of the will with her fiancé, Jack (Roland Carey), she learns that a friendly neighbor is overtly eager to buy the castle from her. The beautiful housekeeper, Carol (Lucie Bomez), believes that the uncle had wished to sell the castle all along, while the uncle's elderly assistant claims that he can prove with documents that the uncle never wanted to sell. After being informed by Carol that the castle has a haunted past, and that a ghost still roams the premises, Elizabeth begins to have terrifyingly vivid nightmares about kidnap and torture. Meanwhile, people in the area are being killed by a mysterious person wearing black gloves.

The 1969 Italian film, La bambola di Satana (The Doll of Satan), takes its cues from the giallo genre, but it has an awkward quaintness about it that undermines any suspense generated by the narrative. For the most part, it come across as an odd blend of the early 1960s giallo works from Mario Bava and the William Castle movies of the late 1950s and early 1960s, namely House on Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts. To watch La bambola di Satana is to watch a movie that cannot quite decide what it wants to be. Just when the viewer settles into what appears to be an old-fashioned and good-natured ghost story, the movie switches gears abruptly into erotic nude scenes or depictions of medieval torture, before switching back into an earnest family-friendly mystery.

This is not a particularly good film in any conventional sense of the word, but it is at least insanely entertaining, even if that entertainment comes about for the wrong reasons. The end result is bewilderingly amusing. An early moment, where mod teenagers dance to weird Euro music from a jukebox, has to be seen to be believed, and it has no apparent context to connect it with the rest of the movie. At a later point, Elizabeth and Jack sit down at a restaurant, but the audio inexplicably focuses on a conversation between two people at a neighboring table, as though the filmmakers accidentally placed a microphone at the wrong table for the scene. Late in the story, a dog amazingly understands a man's verbal request to lead him to a murder clue, and the dog leads the man straight to the dead body. A fight scene between two men on a hill is the most gleefully drawn-out confrontation that I have seen in a long while. Due to an inexcusable narrative oversight, two characters are informed early in the film that there is quicksand, but we never get to see a quicksand scene later on. Finally, we are actually treated to an honest-to-goodness Scooby-Doo ending.

The director, Ferruccio Casapinta, reportedly had no film set experience at all before he secured the support for this film, and, while he was thankfully blessed with a competent crew, the amateurish aesthetic is all too obvious.

La bambola di Satana is one of those uncanny films which I cannot recommend to most normal people, because it is the weakest giallo that I have seen to date, but, for the life of me, I do not have the heart to trash it in a review because it's just too much fun. If you are a fan of Italian giallo cinema, then this movie is an interesting example of how the genre was finding its feet during the late 1960s before Dario Argento perfected the blueprint with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage in 1970. If you like eye candy movies with scenic locations and lovely women, of course, then you are in the right place.

I'm giving this one three out of five stars just because I really enjoyed the ride, despite the many bumps in the road.

This Twilight Zone Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic, with a colorfully filmic appearance and an Italian language track with a good jazzy score. There's some softness in a few of the scenes, but it's forgivable and it looks inherent to the source.

The commentary track by David Del Valle and Derek Botelho is serviceable, although I get the impression that they're somewhat embarrassed to be talking us through this one.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by jjhunsecker

I wonder if TT (or maybe Kino) will ever put out "A Hatful of Rain" ?
Fox's on-demand DVD actually pan-and scanned the CinemaScope film

I've been waiting on this title for a long time. I hope it's coming soon.

[jjhunsecker]

Originally Posted by Reddington

I'm sold just on the cover alone.

Other than reading the one-line synopsis on the site entry for this release, I know nothing about The Incident.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) is a favourite, so I'll be very interested to see how this film presents a similar theme.

About 20 years ago, on a Sunday afternoon, one NY station aired "The incident", and by coincidence, a different station aired "Taking of Pelham 123". I thought to myself, after watching TV that afternoon, a lot of people woild avoid the subway for awhile !

[HuggyBear73]

Has anyone's BOB CAROL TED ALICE or COUSIN RACHEL shipped yet?

[mja345]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Has anyone's BOB CAROL TED ALICE or COUSIN RACHEL shipped yet?

The release date has been pushed back to the 29th, so they should be shipping out early next week.

[Snl40boi]

So what this the only way to get the movie wild bill is if you spend $150 on twilight time movies wtf!?

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Snl40boi

So what this the only way to get the movie wild bill is if you spend $150 on twilight time movies wtf!?

No, that's to get an autographed copy by Walter Hill. You can get a regular copy anytime. I doubt that it's a fast seller, so I'm sure that it will be available in a sale in the future.

[krasnoludek]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Has anyone's BOB CAROL TED ALICE or COUSIN RACHEL shipped yet?

I came on here to post that mine literally just shipped. I got all the new releases, a couple old ones, and the signed Wild Bill.

Incidentally, I separately got an email at the same time from SAE announcing that their TT sale is still going on and that they STILL have copies of signed Wild Bill left. I don't recall the last time a signed promotion took this long to sell out.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by krasnoludek

Incidentally, I separately got an email at the same time from SAE announcing that their TT sale is still going on and that they STILL have copies of signed Wild Bill left. I don't recall the last time a signed promotion took this long to sell out.

I think that the longest lasting promo was the signed Harlock.

[Snl40boi]

Originally Posted by krasnoludek

I came on here to post that mine literally just shipped. I got all the new releases, a couple old ones, and the signed Wild Bill.

Incidentally, I separately got an email at the same time from SAE announcing that their TT sale is still going on and that they STILL have copies of signed Wild Bill left. I don't recall the last time a signed promotion took this long to sell out.

So there is no way to get the movie from them not autographed?

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Snl40boi

So there is no way to get the movie from them not autographed?

See my post a few posts above this. You can get a non-signed copy anytime you want. I'm sure it will be on sale at some point in the future.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by Snl40boi

So there is no way to get the movie from them not autographed?

Wait a few months and you'll likely be able to get it for 50% off.

[rdodolak]

I'm still hoping for the eventually Alien Nation release.

[mja345]

I watched another absolute gem from TT last night. "Chilly Scenes of Winter" spins the fairly simple story of Charles (John Heard) who is obsessively in love with Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). Laura is married to the oafish Ox (Mark Metcalf), but temporarily leaves him to live with Charles. However, Charles' obsessiveness drives her back to her passionless marriage with Ox, leaving her in a state of limbo.

I can't stress enough how good this film is. It has similarities to Albert Brooks' "Modern Romance", but is far less comedic and absurd. Charles is over the moon for Laura, but simply can't get out of his own way. He smothers her with compliments and attention to the point where she questions how he could have such a high opinion of her when even she doesn't feel that great about herself. He is completely lost without her, yet continually finds ways to drive her away.

Heard and Hurt are absolutely brilliant in this. Heard wonderfully captures how Charles is completely paralyzed without Laura, almost ceasing to be a complete human being. Hurt, who's one of the most under the radar great actresses in recent memory, is continually in a state of incredulity that someone can be so enamored with her when she can't completely accept herself. Peter Reigert, who always makes films better when he's in them, provides comic relief as Heard's out-of-work friend and roommate and is re-united with fellow "Animal House" cast member Mark "Neidermeyer" Metcalf.

The film was initially titled "Head Over Heels", which makes it sound like a cheesy rom-com. That is not what this film is at all. It's more of a bittersweet meditation on the highs and lows of love, so the title "Chilly Scenes of Winter" is infinitely more appropriate. Director Joan Micklin Silver made a trio of very good films at the beginning of her career with this, "Between the Lines", and "Hester Street", all of which deserve far more recognition than they've received.

I love that TT has been releasing a lot of obscure, forgotten films of late. While some gripe that TT isn't releasing as many high-profile titles recently, I feel the exact opposite. They've been releasing a lot of under-seen gems and "Chilly Scenes of Winter" is near the top of the list.

[thinredline]

Yes, i watched this recently and it was a quite good film!
Do you know that this is the revised version of the film released in 1982?

You can find the original ending (a scene that was ommitted from the revised version) in youtube! (Pity that TT didn't include it as en extra in their release.)
But I admit I like the revised version better.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by thinredline

Yes, i watched this recently and it was a quite good film!
Do you know that this is the revised version of the film released in 1982?

You can find the original ending (a scene that was ommitted from the revised version) in youtube! (Pity that TT didn't include it in their release.)
But I admit I like the revised version better.

Right, the original had a different ending. I don't want to mention how the endings are different because it would be a bit of a spoiler. Glad that you enjoyed it, it's definitely a film that deserves more recognition.

[Jobla]

One of the two endings is more cheerful than the other.

SPOILER ALERT:

[Show spoiler]I briefly dated a woman who had seen the film on two different occasions, and so she inadvertently saw both endings. The first time, she had just broken up with someone else and didn't want the film to have an "unrealistic" happy ending.

When the film was later reissued, she saw it again. This time, she expected the happy ending, and was bummed by the alternate conclusion.

[donidarko]

Chilly Scenes of Winter and The Accidental Tourist make a great double feature.

[krasnoludek]

Originally Posted by Jobla

One of the two endings is more cheerful than the other.

SPOILER ALERT:

Helpful tip: The forums have a handy way to hide spoilers so people don't accidentally read them if they don't want to. Format below: (delete the spaces inside the [] )

[ SPOILER ]

your text here

[ /SPOILER ]

That becomes:

[Show spoiler] Your text here

[bdgking]

Heads Up . 45 Copies of Mindwarp remain at SAE once those are gone this title will be sold out .