House with the Windows That Laugh

[Luca Signorelli]

Hi!
Just discovered this site (and the message board), I must say that they looks pretty impressive.

You seem like knowledgeable people, so here's a question out of curiosity: how many of you have seen (or heard of) "House with the Windows That Laugh", the 1976 Italian rural horror from Pupi Avati that gave us so many sleepless night to us, poor Italian horror fans of the 70's?

Luca S.

PS: Just for the record, some of my faves: Deep Red, Ring, The Haunting (1963), Black Christmas, everything of Cronenberg, The Shining...

[straxboy]

Man I sooooo want to get a copy of this movie. I saw Avati's "Zeda" a while back and it was very creepy indeed. "House With The Windows That Laugh", is that the one with the stained glass window of the cat that kills a man at the end in a spooky supernatural twist of fate type thing ? I know it's from some Pupi Avati movie, I just can't remember which one ?


Avati, more subtle and intellegent than alot of the Italian directors of the 1970's, was, I guess, roughly a kind of the Kubrick of 70's Italian horror (compared to Argento's DePalma or Fulci's Coppolla ??????)...and he's still going. He's got some medieval Knight movie with Edward Furlong coming out soon....however as we have seen in the past, not every director from the 70's can cut it today....should be fun though.

Anyone know where we can pick up Avati films on DVD ? (ha ha ha...good joke I know, but I still wanna know, dammit)


[This message has been edited by straxboy (edited 09-07-2001).]

[This message has been edited by straxboy (edited 09-07-2001).]

[Luca Signorelli]

No, the movie you're mentioning is "L'Arcano Incantatore", Avati's latest as far as horror goes.

"House" is about a guy who's hired to restore a decaying fresco on a church in a small village somewhere in the Italian northern countryside (presumibly near Ferrara). The fresco portraits the martyrdom of S. Sebastian and was done by a local mad artist, called "the painter of agonies", who enjoyed portraing the dying - and ended up torturing to death young people, with the help of his two mad sisters. The restorer discovers two things - first, that the fresco is a VERY demented masterpiece, and second, that in the apparently quiet village there's something or someone that doesn't want him finishing the work.

The movie begin with one of the most terrifying credit sequence ever filmed - a young man, his hand tied to a dangling rope, being repeatedly stabbed in slow motion by two figures (apparently dressed in immaculate white). Amid his screams of pain, an unseen voice repeat (in a very low tone) "Keep him steady - slower - slower - my colours - they transcend me into darkness - keep him steady" again and again. If sounds disturbing, the last 20 minutes of the movie
are ten times worse (the final twist is a stroke of genius)

It's a fearsome movie, possibly the scariest Italian flick ever. It's not flashy as the Argento stuff, neither surreal as Fulci, nor baroque as Bava. It's just scary as hell, and tecnically very well done, with a couple of great performances. You just have to adapt to the slow build up, but it's a winner.

Heard that a DVD subtitled version was being released one year ago, but apparently they cancelled it. However, the Italian version it's available on several sites.

[Luca Signorelli]

As for Avati, it's my opinion that all his non horror stuff is well done but overblown... "I Cavalieri Che Fecero L'Impresa" is a good, gory medieval tale about the search for the Turin Shroud, but it does suffers for Avati tendency to moralize on everything (he's an outspoken conservative). "Magnificat" (another medieval movie, with some gory bit too) was better. All the rest (mostly costume and/or sentimental tearjackers, with some comedy) is basically lame. Too bad!
Luca S.

[straxboy]

Damn those illiterate, subtitle-hating, DVD manufacturing bastards !!! I guess I'll try a good online supplier of Italian DVD's - any ideas anyone ?

[Laserblast]

I have actually been wanting to see this film because of its reputation for being one of the scariest Italian flicks of the 70s. I saw ZEDER a long time ago and remember thinking it was okay. Not your typical zombie flick. I remember a lot of people complaining about it because in the US it was released as REVENGE OF THE DEAD and advertised as being in the vein of ZOMBIE, which it isn't. I've been meaning to check it out again, but I'm pretty sure I accidentally taped over my copy! As for HOUSE WITH THE WINDOWS THAT LAUGH, eBay is always a good place to look. In fact, maybe I'll cruise over there right now....

[girlcreeture]

Fango's latest issue has a great article by Douglas Winter on the top 15 Italian horror films and I believe this one is mentioned in the list, though what # I can't member.

I'm currently on the hunt for a Japanese movie "Versus", so if I run across any international distributors with Italian offerings I'll post back here http://www.chud.com/board/ubbhtml/smile.gif

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[straxboy]

Hey Creech - I got a copy sittin on my desk at the moment...e mail and I'll tell you more....(Nya ha ha ha ha ha) It sure is one kiss ass ride !!!!!

[Luca Signorelli]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by girlcreeture:
Fango's latest issue has a great article by Douglas Winter on the top 15 Italian horror films and I believe this one is mentioned in the list, though what # I can't member.


(loved your Ring review!)

The top 15 Italian horror films, uh? Pity that's becoming hard to get copies of Fango here in Italy (I'm the proud possessor of all the original first 10 issues!). Anyway, could you post the list?

Well, here's MY take, for what's worth:

1) Deep Red (okay, I'm partial on this one, was filmed less than 500 yards from my home... anyway, the real breakthrough of Italian horror industry)

2)The House With Windows That Laugh (for obvious reasons)

3) Inferno (less polished than Suspiria but IMHO way scarier)

4) Suspiria (less scary than Inferno but better done)

5) Blood And Black Lace (Bava's best!)

6) The Vampires (Freda first take on the genre, ahead of its time)

7) The Beyond (Fulci best movie, the rest of his production is too erratic)

8) Buio Omega (crude and gross and grosser, but unparalleled as portrait of madness)

9) Salo Sade (not supposed to be an horror film, but it's really one. Pasolini was a genius)

10) Tenebrae (Argento's slickest, possibly too slick for its own good)

11) The Horrible Dr. Hitckcock (Freda most accoplished work, maybe slow for today standard but very good)

12) Cannibal Holocaust (again, the horror is all into the realism. Deodato is underrated.)

13) I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte (1964). (This one is little know, but is one of the best Italian movies stared by Barbara Steele)

14) Sette Note In Nero (The Psychic). (Bava last great movie, underrated and spooky)

15) Black Sabbath & Black Sunday - by Mario Bava. (They should really be seen together)

Some people is really into "Dallamorte, Dallamore", but I think is overrated

[Luca Signorelli]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Laserblast:
I have actually been wanting to see this film because of its reputation for being one of the scariest Italian flicks of the 70s. I saw ZEDER a long time ago and remember thinking it was okay. Not your typical zombie flick. I remember a lot of people complaining about it because in the US it was released as REVENGE OF THE DEAD and advertised as being in the vein of ZOMBIE, which it isn't. I've been meaning to check it out again, but I'm pretty sure I accidentally taped over my copy! As for HOUSE WITH THE WINDOWS THAT LAUGH, eBay is always a good place to look. In fact, maybe I'll cruise over there right now....

"Zeder" is probably the weakest of the three Avati horror entries. It was somewhat of a brave attempt to mix the "undead" folklore with modern scientific paranoia, but I think something didn't work. "The Arcane Enchanter" (actually a throwback to a straightforward supernatural horror) was way better. Anyway, "Zeder" final scene was a hoot.

Luca S.

[girlcreeture]

strax you taunt me! Where'd ya get it????? I must know!

Luca, glad you liked the review, my review for Ring 2 should be up either tonight or by Monday. I will post the list when I get home from work today, unless someone else beats me to it. Quite a few from your list are on it if I member correctly.

By Salo Sade do you mean the one with the "reinactments' of 120 Days of Sodom? That movie harmed me severely...



------------------
Little girls are made of sugar & spice & everything nice.
Little boys are made of snakes & snails & puppy dog tails.
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</A>

[Luca Signorelli]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by girlcreeture:

By Salo Sade do you mean the one with the "reinactments' of 120 Days of Sodom? That movie harmed me severely...


Yep, that one. A portrait of hell on the earth, even the lights are evil on "Salo". It hasn't lost a ounce if its power even today.

It harmed many people, including Pasolini - I'm conviced he was killed because he made it.

Luca S.

[Laserblast]

Luca, I'm curious as to what your take is on the current state of the horror genre over there in Italy. I understand that it's hard to get genre films made these days with an emphasis more on TV. Do people like Argento still have any power in the industry? What would it take to get some quality Italian horror flicks made these days? Is there an audience for them anymore over there? It seems that most of the old school directors (with the exception of Argento) don't dabble in horror anymore. I'm a big fan of Michele Soavi, but he, too, seems to have moved more into TV. Have you seen UNO BIANCA? It sounds like a pretty kick ass epic cop/revenge thriller and I'd like to see it, but I haven't heard of any US release.

[Luca Signorelli]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Laserblast:
Luca, I'm curious as to what your take is on the current state of the horror genre over there in Italy. I understand that it's hard to get genre films made these days with an emphasis more on TV. Do people like Argento still have any power in the industry? What would it take to get some quality Italian horror flicks made these days? Is there an audience for them anymore over there? It seems that most of the old school directors (with the exception of Argento) don't dabble in horror anymore. I'm a big fan of Michele Soavi, but he, too, seems to have moved more into TV. Have you seen UNO BIANCA? It sounds like a pretty kick ass epic cop/revenge thriller and I'd like to see it, but I haven't heard of any US release.

It has much to do with the current state of Italian movie industry. Apparently, after the decline of the 80's, in the 90's the situation improved a lot, with many new directors and many domestic (and some international) hit. Unfortunately, none was horror-related - unless you count post-modern or definitely thrashy stuff like "Almost Blue" (a serial killer movie in quasi-Japanese vein) or "Zora La Vampira" (a parody).

The reasons are multiple, but I'll stress the two most important 1) horror scripts never get TV or public founds (there's a law here sponsorising debut movies) and 2) lack of original talent. And this is odd because, for instance in comics, horror is definitely hip in these shores. I mean, Dylan Dog (a horror comic that partly inspired "Dallamorte, Dallamore") sold and is selling like cake, and most of the scripts are great. But it seems that no one is willing to translate these images in movies, because the feeling is that no-one will go to see a serious Italian horror flick.

Let's put it in another way. I'm part of the jury of a national indipendent horror festival that's held in Turin in late september. It's the second edition, Argento was one of the sponsors last year, we've major press exposure and so on. And this in Turin, city of what is becoming the major film festival in Italy (Torino Film Fest), bigger and hipper than Venice. Even if the Torino Film Fest is not every year major horror personalities get big retrospectives and make well publicized appearences (this year Romero, last year Carpenter...) All these retrospective register almost unbelievable success of public, with people queueing in the streets, and so on. And our little-but-hip festival (called To-Horror) will definitely see some serious crowd attending the projections.

Unfortunately, until now our little-but-hip festival is reserved to ITALIAN stuff. So, for all the hype, we've only 30 of them, and none with any scheduled theatrical release (most of them are actually shorts). The biggest budgeted costed around 30.000 bucks, and is nothing more than a Blair Witch rip-off. If we had just opened the festival to, let's say, French filmakers, we would have got twice the number of movies and at least four or five theatrical releases. Of course, next year the festival will become international (there's some money coming), but this will mean kiss goodbye to the "italian" tag...

It may be simple to explain, if you think that EVERY single domestic horror release of the last six-seven years has tanked. "Stendhal" flopped, "Arcane Enchanter" flopped, "Phantom of the Opera" flopped big time (of course, it was awful!), "Sleepless" did moderately well but it was still a disappointment. And this while everyone and his sister is telling how great was the Italian horror of the '70s, how great was Fulci, how subversive and cool was the entire subtext of these movies... everyone talks about it, but the only new horror they want to see comes from Hollywood.

Argento is not particularly affected by this situation. He's a VERY rich man, and he's one of the four-five most powerful people in the Italian movie industry. All his movies until Phenomena were major hits in Europe, and Deep Red and Suspiria are still in the list of the ten most profitable Italian movies EVER. He's an icon, like Spielberg in the US. Unfortunately, he seems to have lost the directorial touch.

Soavi has gone the way all the directors of his generation have gone (Bava, Avallone...): straight to made-for-TV fiction. Lamberto Bava is now probably more famous here for his terrible "Fantaghirò" serial (romantic fantasy, his father is probably spinning in his grave at a fantastic speed) than he ever was for "Demons". Sometimes they come out with some good stuff, like the "Uno Bianca" TV movie directed by Soavi you've mentioned. But it's marginal - the "Haunting" 1999 remake got far more attention...

As for the "old school", they're dead (Fulci, d'Amato) in retirement or doing something else (like Avati, who's now more into politics than anything else - he's rumored to be the next director of the Venice festival because).

Don't want to sound depressing, but we really need an Italian "Ring" to bring back some of our old talent for scary movies...

Luca S.

[Laserblast]

Thanks for the informative response, Luca, I really appreciate it! I hope a turn around is on the horizon in the near future. It seems that no matter where you go, horror is not taken very seiously anymore and I think that's sad. Except for Japan and France, I guess, where horror seems to be darker and more serious in tone than, say, most US releases (THE OTHERS, SESSION 9 and JEEPERS CREEPERS being the recent exceptions).

I saw DARK WATERS directed by Mariano Baino and thought it was pretty damn good. Slow and thin on story, but heavy on surreal atmosphere and creepy sound design. I assume this film made no impact in Italy when it came out? Unfortunately, I haven't seen that Baino has done anything else since and heard he had a bitch of a time just getting DARK WATERS made. Would you know if he's working on anything new?

[girlcreeture]

Okie dokie then, here's the Douglas E. Winter list from the latest Fango, and I was mistaken in the count, it's 13, not 15, in chronological order. Winter noted that he limited himself to 3 films at the most by any given director:

Horror All'Italiana
1. I Vampiri/The Devil's Commandment/Lust of the Vampire 1957: Riccardo Freda
2. Black Sunday 1960: Mario Bava
3. Mill of the Stone Women 1960: Giorgio Ferroni
4. The Girl Who Knew Too Much/The Evil Eye 1962: Mario Bava
5. Bird With the Crystal Plumage 1969: Dario Argento
6. Bay of Blood/Twitch of the Death Nerve 1971: Mario Bava
7. Deep Red 1975: Dario Argento
8. The House With the Windows That Laughed 1976: Pupi Avati
9. Suspiria 1977: Dario Argento
10. Zombie 1979: Lucio Fulci
11. Cannibal Holocaust 1980: Ruggero Deodato
12. The Beyond/7 Doors of Death 1981: Lucio Fulci
13. Dellamorte Dellamore/Cemetery Man 1994: Michele Soavi

If you can get the actual magazine you should, the article is great and he doesn't just list the movies like I did here, it'a good read and a great reference for people who aren't familiar with Italian horror as well.

Enjoy!

------------------
Little girls are made of sugar & spice & everything nice.
Little boys are made of snakes & snails & puppy dog tails.
<A HREF="http://www.creature-corner.com" TARGET=_blank>The Creature Corner is made of little girls & little boys...
</A>

[Luca Signorelli]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Laserblast:
It seems that no matter where you go, horror is not taken very seiously anymore and I think that's sad. Except for Japan and France, I guess, where horror seems to be darker and more serious in tone than, say, most US releases (THE OTHERS, SESSION 9 and JEEPERS CREEPERS being the recent exceptions).


Most of the US stuff I've seen in the last few years has been - at best - vaguely entertaining. And this is real pity, because I've always been a big fan of US horror, expecially on TV (old Twilight Zone, old Outer Limits, Thriller, old A. Hitchcok Presents, Tales from the Darkside...) and the movies from the 70's. You could buy Fangoria and/or Starlog and/or Cinefantastique and be sure each month to find something new and exciting to dig. It's all so predictable and formulaic right now... I'm a bit curious towards this Jeepers Creepers, sound like a throwback to the old days. Ah, I actually saw Ghosts of Mars and I think is fun - not great but fun.

It's strange how cartoons (another genre I'm really into) have followed the same pattern. I mean, I couldn't imagine a world without Neon Genesis Evangelion, Serial Experiment Lain or Go Nagai's robots, but there's not a single Disney/Don Bluth release in the last ten years I find memorable. OK, of course South Park is great!

(Before someone thinks otherwise, I'm a 40 years old with wife, kids and a mortgage, so my interest for horror, sf and cartoons is entirely part of an evident mental disease...) http://www.chud.com/board/ubbhtml/smile.gif)

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">

I saw DARK WATERS directed by Mariano Baino and thought it was pretty damn good. Slow and thin on story, but heavy on surreal atmosphere and creepy sound design. I assume this film made no impact in Italy when it came out? Unfortunately, I haven't seen that Baino has done anything else since and heard he had a bitch of a time just getting DARK WATERS made. Would you know if he's working on anything new?


"Dark Water" came, got an inordinate amount of bad reviews and diaappeared. I've missed the (almost invisible) theatrical release, and the movie seems hard to find here. Sounds like I have to get it through Internet! Heard that Baino worked later on TV.

[Luca Signorelli]

Wow, thanks! Ok, let's see...

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by girlcreeture:
3. Mill of the Stone Women 1960: Giorgio Ferroni


This one is an INCREDIBLE stilish movie, with great images and an eerie, almost dreamlike quality. Anyway, it's not really scary, just beautiful and strange. Try to see it!

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">

4. The Girl Who Knew Too Much/The Evil Eye 1962: Mario Bava


It's important historically (first giallo movie in the modern sense), but doesn't hold a candle to Bava later work.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">

5. Bird With the Crystal Plumage 1969: Dario Argento


Few great scene (the staircase darkening behind the ascending woman) and great score, but not a masterpiece. Quite scary, anyway.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">

6. Bay of Blood/Twitch of the Death Nerve 1971: Mario Bava


Most overrated Bava. Cool setpieces, creative killings, but overall is nothing special.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">

10. Zombie 1979: Lucio Fulci


Here we go again: it's a collection of creative setipieces but, a) there's no real overall tension and b) sometimes the execution is annoying (the extreme closeups) "The Beyond" is better because is so "out" that if simply forget all the technical mistakes. The exception here is, of course, the let's-pass-through-the-door scene, that is simply revolting and simply great. It made poor Olga Karlatos an instant celebrity!

[Luca Signorelli]

Oops... I screwed up...

Of course, number 14 in my list - and Bava's last movie - in not that silly potboiler of "The Psychic" (a very minor Fulci), but 1977 "Shock" (a little know but really good movie). The two titles share Daria Nicolodi as the lead, but little else...

Luca S.

[straxboy]

Sweet. Come back to work on Monday and a cool Italian picture debate goin!¬ Keep it up guys. And Welcome LS, welcome indeed!!

Creech, let's just say a company who I am close too (ahem) may be releasing VERSUS on DVD in the near future. I'll keep you posted. (We all know you got a multi region player!)

[girlcreeture]

You! You! You, you big taunter!

Hee hee, PLEASE keep me posted, I'm THIS close to getting the "unofficial" release from Sex Gore Mutants AND I also heard from some lil birdy somewhere that the director was cutting the movie bigtime for DVD release in Japan and overseas and I certainly would pick up a copy now to avoid the censored version.

------------------
Little girls are made of sugar & spice & everything nice.
Little boys are made of snakes & snails & puppy dog tails.
<A HREF="http://www.creature-corner.com" TARGET=_blank>The Creature Corner is made of little girls & little boys...
</A>