July 16, 2025 • 48 mins
We've got a reservation at the Hermit Hotel, a house of lost souls, and you're invited to stay with us (for the length of this episode). This week we discuss Umberto Lenzi's The House of Lost Souls, one of four television films in the Houses of Doom series. It's everything we love about Italian horror, especially from this era.
Cauldron Films' box set is sold out, but you can buy the individual film if you love fun: https://www.cauldron-films.com/collections/cauldron-films/products/the-house-of-lost-souls-standard-edition-blu-ray
Join our discord! https://discord.gg/F8WsTzE9qt
Follow this podcast on Instagram @unsunghorrors.
Follow Lance on Instagram and Letterboxd @lschibi
Lance’s shop: https://lanceschibi.bigcartel.com/
Follow Erica on Letterboxd or Instagram @hexmassacre
Logo by Cody Schibi
Part of Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network: https://linktr.ee/someonesfavoriteproductions
Cauldron Films' box set is sold out, but you can buy the individual film if you love fun: https://www.cauldron-films.com/collections/cauldron-films/products/the-house-of-lost-souls-standard-edition-blu-ray
Join our discord! https://discord.gg/F8WsTzE9qt
Follow this podcast on Instagram @unsunghorrors.
Follow Lance on Instagram and Letterboxd @lschibi
Lance’s shop: https://lanceschibi.bigcartel.com/
Follow Erica on Letterboxd or Instagram @hexmassacre
Logo by Cody Schibi
Part of Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network: https://linktr.ee/someonesfavoriteproductions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Prepare yourself for the terror the prison of madness. We
have few inter and Nonritter.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Unsung Horrus with LUNs.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
And Deerica.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Leave all your sanity behind.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It can't help you.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Now.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Welcome to another episode of Unsung Horrors, the podcast where
we discuss underseen horror films, specifically those which have fewer
than one thousand views on letterboxed.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm Erica, I'm Lance.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
And today we are getting into a director whom we
have never covered before. I'm sure there are a few
films that he's done that are under a thousand, mostly
the TV films, and that's what we're going to be
covering today is one of those. We're going to be
talking about the House of Lost Souls from nineteen eighty
(01:08):
nine aka La Casa de le anime Eranti.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I tried very good.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
So this is in the Cauldron box set Houses of Doom,
along with three other films which we'll talk about, and
it currently has seven hundred and eighteen views on letterboxed. Now.
If you don't have the box set as of this recording,
the movie is also on YouTube. I am bad at
(01:37):
comparing versions. I know that the YouTube version was five
minutes short, so just know that going in you're going
to be missing out on some stuff. If you watch
the YouTube version, we're going to be talking about the
full version from the Cauldron box set. So House of
Lost Souls is this film in particular. It follows a
group of young archaeologists, one psychic and a young boy,
(02:00):
who are on their way home when they are forced
to stay at an old hotel in the mountains. Unbeknownst
to them, the former owners would kill the guests in
order to rob them, and now the ghosts of those
victims haunt the hotel, as well as the hotel owner,
serial killer Guy. The group finds themselves unable to leave
except for a quick trip to town and the cemetery
(02:21):
to get some exposition, and one by one they fall
victim to the ghost wrath. As I mentioned, this is
in the Cauldron Houses of Doom box set. I didn't
bring the whole box and duh, all right, it's okay.
It's one of four television films produced by ray Atalia
in the late eighties for a series called Lecasa Maladette
(02:43):
or Houses of Doom, which is the name of the
box set. In the boxet, there are two films by
Luccio Fulci, The House of Clocks and The Sweet House
of Horrors, and then two by Lenzi this one and
the House of Witchcraft. Now none of these were because
of the gore. I'm not sure why the producers were
(03:05):
surprised given who they hired for this.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Seriously, Yeah, even the umberto Lindsay. He even said he
was wrong for the job because they wanted thrillers, and
this is they him and Fulci delivered what they knew,
that they know what to do.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Yeah, I mean they I feel like ful Cheese are
definitely toned down from there. They're certainly not the Gates
of Hell trilogy by any means, but there is still
some gore in there. And I don't know what they
expected by hiring them for that, and they're I don't know, there's.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
More sex in ful Cheese than there is in Lindsay's,
and I guess that's more. I don't know. Accepted for
Italian television.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I think I think I read Lindsay's like cut his
out on purposefully because it was for television. But I
think full Chi just didn't care.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, he was like, I got a job, so I'll
cut the gore and not cut the sex scenes out.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Uh yeah, so since they were never aired, he's lived
on bootlegs for years before getting released on physical media.
I think at two thousand was the first time they
were released in Italy. But now we have this box
set with a lot of great features for the whole set,
so hard recommend to pick these up. I mean, personally,
(04:18):
this is just like my sort of comfort zone. So
I did want to talk briefly about the series before
getting into cast and crew, and I want to read
from Roberto Curti's Italian Gothic horror films, the nineteen eighty
to nineteen eighty nine version. So one of the most
(04:38):
interesting things to me that he said was Originally the
series was to comprise six titles, to be directed by Fulchi,
Lenzi and Lomberto Bava, but due to other working commitments,
Bava was replaced by Marcello Avalone. Bulchi approached the project
enthusiastically and asked to substitute two of his own stories
(05:01):
for the ones he had been assigned, and Lenzai did
the same with one of his own invention, which was
this film La Cosa del anime Erante. But a last
minute budget cut on the part of Raysalia and Avaloni's
commitments had the series re size to four titles, only
the two titles that were to be directed by Avalone.
(05:22):
And this is where I'm like super bummed. It's like
the what could have been The first one by Avlone
was to be La Casa del nano Deforme The House
of the Deformed Dwarf. Oh yeah, it was retitled to
La Cosa dela nico de cire The best Friend's House,
which whatever. And the second one was La Casa dele
(05:50):
bambola con kapoli. Kind I suck it. That's a long
ass title, all right. The second one was La Cosa
dele bambola cone cappelli a cRIO Jesus Christy.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That's a great dish.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, the House of the doll with growing hair. That
sounds creepy, I know, right, So these two were left
in the drawer.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Quote.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
It's a real shame because the two films Marcello Avalone
would direct were really good. Stropa recalled he was one
of the script writers or one of the people working
on the on the films. We had written those scripts
with lots of passion and interest, trying to blend the
fantastic and contemporary issues. In fact, Lacassa del my god.
(06:36):
I love these episodes when we do Italian, when we
try to pronounce and we sound so anything.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, anything that's not American made. We're just terrible. Anyway.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
The Dwarf One was written by me and Clarice treated
the issue of organ transplants in an original way.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I mean, come on, dude, I know. I mean, the
script is still out there. Who's going to make it?
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Someone find that someone make it? Please. Martine is still alive, right,
he could do it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, so is Kotzi.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
He could do it. I would love to see Katzi
make the house lambird.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I give it to Bava, like, give it to young Baba.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I feel like I feel like I want an unhinged
version of Yeah, I don't know that that's true. Well, no,
he's got a cup anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I digress.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
So one other thing I wanted to point out that
was in Curtie's book was about the setting. So he said,
it is a story of six students on vacation who
stopped by an old, abandoned hotel in the Alps where
a massacre happened many years earlier. The ghosts of the
victim still haunt the place where they seek revenge on
the on the teenagers who find out they cannot leave
(07:48):
the building. So, despite the attempt at making a ghost
story in an Italian setting, Lenzi bluntly described the result
as quote downright crap and complained but he hadn't found
the right setting for the movie, which was shot in
the region of marsh in central Italy with a fascist
summer camp made to pass as an old hotel. So
(08:11):
I thought that was interesting given like Lindsay's political background,
like very very political, very anti fascist, very anti government, religion,
all of those things, And so I think he was
probably just upset with like the location in general, and
like working within a much smaller budget than he was
used to.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, that's what I think. The commentary i'd listened to
on one of the one of the commentaries on the
House of Lust Souls, not the Sam Degan one, the
one with Rod Barnett and Adrian Smith.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Oh yeah, they're great.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, they were good. They had some good information on
the location, saying that obviously Lindsay was not happy or
pleased with this location. Most of the interior shots throughout
our studio settings they're created, but the outside shots obviously,
is this fascist summer camp, this like brutalist architecture like
a hotel.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But yeah, these things were constructed all over through the
twenties and forties, mainly to what is it, to quote,
improve the health and mind of the young teenagers in Italy.
Not only to like mold or political ideological views. But
tuberculosis was like running rampant and it was to pretty
much keep the vitology of the Italian race safe and
(09:22):
these young boys. Yeah, terrible stuff. But yeah, I think
the guy that found I think I'm assuming it's a man.
I could have been a woman. But the production designer
and the person who found these little location scout, Lindsay
was butting heads with this person and they were they
left the project, but they were stuck with this, and
(09:42):
Lindsay was very unhappy with it, which makes sense.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Yeah, I think the end product is still great. It's
always a shame when you find out, like the directors
aren't happy with the final product.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And especially when you enjoy it, like I'm like, oh,
come on, that bad umberto come on.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
I know it's in a you know, fascist location, but
that's it. It's fine. Everything else is great. Come on,
so let's get into the crew so I mentioned already
directed by Emberto Lensi. He also wrote the screenplay from
a original story by him Lance, I'll have you pull
up your letterboxed here. What is your Lensi percentage watched?
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I don't see here. Okay, I'm at twenty percent. You
need to pick it up, sir, I do. I've only watched. Oh,
I've only logged thirteen of his sixty five.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Letterboxed I am that forty one percent.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well, hey, hey, look at me. Now.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
There's a few that I am saving for a rainy day,
like Spasmo from nineteen seventy four, which has I think
the greatest poster ever. Personal favorites include almost Human, you know,
I think one of the most like unh hinge nihilistic
Policio Tacchi movies out there. Thomas Milan is perfection in
(11:05):
that cannibal fareroks aka make them die slowly. John has
the one sheet for this, and that one rarely comes
down when we do our poster rotation, Like we have
a few like the ones in here, like they stay
up because I'm lazy, But like out in like the
living room area, that one, that one stays up. It's
got like the great little yellow splash on. It's banned
(11:26):
in thirty one countries.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, it's a great posting.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Nightmare City another favorite.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Do you have any personal favorites besides those?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
No, I mean, I love Violent Naples. I actually always
enjoyed a lot of his Carol Baker stuff too, so
sweet Soaperverse, Quiet Place to Kill. Nightmare City obviously is
a huge or Nightmare Beach is a huge Yeah, he
did do Nightmare City. Yeah, the Nightmare Beach.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
That one has one of the greatest dummy drops of
all time off the Ferris Wheel. I think it's at
the amusement park, but it's fucking yea.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
And I love the House of Lossholes. Yeah, it's a
good one.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
I mean, the great thing about Lindsay is how prolific
he is. Like, I haven't seen either of his Westerns,
which I'm going to make a point to do. I
think he only I checked the tags on Letterbox and
he only had two, so I definitely want to check
those out. But you know, he worked in you know,
so many different genres. He started as an assistant director,
(12:24):
mostly doing like adventure films which were popular in that time,
like the sixties. Until he started working on his own,
he did a lot of early jolly like you said
with Carol Baker. But I do think a lot of
people will first associate him with euro Crime or Policotecci
films like Almost Human, Violent Naples, Cenec, The Rat and
(12:47):
the Fists, Syndic and Sadists. But we also can't forget
that he has contributed to the d CU, the Demons
Cinematic Universe. Oh yes, with Black Demons from nineteen ninety one.
Oh good lord, I've seen them all and I can
tell you it's a Lensai film. So we don't bring
(13:11):
this credit up often, but I think it's worth mentioning,
and it was something that Sam and possibly Rod and
Adrian pointed out as well. But there's a legacy credit
for the assistant director. We have his daughter, Alessandra Lenzi,
like her father Romberto, who got to start as an
assistant director. His daughter is here following in his footsteps.
(13:32):
And I love that about. You know, some of the
greats in Italian you had that with the Bava's obviously
you had Mario and Lamberto, and I think grandfather I
can't remember his name offhand, the Argento's you know, you
have Dario his daughter Azia, for whatever that's worth. And
even Folchi's daughter. You know, she was on set with
(13:54):
aspirations to get into film and has some credits on
a few as well. So it's nice to see a
woman in there. It is.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, that wasn't discussed on their commentary, by the way,
but that's that's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Well, I see you, Rod and Adrian. I'm just kidding.
They're great.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
They are.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So the score here is by Claudio Semonetti here as
Claude King.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Though, great, that's a good Claude King rolls off the top.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So it doesn't seem, though, like he did anything original
for this though.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, this is all repurpose from previous films for sure.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, there's I think both Troy Howarth and his book
Make Them Die Slowly The Kinetic Cinema of Romberto Lenzi.
He and Roberto Curti both pointed out that he basically
just took the work that he did from Demon's Opera
and body Count from nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, Doodaughter's body Count and then the song that's playing
on the radio when the kids are in the basement
just hanging out that they turn on the radio is
actually a track from opera titled Crows. Yeah, so i'll
repurpose stuff. I don't know if it was like a
cost issue or what, but it doesn't matter. It's great.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, I mean I would I would assume it was
definitely a cost issue. Yeah, but yeah, I love it
as well, and it I think it's also something I'll
talk about later. Is as much as I love Fabio
Frizzi and Dinaggio and so many other you know composers,
Semonetti has a very much punk rock sensibility, so I
(15:30):
think it works really well, especially for this era in
Italian horror, where it's like we're on a limited budget.
We need we're having a few moments to get unhinged,
and we need to really sort of punch it up
a bit.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah. I'm such a fan of his Demons soundtrack. I
think it's the best Italian horror soundtrack. That it wouldn't
bother me at all if it popped up in every
Italian horror movie. So when I heard that, I was like,
you had mentioned when he made this pick that this
is a comfort movie. Yes, and as soon as the
as soon as the first shot opens up with the
(16:03):
hazy you know landscape, you have that Hermit hotel, so
you know it's some sort of haunted location. And then
Simonetti's like demon starts playing. I'm like, okay, settle in.
This is this is the Italian whore I love and watch?
Yeah for sure perfect.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
So effects here. There's a two people I want to mention.
The first is there's an interview on the disc for
this with eli Otero Billy, and he tells a hilarious
story about the quote unquote haunted washing machine death and honestly,
like the major dry or the dryer, yeah, whatever it is,
(16:39):
appliance it kills.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
It could be a washing machine.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Maybe I have a front loading No, I don't have a.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Front loading washing we do, yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Okay, anyway, whatever works when you want to decapitate a kid,
you know, either one. So he tells this hilarious story
about the haunted washing machine or dryer death, and honestly,
the majority of him interview is spent talking about that,
and I'm here for it. I'm so glad that like
all that time was spent on it because it's one
(17:06):
of the best parts of the movie well be best
for me.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, obviously that's another reason that this pick was made.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Probably.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, So Terri Billy has lots of credits, including Hands
of Steel, and he has an active Instagram it's ele
eos fx E l io s f X, So go
follow him people, he only has like two hundred and
something followers. You guys, if you know him. And who's
(17:34):
the guy who did like.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The animatronics stuff catures from the abyss AlSi? Yeah, does
he have Does he have an Instagram?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I don't remember if al Pasari had an instagram, but
he had a website. But anyway, we need to like
make sure that they know we love them. So give
give el eo Terribilia follow what's this?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I guess he was at back to the beginning the
Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne show because he's got a picture
of James he Ffield hugging Ozzy Osworren.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
We'll go follow him.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Unsung Horrorce follows him. Yeah, come on, guys, be cool.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
So the other person on effects is Giuseppe Pino for Antie.
He's he was on the Hands of Steel, also Devilfish,
the Church, the sect. He's worked on some Argento films,
including Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Argento's World of Horror.
He also worked on The Murder Sect, which is a
(18:30):
Mario Bianci film. This one has a write up in
the book, the first book because this one has an
even better child decapitation than this movie, and so he's
got a specialty. He knows how to decapitate a child.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, that's that's the thing with this crew. Like I know,
Lindsay and a lot of interviews says he was unhappy
with how this some of these came out. Yeah, but
it's a skilled crew. They had like a matter of
weeks to shoot each each film. Yeah, so you have
all handling everything and like doing all this in a
matter of weeks is just kind of really impressive. Yeah,
So you hire the best, and when it becomes when
(19:07):
the whole movie is based on decapitation desk, you got
to get the best.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, of course. So Ferranti also has credits with Fulci
including Cat and the Brain, Enigma and Hansel and Gretel
which is a later full Chi TV movie. And then
finally for crew at least that I want to touch
on is the cinematographer, which is John Carla Ferrando also
worked on Hands of Steel, so I think a lot
(19:33):
of them were in that film. He worked with Sergio
Martino on Your Vices, The Locked Room and Only I
Have the Key, All the Colors of the Dark, The
Great Alligator. He also worked on Troll two, Lendzi's other
House of Doom film, House of Witchcraft, and an unsung
Horrors favorite, not one that we've covered, but we've talked
about often.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Torso Torso. I was waiting for that. Torso we had
already talked about. Lindsay said that he wasn't experienced in television.
He's only done feature films at this point. None of
his crew members had actually worked in television, and he
thinks that the producers watched the entire series hiring him
(20:14):
and you know, offering selling the series as a thriller,
knowing what Fulci and Lindsay are capable of. So the producers,
we didn't cover them, but Lindsay's not happy with you.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Yeah, sorry, guys. So some of the cast, we don't
have any recognizable faces here, except for maybe one for Lance.
These are mostly TV actors, so there's not a lot,
so there's not a lot to point out as far
as their filmography goes. The main guy in this, Kevin,
is played by Joseph Allen Johnson. He is in a
(20:49):
Chuck Vincent film, Hollywood Hot Tubs, So I point that
out for Lance interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, I mean he has a lot of great eighties
horror and I guess sexploitation films.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Yeah. The final girl, Carlos Stefania or Sola Grillo. I think,
you know, she didn't really have anything notable as far
as her films go, but was in a lot of TV.
I think did she say in this film her character
that she learned how to be a psychic psychic from
a doctor? I feel like that.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah, it was like a general practitioner just diagnosed.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
I'm like, I all right, cool, that's uh, that's how
that happens anyway.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
The young boy John Luca, Yeah whatever, we'll just talk
about his death, but when you talk about his life.
I guess the character that actually has the most notable
film credits is how Yamauchi, who plays the monk ghost
in this. He has credits ranging from Emmanuel and The
(21:52):
Last Cannibals to Zulander two.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
So I guess this was just lifted from Donna the
Dead like, that's this care So.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
It's very much the Hia Krishna zombie, which fine, I
don't care. Like. There's something that Troy mentioned in his
write up about this that I think perfectly you know,
summarizes that. So he said, Lenzi is clearly making use
of popular models to ensure positive audience response, but that
(22:21):
shouldn't suggest that he's simply copying bigger and better models.
It was always the approach of the Italian popular film
industry to ride the coattails of box office hits, the
Feloni or streamlit principle whereby films are influenced by ever
changing trends among cinema goers, and as a commercial craftsman,
that was always Lensi's lot as a filmmaker. There's absolutely
(22:44):
no shame in this, especially when one considers how successful
he was for much of the time in offering up,
entertaining and well crafted variations on familiar themes, such as
the case here. As the film proceeds along fairly conventional lines,
only to become perggressively more deranged in the second half,
which allows the director to end things on a positive note.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, start starts very shining, which we'll probably talk about
and then and I mean, yeah, it's all dream logic,
which I love about this these type of movies.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Yeah, it's it's very much just it leans so heavily
into that. That's one of the things that you know,
I love about this era is they never lose that
sense of logic. You know, you have that so much
in like Full tiese. Gates of Health trilogy, and that
is still present here. The only thing I think that
(23:37):
you're seeing the difference in is it's it's clear there's
less budget, and that's fine, Like they know how to
work with what they have. They're just going to lean
even further into the surrealism, right. I think what it
also does there's this other trend of earlier successful Italian
horror films of being trapped in a location, usually ice
(24:00):
or sometimes not, like in the case of Demons, they're
still trapped inside the threats inside. You have the Church
is Well, Blade in the Dark, tons of other films
of that nature. But again a lot of that is
taken from the Shining, which of course we see a
heavy influence here. We're dealing on a much smaller scale
(24:22):
of a hotel, but you have all the haunted ghosts
terrorizing the people here.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Absolutely, Okay, So I would like to talk about Obviously,
my favorite death is a child death in this but
I think that's really here what stands. I mean, they're
all decapitations, but they're all unique and they're all fun.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah they I mean obviously, I know we your favorite
one is John or Jean Luca that's his name, right, yeah,
young kid. Yeah, every decapitation where do I have? I
have the list of them. One of my favorites is
Guido oh standing just I guess they have rats the
size of who knows in Italy because he steps on
(25:05):
a bear trap. I mean maybe the ghost laid that
out or the proprietor did at some point, but yeah,
getting stuck in the bear trap and then is it
a floating chainsaw or is it?
Speaker 4 (25:17):
I think it's attached to a table, so it's a
table saw, but it's like stuck out. It's not on
the table, it's like on the side of the table.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, and it's like a huge chainsaw blade. It's like
very impressive that. I love that Mary's scene and my
absolutely favorite part of this movie is how she psykes
out so many people with her silly head. Yeah, falling off.
She does it twice.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Yes, it happens in the car.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
In the car when Carla gets in. Well before that,
it's like Carla walks into a room and Mary's back
is to her and she's like, Carla or Mary, you know,
let's get out of here, and her head pops off.
And then later in the car she's sitting there smiling.
She says her in the rear view mirror, and she's like, oh,
you survived. I saw your head fall off and then again.
(26:03):
So Mary is one of my favorites. And to talk
about that. Actress Laurentina Guidatti, she went on to become
an award winning producer apparently won a Golden Globe for
a documentary she produced, Ohood for her, and she helped
produce our Gento's Dark Glasses, his comeback film of sorts,
which I've I had a lot of fun with.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
I still have not seen it.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Oh it's good, I'm I'm I think it's great. I
mean compared to his you know, more recent stuff where
he started falling off for you, this is like a return.
I feel like it is pretty pretty pretty terrible as
far as some of the performances go. But I had
a lot of fun with it. And she also was
executive producer for Verhoven's Benedetta.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Oh I love that movie.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, so her production company is still active. It's called
Editor Filmer Film. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly,
but I love the Mary character. She. I think she
went straight to producing right after acting in this. She
had any worlds.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Yeah, yeah, I mean not to say anything. Nobody's Yeah,
there's no like standout performances here like there, you know,
they understood the assignment and they did it.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I had fun watching or listening to the commentary while
watching the film without a lot of volume. Yeah, because
I think their performances are better without the dubbing going on.
The hotel proprietor named Charles Borimo. He was. He pretty
much made his living as a dubbing actor and he's
great in it. He does. He mainly did a ton
of Lindsay and Fulci films for voice dubbing. Don't Torture
(27:35):
a duckling, contraband violent Naples a cynic, they'rerat in the fist.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Yeah, very familiar voice. Like I heard him and I
was like, I know you.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Sah, he did, I think multiple voices. And then going
back to Joseph Allen Johnson, I don't know if he
was the only American in this cast. Thanks so yeah,
I had read that. He you know, he obviously popped
up like in What's It? Slumber Party? Massacre? But he
was very unhappy in Hollywood and he claimed that he
was blackball by agents and casting teams because he was
(28:03):
a gay man in Hollywood. So he moved to Italy
to pick up acting, and he himself became a voice
dubber as well.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
He probably just saw like how successful John Saxon was
over there, and he is like, you know what, I'm
going to follow daddy.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, him and him and Henry Silvae. But this was
funny on the commentary that he I think, what the
what like with the last straw in Hollywood was he
tried out for Fast Times at Richmond High and lost
to Eric Stoltz. So I love Joseph Allen Johnson and
everything I've seen him in ICET. He's in a lot
(28:40):
of just great kind of like arguably trash horror or
you know people call it that, but I love what
he did. I just want him well he passed away sadly,
but I want him to know I loved your career.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I mean, if we follow the logic of this movie,
his ghost can hear like.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Knows, yeah, he's he's actually our guest on the podcas
Past today.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
You can't hear him, but he is here.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
We got a bear trap out just in case he trust.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
So other decapitations, there's the dumb Waiter, which is fun. Yes,
at the very end, you think like, okay, we've got
maybe our final three survivors here, like we know Carla
is going to make it.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, Massimo was his name, where he's like, hey, let
me go check it out. Slice. That's it. I love it.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
I even love like I mean, they don't really show
in the flashbacks there is technically another child death in this,
like the guy going at him with an axe. They
don't show that child death, but just like the opening
sort of surreal, like the flashback dream where it's just
sort of like peppered images and events happening that don't
(29:51):
make any sense, like a monk taking an axe to
a Buddhist statue. The tranch super rolling like another Tranch
was another Italian horror movie staple, which you know you
love to see it.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
What I think is the most terrifying moment is when
Carla first it's not you know, she has visions in
the very beginning, but when she goes down they're in
the hotel at this point. She walks down and she
sees a television set and it shows that man with
the axe and his dead wife. I think it is.
And she is just terrifying looking she's in the poster, right, Yeah,
(30:26):
I think she has that. I mean her makeup's great
with the black eyes and you know, looking kind of
zombie ish. Yeah, but yeah, that whole all the flashbacks
are super super effective, especially the Buddha statue being destroyed
with an axe in the brain kind of coming out.
Yeah again, Like I'm like, okay, it's just some random
Christian a monk that stayed at this random hot the
(30:47):
Hermit Hotel, and yeah he's part of the storyline, Okay.
I mean his name was well, think Asha or Asha. Yes,
I pronounced it Asha because we named our we had
a golden lab name Asha. She was the best dog ever, right, pasherl.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
The flashbacks, like, obviously in context of the overall plot,
makes sense, but I love their their vagueness and just
their their haziness. And we've said it multiple times, it's
just it has checks all the boxes for a comfort movie.
It's got Seminetti score that's just banging, even though it's
(31:22):
from other movies, but it's already familiar. It's got that haziness,
it's got you know, dumb people running around not knowing
what they're doing. It's missing like having a good lead
to sort of like like you need like a Christopher
George type character, you know, from Gates of Hell, but
like it's a TV movie and so you have to
(31:43):
like kind of temper your expectations as far as that goes.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Like it's yeah, yeah, you're right, there is no real
because Carla is essentially the lead. She's a protagonists and
she's I think one of the most boring characters in
the whole movie. Yeah yeah, she should have been decapitated.
But there's so many great dubbed lines, the dialogue, the
exaggerated reactions of everybody in this they're like overly just
(32:08):
happy in the beginning, which is great because it sets
up like, okay, it's going to be It's a good
way for us to watch these people suffer and die
because they're obviously very happy with life, they're young, but
they also whine in the most exaggerated way, like they're
going to die any minute because it's so cold outside,
or when they show up at the hotel and they're
pleading for their life to let the proprietor to let
(32:28):
them in, and they laugh at the stupidest jokes, and
they're all the lines delivered by the young boy. What
do we have here? We could be stuffy in our
faces with bananas and coconuts right now, right and everybody
starts laughing like they could be on vacation or a
hamburger slathered with pickles mayo and catch up. Oh what
a meal? Kids. It's like, this is so dream like.
(32:52):
And that's what I love about it is because it's
so absurd. You have that one character, what was his name,
it's Guido, who in a sledgehammer to destroy chairs and
stuff outside, Like there's nothing realistic about this movie, which
I love.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yeah, those those lines that the kid is saying, I
always read man Jeh John Luca, those lines John Luca
is saying, like those are things that I would hear
in a dream, kind of like it's just that sort
of and I And I know obviously there's you know,
a translation type you know, situation happening, but that is
(33:31):
what adds to it as well, Just like this dubbing
with these ridiculous lines that make zero sense. It just
it adds just another layer to it that I just
I I fucking love this stuff. And you know what's
great about this too, is like I love Sam's commentary
because it was like this perfect balance of you know,
giving some historical context about the film and some background
(33:54):
about the cast and crew and all of that, but
also just like saying, this is what's so great about
these movies, and people who hate on these, especially people
who are fans of seventies eighties Italian early eighties Italian horror,
that are just shitting on stuff like this, like oh
it's trash, it's cheap, it's whatever. No, it has all
(34:17):
the same things. It's just on a much lower budget
and it serves as very much a comfort movie because
it still has all of that and there's plenty to
love about it.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yeah. No, absolutely, Like I've rated this higher than like
some Bergman movies, Like I just this is what I
love about low budget horror, and I don't think. I mean,
I would argue that this thing doesn't even look low budget,
Like this looks legit.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
I think you put that Hayes filter on it in
that you do.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, because it was shot in sixteen millimeters, shot in
AGFA color, and then transfer to thirty five millimeters. So
I don't know if that translates to some of the
washed out look, but I obviously Italian horror, that's what
they go for. They go for this lick and almost
all my favorites. Yeah, so yeah, you could see the
budget in some of like the production and the money
spent and like if you want to dive into like
(35:08):
we just did with the Seminetti score being recycled and repurposed,
but it just all works. And to me, I'm like,
play this on a big screen, like this deserves to
be displayed.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
This would be oh okay. I just had an idea.
So volume two obviously, like Laird had said, like, oh
you do volume two, you can come back for a
weird Wednesday. Uh huh, maybe this one would be great
for that. I don't know, but I love this movie.
What you guys did too, those of you who are
listening to who watched it.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, like I said, there's so many great lines, and
I have like a list of them. I'm not going
to go through them, but it's the dialogue is so
fucking funny and entertaining. And one of my favorite scenes too,
was when the kid has a vision of himself with
the trantolas on him. Yeah, and they run up after
he yells he's supposed to be sleeping and he's dead.
(36:02):
They have to do CPR on him to like revive him,
and then he wakes up and they're like, hey, relax,
just go back to pay, Like you need to calm down,
just go back to sleep, all right, you almost died
last time you fell asleep. But give this kid a sedative.
You know. It's just it's I just it's so much
it's so much fun.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Yeah, I love it. So I want to close out
our like just discussion of the film with a final thought.
Not mine, it's from Lenzi himself.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh nice, so he said.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Ultimately, Lenzy summed it up best. I made those films
as I would have made them for a theatrical release.
I didn't realize that this way, I was precluding myself
from a career on television. It was the wrong project.
So again like getting back to you know, we talked
about it earlier. Lenzi just doesn't feel like he was
(36:51):
right for this. He doesn't like the final project. But
I think, you know, if he were still with us
and he would see just sort of like this box
set and us talking about it, maybe he can hear
us too. We didn't invite him his ghost. Sorry, I
didn't think I could get him.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, he's a hard get. Yeah, he's a busy guy.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
So I feel like he might even give it a
reappraisal himself and be able to look at and be like, yeah,
you know what, that wasn't so bad. So I hope
that from beyond the grave he maybe understands that this
is a great movie. Yeah, it's not almost human, it's
(37:34):
not cannibal fareox, it's nothing at that level. But for
what it is a television movie, is part of a series.
It's fucking great.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
It is. Yeah, And I think I would hope you'd
appreciate that so many people that are watching this film
are just having fun. It's like a romantic dinner eating
your favorite food. Yes, it's like it's fun with you know,
you can do it with a group of people. You
can do it alone. Either way, it's just like a
candlelit romantic dinner for us like us, where you just
love it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Yeah, there's a lot of people who bought this box
set are watching these for the first time. I saw
Adam watched it and gave it a review, and like
he loved it. He gave it four stars. He made
some joke about like, you know, what are you waiting for?
So it's cute, But yeah, I love this movie. Double
feature picks.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, I think obviously any of the other House of
Doom films would fit in. I think the Shining would
work too. But I kept thinking if I watched House
the Lost Souls in a pact theater high as fuck,
it'd be a four four and a half star rating
viewing experience. I had such a fun time watching it
(38:41):
that I continuously was reminded of one of the best
viewing experiences I've ever had in a theater. This was
a few years ago, and I was watching Ruben Galindo
Junior's Don't Panic from nineteen eighty eight. Like House of Souls.
I mean, it's all dream logic, it's hazy, it's completely absurd.
It consists of a cast that a lot of people
would you know, openly mock or make fun of the
(39:04):
entire time. But I think it's fucking brilliant. Yeah. Like
I said, it's one of the best times I've ever
had in a theater watching it for Terra Tuesday, Josiemba
programmed and introduced it. I was, like a preface, I
was very high. I was just having the best experience ever.
There was so much joy and laughter filling the theater
that I think House of Souls still that deserves that
type of treatment.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
So I would smoke a huge bowl a jay take
an edible whatever, whatever your cup of tea is to
put your mind in a silly state. Watch don't Panic first, Okay,
smoke another big bowl wow, whatever, you're going for it. Yeah,
and then you pop on Loss to Souls and I
guarantee you'll wake up the next morning morning thinking I
wish every day could be like last night. Don't panic,
(39:50):
House of Lost Souls. What about yours?
Speaker 4 (39:52):
I would add to your double feature that you should
do this in the dinosaur pajamas. Oh yes, comfortable while
you're while you're watching.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
If you're not, if you have to wear clothes, that's
what you.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
So. Yeah, my double feature pick. Obviously, like you mentioned,
the Shining the Beyond would be great to another conded
hotel because of you know that sort of teenagers trapped
in one place that's haunted. I think The Evil Dead
would work really well with it. But one of the series,
and Sam's calm terry is great because she also goes
(40:29):
through like the Lacasa and Ghost House series and all
of like the absurd crossover that you know, renaming films
and things that happen with that. But one of the
series an American series that she mentioned that also deserves
some love and attention, all forty plus entries in them,
(40:52):
the Amityville series, And so I think a great double
feature with this would be one of those films. And
obviously you got to go with the best one, and
that's Amityville two from nineteen eighty two, directed by Domiano Domiani.
It's the Italian unhinged Amityville. It's got incest, it's got gore,
(41:12):
it's got you know, surreal dream logic, absurdity in it.
I don't know. I don't know that it Matt In
this case, it would matter the order. I'd probably do
amity first and then House of loss souls, but I
think you'd be fine going with either either way. Love
it all right, Next movie.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Lance, Okay, I always hate admitting to this, but I'll
be out of town next week and into the weekend,
and you know, I don't think even know if I'll
have self service hitting up Glacier National Park Flathead Lake
in Montana. Oh, it's going to be a fun time. Okay.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
So we're doing one with very little work.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah. I always say that picking like, I mean, every
movie always has like a fascinating production story and the
cast involved. So yeah, I mean that's my intention. And
it's a short one, it's seventy three minutes, has an
unknown cast for the most part. I'm sure I'll start
going down some crazy like rabbit hole and I'm going
to have like eighteen pages of notes when I'm finished
(42:10):
with this. But yeah, possibly very little homework. I mean,
we'll see how that goes. But this is a movie
that I'm picking, a classic egger Allan Poe tale, and
its fun. It's one that we've covered before our second
episode actually, the Black Cat.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Yes, oh, okay, we're doing another black Cat.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
We're doing another Black Cat. This one is from nineteen
sixty six.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
I got a scroll to find it because there's a
lot on that thousand black cat. Okay there.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
It is directed by Harold Hoffman. Okay, filmed right here
in Texas. Yeah, I think in the Fort Worth Dallas area.
But I'll learn all the details, and most listeners know
the story of Poe's Black Cats. I don't really need
to share a summary, but this is a black and
white swing in sixties rendition of this story. It does
go to some dark places and surprising ways, especially for
(42:57):
the for the sixties. Beware, it has very hateful, annoying
characters that some letterbox reviewers just couldn't couldn't get get around.
They couldn't they just couldn't stand. It's necessary for the story,
in my opinion. And I have to tell you that
our friends at Best Friends Animal Society would absolutely hate
this film.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
I don't think they actually listen. They just wait for
us to know.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
They do any every October. The lead in this is
a complete asshole, treats his cat and all his animals
like pieces of shit. It's not like a Campibell Holocaust
type thing or anything, but there is some cruel treatment
towards these very lovely creatures. But this is a tale
of kra karma, so obviously we have fun to watch
it all on ravel Yeah, nineteen sixty six. The Black
(43:41):
Cat currently has six hundred and twelve views on Letterbox.
It's streaming on to Be. It's also on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
Starts Robert Franz Wait sixty No, he died in sixty three.
Never mind, I'm thinking of the poet.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
Yeah. No, it's not that Robert Frost. Okay, Yeah, I
don't think you'll recognize many of the names. When do
you start clicking, you know, on some of their movies.
You'll definitely recognize some of the movies are in Yeah,
you only.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
Directed one other film, Sex and the Animals.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
The the fuck you obviously had an infatuation with animals.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Oh, it's a nature documentary, okay, consisting of look for it,
there is animals, mate.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Yeah, I've looked for it. I can't find it. I'm
gonna keep I'm gonna keep searching, please, because I do
want to watch this.
Speaker 4 (44:24):
It's on legal adjacent. It is on legal adjacent. Oh dude,
so we will. I will find a way to procure
this and share it in our discord in case any
of our listeners are curious if.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
You want to watch ninety six minutes of animals fucking.
That's all we're going to talk about this episode.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
All right, So next so we're gonna be talking about
animals us fucking and the Black Cat from nineteen sixty six.
If you're not already, you can follow this podcast on Instagram.
We are also on YouTube. We've been getting more subscribers there,
so thank you for that, folks. I'm on letterboxing Instagram
(45:16):
at tex Massacre.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
I'm on letterboxing Instagram at Elshiby.
Speaker 4 (45:20):
Thanks everyone for listening. We'll see you back next episode.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
Bye bye.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
To hear more shows from the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network,
please select the link in the description.
Speaker 5 (48:00):
I am Adam Lundy, co host of They Live by Film,
a podcast dedicated to bringing you film discussion and interviews
from around the world. Every week. My co hosts Chris Haskell,
Zack Bryant, and I discuss a wide range of films,
from monumental classics like Vertigo and the Rules of the
Game to the craziest schlockiest movies ever made like Deathbed
and everything in between. We are also lucky enough to
(48:22):
have sat down with some of the biggest players in
the boutique blu ray and film restoration game. If this
is your thing, then come hang out with us every
Thursday at seven p m. Eastern wherever you normally stream
your podcasts, and now as part of the Someone's Favorite
Productions podcast network
Prepare yourself for the terror the prison of madness. We
have few inter and Nonritter.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Unsung Horrus with LUNs.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
And Deerica.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Leave all your sanity behind.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It can't help you.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Now.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Welcome to another episode of Unsung Horrors, the podcast where
we discuss underseen horror films, specifically those which have fewer
than one thousand views on letterboxed.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm Erica, I'm Lance.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
And today we are getting into a director whom we
have never covered before. I'm sure there are a few
films that he's done that are under a thousand, mostly
the TV films, and that's what we're going to be
covering today is one of those. We're going to be
talking about the House of Lost Souls from nineteen eighty
(01:08):
nine aka La Casa de le anime Eranti.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I tried very good.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
So this is in the Cauldron box set Houses of Doom,
along with three other films which we'll talk about, and
it currently has seven hundred and eighteen views on letterboxed. Now.
If you don't have the box set as of this recording,
the movie is also on YouTube. I am bad at
(01:37):
comparing versions. I know that the YouTube version was five
minutes short, so just know that going in you're going
to be missing out on some stuff. If you watch
the YouTube version, we're going to be talking about the
full version from the Cauldron box set. So House of
Lost Souls is this film in particular. It follows a
group of young archaeologists, one psychic and a young boy,
(02:00):
who are on their way home when they are forced
to stay at an old hotel in the mountains. Unbeknownst
to them, the former owners would kill the guests in
order to rob them, and now the ghosts of those
victims haunt the hotel, as well as the hotel owner,
serial killer Guy. The group finds themselves unable to leave
except for a quick trip to town and the cemetery
(02:21):
to get some exposition, and one by one they fall
victim to the ghost wrath. As I mentioned, this is
in the Cauldron Houses of Doom box set. I didn't
bring the whole box and duh, all right, it's okay.
It's one of four television films produced by ray Atalia
in the late eighties for a series called Lecasa Maladette
(02:43):
or Houses of Doom, which is the name of the
box set. In the boxet, there are two films by
Luccio Fulci, The House of Clocks and The Sweet House
of Horrors, and then two by Lenzi this one and
the House of Witchcraft. Now none of these were because
of the gore. I'm not sure why the producers were
(03:05):
surprised given who they hired for this.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Seriously, Yeah, even the umberto Lindsay. He even said he
was wrong for the job because they wanted thrillers, and
this is they him and Fulci delivered what they knew,
that they know what to do.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Yeah, I mean they I feel like ful Cheese are
definitely toned down from there. They're certainly not the Gates
of Hell trilogy by any means, but there is still
some gore in there. And I don't know what they
expected by hiring them for that, and they're I don't know, there's.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
More sex in ful Cheese than there is in Lindsay's,
and I guess that's more. I don't know. Accepted for
Italian television.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
I think I think I read Lindsay's like cut his
out on purposefully because it was for television. But I
think full Chi just didn't care.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, he was like, I got a job, so I'll
cut the gore and not cut the sex scenes out.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Uh yeah, so since they were never aired, he's lived
on bootlegs for years before getting released on physical media.
I think at two thousand was the first time they
were released in Italy. But now we have this box
set with a lot of great features for the whole set,
so hard recommend to pick these up. I mean, personally,
(04:18):
this is just like my sort of comfort zone. So
I did want to talk briefly about the series before
getting into cast and crew, and I want to read
from Roberto Curti's Italian Gothic horror films, the nineteen eighty
to nineteen eighty nine version. So one of the most
(04:38):
interesting things to me that he said was Originally the
series was to comprise six titles, to be directed by Fulchi,
Lenzi and Lomberto Bava, but due to other working commitments,
Bava was replaced by Marcello Avalone. Bulchi approached the project
enthusiastically and asked to substitute two of his own stories
(05:01):
for the ones he had been assigned, and Lenzai did
the same with one of his own invention, which was
this film La Cosa del anime Erante. But a last
minute budget cut on the part of Raysalia and Avaloni's
commitments had the series re size to four titles, only
the two titles that were to be directed by Avalone.
(05:22):
And this is where I'm like super bummed. It's like
the what could have been The first one by Avlone
was to be La Casa del nano Deforme The House
of the Deformed Dwarf. Oh yeah, it was retitled to
La Cosa dela nico de cire The best Friend's House,
which whatever. And the second one was La Casa dele
(05:50):
bambola con kapoli. Kind I suck it. That's a long
ass title, all right. The second one was La Cosa
dele bambola cone cappelli a cRIO Jesus Christy.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
That's a great dish.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, the House of the doll with growing hair. That
sounds creepy, I know, right, So these two were left
in the drawer.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Quote.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
It's a real shame because the two films Marcello Avalone
would direct were really good. Stropa recalled he was one
of the script writers or one of the people working
on the on the films. We had written those scripts
with lots of passion and interest, trying to blend the
fantastic and contemporary issues. In fact, Lacassa del my god.
(06:36):
I love these episodes when we do Italian, when we
try to pronounce and we sound so anything.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, anything that's not American made. We're just terrible. Anyway.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
The Dwarf One was written by me and Clarice treated
the issue of organ transplants in an original way.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I mean, come on, dude, I know. I mean, the
script is still out there. Who's going to make it?
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Someone find that someone make it? Please. Martine is still alive, right,
he could do it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, so is Kotzi.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
He could do it. I would love to see Katzi
make the house lambird.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I give it to Bava, like, give it to young Baba.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I feel like I feel like I want an unhinged
version of Yeah, I don't know that that's true. Well, no,
he's got a cup anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I digress.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
So one other thing I wanted to point out that
was in Curtie's book was about the setting. So he said,
it is a story of six students on vacation who
stopped by an old, abandoned hotel in the Alps where
a massacre happened many years earlier. The ghosts of the
victim still haunt the place where they seek revenge on
the on the teenagers who find out they cannot leave
(07:48):
the building. So, despite the attempt at making a ghost
story in an Italian setting, Lenzi bluntly described the result
as quote downright crap and complained but he hadn't found
the right setting for the movie, which was shot in
the region of marsh in central Italy with a fascist
summer camp made to pass as an old hotel. So
(08:11):
I thought that was interesting given like Lindsay's political background,
like very very political, very anti fascist, very anti government, religion,
all of those things, And so I think he was
probably just upset with like the location in general, and
like working within a much smaller budget than he was
used to.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, that's what I think. The commentary i'd listened to
on one of the one of the commentaries on the
House of Lust Souls, not the Sam Degan one, the
one with Rod Barnett and Adrian Smith.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Oh yeah, they're great.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, they were good. They had some good information on
the location, saying that obviously Lindsay was not happy or
pleased with this location. Most of the interior shots throughout
our studio settings they're created, but the outside shots obviously,
is this fascist summer camp, this like brutalist architecture like
a hotel.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
No, not at all.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But yeah, these things were constructed all over through the
twenties and forties, mainly to what is it, to quote,
improve the health and mind of the young teenagers in Italy.
Not only to like mold or political ideological views. But
tuberculosis was like running rampant and it was to pretty
much keep the vitology of the Italian race safe and
(09:22):
these young boys. Yeah, terrible stuff. But yeah, I think
the guy that found I think I'm assuming it's a man.
I could have been a woman. But the production designer
and the person who found these little location scout, Lindsay
was butting heads with this person and they were they
left the project, but they were stuck with this, and
(09:42):
Lindsay was very unhappy with it, which makes sense.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Yeah, I think the end product is still great. It's
always a shame when you find out, like the directors
aren't happy with the final product.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And especially when you enjoy it, like I'm like, oh,
come on, that bad umberto come on.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
I know it's in a you know, fascist location, but
that's it. It's fine. Everything else is great. Come on,
so let's get into the crew so I mentioned already
directed by Emberto Lensi. He also wrote the screenplay from
a original story by him Lance, I'll have you pull
up your letterboxed here. What is your Lensi percentage watched?
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I don't see here. Okay, I'm at twenty percent. You
need to pick it up, sir, I do. I've only watched. Oh,
I've only logged thirteen of his sixty five.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Letterboxed I am that forty one percent.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well, hey, hey, look at me. Now.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
There's a few that I am saving for a rainy day,
like Spasmo from nineteen seventy four, which has I think
the greatest poster ever. Personal favorites include almost Human, you know,
I think one of the most like unh hinge nihilistic
Policio Tacchi movies out there. Thomas Milan is perfection in
(11:05):
that cannibal fareroks aka make them die slowly. John has
the one sheet for this, and that one rarely comes
down when we do our poster rotation, Like we have
a few like the ones in here, like they stay
up because I'm lazy, But like out in like the
living room area, that one, that one stays up. It's
got like the great little yellow splash on. It's banned
(11:26):
in thirty one countries.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, it's a great posting.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Nightmare City another favorite.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Do you have any personal favorites besides those?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
No, I mean, I love Violent Naples. I actually always
enjoyed a lot of his Carol Baker stuff too, so
sweet Soaperverse, Quiet Place to Kill. Nightmare City obviously is
a huge or Nightmare Beach is a huge Yeah, he
did do Nightmare City. Yeah, the Nightmare Beach.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
That one has one of the greatest dummy drops of
all time off the Ferris Wheel. I think it's at
the amusement park, but it's fucking yea.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
And I love the House of Lossholes. Yeah, it's a
good one.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
I mean, the great thing about Lindsay is how prolific
he is. Like, I haven't seen either of his Westerns,
which I'm going to make a point to do. I
think he only I checked the tags on Letterbox and
he only had two, so I definitely want to check
those out. But you know, he worked in you know,
so many different genres. He started as an assistant director,
(12:24):
mostly doing like adventure films which were popular in that time,
like the sixties. Until he started working on his own,
he did a lot of early jolly like you said
with Carol Baker. But I do think a lot of
people will first associate him with euro Crime or Policotecci
films like Almost Human, Violent Naples, Cenec, The Rat and
(12:47):
the Fists, Syndic and Sadists. But we also can't forget
that he has contributed to the d CU, the Demons
Cinematic Universe. Oh yes, with Black Demons from nineteen ninety one.
Oh good lord, I've seen them all and I can
tell you it's a Lensai film. So we don't bring
(13:11):
this credit up often, but I think it's worth mentioning,
and it was something that Sam and possibly Rod and
Adrian pointed out as well. But there's a legacy credit
for the assistant director. We have his daughter, Alessandra Lenzi,
like her father Romberto, who got to start as an
assistant director. His daughter is here following in his footsteps.
(13:32):
And I love that about. You know, some of the
greats in Italian you had that with the Bava's obviously
you had Mario and Lamberto, and I think grandfather I
can't remember his name offhand, the Argento's you know, you
have Dario his daughter Azia, for whatever that's worth. And
even Folchi's daughter. You know, she was on set with
(13:54):
aspirations to get into film and has some credits on
a few as well. So it's nice to see a
woman in there. It is.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, that wasn't discussed on their commentary, by the way,
but that's that's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Well, I see you, Rod and Adrian. I'm just kidding.
They're great.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
They are.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So the score here is by Claudio Semonetti here as
Claude King.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Though, great, that's a good Claude King rolls off the top.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So it doesn't seem, though, like he did anything original
for this though.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, this is all repurpose from previous films for sure.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, there's I think both Troy Howarth and his book
Make Them Die Slowly The Kinetic Cinema of Romberto Lenzi.
He and Roberto Curti both pointed out that he basically
just took the work that he did from Demon's Opera
and body Count from nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, Doodaughter's body Count and then the song that's playing
on the radio when the kids are in the basement
just hanging out that they turn on the radio is
actually a track from opera titled Crows. Yeah, so i'll
repurpose stuff. I don't know if it was like a
cost issue or what, but it doesn't matter. It's great.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, I mean I would I would assume it was
definitely a cost issue. Yeah, but yeah, I love it
as well, and it I think it's also something I'll
talk about later. Is as much as I love Fabio
Frizzi and Dinaggio and so many other you know composers,
Semonetti has a very much punk rock sensibility, so I
(15:30):
think it works really well, especially for this era in
Italian horror, where it's like we're on a limited budget.
We need we're having a few moments to get unhinged,
and we need to really sort of punch it up
a bit.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah. I'm such a fan of his Demons soundtrack. I
think it's the best Italian horror soundtrack. That it wouldn't
bother me at all if it popped up in every
Italian horror movie. So when I heard that, I was like,
you had mentioned when he made this pick that this
is a comfort movie. Yes, and as soon as the
as soon as the first shot opens up with the
(16:03):
hazy you know landscape, you have that Hermit hotel, so
you know it's some sort of haunted location. And then
Simonetti's like demon starts playing. I'm like, okay, settle in.
This is this is the Italian whore I love and watch?
Yeah for sure perfect.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
So effects here. There's a two people I want to mention.
The first is there's an interview on the disc for
this with eli Otero Billy, and he tells a hilarious
story about the quote unquote haunted washing machine death and honestly,
like the major dry or the dryer, yeah, whatever it is,
(16:39):
appliance it kills.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
It could be a washing machine.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Maybe I have a front loading No, I don't have a.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Front loading washing we do, yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Okay, anyway, whatever works when you want to decapitate a kid,
you know, either one. So he tells this hilarious story
about the haunted washing machine or dryer death, and honestly,
the majority of him interview is spent talking about that,
and I'm here for it. I'm so glad that like
all that time was spent on it because it's one
(17:06):
of the best parts of the movie well be best
for me.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, obviously that's another reason that this pick was made.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Probably.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, So Terri Billy has lots of credits, including Hands
of Steel, and he has an active Instagram it's ele
eos fx E l io s f X, So go
follow him people, he only has like two hundred and
something followers. You guys, if you know him. And who's
(17:34):
the guy who did like.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The animatronics stuff catures from the abyss AlSi? Yeah, does
he have Does he have an Instagram?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I don't remember if al Pasari had an instagram, but
he had a website. But anyway, we need to like
make sure that they know we love them. So give
give el eo Terribilia follow what's this?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I guess he was at back to the beginning the
Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne show because he's got a picture
of James he Ffield hugging Ozzy Osworren.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
We'll go follow him.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Unsung Horrorce follows him. Yeah, come on, guys, be cool.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
So the other person on effects is Giuseppe Pino for Antie.
He's he was on the Hands of Steel, also Devilfish,
the Church, the sect. He's worked on some Argento films,
including Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Argento's World of Horror.
He also worked on The Murder Sect, which is a
(18:30):
Mario Bianci film. This one has a write up in
the book, the first book because this one has an
even better child decapitation than this movie, and so he's
got a specialty. He knows how to decapitate a child.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, that's that's the thing with this crew. Like I know,
Lindsay and a lot of interviews says he was unhappy
with how this some of these came out. Yeah, but
it's a skilled crew. They had like a matter of
weeks to shoot each each film. Yeah, so you have
all handling everything and like doing all this in a
matter of weeks is just kind of really impressive. Yeah,
So you hire the best, and when it becomes when
(19:07):
the whole movie is based on decapitation desk, you got
to get the best.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, of course. So Ferranti also has credits with Fulci
including Cat and the Brain, Enigma and Hansel and Gretel
which is a later full Chi TV movie. And then
finally for crew at least that I want to touch
on is the cinematographer, which is John Carla Ferrando also
worked on Hands of Steel, so I think a lot
(19:33):
of them were in that film. He worked with Sergio
Martino on Your Vices, The Locked Room and Only I
Have the Key, All the Colors of the Dark, The
Great Alligator. He also worked on Troll two, Lendzi's other
House of Doom film, House of Witchcraft, and an unsung
Horrors favorite, not one that we've covered, but we've talked
about often.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Torso Torso. I was waiting for that. Torso we had
already talked about. Lindsay said that he wasn't experienced in television.
He's only done feature films at this point. None of
his crew members had actually worked in television, and he
thinks that the producers watched the entire series hiring him
(20:14):
and you know, offering selling the series as a thriller,
knowing what Fulci and Lindsay are capable of. So the producers,
we didn't cover them, but Lindsay's not happy with you.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Yeah, sorry, guys. So some of the cast, we don't
have any recognizable faces here, except for maybe one for Lance.
These are mostly TV actors, so there's not a lot,
so there's not a lot to point out as far
as their filmography goes. The main guy in this, Kevin,
is played by Joseph Allen Johnson. He is in a
(20:49):
Chuck Vincent film, Hollywood Hot Tubs, So I point that
out for Lance interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, I mean he has a lot of great eighties
horror and I guess sexploitation films.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Yeah. The final girl, Carlos Stefania or Sola Grillo. I think,
you know, she didn't really have anything notable as far
as her films go, but was in a lot of TV.
I think did she say in this film her character
that she learned how to be a psychic psychic from
a doctor? I feel like that.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah, it was like a general practitioner just diagnosed.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
I'm like, I all right, cool, that's uh, that's how
that happens anyway.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
The young boy John Luca, Yeah whatever, we'll just talk
about his death, but when you talk about his life.
I guess the character that actually has the most notable
film credits is how Yamauchi, who plays the monk ghost
in this. He has credits ranging from Emmanuel and The
(21:52):
Last Cannibals to Zulander two.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
So I guess this was just lifted from Donna the
Dead like, that's this care So.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
It's very much the Hia Krishna zombie, which fine, I
don't care. Like. There's something that Troy mentioned in his
write up about this that I think perfectly you know,
summarizes that. So he said, Lenzi is clearly making use
of popular models to ensure positive audience response, but that
(22:21):
shouldn't suggest that he's simply copying bigger and better models.
It was always the approach of the Italian popular film
industry to ride the coattails of box office hits, the
Feloni or streamlit principle whereby films are influenced by ever
changing trends among cinema goers, and as a commercial craftsman,
that was always Lensi's lot as a filmmaker. There's absolutely
(22:44):
no shame in this, especially when one considers how successful
he was for much of the time in offering up,
entertaining and well crafted variations on familiar themes, such as
the case here. As the film proceeds along fairly conventional lines,
only to become perggressively more deranged in the second half,
which allows the director to end things on a positive note.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, start starts very shining, which we'll probably talk about
and then and I mean, yeah, it's all dream logic,
which I love about this these type of movies.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Yeah, it's it's very much just it leans so heavily
into that. That's one of the things that you know,
I love about this era is they never lose that
sense of logic. You know, you have that so much
in like Full tiese. Gates of Health trilogy, and that
is still present here. The only thing I think that
(23:37):
you're seeing the difference in is it's it's clear there's
less budget, and that's fine, Like they know how to
work with what they have. They're just going to lean
even further into the surrealism, right. I think what it
also does there's this other trend of earlier successful Italian
horror films of being trapped in a location, usually ice
(24:00):
or sometimes not, like in the case of Demons, they're
still trapped inside the threats inside. You have the Church
is Well, Blade in the Dark, tons of other films
of that nature. But again a lot of that is
taken from the Shining, which of course we see a
heavy influence here. We're dealing on a much smaller scale
(24:22):
of a hotel, but you have all the haunted ghosts
terrorizing the people here.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Absolutely, Okay, So I would like to talk about Obviously,
my favorite death is a child death in this but
I think that's really here what stands. I mean, they're
all decapitations, but they're all unique and they're all fun.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah they I mean obviously, I know we your favorite
one is John or Jean Luca that's his name, right, yeah,
young kid. Yeah, every decapitation where do I have? I
have the list of them. One of my favorites is
Guido oh standing just I guess they have rats the
size of who knows in Italy because he steps on
(25:05):
a bear trap. I mean maybe the ghost laid that
out or the proprietor did at some point, but yeah,
getting stuck in the bear trap and then is it
a floating chainsaw or is it?
Speaker 4 (25:17):
I think it's attached to a table, so it's a
table saw, but it's like stuck out. It's not on
the table, it's like on the side of the table.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, and it's like a huge chainsaw blade. It's like
very impressive that. I love that Mary's scene and my
absolutely favorite part of this movie is how she psykes
out so many people with her silly head. Yeah, falling off.
She does it twice.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Yes, it happens in the car.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
In the car when Carla gets in. Well before that,
it's like Carla walks into a room and Mary's back
is to her and she's like, Carla or Mary, you know,
let's get out of here, and her head pops off.
And then later in the car she's sitting there smiling.
She says her in the rear view mirror, and she's like, oh,
you survived. I saw your head fall off and then again.
(26:03):
So Mary is one of my favorites. And to talk
about that. Actress Laurentina Guidatti, she went on to become
an award winning producer apparently won a Golden Globe for
a documentary she produced, Ohood for her, and she helped
produce our Gento's Dark Glasses, his comeback film of sorts,
which I've I had a lot of fun with.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
I still have not seen it.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Oh it's good, I'm I'm I think it's great. I
mean compared to his you know, more recent stuff where
he started falling off for you, this is like a return.
I feel like it is pretty pretty pretty terrible as
far as some of the performances go. But I had
a lot of fun with it. And she also was
executive producer for Verhoven's Benedetta.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Oh I love that movie.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, so her production company is still active. It's called
Editor Filmer Film. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly,
but I love the Mary character. She. I think she
went straight to producing right after acting in this. She
had any worlds.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Yeah, yeah, I mean not to say anything. Nobody's Yeah,
there's no like standout performances here like there, you know,
they understood the assignment and they did it.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I had fun watching or listening to the commentary while
watching the film without a lot of volume. Yeah, because
I think their performances are better without the dubbing going on.
The hotel proprietor named Charles Borimo. He was. He pretty
much made his living as a dubbing actor and he's
great in it. He does. He mainly did a ton
of Lindsay and Fulci films for voice dubbing. Don't Torture
(27:35):
a duckling, contraband violent Naples a cynic, they'rerat in the fist.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Yeah, very familiar voice. Like I heard him and I
was like, I know you.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Sah, he did, I think multiple voices. And then going
back to Joseph Allen Johnson, I don't know if he
was the only American in this cast. Thanks so yeah,
I had read that. He you know, he obviously popped
up like in What's It? Slumber Party? Massacre? But he
was very unhappy in Hollywood and he claimed that he
was blackball by agents and casting teams because he was
(28:03):
a gay man in Hollywood. So he moved to Italy
to pick up acting, and he himself became a voice
dubber as well.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
He probably just saw like how successful John Saxon was
over there, and he is like, you know what, I'm
going to follow daddy.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, him and him and Henry Silvae. But this was
funny on the commentary that he I think, what the
what like with the last straw in Hollywood was he
tried out for Fast Times at Richmond High and lost
to Eric Stoltz. So I love Joseph Allen Johnson and
everything I've seen him in ICET. He's in a lot
(28:40):
of just great kind of like arguably trash horror or
you know people call it that, but I love what
he did. I just want him well he passed away sadly,
but I want him to know I loved your career.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I mean, if we follow the logic of this movie,
his ghost can hear like.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Knows, yeah, he's he's actually our guest on the podcas
Past today.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
You can't hear him, but he is here.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
We got a bear trap out just in case he trust.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
So other decapitations, there's the dumb Waiter, which is fun. Yes,
at the very end, you think like, okay, we've got
maybe our final three survivors here, like we know Carla
is going to make it.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, Massimo was his name, where he's like, hey, let
me go check it out. Slice. That's it. I love it.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
I even love like I mean, they don't really show
in the flashbacks there is technically another child death in this,
like the guy going at him with an axe. They
don't show that child death, but just like the opening
sort of surreal, like the flashback dream where it's just
sort of like peppered images and events happening that don't
(29:51):
make any sense, like a monk taking an axe to
a Buddhist statue. The tranch super rolling like another Tranch
was another Italian horror movie staple, which you know you
love to see it.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
What I think is the most terrifying moment is when
Carla first it's not you know, she has visions in
the very beginning, but when she goes down they're in
the hotel at this point. She walks down and she
sees a television set and it shows that man with
the axe and his dead wife. I think it is.
And she is just terrifying looking she's in the poster, right, Yeah,
(30:26):
I think she has that. I mean her makeup's great
with the black eyes and you know, looking kind of
zombie ish. Yeah, but yeah, that whole all the flashbacks
are super super effective, especially the Buddha statue being destroyed
with an axe in the brain kind of coming out.
Yeah again, Like I'm like, okay, it's just some random
Christian a monk that stayed at this random hot the
(30:47):
Hermit Hotel, and yeah he's part of the storyline, Okay.
I mean his name was well, think Asha or Asha. Yes,
I pronounced it Asha because we named our we had
a golden lab name Asha. She was the best dog ever, right, pasherl.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
The flashbacks, like, obviously in context of the overall plot,
makes sense, but I love their their vagueness and just
their their haziness. And we've said it multiple times, it's
just it has checks all the boxes for a comfort movie.
It's got Seminetti score that's just banging, even though it's
(31:22):
from other movies, but it's already familiar. It's got that haziness,
it's got you know, dumb people running around not knowing
what they're doing. It's missing like having a good lead
to sort of like like you need like a Christopher
George type character, you know, from Gates of Hell, but
like it's a TV movie and so you have to
(31:43):
like kind of temper your expectations as far as that goes.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Like it's yeah, yeah, you're right, there is no real
because Carla is essentially the lead. She's a protagonists and
she's I think one of the most boring characters in
the whole movie. Yeah yeah, she should have been decapitated.
But there's so many great dubbed lines, the dialogue, the
exaggerated reactions of everybody in this they're like overly just
(32:08):
happy in the beginning, which is great because it sets
up like, okay, it's going to be It's a good
way for us to watch these people suffer and die
because they're obviously very happy with life, they're young, but
they also whine in the most exaggerated way, like they're
going to die any minute because it's so cold outside,
or when they show up at the hotel and they're
pleading for their life to let the proprietor to let
(32:28):
them in, and they laugh at the stupidest jokes, and
they're all the lines delivered by the young boy. What
do we have here? We could be stuffy in our
faces with bananas and coconuts right now, right and everybody
starts laughing like they could be on vacation or a
hamburger slathered with pickles mayo and catch up. Oh what
a meal? Kids. It's like, this is so dream like.
(32:52):
And that's what I love about it is because it's
so absurd. You have that one character, what was his name,
it's Guido, who in a sledgehammer to destroy chairs and
stuff outside, Like there's nothing realistic about this movie, which
I love.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yeah, those those lines that the kid is saying, I
always read man Jeh John Luca, those lines John Luca
is saying, like those are things that I would hear
in a dream, kind of like it's just that sort
of and I And I know obviously there's you know,
a translation type you know, situation happening, but that is
(33:31):
what adds to it as well, Just like this dubbing
with these ridiculous lines that make zero sense. It just
it adds just another layer to it that I just
I I fucking love this stuff. And you know what's
great about this too, is like I love Sam's commentary
because it was like this perfect balance of you know,
giving some historical context about the film and some background
(33:54):
about the cast and crew and all of that, but
also just like saying, this is what's so great about
these movies, and people who hate on these, especially people
who are fans of seventies eighties Italian early eighties Italian horror,
that are just shitting on stuff like this, like oh
it's trash, it's cheap, it's whatever. No, it has all
(34:17):
the same things. It's just on a much lower budget
and it serves as very much a comfort movie because
it still has all of that and there's plenty to
love about it.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yeah. No, absolutely, Like I've rated this higher than like
some Bergman movies, Like I just this is what I
love about low budget horror, and I don't think. I mean,
I would argue that this thing doesn't even look low budget,
Like this looks legit.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
I think you put that Hayes filter on it in
that you do.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, because it was shot in sixteen millimeters, shot in
AGFA color, and then transfer to thirty five millimeters. So
I don't know if that translates to some of the
washed out look, but I obviously Italian horror, that's what
they go for. They go for this lick and almost
all my favorites. Yeah, so yeah, you could see the
budget in some of like the production and the money
spent and like if you want to dive into like
(35:08):
we just did with the Seminetti score being recycled and repurposed,
but it just all works. And to me, I'm like,
play this on a big screen, like this deserves to
be displayed.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
This would be oh okay. I just had an idea.
So volume two obviously, like Laird had said, like, oh
you do volume two, you can come back for a
weird Wednesday. Uh huh, maybe this one would be great
for that. I don't know, but I love this movie.
What you guys did too, those of you who are
listening to who watched it.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, like I said, there's so many great lines, and
I have like a list of them. I'm not going
to go through them, but it's the dialogue is so
fucking funny and entertaining. And one of my favorite scenes too,
was when the kid has a vision of himself with
the trantolas on him. Yeah, and they run up after
he yells he's supposed to be sleeping and he's dead.
(36:02):
They have to do CPR on him to like revive him,
and then he wakes up and they're like, hey, relax,
just go back to pay, Like you need to calm down,
just go back to sleep, all right, you almost died
last time you fell asleep. But give this kid a sedative.
You know. It's just it's I just it's so much
it's so much fun.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
Yeah, I love it. So I want to close out
our like just discussion of the film with a final thought.
Not mine, it's from Lenzi himself.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh nice, so he said.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Ultimately, Lenzy summed it up best. I made those films
as I would have made them for a theatrical release.
I didn't realize that this way, I was precluding myself
from a career on television. It was the wrong project.
So again like getting back to you know, we talked
about it earlier. Lenzi just doesn't feel like he was
(36:51):
right for this. He doesn't like the final project. But
I think, you know, if he were still with us
and he would see just sort of like this box
set and us talking about it, maybe he can hear
us too. We didn't invite him his ghost. Sorry, I
didn't think I could get him.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, he's a hard get. Yeah, he's a busy guy.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
So I feel like he might even give it a
reappraisal himself and be able to look at and be like, yeah,
you know what, that wasn't so bad. So I hope
that from beyond the grave he maybe understands that this
is a great movie. Yeah, it's not almost human, it's
(37:34):
not cannibal fareox, it's nothing at that level. But for
what it is a television movie, is part of a series.
It's fucking great.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
It is. Yeah, And I think I would hope you'd
appreciate that so many people that are watching this film
are just having fun. It's like a romantic dinner eating
your favorite food. Yes, it's like it's fun with you know,
you can do it with a group of people. You
can do it alone. Either way, it's just like a
candlelit romantic dinner for us like us, where you just
love it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Yeah, there's a lot of people who bought this box
set are watching these for the first time. I saw
Adam watched it and gave it a review, and like
he loved it. He gave it four stars. He made
some joke about like, you know, what are you waiting for?
So it's cute, But yeah, I love this movie. Double
feature picks.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, I think obviously any of the other House of
Doom films would fit in. I think the Shining would
work too. But I kept thinking if I watched House
the Lost Souls in a pact theater high as fuck,
it'd be a four four and a half star rating
viewing experience. I had such a fun time watching it
(38:41):
that I continuously was reminded of one of the best
viewing experiences I've ever had in a theater. This was
a few years ago, and I was watching Ruben Galindo
Junior's Don't Panic from nineteen eighty eight. Like House of Souls.
I mean, it's all dream logic, it's hazy, it's completely absurd.
It consists of a cast that a lot of people
would you know, openly mock or make fun of the
(39:04):
entire time. But I think it's fucking brilliant. Yeah. Like
I said, it's one of the best times I've ever
had in a theater watching it for Terra Tuesday, Josiemba
programmed and introduced it. I was, like a preface, I
was very high. I was just having the best experience ever.
There was so much joy and laughter filling the theater
that I think House of Souls still that deserves that
type of treatment.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
So I would smoke a huge bowl a jay take
an edible whatever, whatever your cup of tea is to
put your mind in a silly state. Watch don't Panic first, Okay,
smoke another big bowl wow, whatever, you're going for it. Yeah,
and then you pop on Loss to Souls and I
guarantee you'll wake up the next morning morning thinking I
wish every day could be like last night. Don't panic,
(39:50):
House of Lost Souls. What about yours?
Speaker 4 (39:52):
I would add to your double feature that you should
do this in the dinosaur pajamas. Oh yes, comfortable while
you're while you're watching.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
If you're not, if you have to wear clothes, that's
what you.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
So. Yeah, my double feature pick. Obviously, like you mentioned,
the Shining the Beyond would be great to another conded
hotel because of you know that sort of teenagers trapped
in one place that's haunted. I think The Evil Dead
would work really well with it. But one of the series,
and Sam's calm terry is great because she also goes
(40:29):
through like the Lacasa and Ghost House series and all
of like the absurd crossover that you know, renaming films
and things that happen with that. But one of the
series an American series that she mentioned that also deserves
some love and attention, all forty plus entries in them,
(40:52):
the Amityville series, And so I think a great double
feature with this would be one of those films. And
obviously you got to go with the best one, and
that's Amityville two from nineteen eighty two, directed by Domiano Domiani.
It's the Italian unhinged Amityville. It's got incest, it's got gore,
(41:12):
it's got you know, surreal dream logic, absurdity in it.
I don't know. I don't know that it Matt In
this case, it would matter the order. I'd probably do
amity first and then House of loss souls, but I
think you'd be fine going with either either way. Love
it all right, Next movie.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Lance, Okay, I always hate admitting to this, but I'll
be out of town next week and into the weekend,
and you know, I don't think even know if I'll
have self service hitting up Glacier National Park Flathead Lake
in Montana. Oh, it's going to be a fun time. Okay.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
So we're doing one with very little work.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah. I always say that picking like, I mean, every
movie always has like a fascinating production story and the
cast involved. So yeah, I mean that's my intention. And
it's a short one, it's seventy three minutes, has an
unknown cast for the most part. I'm sure I'll start
going down some crazy like rabbit hole and I'm going
to have like eighteen pages of notes when I'm finished
(42:10):
with this. But yeah, possibly very little homework. I mean,
we'll see how that goes. But this is a movie
that I'm picking, a classic egger Allan Poe tale, and
its fun. It's one that we've covered before our second
episode actually, the Black Cat.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Yes, oh, okay, we're doing another black Cat.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
We're doing another Black Cat. This one is from nineteen
sixty six.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
I got a scroll to find it because there's a
lot on that thousand black cat. Okay there.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
It is directed by Harold Hoffman. Okay, filmed right here
in Texas. Yeah, I think in the Fort Worth Dallas area.
But I'll learn all the details, and most listeners know
the story of Poe's Black Cats. I don't really need
to share a summary, but this is a black and
white swing in sixties rendition of this story. It does
go to some dark places and surprising ways, especially for
(42:57):
the for the sixties. Beware, it has very hateful, annoying
characters that some letterbox reviewers just couldn't couldn't get get around.
They couldn't they just couldn't stand. It's necessary for the story,
in my opinion. And I have to tell you that
our friends at Best Friends Animal Society would absolutely hate
this film.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
I don't think they actually listen. They just wait for
us to know.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
They do any every October. The lead in this is
a complete asshole, treats his cat and all his animals
like pieces of shit. It's not like a Campibell Holocaust
type thing or anything, but there is some cruel treatment
towards these very lovely creatures. But this is a tale
of kra karma, so obviously we have fun to watch
it all on ravel Yeah, nineteen sixty six. The Black
(43:41):
Cat currently has six hundred and twelve views on Letterbox.
It's streaming on to Be. It's also on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
Starts Robert Franz Wait sixty No, he died in sixty three.
Never mind, I'm thinking of the poet.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
Yeah. No, it's not that Robert Frost. Okay, Yeah, I
don't think you'll recognize many of the names. When do
you start clicking, you know, on some of their movies.
You'll definitely recognize some of the movies are in Yeah,
you only.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
Directed one other film, Sex and the Animals.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
The the fuck you obviously had an infatuation with animals.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Oh, it's a nature documentary, okay, consisting of look for it,
there is animals, mate.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Yeah, I've looked for it. I can't find it. I'm
gonna keep I'm gonna keep searching, please, because I do
want to watch this.
Speaker 4 (44:24):
It's on legal adjacent. It is on legal adjacent. Oh dude,
so we will. I will find a way to procure
this and share it in our discord in case any
of our listeners are curious if.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
You want to watch ninety six minutes of animals fucking.
That's all we're going to talk about this episode.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
All right, So next so we're gonna be talking about
animals us fucking and the Black Cat from nineteen sixty six.
If you're not already, you can follow this podcast on Instagram.
We are also on YouTube. We've been getting more subscribers there,
so thank you for that, folks. I'm on letterboxing Instagram
(45:16):
at tex Massacre.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
I'm on letterboxing Instagram at Elshiby.
Speaker 4 (45:20):
Thanks everyone for listening. We'll see you back next episode.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
Bye bye.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
To hear more shows from the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network,
please select the link in the description.
Speaker 5 (48:00):
I am Adam Lundy, co host of They Live by Film,
a podcast dedicated to bringing you film discussion and interviews
from around the world. Every week. My co hosts Chris Haskell,
Zack Bryant, and I discuss a wide range of films,
from monumental classics like Vertigo and the Rules of the
Game to the craziest schlockiest movies ever made like Deathbed
and everything in between. We are also lucky enough to
(48:22):
have sat down with some of the biggest players in
the boutique blu ray and film restoration game. If this
is your thing, then come hang out with us every
Thursday at seven p m. Eastern wherever you normally stream
your podcasts, and now as part of the Someone's Favorite
Productions podcast network
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