Fang Of Joy

Richard of Cinema Somnambulist, Doomed Moviethon and Hello! This Is The Doomed Show can add another title: Richard of Fang Of Joy. That's right, he wasn't content with just conquering the internet, he has conquered a medium thought dead: the zine! And Elizabeth and I were fortunate enough to be asked to contribute as well as some other very talented folks like Jeffrey Canino of Nessun Timore and Scott McDonald of Eurocult AV. LeEtta (Richard's wife and super awesome artist extraordinaire) supplied the gorgeous cover. As well as containing articles on gialli and Italian gothic horror there's an article on Luigi Bazzoni, an article on Borocwyk's Bloodbath Of Dr. Jekyll and interviews with Death Metal band Druid Lord and super groovy soundtracker Orgasmo Sonore! 22 pages including the front and back covers, you need to OWN this! It's just $4!


Link to zine goodness:



Fang Of Joy!

Interview With A Carl

I've decided to interview everyone I know. I know Carl so let's interview him! Carl makes music, is an actor and eats dinner like a boss. I've always known Carl. Always being since 1994.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Anything.

In 1976, something magical happened.....America's Bicentennial. I was also born that year.

2. What is your favorite horror film?

There are three that always stand out.

1) Night of the Living Dead

2) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

3) The Shining

I go back and forth between the three, but at the moment, it would have to be Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "The Shining". If you'll notice, I didn't credit Stephen King. His TV movie version was an unwatchable affair. On a sidenote, the new series based on one of his latter books should be titled "Under the Dumb".

3. Give me five other favorite horror films

1) Halloween

2) The Exorcist

3) Poltergeist

4) The Fog

5) Bad Boys

4. What is the best album of the 90's?

Radiohead-OK Computer is my final answer. The 90s had some great moments, some better memories, and music that I have chosen to ignore. The after-effects can be heard in a lot of the "modern" rock of today.

5. Why aren't you listening to Hello! This Is The Doomed show?

Because I'm in the middle of an interview, and God...and The Bible

6. What is your favorite giallo?

Four Flies on Grey Velvet

7. Favorite film monster? (werewolves, vampires, zombies, Kevin James, etc.)

The notion of a zombie apocalypse scares me the most, but Paul Blart Mall Cop scared the shit out of me. I haven't shopped since.

8. Favorite horror franchise?

This is a tough one. All franchises seem to spiral downwards, quickly. I'd have to say The Lord of the Rings.

9. Scariest film you have seen?

Okay-I'll be serious about this one....

When I was young, in the 1st grade, Poltergeist scared the shit out of me. We were new to HBO, and they played it all the time. One part in particular scared me so much that I couldn't watch it after the first viewing....the clown under the bed. I am not scared of clowns, but scared of people who like them.

10. 5 desert island albums?

1) Richie Hawtin "DE9-Closer to the Edit"

2) David Bowie "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars"

3) Depeche Mode "Black Celebration"

4) Radiohead  "In Rainbows (special edition (that includes a rowboat, paddle, a surplus of food and water, and some serious will not to give up))

5) Ozzy Osbourne "Mama, I'm Coming Home"

11. What is your earliest horror film memory?

I remember watching this film in Georgia, 1981, and in the film someone was swimming in a pool that was  in the process of being covered. The swimmer was trapped. Later in the film, someone visited an old lady in a hospital who was on life support, but my impression was that she was already dead. The second part reminded me of an episode of The New Twilight Zone. It was called Grandma.  don't know the film's name, still. I've gone back several times to make sense of this obviously fractured memory. No dice (or definite answers) as of yet. Maybe I should go to Vegas. I hear people find answers there.

12. How many times have you seen Friday The 13th Part 2?

This is my favorite installment. I have seen it maybe 50 times? My favorite Jason kill is in this one-the guy in the wheelchair, dying all the way down that unnecessarily long flight of steps. Jason killed him because he was a lazy asshole. Just get up and walk like the rest of us.

13. Scarier Sam Neill film: In The Mouth Of Madness or Event Horizon?

This is an excellent question. Both of these films freaked me to the point of bewilderment. I had to take the rest of the day/night off from life after each one's initial viewing. If I had to choose, I would choose Event Horizon. It surprised me, because I usually view Sci Fi/Horror as less scary. In the Mouth of Madness is still one of my favorites though. The scariest part is the seriously dated soundtrack...hahaha

14. What horror film should they never ever remake?

The Lawnmower Man

15. Rosemary's Baby or The Omen?

Definitely The Omen. I did love Rosemary's Baby, and still do, but The Omen has a more immediate menace to it. I love art, and respect it, but give me the visceral experience first (in a horror film).

16. Argento or Fulci?

I will take Fulci.

I have loved everything he's done....especially City of the Living Dead

17. Black glove killer or madman with an axe?

T.P. (Madman reference-Brad)

18. Do you like Dr. Pepper?

23 flavors of glorious, born in America? Yeah, it's pretty good. I just drank the diet version, which has 10 flavors. Unfortunately, one of those flavors is most likely prolonged cancer.

19. If you could watch a horror film right now what would it be?

You're Next......muahahaaha

Nessun Timore

I would advise everyone to drop what they are doing and head over to Jeffrey Canino's brilliant blog Nessun Timore. He is running a giallo series right now and he has picked some that are way beyond your usual giallo fare. Clever, insightful and in-depth, I find Jeffrey never misses the mark!




 http://nessuntimore.blogspot.com/

Werewolf Wednesday

The poster in question

Our friend (horror novice) Heather was admiring our The Werewolf Vs. Vampire Woman poster (the American title of Werewolf Shadow) that hangs in our living room and said she wouldn't mind seeing it. I immediately jumped at the chance to make a big deal out of it and instituted Werewolf Wednesday, demonstrating my love for alliteration in the process. So every Wednesday that we can we watch a wolfy double feature. Last week it was The Howling and Silver Bullet for an episode of Hello! This Is The Doomed Show which will soon be hitting the internets. This week it's The Wolf Man and Werewolf Shadow.

1941's The Wolf Man is as good as any place to start I think. Universal had tried their hand at a werewolf film six years earlier with Werewolf Of London that was not enormously successful. Lead actor Henry Hull wasn't willing to sit in a makeup chair for hours on end even though Jack Pierce had worked out a wolfman makeup design that would be identical to the one used in The Wolf Man. The makeup used was much lighter and that probably helped people to think it was too similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. For me the film is most memorable for the inclusion of actor Warner Oland who was at the time already playing Charlie Chan.


The thing that always strikes me about The Wolf Man is how compact the film is. We are in and out of there in an economical 70 minutes or so. Character introductions, curse, fight, resolution, bam! we are done. Oh and this:

The werewolf as astronomer

 And this:

This guy was Dracula

Oh yeah! Bela Lugosi is in this! Claude Rains and Ralph Bellamy too. What a cast. This affords me an opportunity to explain to Heather the difference between a wolfman and a werewolf. A wolfman is a werewolf but a werewolf is not necessarily a wolfman. Glad I cleared that up. 

Wolfman and Werewolf

Lon Chaney Jr. would go on to play The Wolfman in all of the characters appearances of the 1940's. I've always liked him and the fact that he couldn't play a wolfman in Frankenstein's Bloody Terror directly led to the career of Paul Naschy. Lon is very good in this, charming and friendly at the beginning and full of wide eyed terror later on.

1971's Werewolf Shadow is easily one of my top twenty favorite horror films. About five years ago or so I discovered the mighty Paul Naschy when I bought a Horror Rises From The Tomb/The Loreley's Grasp dvd set. We watched it, liked it, and promptly forgot about it. Later on we received The Werewolf Vs. The Vampire Woman from Netflix and while we found it entertaining it too was quickly forgotten. Then a third time (I don't remember exactly what we watched) everything clicked together.

The Man himself

For Valentine's Day one year Elizabeth bought me Deimos' absolutely fantastic dvd release of Werewolf Shadow (it was soon to go out of print, Deimos was very sadly soon to go out of business.) What a difference a cleaned up, widescreen print makes!

Maybe the most attractive woman in all of 70's Eurohorror
Barbara Capell 

From starting off the film with picking up Waldemar's story to the two young ladies doing Countess Nadasdy research to the Countess herself, I love this film. My only complaint is that I would have switched the lead actresses. Barbara Capell is one of my favorite actresses of 70's Eurohorror and that is saying a lot seeing that this is her only horror film role so far as I can tell. Between her as Genevieve and the lovely Patty Sheppard as the vampire countess I'm left cold by Gaby Fuchs as Elvira, Naschy's main squeeze of the film. She is a bit too Olive Oyl-y for my tastes. Other than that minor complaint I think the film is amazing.

Don't go Genevieve!

 Curses, ancient crypts, madwomen, zombie monks, werewolves, Pierre, vampires and Satan himself make appearances in what was Naschy's breakthrough film. Leon Klimovsky did a fantastic job as director (the first of many film collaborations with Naschy) right down to the slow motion vampire scenes (slow motion also appeared the same year in Amando de Ossorio's also classic Tombs Of The Blind Dead. de Ossorio fans and Naschy fans can now argue over who came up with the idea first. I think they both did.) to the werewolf and vampire battle at the end, (a rare moment of truth in advertising) it is Eurohorror at it's finest.

El Hombre Lobo

I recommend that you see this asap if you haven't. Then immediately listen to Naschycast's brilliant show on Werewolf Shadow. They do a very detailed rundown of the film that is highly informative and entertaining. You can find Naschycast on itunes. Werewolf Shadow is episode #10. 

But Brad, what did Heather think? She enjoyed both films. She commented on the (non ridiculous) music in Werewolf Shadow and enjoyed the slow motion bits of it. Not only was it her first Paul Naschy film it was also her first Eurohorror film. I think it was also a good place to start. We have been bombarding her with horror films so I think The Wolf Man was a nice change of pace. She did comment on the wolf transformations saying that they were different than The Howling which she enjoyed. Special effects came a long way from 1941 to 1971 to 1981. I also had her download the Naschycast episode. It's surely the best bit of homework that anyone has ever received!

Yes today is Thursday. But we watch on Wednesday night and Werewolf Thursday doesn't sound as good to me. Besides, when would we do Thrilling Thursday?

More screenshots! Visual spoilers for the uninitiated!

This didn't happen

This did

Ok I took way too many screenshots. Presented for your enjoyment:

Werewolf Shadow Trailer

Apparently you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. And it isn't the crappy looking one I first saw. This is a fun trailer and pertains to something I am posting soon. Tomorrow.

Datacolt

Here is a link to my friend Carl's Bandcamp page. The best minimal techno you will hear all day!

                  http://datacolt.bandcamp.com/

 He has been destroying data culture since 1997. What have you been doing?

Giallo Preferences

So let's talk about the picture I am using for my background. It is a screenshot from Sergio Martino's 1971 giallo classic The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh. It has a couple of different titles but that is the one I go with as opposed to Blade of The Ripper or Next! Anyway I figured with a blog titled Yellow Razor I should at least start with a picture of a razor.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The King and Queen

I was listening to the great Gentlemen's Guide To Midnight Cinema a while back when The Samurai mentioned that when he went for a giallo it was rarely an Argento but a Martino giallo. I thought that was crazy at first but the more I thought about it I realized that I agreed with him. As much as I love Deep Red or The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (or Tenebre or The Cat 'O' Nine Tails) when I usually am in a giallo mood I reach for a Martino giallo (or one that is Martinoish, like The Case Of The Bloody Iris.)

It doesn't get any cooler than this

What do you think? Do you reach for Tenebre? The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail? A Lenziani thriller with Carroll Baker? It amazes me that within the giallo subgenre there are many sub subgenres. I love all of them. It depends on the mood I am in. Am I down for an inheritance scheme? A case of mistaken identity? An art induced crime? A psychosexual pervert madman/woman on the loose? What say you?
                                             

Sometimes I pretend she is calling me

                                           

Richard the Cinema Somnambulist

The question I'm most commonly asked (by no one, this is only my second post) is, "Why did you start a blog when you can post over at world famous Cinema Somnambulist?" Well gang, I put it to you like this. Richard runs a tight ship and Yellow Razor is more of a uh, leaky boat.

I owe a lot to Richard. He has been the best friend a guy can have that has never met another guy in person. Without him guiding me my giallo collection would be a lot poorer. I now know a little bit about anime. At least enough to know what I like. My horror film book collection has grown thanks to kind gifts from him on my birthday and Christmas. I know and like Tera Melos. I have a blast recording Hello! This Is The Doomed Show with him. I appreciate He Knows You're Alone in a way I didn't before. We started a musical project called Mimsy that I really love. I could go on and on and on. He is good people.

That is a great beard

But I thought I'd start my own blog. Richard has very kindly allowed me to post about moviethons I've had and underrated slashers over at Cin Som. I figure this will be a way to say more on a daily basis. Well maybe not daily. Weekly. Bi weekly. You know what I'm saying. And if Richard lets me I'll still post things on Cin Som. (He'll let me. I asked.) And with practice on this blog, maybe I'll get better! Now get on over to Cin Som. And don't forget Doomed Moviethon.

Hey There

Hi. I'm Brad. You may know me from Hello! This Is The Doomed Show or as an occasional contributor to Cinemasomnambulist.com. You may not know me at all. So here's your big chance!

I named my blog Yellow Razor in homage to giallo films and we will certainly be talking about them around here as well as Italian horror, slasher films, music, just whatever strikes my fancy. I'm going to try to get my wife Elizabeth to post too.

Please feel free to leave a comment on how awesome I am doing. Or how terrible. Whichever the case may be. I'm shooting for awesome.