NIHONTO MONOGATARI

NIHONTO MONOGATARI (“Japanese Sword Story”) Production: Japan, 1957 Director: Asano Tatsuo Category: Documentary/Martial Arts Sacred film dedicated to the samurai sword, showing its crafting, its many uses, and its cultural and symbolic significance, all accompanied by spiralling Wagnerian music. It was the Japanese sword that allowed the Shogun’s samurai to Continue Reading

SADISMO

SADISMO Production: Italy, 1967 Director: Salvatore Billitteri US release title: Spots In the Sun Category: Mondo Mondo movie featuring concentration camp footage, Japanese devil masks, childbirth, female nudity and other delights, focusing on torture and human sacrifice. 1967 also saw the release of Gianni Proia’s penultimate mondo, Realtà Romanzesca. Posted Continue Reading

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE Production: USA, 1971 Director: Leland Auslender Category: Experimental A 12-minute experimental film evocation of the myth of Aphrodite, using multiple superimposed liquid images filmed with distorting mirrors and electronic soundtracking with subliminal vocal sounds. Aphrodite’s birth is paralleled with the creation of life itself, emerging from the matrix of Continue Reading

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE Production: UK, 1958 Director: Arthur Crabtree Category: Science Fiction From “The Thought Monster”, a 1930s pulp magazine story by Amelia Reynolds Long, this is a twisted tale of creatures made from human thought, who assume the form of a disembodied cerebellum after sucking out the brains of screaming victims. Continue Reading