Friday, October 12, 2018

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 95

by Patrick Bromley
Stream and stream again.

Carrie (1976, dir. Brian De Palma) In case you've never seen it (!!) or want to revisit so you can listen to our recent podcast, Carrie is now available for streaming. I like it more every single time I see it. Having watched it twice this week alone, I can now say that Pino Dinaggio's score is one of my all-time favorites. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)
Amityville II: The Possession (1982, dir. Damiano Diamani) I just saw this for the first time two years ago and was weirdly compelled by it. I haven't seen a single other Amityville movie other than the Ryan Reynolds remake, but this felt way more like a sick and sleazy Italian horror film than it did a regular haunted house/dad gone crazy movie. There's a scene about halfway through the movie that is super upsetting but incredibly suspenseful, and it was the realization of just how invested I was in how it all played out that I realized I was really liking this movie. It's nuts. (Watch free with ads on Vudu)
Ghosthouse (1988, dir. Umberto Lenzi) Speaking of crazy Italian movies that I totally love! Ghosthouse has everything: clown dolls, little girl ghosts, bisections, HAM radio. Even the English dubbing in this movie has its own weird energy. In Italy, this was released as La Casa 3, an unofficial (and completely unrelated) sequel to the Evil Dead movies. Several more La Casa movies would follow. This is my favorite of them. (Watch free on Shout! Factory TV)
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988, dir. James Signorelli) Those of you who need a break from the intensity or gore of so many horror movies may want something a little lighter, and this one is perfect for that. Elvira is one of the patron saints of the Halloween season, and her first starring vehicle is a perfect distillation of everything we love about her. (Watch on Hulu)
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971, dir. Emilio Miraglia) This movie is so weird and cool. It starts out like a traditional giallo about a man (Anthony Steffen) who lures redheaded women to his home and kills them as a way of acting out his grief over the loss of his unfaithful wife. By the end of the movie, he has become the de facto hero. That's pretty demented, but this is Italian horror we're talking about, meaning we're going to get a lot of cool style and beautiful people along the way. Oh, and the poster is the best. (Watch free on Tubi TV)

8 comments:

  1. "The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave" is also streaming (in high-def) on Amazon Prime. If you have a Prime account it beats having to sit through TubiTV's unbearable digital commercial loads. Oh, those wacky Italians! :-P

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  2. I second your praise of Pino Donaggio’s score. The “Bucket of Blood” cue is a master class in building tension through music.

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  3. Cassandra Peterson never did another feature as Elvira, did she?

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    1. Elvira's Haunted Hills. It's not good.

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    2. How could a film from the director of Oblivion and Oblivion 2 not be good, I mean, cmon! haha

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  4. I felt like I never needed to see Carrie, because it's one of those pop culture staples that I pretty much knew the entire plot already. But when I saw the podcast drop, I borrowed the Blu-ray from the local library and watched it. Boy am I glad I did. The plot it exactly what I expected but De Palma tells it wonderfully.

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    1. I love the never-ending shot in "Carrie" when De Palma holds his spinning camera on Carrie and Tommy as they swirl around and around the ballroom with glittery lights all around them. It's a dizzying effect that bonds the audience with the whirlwind of emotions that are going through Carrie's fragile mind at that moment. Just masterful. :-)

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    2. Because DePalma's never done that in a movie....except every movie he'd made up to then

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