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To watch Marco Bellocchio’s incendiary poliziottesco film Slap the Monster on Page One is to realize that the playbook of fascism has hardly changed over the past half-century. Exposing the thinly veiled collusion of right-wing politicians and reactionary media outlets, the demonization of leftist protesters, and the hypocritical piety that ran rampant during Italy’s “years of lead,” Bellocchio’s film probes the ways in which truth is undermined to shape public opinion and sway elections.

As the editor of Il Giornale, a fictional Italian newspaper, Giancarlo Bizanti (Gian Maria Volontè) certainly understands the power of seizing control of a narrative before one’s even been formed. Speaking to the lonely, embittered Rita (Laura Betti)—whom he manipulates into betraying her left-wing activist ex, Mario (Carrado Solari), ultimately falsely implicating the man in the murder of his current girlfriend, Maria (Silvia Kramar)—he says, “Let’s not try to lose our sense of reality.

The highly anticipated third film in Ti West‘s X trilogy, MaXXXine is finally here, and the fans of the franchise are loving it. With a setting of the 80s when the real-life Night Stalker murders took place, the final film in the X trilogy follows the story of Maxine Minx as she finally gets her big break into the film industry, but when a mysterious serial killer begins to kill the starlets of Hollywood, Maxine’s future in the City of Angels comes into danger. MaXXXine stars Mia Goth in the lead role with Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Lily Collins, Sophie Thatcher, Moses Sumney, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Farnworth, and Bobby Cannavale starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the glitz, glamour, murder, and mystery in MaXXXine, here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Pearl (Prime Video) Credit – A24

Pearl is the second film...

"The most notorious Emperor in history returns..." Drafthouse Films has unveiled a new official trailer for Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, a 4K restoration of the infamous erotic classic. The epic Italian film follows Caligula as he kills his devious adoptive grandfather and takes control of the decadent Roman Empire, soon spiraling into depravity, devastation, and utter madness. "Drafthouse Films is a beacon of excellence and taste in independent cinema, and in the 3 years while I was constructing the film I hoped that they would be involved in bringing Caligula: The Ultimate Cut to American audiences," states producer Thomas Negovan. This brand new "Ultimate Cut" is a completely fresh reconstruction based on tons of footage found in the Penthouse archive. They removed all the depravity that was controversially added during the first release, and it has been restored to what should've been all along. "Graphic artist Dave McKean added a prologue...

More Dario Argento has just arrived on Screambox!

In addition to Deep Red and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Screambox is excited to now stream the new Synapse restoration of Argento’s giallo classic Tenebrae!

In the film…

An American writer in Rome is stalked and harassed by a serial killer who is murdering everyone associated with his work on his latest book.

Tenebrae stars A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s John Saxon with Anthony Franciosa, John Steiner, and Daria Nicolodi.

Also stream the documentary All the Colors of Giallo, featuring Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Barbara Bouchet, Luciano Ercoli, and others.

It’s also Black Friday, which means deals! New Screambox users can save 50% on an annual subscription for the rest of the month by signing up at http://bit.ly/SB50. That’s $29.99 — only $2.50/month — for full access to the Screambox library for a year!

The post ‘Tenebrae...

In “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut,” absolute power corrupts absolutely, but even using absolutely all of the footage shot for the notorious production back in 1976 does not necessarily result in a better film. The most expensive independent film ever produced until that time, “Caligula” was conceived by late Penthouse founder Bob Guccione as a sexually explicit film that also featured real actors and high production values; hiring bestselling author Gore Vidal to write a script for Italian avant-garde director Tinto Brass (“Salon Kitty”), Guccione subsequently attracted such respected thespians as Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud and Helen Mirren to star. But after disputes between Brass and Vidal prompted the author to sue to remove his name from the film, Guccione commandeered final cut and inserted shots of graphic sex and violence, prompting cast and crew alike to disavow the film.

Devoting a substantial portion of his adult life to “Caligula...

After the lackluster reception of Inferno, the second entry in his supernaturally inclined Three Mothers trilogy, Dario Argento pivoted back to the giallo genre that he’d helped put on the world-cinema map with the release of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage back in 1970. Not content to merely “return to form,” and plagued by some personal demons of his own, Argento unleashed the supreme meta-giallo Tenebrae, an endlessly reflexive murder mystery about the solving of murder mysteries.

The notion that Tenebrae is primarily concerned with the conditions of its own making is signaled straight away. The first thing we see is a copy of a book also called Tenebrae. A voiceover narrator declaims a passage that describes murder as a liberating, creative act. What’s more, the scene introduces two of the most elemental bits of giallo iconography: the black gloves worn by the killer and a shiny cutthroat razor.

If American filmgoers are at all aware of the work of filmmaker Damiano Damiani, it’s likely because of his deranged “Zapata western” A Bullet for the General, or else his bonkers horror sequel Amityville II: The Possession, which easily surpasses its more famous predecessor in sheer Wtf factor. Neither of those films are necessarily indicative of Damiani’s serious-minded approach to the titles included in Radiance Films’s Cosa Nostra: Franco Nero in Three Mafia Tales by Damiano Damiani, but they do illustrate Damiani’s determination to pepper his works with pungent social commentary. The three films in this new box set may illuminate very different aspects of the mafia’s tentacular grip on Sicilian society, but they’re united in their bleak, often hopeless diagnoses of these social ills.

The Day of the Owl, from 1968, pits carabiniere Captain Bellodi (Nero) against mafia boss Don Mariano Arena (Lee J. Cobb...

Tenebrae and Black Circle - Synapse Films Delivers Terrifying Sci-Fi Horror and Dark, Grisly Giallo in September: "On September 5th, acclaimed Spanish horror director Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s Black Circle comes to Blu-ray in an impressive edition that includes its original soundtrack on CD.

When sisters Celeste and Isa play a mysterious vinyl record from the 1970s, neither had any idea what they would unlock. They soon discover that the record, meant to induce calmness, created duplicates of themselves. As their doppelgängers grow in strength their only hope lies in finding the hypnotist who created the recording years ago. Featuring a mesmerizing score by Rickard Gramfors and a haunting performance by Christina Lindberg (Thriller: A Cruel Picture), Black Circle is a film you won’t soon forget.

The Blu-ray edition includes the original motion picture soundtrack on an included CD; an audio commentary with director Adrian Garcia Bogliano; the original...

John Steiner, a British actor who appeared in Caligula and several other films in the 1960s and 1970s, has died. He was 81 and passed Sunday at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs after a two-vehicle automobile accident in La Quinta, the Riverside County Sheriff’s department told the Desert Sun newspaper.

Steiner played the treasurer Longinus opposite Malcolm McDowell in the 1979 film Caligula, one of several movies he made with Italian film director Giovanni “Tinto” Brass.

He portrayed the tycoon Beauty Smith in director Lucio Fulci’s White Fang (1973) and Challenge to White Fang (1974). He was also a vampire in Dracula in the Provinces (1975).

He also appeared in director Mario Bava’s Shock (1977) and director Dario Argento’s Tenebrae (1982), the latter memorable for his character taking an ax to the head.

Born on Jan. 7, 1941, in Chester, England, Steiner attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company,...

Click here to read the full article.

John Steiner, a British actor who appeared in Tinto Brass’ Caligula and in other Italian films for directors Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava and Dario Argento, has died. He was 81.

Steiner died Sunday at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs from injuries suffered in a two-vehicle automobile accident in nearby La Quinta, the Riverside County Sheriff’s department told the Desert Sun newspaper.

The lanky Steiner played the treasurer Longinus opposite Malcolm McDowell as the depraved Roman emperor in the erotic Caligula (1979), one of several films he made with Brass.

For Fulci, he portrayed the tycoon Beauty Smith in White Fang (1973) and Challenge to White Fang (1974) and a bloodsucker in Dracula in the Provinces (1975).

He also appeared in Bava’s Shock (1977) and Argento’s Tenebrae (1982), where his character took an ax to the head.

Born on Jan. 7, 1941, in Chester, England, Steiner attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Hello, everyone! We’re back after a brief hiatus to give you a look at the horror and sci-fi headed home this week on home media. As it turns out, the month of August’s releases are starting off on a quiet note, as we have two titles getting the 4K treatment this Tuesday—Dario Argento’s Tenebrae and Flatliners from Joel Schumacher—and then a handful of indie horror arriving on both Blu-ray and DVD: Scream at the Devil, Paranormal Devil, The Farm, and Joker’s Poltergeist.

Flatliners 4K

Some Lines Shouldn’T Be Crossed.

Known for his impressively eclectic filmography and for helping to launch the careers of several young Hollywood stars of the 80s and 90s, Joel Schumacher tackles the existential question that, at one time or another, haunts us all: what awaits us after we die?

At the University Hospital School of Medicine, five ambitious students...

40th Anniversary Classic Giallo Film Tenebrae Coming July 26 in 4K Ultra HD: "Italian horror master Dario Argento elevates the giallo genre to new heights with 1982's Tenebrae, a darkly humorous and notoriously grisly murder-mystery that many consider to be one of his finest works.

Now, Synapse Films, in conjunction with Arrow Video, makes this gory suspense classic available for the first time on Uhd in a new 4K restoration for Tenebrae's 40th anniversary!

American mystery author Peter Neal comes to Rome to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. A razor-wielding psychopath is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control, Neal investigates the crimes on his own, leading to a mind-bending, genre-twisting conclusion that will leave you breathless!

Co-starring John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Daria Nicolodi (Phenomena...

Welcome back to Let’s Scare Bryan to Death, where this month we’re diving into a heaping helping of giallo. Now, I’ve never been shy about sharing my misgivings with the giallo subgenre. My inability to get over the cognitive dissonance instilled by the wonky dubbing and the convoluted mystery elements usually keep me from truly loving Italian horror’s most famous import. But although I’m too often underwhelmed by the overall product, I find at least something to like about any giallo I watch. So I’m always up for trying a new one, especially if I get a chance to see the great John Saxon wearing a very silly fedora.

With that in mind, I’m very grateful to this month’s guest, Mark O. Estes, as he’s introducing me to Tenebrae, the 1982 offering from giallo maestro Dario Argento. You may know Estes as...

Hey everyone! We have a busy week of home media releases on tap, so let’s go ahead and just dive right into everything. Two of my favorite films of 2021—Julia Ducournau’s Titane and Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho—are both coming home on Tuesday and I cannot recommend them enough. For those of you with little monsters, The Addams Family 2 is making its way onto various formats, and if you’re a franchise completist, Candyman: Day of the Dead is getting the Vestron Video Collector’s Series treatment this week as well.

We also have a bunch of Italian horror movies arriving on Tuesday, including Mario Bava’s Shock, plus The Stendhal Syndrome and Deep Red from Dario Argento. Blue Underground is showing some love to The Toolbox Murders with their 4K release of the film, and Rlje Films is set to release An Unquiet Grave on DVD,...

“Death is like going on a trip, darling, only one doesn’t come back.”

Mario Bava’s final horror film Shock (1977) will be available on Blu-ray January 18th from Arrow Video

In a career spanning four decades and encompassing virtually every genre under the sun, Mario Bava inspired multiple generations of filmmakers, from Dario Argento to Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton. Best remembered for his gothic horror movies, for his final feature, Shock, he eschewed the grand guignol excesses of Black Sabbath or Blood and Black Lace for a more intimate portrait of mental breakdown in which true horror comes from within.

Dora moves back into her old family home with her husband, Bruno, and Marco, her young son from her previous marriage. But domestic bliss proves elusive as numerous strange and disturbing occurrences transpire, while Dora is haunted by a series of nightmares and hallucinations, many of them involving her dead former husband.

Mario, Mario, wherefore art thou, sweet Mario? I imagine he’s dust by now, having passed away in 1980. His films, however, live forever. One that is rarely mentioned is his swan song, Shock (1977); a shame too, because it is much stronger (and more effective) than critics have labeled it through the years, offering up a melee of evil kids, possession, telekinesis, and other assorted sub-genres in a compelling way.

Released on his home turf in August, Shock didn’t receive an American release until March of ’79 under the title Beyond the Door II, cashing in on the hit from a couple of years earlier while nothing to do with said film. No matter what it was called, critics were unkind and the film floated into the ephemera of the occasional mom and pop video store. But time has been pretty gentle with a film unfairly compared to Bava’s earlier...

[This October is "Gialloween" on Daily Dead, as we celebrate the Halloween season by diving into the macabre mysteries, creepy kills, and eccentric characters found in some of our favorite giallo films! Keep checking back on Daily Dead this month for more retrospectives on classic, cult, and altogether unforgettable gialli, and visit our online hub to catch up on all of our Gialloween special features!]

While Tenebrae wasn’t my first foray into Italian horror (that honor would go to Suspiria), it was my very first experience with Giallo cinema, which is probably why it’s always been my favorite entry in this subgenre of mystery thrillers. I first watched Tenebrae on a whim somewhere between the ages of 14 and 16, and while I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t totally “get it” at the time, there was something endlessly fascinating about it all the same that completely hooked me as a viewer and as a horror fan.

As I got older, I tucked Tenebrae away somewhere in the back of my brain, and it wasn’t until I went to Coachella 2008, of all places, when the film would find its way back into my life. It was on the final night of Coachella when I decided to ditch out on Roger Waters...

Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with another Italo Western double bill DVD review. Wild East’s ongoing Spaghetti Western Collection continues to grow and this double bill release is particularly welcome since it features two obscure and wholly idiosyncratic genre entries from 1969. Italian Western directors had found it relatively easy to appropriate key plot points and ideas from Sergio Leone’s Dollars films during the genre’s early years but when Leone’s sprawling, mega-budgeted, meta-Western Once Upon a Time in the West was released in 1968 it was clear that this was one genre entry that local filmmakers would not be able to easily emulate.

With scriptwriters and directors now essentially being forced to come up with their own ideas and generic trends, a new wave of Spaghetti Westerns were produced that effectively took the genre in a multitude of new directions. The two films featured here were part of that wave.

By Todd Garbarini

It’s a scary thought, indeed, to think that it has been twenty-nine years since I first saw Dario Argento’s fifth giallo feature film which I had read about two years earlier in the pages of a back issue of Fangoria Magazine. The word giallo is the Italian word for the color yellow, and has found new life in describing a subgenre of the Italian horror film that refers to a who-done-it involving a killer who conceals their identity by wearing a large coat, a wide-brimmed hat, unisex footwear and gloves, their face always obscured or hidden completely. Very often we see the killer only in synecdoche. These stories all originated in the form of pulp novellas which sported yellow covers, hence the use of the term giallo.

Whereas the word giallo is always spelled one way, the correct spelling of the film’s title, Tenebrae,...

Donald Pleasence, Joan Collins, and Caroline Munro co-star in The Devil Within Her, aka Sharon's Baby and I Don't Want to Be Born, a 1975 horror film featuring a violent baby that is coming to Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing.

Blu-ray.com reports that the folks at Scorpion Releasing are hard at work on a fresh 2K restoration of The Devil Within Her, and while an exact release date has yet to be revealed, the Blu-ray is expected to come out in early 2017.

We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on special features announcements and release details. In the meantime, we have the official synopsis, trailer, and poster for the Peter Sasdy film:

Synopsis (via Blu-ray.com): "Hollywood legend Joan Collins teams up with cult stars Donald Pleasence and Caroline Munro in this terrifying tale of a demonic baby!

Lucy (Collins, Dynasty, Land Of The Pharoahs) is a former dancer, having moved...

September 13th boasts over 30 horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases, so I hope you guys have been saving up, because there are a lot of great choices to spend your money on this week. The highly anticipated 30th Anniversary Edition of Aliens comes home this week courtesy of 20th Century Fox, and if you are a big fan of James Wan’s latest sequel, you’ll undoubtedly want to pick up The Conjuring on Blu-ray or DVD this Tuesday.

Universal Studios is keeping busy this Tuesday with two Universal Monster collections celebrating Frankenstein and The Wolf Man, and Scream Factory’s Raising Cain Blu-ray arrives this week, too. Also, if you happened to miss the special edition of the giallo classic Tenebrae earlier this year, Synapse Films is putting out a basic Blu that fans will definitely want to nab (as a proud owner of the Collector’s Edition,...

If you missed out on their three-disc, limited edition Steelbook release of Tenebrae back in February, then you're in luck, because Synapse Films has announced a September 13th single-disc Blu-ray / DVD release of the 1982 Dario Argento film, complete with many of the special features included on the Steelbook:

Press Release: Synapse Films Announces The Single-disc Release Of Tenebrae, Dario Argento’S Giallo Masterpiece, On Blu-ray And DVD September 13th

Italian terror master Dario Argento elevates the Giallo genre to new heights with 1982’s Tenebrae, a darkly humorous, futuristic and notoriously grisly horror film many consider to be one of his finest works.

American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) comes to Italy to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. Unfortunately, a razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control,...

Dario Argento fans will want to circle February 23rd on their calendars, as Synapse Films has announced a three-disc Blu-ray / DVD limited edition steelbook release of 1982's Tenebrae:

Press Release: Dario Argento’S Giallo Masterpiece Finally Comes To U.S. Blu-ray On February 23rd From Synapse Films

A 3-disc (Blu-ray, DVD & CD) Limited Steelbook™ Edition Of Dario Argento’S Horror Classic! Only 3000 Units Produced!

Italian terror master Dario Argento elevates the Giallo genre to new heights with 1982’s Tenebrae, a darkly humorous, futuristic and notoriously grisly horror film many consider to be one of his finest works.

American mystery author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) comes to Italy to promote his newest novel, Tenebrae. Unfortunately, a razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, taunting Neal and murdering those around him in gruesome fashion just like the character in his novel. As the mystery surrounding the killings spirals out of control,...

Stars: Lou Ferrigno, John Steiner, Roland Wybenga, Ennio Girolami, Hal Yamanouchi, Yehuda Efroni, Alessandra Martines, Teagan Clive, Leo Gullotta, Stefania Girolami Goodwin, Donald Hodson, Melonee Rodgers, Cork Hubbert, Romano Puppo, Attilio Cesare Lo Pinto | Written by Luigi Cozzi | Directed by Enzo G. Castellari

Supposedly based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade (it’s not), Sinbad of the Seven Seas is yet another Italian fantasy film starring Lou Ferrigno. This time Luigi Cozzi, director of the two Hercules movies, take writing duties on a film directed by Enzo G. Castellari – the same Enzo G. Castellari who made the original Inglorious Bastards and the fan-favourite Bronx Trilogy (1990: The Bronx Warriors, The New Barbarians, Escape from the Bronx).

Apparently, if the rumours are true, Castellari’s take on Sinbad was so unwatchable that Luigi Cozzi had to film reshoots and re-edit the film into the haphazard mess it is today,...

For all the talk of our declining values and increasing permissiveness in our society, it's hard not to feel downright prudish watching Waves Of Lust, an early effort from Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust). Even if you can chalk up some of that dissonance to it being an import, Waves challenges even the most sexually charged modern feature films for sheer prurience, without even trying to disguise its intentions behind a curtain of respectability (we're looking at you, Shame). Unfortunately, it ignores nearly every other quality of film production to do it, but that doesn't mean you won't have a darn good time.

If Last House on the Left was a remake of The Virgin Spring, then this could similarly be called a callback to Knife in the Water, Polanski's early thriller. Rich, demented industrialist Giorgio (John Steiner) invites the young couple Irem (Al Cliver) and Barbara (Silvia Dionisio) aboard his yacht for the weekend,...

DVD Release Date: July 31, 2012

Price: DVD $19.98

Studio: Raro Video/Entertainment One

Elizabeth Turner turns up the heat in Waves of Lust.

Sex and violence flows freely in Italian genre filmmaker Ruggero Deodato’s 1975 thriller Waves of Lust.

The movie focuses on two carefree youngsters, Irem (Al Cliver) and Barbara (Silvia Dionisio), who are invited for a weekend cruise on a yacht owned by Giorgio (John Steiner), a ruthless and cynical industrialist, who is married to Silvia (Elizabeth Turner), a disturbed woman who allows herself to be physically and mentally abused by him. Silvia then forms a love triangle with Irem and Barbara who conspire against Giorgio, whose misogyny and paranoia pushes him over the edge into murder.

A minor cult film like many of Deodato’s imports (his most popular remains the 1980 gross-out Cannibal Holocaust), Waves of Lust is initially reminiscent of Roman Polanski’s (Carnage) 1962 thriller Knife in the Water.

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Scorpion DVD label has released the notorious 1976 British horror flick I Don't Want to Be Born under its American title, The Devil Within Her (It was also known as Sharon's Baby). It's easy to see why this cult movie has gained its reputation, as its a real hoot. Joan Collins stars as Lucy, a one-time London stripper who gives up her wild lifestyle in favor of a more sedate life. She marries a successful Italian businessman, Gino (Ralph Bates) and finds herself pregnant immediately after their wedding night. Trouble is, she suspects the real father is actually her sleazy ex-boyfriend  Tommy (John Steiner), who she slept with the night before her wedding in order to have one final fling. Things are moving along swimmingly with the happy couple living the good life in a tony section of London. However, when Lucy goes into labor, the process...