Month: May 2016

Giallo is my Vice & Only I have the Key….

~ ladycultblog ~ 2 Comments
  • Have you ever watch a movie and was so amazed by it that you had to watch it over and over again? This was a life changing movie for me because it introduced me into a genre I had never knew existed.

For me it was this movie:

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What Have You Done to Solange? is a 1972 Giallo film directed by Massimo Dallamano. I watched it for the first time about seven years ago and I had no idea what I was about to get into.

What is a Giallo film? Well for those that are not familiarized with the term it is a niche of Italian made movies that combine horror and eroticism traits into one awesome film! Added elements to make a Giallo film extra special is the haunting soundtracks that such composers as Goblin, Ennio Morricone, Fabio Frizzi, Riz Ortolani (to name a few) are synonymous to this genre. The Giallo genre also turned leading actresses such as Edwige Fenech, Jane Berkin, Barbara Bouchet, Jessica Harper, and Ania Pieroni into a cult status icons. I kind relate this genre to an adult version of Scobby Doo but in movie form with live actors and actresses. Trying to solve a mystery within a certain time frame and having chaos ensue with trying to figure what is going on.

Being the researcher personality that I am after I watched “What Have You Done to Solange?” It made me curious in wanting to know more about this particular genre. So I researched and was able to find books and more movies that broaden my horizon into this small genre. From there I learned about such directors as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, and Pupi Avati (just to name a few) who were able to make such strong and visually stunning impression in this category with their movies that when you  watch them you knew you were going to see something memorable.

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The reason why I am such a fan of this genre is the visual stunning cinematography, the gorgeous backdrops (it makes me want to visit Italy so badly!), the beautiful people in it and the mystery elements to the plots. Even the movie titles such as “The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh” or “The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire” catch your attention and makes you curious in wanting to either watch it or at least find out more about it. I watched nothing but Giallos for the next couple of months after I saw my first one and if I was ever asked by my friends what was the last movie I saw I would say something like “Death Walks on High Heels” with a smirk….Which would leave my friends with a puzzled look on their faces.

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If I had to pick a top five from this genre it would probably be:

-Suspiria

-What Have you Done to Solange?

-The Girl Who Knew Too Much

– The House With The Laughing Windows

-Bay of Blood and A Lizard in a Women’s Skin

 

 

Until Next Time!

 

 

ps… Giallos for life!

 

 

 

Do you like Records?

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Collecting soundtracks did not become a thing with me until about three years ago. I had collected so much horror and cult movies items over the years like posters, movies, books etc. that for some reason soundtracks did not enter my world until I saw this movie:

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Videodrome was weird, it was scary but I thought it was a wonderful movie. After watching this film it made me an instant Cronenberg fan. However I asked my horror/cult movie loving friends about getting this soundtrack and they more or less told me that it was nearly impossible to track down the vinyl soundtrack . I made it a life mission to track this down; the images as well as the music in this movie is very haunting and I could not get it out of my mind. Howard Shore truly made a score that gave me chills in the best possible way imaginable.

I went to every record store within a reasonable driving distance almost every week for about eight months and no luck. Until by chance I stopped by on a whim after work to my favorite record store: Record and Tape Exchange in Virginia. As usual I headed towards soundtrack section and no luck that had more copies of Barbara Streisand movies that I have ever seen in my life! Then I decided to look at the laserdisc section to shake off the Streisand vibes of the soundtrack section and that is where I SAW IT!…for $15 dollars. Both vinyl and sleeve was in EX shape that I thought I was dreaming! It was one of my best purchases ever!

That soundtrack was the starting board of me wanting to get more horror movie/cult soundtracks:

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I started compulsively going to local record stores afterwards. Websites like Ebay and Discogs became my best friends.  Even Amazon.com because a better acquaintance to me after I started purchasing vinyl. I had friends through social media help me a lot too, keeping an extra eye out for me or letting me know if any came on sale on the internet of the soundtracks I was looking for and could not find locally or at all. The condition of the sleeve and the grading of the vinyl become a top priority in my purchasing choices in terms of my horror/cult movie selection.

I made a wish list of the top soundtracks I really wanted and it felt like an achievement once I found it and had it in my hands. Every time I did a mental check off that list I gave myself a mental high five in return.

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I kind of prefer the older pressings rather than the new pressings that have recently come out unless if that particular soundtrack never had another pressing.

Although I am a huge fan of Waxwords records, deathwaltz records, Poisoned Mind Records and other indie record labels. I think it is amazing what they are doing; the cover art and work they put into making these are spectacular.

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I do not have a favorite in my vinyl soundtrack in my collection because each one has a different story and reason as to why I have it. I just know that I having these soundtracks make me appreciate the horror and cult movie genre even more.

 

 

Until Next time!!

Ro-bert M. Verbot: The coolest bot in town

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Hello my name is Ro-bert M. Verbot I am a cousin of Omnibot by Tomy and I was born in 1984.

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I am also co-author of this blog and friend of Clarissa (aka Lady.Cult). I wanted to introduce myself and tell you a bit about myself:

I LOVE horror, sci fi & cult movies. These are some of my favorite movies in the pile next to me. These have been watch over and over again to death!

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My favorite TV show is Twin Peaks mostly because David Lynch is my favorite director. I like to kick back and dig into a bag of chips:Cool Ranch Doritos is my chip of choice. Yum!

Who else gets chills when they heard the opening theme song? It ends up getting stuck in my Verbot brain for days! My favorite character on the show is Special Agent Dale Cooper; I think he is a total badass and loves to eat doughnuts and pie as much as I do!

I am probably the only Verbot who is very excited about the return of the show in 2016 or 2017 but I know many humans (especially Lady.Cult) are very excited about it as well.

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I enjoy talking and showing my friends about anything horror movie related that I come across in Clarissa’s collection. Yesterday I showed them this cool book I found about  The Video Nasty Era. It has tons of rad pictures of video covers from movies that were banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980’s

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In my spare time when I am not watching movies or doing Verbot things I like to listen to horror movie soundtracks on cassettes and reading about Giallo movie history. I guess the good thing about being the Verbot is that I don’t need a cassette player to play is just use myself to listen to the music!

I also like reading horror classics! This is my favorite book ever because vampires are one of my favorite subjects to read. I also enjoy reading the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.

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This is one of my top ten favorite horror movie ever and I  watch this one at least once every month. Do you have a favorite movie that you watch all the time?

I cannot give away the next post I will be helping Lady.Cult with however here is a clue:

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Until Next time!!!

 

 

 

 

 

For the Love of Swamp Thing!

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When I was about nine years old my parents decided to get cable TV. Thanks to this new addition to my household it exposed me to a lot of new channels; especially HBO. ” The Return of Swamp Thing” was the first movie I ever saw on that channel. That movie left me in awe of Swamp Thing. He was big….he was green. he had flowers and other things growing out of his body..he lived in a swamp… he kicked butt and he looked different from any other superhero that I had seen at the time. To me he was awesome!!! Every time I saw this movie on TV I would just stop what I was doing and watch it I think I must of watched this movie at least two hundred times. I felt like like I was getting a million pieces of my favorite candy at once once I saw Swamp Thing on the TV screen.

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It wasn’t until years later that I found out there was a movie that was made before”The Return of Swamp Thing” called “Swamp Thing”. (I know, I know I am little bit backwards in finding things like this out but I just took it as a learning experience.) And a short lived cartoon series  and the most important thing of all to me was…. SWAMP THING TOYS!!

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I had some Swamp Thing toys when I was little but my parents donated a lot of them so I spent my adulthood trying to find and buy the items I had when I was little. When I would get these packages in the mail I would opened them up and it instantly brought back warm Swamp Thing feelings  and memories from my youth.

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Even my robot: Ro-Bert M. Verbot is a fan of Swamp Thing! Here he is working on a Swamp Thing puzzle.

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The Swap Trap Playset and the soundtrack of Swamp Thing is probably my two most favorite things in my collection. I never had the Swamp Trap Play set or the soundtrack to the first movie growing up but  as I got older my adoration for Swamp Thing grew and it expand my palette in Swamp Thing merchandise.

Every time someone asks me who my favorite Super Hero is, I always say it’s Swamp Thing because he is a different and unique kind of personality. Kinda like me.

I have more Swamp Thing items in my collection (this is just a small portion). I do not thing I will ever stop collecting Swamp Thing items. You could say that I am Swamp Thing obsessed but we all have our vices when it comes to certain things mine just lives in a swamp.

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Until next time!

 

 

Bort the Collector

~ ladycultblog ~ 3 Comments

I have a little bit of addiction when it comes to movies. Especially those in the horror, sci fi & cult genre. I enjoy collecting everything and anything I find interesting in those genres. Books, movies, posters, toys, vinyl soundtracks, vhs knowledge… you name it I probably have it or  I am in search of it. This addiction started twelve years ago when I first subscribed to Netflix and the first movie that came in the mail was the La Dolce Vita. That movie completely changed my movie viewing ways and kind of inspired me to find more movies like that. So I started to do research and found out more about directors like Fellini, Pasolini and Bava, Wertmuller, Fulci etc the more obscure and interesting directors that made crazy and interesting movies. However Netflix did not carry a whole bunch of the titles so I have to search for them and buy them since it was so hard to track down a copy. Once I found the movie I was looking for I jump on to the next thing and it just kept on  repeating until a collection grew. That’s when the avalanche of other things followed that I  have amassed in my collection: The posters….

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The books full of knowledge of various eccentric subjects but are mostly movie related (Please note this is only a small amount of books I have) Some ladies dream of a huge walk in closet. I dream of a huge retro media room that will display my collection!

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And of course movies! This is probably 20% of what I have; which makes it really difficult to chose what to watch. I usually pick a top ten of what I am in the mood to watch and start condensing from there.

Lastly some of my vinyl. No movie collector collection would be complete without some kind of soundtrack in their collection:

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Until Next week!

 

This is me…

~ ladycultblog ~ 3 Comments

Hello my name is Clarissa. I just wanted to give a short intro about my blog. This is my first entry and I am kind of excited, nervous and a little hungry. I will be writing about movies, fashion, retro toys, old cartoons and any other eccentrics that I feel is worth writing about. Feed back is more than welcome! 

I hope everyone enjoys reading it! 1215360735041_f