Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Larry Cohen on Mario Bava

Mario Bava's Black Sunday/ Mask of the Demon is a  great dark supernatural horror movie. Black Sunday stars the queen of Italian gothic horror, Barbara Steele, as a witch tortured to death who returns to take her revenge. In short, a perfect witchy, atmostpheric film to watch before The Lords of Salem rise at Midnight Madness.

And fortunately, Trailers From Hell just happens to have a commentary on it by Larry Cohen.

Writer, director and producer of such Midnight Madness favorites as It's Alive; The Stuff; Maniac Cop; Q: The Winged Serpent; Black Caesar; Hell Up In Harlem and the Masters of Horror episode, "Pick Me Up," Larry Cohen comments on the trailer for Bava's atmospheric classic.

THE LORDS OF SALEM
Mon., Sept. 10th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6 

Midnight Madness at Trailers From Hell: Joe Dante

Director Joe Dante is not only one of the fiendish master mind behind Trailers from Hell, he's also a Midnight Madness alumnus. He directed a segment in the horror anthology, Trapped Ashes, which screened at Midnight Madness 2006.

As the first among TFH gurus, Dante comments on a lot of films, but one film, he commented on twice:  Mario Bava's classic giallo, Blood and Black Lace. and an excellent movie to watch in anticipation of Berberian Sound Studios, a movie that plays with giallo history and conventions.

James McNally has already covered giallo in depth at our Vanguard sister blog, so I'll just say that giallo is an Italian crime film genre that is generally more lurid than straight detective stories--and possibly more honest in its way. It often has weird or psychic phenomenon elements. And giallo influence the development of both slasher horror like John Carpenter's Halloween, sexy thrillers like Brian de Palma's Body Double and even artsy psychodramas like Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.

It's somehow fitting that a giallo film would get two slightly different takes.

Here's Dante's most recent commentary:



And here is the original commentary, if you are curious to hear if he says anything different and to see the transfer quality for yourself.



BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIOS screening times:
Mon., Sept. 10, 6:00PM:  The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
Tues., Sept. 11, 2:45PM:  Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 3