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BLACK CANDLES (1982)
EVIL EYE (1974)
Directed by Joseph Braunstein aka
José Ramón Larraz/Mario
Siciliano
BCI DVD
Reviewed 08.09.07
Review by Dan Budnik
THE FILMS
I'm always happy to see a film that
I know nothing about. So, I'm glad
I watched this double feature DVD.
At the same time, that shouldn't
prevent me from mentioning the fact
that the 3 hrs and 5 or 6 minutes
I spent watching this DVD was a
very long 3 hrs and 5 or 6 minutes.
I've enjoyed every one of these
"Double Feature" discs
with the continuous play option
that I've watched. The
Beast That Killed Women/The Monster
Of Camp Sunshine is a personal
favorite with its 3 hours and 40
minutes of entertainment. I like
clicking on the special spot and
having the DVD maneuver through
two films and trailers and commercials
and shorts and all of that.
Well, this disc starts off with
three trailers and then Black
Candles and then two trailers
and then Evil Eye and then
it's done. I could have asked for
more in-between stuff but, in the
end, I was fine. I'll talk about
the trailers under the Extras section.
Black Candles is about
a woman and her "good"
friend who go to her deceased brother's
country estate outside of London.
Her sister-in-law is there with
an assortment of strange friends.
There's a lot of nudity and sex.
There are a couple of nice twisted
scenes thrown in involving goats
and swords. The film reminded me
of that other "Joseph Braunstein"
epic Rest
In Pieces. In that one,
a woman and her male friend go to
a family estate where a bunch of
weird people do weird stuff.
Rest In Pieces is pure
oddball heaven (almost). It keeps
opening up to new worlds of oddness
but it never quite goes over the
top. There's a laziness about the
whole thing that keeps it from being
a favorite but it's always fun to
watch. Black Candles is
all about the nudity and the fooling
around. On those grounds, it succeeds...Bravo!
Everyone goes about "the business"
vigorously and folks stay naked
enough to keep you awake. Unfortunately,
the story does the opposite of Rest
In Pieces and, sort of, closes
down as it goes. It becomes more
and more obvious and takes forever
to move ahead just a little. I yawned
a bit near the end. I watched it
once. I probably won't watch it
again.
Evil Eye is a NRGF (Not-Really
a Giallo Film). A wealthy European
playboy is apparently going mad
and killing women. Or is he? Or
am I? Or are you? Jerk. It never
really makes sense but enough odd
things happen to keep you watching
the screen until the end. Then,
you can throw something at it.
After Black Candles, my
weird movie immune system was low.
I had a beer to keep myself strong
but I OD'd on Europeans. Sorry.
The thought of watching a wealthy
European playboy for ninety minutes
made me sleepy. The women were beautiful
but they were beginning to coalesce
into a gorgeous blur. Luckily, the
film goes strange every fifteen
or so minutes because I was having
a tough time telling a few of the
characters apart. There is a big
revelation moment around an hour
(?) into the movie when the playboy
finds a couple in bed. I spent the
entire scene trying to remember
who these characters were. I figured
out who the guy was but I'm still
not sure about the woman.
At one point, a cop is talking on
the phone and he says "...[the]
Fattibene-Fratelli Hospital?"
Hey! My wife's last name is Fattibene.
Excellent! Sorry. I wandered away
there.
Evil Eye is more entertaining
than Black Candles but
I was just running low on energy.
If I had watched it separately,
it may have been more of a thrill.
In the end, sadly, I just over-Europed!
I had to watch two hours of Hee
Haw afterwards to stop the shakes.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
The audio was a little on the quiet
side. I found myself having to notch
it up here and there louder than
I would normally have notched. The
films are letterboxed and the framing
looks right. The films don't look
that spiffy but I didn't want to
watch them looking spiffy. This
felt more "movie theater"
to me.
About 20 or so minutes into Black
Candles (as one of the servant
ladies is walking into a bedroom),
the picture jumped and rolled. I
thought, "Damn, my tape's screwed
up." Then, I thought, "No.
This is a DVD." Where'd they
get this print from? Blockbuster?
EXTRAS
Five previews.
BBC (Before Black Candles):
Pick-Up. Could be fun.
Or not. The preview doesn't really
reveal a lot. I imagine there's
a lot more to the film than it lets
on.
Legend Of The Eight Samurai.
Most hysterical trailer ever. There
seems to be three things going on.
1) A preview for a kung-fu movie
of some kind. 2) A music video for
a hysterical soft rock tune that
is so inappropriate that I had to
pinch myself to check if I was awake.
3) The sneaking suspicion that no
one involved knew what this movie
was. I take as my main piece of
evidence the fact that when the
title appears at the end of the
preview the movie is now titled
Legend Of The Eight Ninjas.
Awesome! You can't make that up.
Don't Answer The Phone.
Still sleazy. Need to get the DVD
soon.
BEE (Before Evil Eye):
Prime
Evil. Kind of looks like
more fun than Black Candles.
I've seen it so I know that it's
kind of not but I'm very impressionable
so I'm going to watch it again soon.
Sister Street Fighter.
Fun and punching. Funching.
FINAL THOUGHTS
From a distance, I'm glad I watched
it. Black Candles is certainly
sexy but rather on the dull side.
Evil Eye is never dull
but never that thrilling either.
I was hoping I'd like these a bit
more. In the end, I shrugged my
shoulders and moved on. Those endings,
though. Woah Nellie! Did the filmmakers
meet up beforehand and discuss? |
Pre-goats
I'd rather be Edge Of The Axe-ing
Three birds with one stone
Europed again
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