Next up is 1985 vampire horror comedy I Like Bats, directed and co-written by Grzegorz Warchol. The film presents itself a gothic horror film with the free visual style popularized during the Polish New Wave. Or rather, it’s presented in a style that apes the conventional trappings of American horror and comedy productions, but done with such aesthetic transgression towards those productions that it becomes its own thing. Simply, just see it. It follows the life of a single young female vampire Izabela (Katarzyna Walter), who loves to feed on the various suitors and sleazebags that enter her orbit. But soon she meets the man that has her feeling a different thirst, a romantic one! This is perhaps the best discovery in this set and is indicative of the kind of essential curation that is offered throughout the set. I truly cannot recommend watching it enough. GROUNDBREAKING…House of Psychotic Women is one of the most influential pieces of film analysis of the 21st century. Kier-La Janisse is a legend in the genre community.”-Screen Anarchy Nicoletta Elmi: Italian Cinema's Imp Ascendant — A Video Essay By Film Scholars Alexandra Heller-Nicholas And Craig Martin runs twelve minutes and goes over how Elmi started as a child model in 1968 before moving on to TV commercials and then appearing in Death In Venice, A Bay Of Blood and Baron Blood which made her the 'go to girl' for certain roles. We then hear about her work in Deep Red, Footprints, Who Saw Her Die, Flesh For Frankenstein and her most substantial role in The Night Child before then starring in Demons as an adult. The piece then dissects her different characters, what made her work different and the importance of her role in Footprints.

House of Psychotic Women (Hardback) Kier-La Janisse (Author) House of Psychotic Women (Hardback) Kier-La Janisse (Author)

a rape scene is the single greatest justification for anything else in the film that follows—no matter how illogical, unbelievable, sadistic, misanthropic, graphic or tortuous. The audience will accept any direction the story takes because, culturally, rape is worse than death. Released domestically in North America under the alternate title of The Driver's Seat, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi's 1974 film, Identikit, was based on a novel by Muriel Spark and stars Elizabeth Taylor in the lead role as a woman named Lise. She's a demanding woman and not always the friendliest person to be around. The Corruption of Chris Miller; The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll; Singapore Sling; Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly; The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!; Martyrs; Images; 3 Women; Sisters Finishing up the extras are a trailer for the feature, opening and closing titles for the alternate The Driver’s Seat version, menus and chapter selection options. it becomes apparent that watching these films, and writing about them, is an act of solidarity in and of itself; a provocative means of dispelling the threat their subject matter poses to us. I also think that my interest in them…is a vicarious means of revenge for what my mother experienced in front of me all those years ago.Suffield, Trevor (2010-03-25). "Mar 2010: Horror film course promises to be a real scream". Winnipeg Free Press . Retrieved 2021-06-19. Trance; May; The Collector; Out of the Blue; Don't Deliver Us from Evil; Alucarda; Cutting Moments; In My Skin Footprints" is an experimental giallo film unlike anything else I've seen. The plot is simple: Alice, a foreign translator living in Italy, wakes from a strange, sci-fi film-inspired nightmare and realizes she has no recollection of the past three days. She initially believes a tranquilizer overdose is responsible for the lapse in memory, but begins to realize something sinister is afoot. When Alice finds clues of how she spent her lost time, she follows them to an eerie island called Garma where everyone seems to know her better than she knows herself. As Janisse says, "I don't profess to understand the conclusion of this convoluted film, but suffice to say Alice has some problems distinguishing fact from fiction, and memories from dreams." In 2012 Kier-La Janisse published House of Psychotic Women, billed as "an autobiographical topography of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films." It soon became one of the most "vital" (Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog) and "astonishing" (Daily Grindhouse) genre tomes of all time. To mark the book's 10th anniversary, award-winning writer/programmer/filmmaker Janisse now presents four of the strongest and strangest explorations of onscreen delirium and hysteria, all on U.S. Blu-ray for the first time: Elizabeth Taylor stars in 1974's IDENTIKIT as a woman who travels to Rome to find the most dangerous liaison. In the surreal 1986 Polish horror-comedy I LIKE BATS, a vampire discovers that love may be the cruelest curse of all. Florinda Bolkan stars in the startling 1975 amnesiac giallo FOOTPRINTS from the director of THE FIFTH CORD. And British screenwriter and radical theatre icon Jane Arden directs 1972's harrowing THE OTHER SIDE OF THE UNDERNEATH.

Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll - Wikipedia Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll - Wikipedia

I Like Batsis presented in 1080p from a 2K scan of the only 35mm print known to exist. And well, that might give you a hint as to how good of shape the print was in. There’s some pretty noticeable damage that shows up infrequently, but the encode handles it all capably without detracting from how just how beautiful the film does look in high definition. Shadow definition is a bit limited because of the damage, yet that’s not due to any digital tinkering. This still looks good for what could have essentially been a lost film without this print being scanned. Marnie; Born Innocent; Christiane F.; Streetwise; A Lizard in a Woman's Skin; Footprints; Nabi: The Butterfly; La nuit des traquées; Love Me Deadly; Nekromantik HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN is for the horror aficionado as well as the horror curious. Janisse weaves her own life into an intensely personal exploration of the genre, challenging the reader to reconsider the films in all of their complexity. I devoured this compelling, surprising, and moving book.”– Molly Ringwald, actress, singer and author

For his only foray into the zombie genre, sleaze maestro Andrea Bianchi (MALABIMBA: THE MALICIOUS WHORE) unleashes enough flesh-ripping, gut-chomping ... Possession (truly one of the most bizarre and disturbing movies I’ve seen; Isabelle Adjani gives one of the most astonishing performances by anyone ever) A six minute introduction By Kier-La Janisse (sporting an excellent Jamie Gillis shirt) starts the extras off. She offers up some welcome detail on Muriel Spark’s life and career as well as some thoughts on Elizabeth Taylor’s character and what she goes through in the film. Janisse is particularly engaged in discussing the rape-revenge sub-genre, and cites many examples. For her the pinnacle of these is Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45, a tough watch psychologically (though not explicitly graphic to the degree of many other such films) but one that thinks through the tropes of these films much further than most. I saw this many years ago, kind of liked it but didn’t love it, but her analysis is interesting enough that maybe I should rewatch it. High Priestess of Horror Kier-La Janisse has crafted the definitive encyclopedia of female neurosis as depicted in horror cinema and the many ways it paralleled her own trauma zones. Beautifully written, extremely well researched and lush with gorgeous film stills and posters – a masterpiece.”– Lydia Lunch, musician, poet, author and No Wave icon

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Find sources: "Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( May 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) House of Psychotic Women is for the horror aficionado as well as the horror curious. Janisse weaves her own life into an intensely personal exploration of the genre, challenging the reader to reconsider the films in all of their complexity. I devoured this compelling, surprising, and moving book.” While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in raids in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic, probably due to the lurid video box art. [1] Strangely, although this was Naschy's take on the Italian giallo genre, the film does not appear to have been theatrically distributed at all in Italy, France or Germany. An expanded, tenth anniversary edition is now available. The text of the memoir remains unchanged, but the new copy comes with an updated preface and one hundred new films in the appendix, including " Always Shine" (2016), " Braid" (2018), and " Raw" (2017). You don't need to rush out and buy an updated copy if you already own one from 2012, but definitely grab this 2022 version if you're buying for the first time or need to replace a copy that's been beaten to shit over the years. "Always Shine" is one of those movies where the vibes are immaculate. The last disc once again starts off with an introduction by Kier-La Janisse. This one runs for nine minutes and covers Jane Arden's career, how Janisse came to know of the film, the film's depictions of psychiatry, her thoughts on the movie after seeing it for the first time going in blind, the stage play that Arden worked on that inspired the movie, how the movie is the only British film on record to have been directed by a woman in the seventies, the collaborative nature and energy in the movie, the use of LSD on set and what she's learned about the movie since including it in her book.Light on narrative but rife with unsettling depictions of insanity, the movie introduces us to a woman referred to as Meg The Peg (Sheila Allen, who will be recognizable to some as Number Fourteen on The Prisoner!) who suffers from schizophrenia. After a breakdown and a suicide attempt, she's put in an asylum located near a remote, rural village for psychiatric treatment and therapy. From here, we witness Meg's interactions with other inmates and witness various incidents and episodes all relating to madness and the exploitation of women. Compendium of Female Neurosis. A cross-section of horror and violent exploitation films that feature disturbed or neurotic women as primary or pivotal characters. Sandwell, Ian (2016-05-13). "Frontières to include TV shows for first time". Screen . Retrieved 2021-06-19.

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The film is not something I feel can be summarized in any meaningful way, but apparently, all of the actresses were on LSD throughout the filming process, which makes complete sense based on [gestures wildly] everything. This film is a difficult but rewarding watch, made all the better by supplementary interviews with actresses Sheila Allen, Natasha Morgan, and Penny Slinger. After sitting through this nearly two-hour assault on the senses, I was thankful for the Severin special features, which helped me sort through some of my more complex emotions. Expect a full podcast episode on Jane Arden in the near future. In 2017 Janisse and producer Andy Starke of Rook Films pitched a television series based on the book at the Frontieres International Film Market. The disc also includes a commentary with Kamila Wielebska, Actor and Co-Editor of A Story Of Sin: Surrealism In Polish Cinema. It’s unconventional and very dramatic in its delivery, opening with a Bela Lugosi impersonation, but genuinely interesting and frequently quite humorous. It’s definitely worth a listen as she goes over how the film plays with audience expectations in terms of its horror movie branding, the visuals on display in the movie and much of the set design, thoughts on the different characters that populate the movie, elements of Polish history and society that shaped the movie, literary influences that work their way into the movie and quite a bit more. Beginning in 2012 the book formed the basis of film retrospectives in Austin, Montreal, Los Angeles, Brussels, Amsterdam, Melbourne and more. The book was responsible for the re-popularization of many forgotten films, and since its publication, “House of Psychotic Women” has been referred to as a film subgenre unto itself. This is a highly idiosyncratic book combining film scholarship with autobiography, in which author Kier-la Janisse uses examples from horror movies involving "crazy" women to illustrate an account of her own turbulent life, particularly her relationship with her mother. Janisse is fearless in her self-examination, and often seems determined to portray herself in the most unflattering terms possible. Her writing is strong and blunt, and the autobiographical elements are fascinating. In addition, her knowledge of horror film history runs very deep and her critical faculties are extremely sharp, so that I found myself wanting to see every single movie she discussed.

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High Priestess of Horror Kier-La Janisse has crafted the definitive encyclopedia of female neurosis as depicted in horror cinema and the many ways it paralleled her own trauma zones. Beautifully written, extremely well researched and lush with gorgeous film stills and posters – a masterpiece.” People love this book. Why? It talks about life and art in an unusual, provocative way. Kier-La Janisse doesn’t kid around. For her, movies are a matter of life and death. House of Psychotic Women is an original, singular creation. Nothing like it existed before and certainly nothing since. Cherish this book, argue with it, throw it against the wall. But let it get under your skin... invade your bloodstream. It may change you.”