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Blood and Black Lace, a review by Danae Cassandra

Blood and Black Lace (Sei donne per l'assassino)
Year of Release: 1964
Directed By: Mario Bava
Starring: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Ariana Gorini, Dante DiPaolo
Genre: Horror, Crime, Suspense/Thriller

Overview:
The Christian Haute Couture fashion house is a home to models... and backstabbing... and blackmail... and drug deals... and MURDER.

Having established a template for the giallo with The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Mario Bava set about cementing its rules with Blood and Black LaceBlood and Black Lace afresh and offers newcomers the ideal introduction to a major piece of cult filmmaking.

My Thoughts:
I've just started watching giallo films, and this reinforces my thus-far enjoyment of the genre. This is certainly a beautiful film. Bava has an eye for gorgeous visuals, with a rich color pallette, interesting use of light and shadow, and inventive and wonderful camerawork.

The technical aspects of the film are so good that it's a shame the characters are underdeveloped. The viewer doesn't care about any of the victims, nor do we really root for the police to solve the crimes. I found myself detached from the characters, instead absorbed in the beauty of the film. The story is good, and Bava skillfully takes you from kill to reveal to twist, but I didn't care about anyone.

That aside, this is a beautiful, influential film, and anyone interested in giallo, or in slasher films (of which this is considered the prototype) should definitely see it.

Watched For: Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016, Scavenger Hunt 19

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 36/52

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 25th, 2016)

Kandahar, a review by Rich

Trekking across sandy Afghanistan...



Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf presents this partially fictionalized documentary that illustrates the suffering of Afghan women under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the year 2000. The quiet, stark, powerful film follows an Afghan native, Nafas (the stunningly beautiful Noulifar Pazira), who left Afghanistan years back and got a journalism degree in Canada, upon which she built a career reporting the plight of women in oppressive nations. When she receives a letter from her sister, who is still in Afghanistan and who has decided that she will kill herself on the night of the next eclipse, Nafas decides to sneak back inside the border to rescue her. Traveling in a Red Cross helicopter to Pakistan, where she is lead on a treacherous all-night trek across an icy river and over deadly mountains, Nafas finally crosses over the border. But from there she must get to Kandahar, with only three days left before the eclipse. As a woman in Afghanistan she cannot speak out loud, travel without a husband, or show her face, elements which make her journey nearly impossible. Disguised in a heavy head-to-toe burka (the mandatory dress for women), she begins a Kafkaesque journey across the barren land, encountering obstacles both threatening and mesmerizing along the way.

An education is the best way to describe a viewing of this film, portraying life in such a country from a genuine Afghan viewpoint, it was pleasing to watch but certainly not an epic. Noulifar Pazira is stunning, the backdrop and people throughout the film captivating, and the open ending added a mysterious intrigue to the whole movie. Worth a watch on a Sunday afternoon. 5/10

(From Around the World in 80 DVD's on February 14th, 2008)

2016 TV Pilot Reviews, a review by DJ Doena

Lethal Weapon Website
Lethal Weapon @ Wikipedia
Lethal Weapon @ IMDb

Roger Murtaugh is a 50-year old cop recovering from a heart-attack operation and is slowly easing back into active duty.

Martin Riggs is a guy with a death wish and Murtaugh's new partner.

Together they'll crack jokes and bad guys alike.

Nothing much to say premise-wise if you know the original movies. The basic story is the same, the setup is the same.

I'd classify the show as an action comedy because it shows from the start that it's not going to take itself too seriously. You can see that when a car chase takes place on the track of an ongoing Formula 3 (or something similar) race and none of the race drivers are in any way bothered by that or the fact that a guy gets hit by a bus and in typical Hollywood manner (Rest in peace/pieces, Delorean!) the bus will not even stop after the crash.

These guys are not going to solve their cases by staring at some CSI / NCIS high-tech gadget computer, they're going to do it the old-fashioned way.

It's a show where you can relax you brain and just enjoy the ride.



(From 2016 TV Pilot Reviews on October 8th, 2016)