4.15 - BLACK SABBATH (1963) and Control

This week’s film is the 1963 anthology film BLACK SABBATH. In the course of our reviews, we talk about the two very different versions of the film (Italian and American), before going on to discuss the idea of cinematographic and soundscape intimacy, and lead up to a focus on some thoughts about male control in the vampire genre.

Next Time
Our next film is the 1973 film GANJA AND HESS.

Recent Media
THE GRIP OF FILM (2017): Richard Ayoade
NYPD RED 3 (2015): James Patterson, Marshall Karp
AMERICAN PIE (1999): Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz, Jason Biggs

Recommendations DR GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS (1966): Mario Bava, Vincent Price, Fabian TERROR TRACT (2000): Lance W. Dreesen, Clint Hutchison, John Ritter THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935): James Whale, Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester
LA RAGEZZA CHE SAPEVA TROPPO (THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH) (1963): Mario Bava, John Saxon, Letícia Román

Footnotes Firstly, this book has a lot of information on the American film business — and the relationship with Italy — around this time: [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=plztfOxO1HoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false] . Rob mentions giallo horror at the start of the episode; more on this can be found here. For more on the techniques of locked-off camerawork that we discuss, see here (and this is an excellent piece on a number of effective, iconic cinematographic techniques). There’s more on the nuts-and-bolts of creating a cinematic soundscape here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFOod07iWyE. Finally, this is an interesting thesis (probably don’t read all of it!) on a number of ways in which elements of gender and control play out in cinema: [http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5312&context=etd].