#Fabiola Toledo

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Fabiola Toledo in A Blade in the Dark (1983)

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Demons (1985)

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A Blade in the Dark (1983)

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Caligola: La Storia mai Raccontata (1982)

AKA Caligula: The Untold Story [Uncensored Version]

Directed by: Joe D'Amato Starring: Laura Gemser, Fabiola Toledo, Sasha D'Arc

Language: English original 1,85Gb - 125’00’��� - 720x576 - MP4 Italy - DVD

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A group of people are trapped in a West Berlin movie theater infested with ravenous demons who proceed to kill and possess the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: George: Urbano Barberini Cheryl: Natasha Hovey Ken: Karl Zinny Hannah: Fiore Argento Kathy: Paola Cozzo Carmen: Fabiola Toledo Ingrid, the usherette: Nicoletta Elmi Frank: Stelio Candelli Rosemary (as Geretta Giancarlo): Geretta Geretta Tony: Bobby Rhodes Nina: Bettina Ciampolini Edith, woman in tent (Horror Film) (as Eliana Hoppe): Eliana Miglio Nancy (Horror Film): Jasmine Maimone Bob (Horror Film): Marcello Modugno Baby Pig: Peter Pitsch Ripper (as Pasqualino Salemme): Lino Salemme Man in Black / Jerry (Horror Film): Michele Soavi Jeep Driver (uncredited): Goffredo Unger Kirk (uncredited): Giovanni Frezza 1st Man Exiting Subway (uncredited): Lamberto Bava Werner: Alex Serra Liz: Sally Day Blonde Victim: Enrica Maria Scrivano Kathy’s baby demon (uncredited): Sami Habib Ahmed Tony (voice) (uncredited): Victor Beard Ripper (voice) (uncredited): Russel Case Victim (uncredited): Sergio Stivaletti June (uncredited): Emanuela Zicosky Hot Dog (as Giuseppe Cruciano): Giuseppe Mauro Cruciano Liz’s lover: Claudio Spadaro Tommy: Guido Baldi Cinemagoer (uncredited): Paolo Corazzi Cinemagoer (uncredited): Claudio Insegno Cinemagoer (uncredited): Rossana Canghiari Cinemagoer (uncredited): Arnaldo Dell’Acqua Cinemagoer (uncredited): Ottaviano Dell’Acqua Cinemagoer (uncredited): Raniero Dorascenzi Cinemagoer (uncredited): Salvatore Francofonte Cinemagoer (uncredited): Stefania Possamai Cinemagoer (uncredited): Gino Barbacane Cinemagoer (uncredited): Eros Buttaglieri Cinemagoer (uncredited): Carlo Cattaneo Cinemagoer (uncredited): Lella Cattaneo Film Crew: Screenplay: Lamberto Bava Screenplay: Franco Ferrini Director of Photography: Gianlorenzo Battaglia Producer: Dario Argento Makeup Effects: Sergio Stivaletti Makeup Effects: Rosario Prestopino Original Story: Dardano Sacchetti Assistant Director: Michele Soavi Original Music Composer: Claudio Simonetti Editor: Piero Bozza Production Designer: Davide Bassan Costume Design: Marina Malavasi Costume Design: Patrizia Massaia Movie Reviews: talisencrw: This was beautiful. It must be a strange experience, being a child of a great director, and following the very same genre. Do you go pretty much the same route, or try something vastly different? This would make a great double-bill, at an actual movie theatre, with the 50’s edition of ‘The Blob’–another film in which the cinema isn’t the safe, dark, womb-like place we take for granted it is. Gimly: It’s no _Night of the_ that’s for sure, but I enjoyed it in parts. Paricularly fond of the coke punks and the pimp. Dubbing’s a nightmare though. _Final rating:��★½ – Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._ John Chard: Metropol Mayhem! Demons (Demoni) is directed by Lamberto Bava and Bava co-writes the screenplay with Dario Argento, Dardano Sacchetti and Franco Ferrini. It stars Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny, Paola Cozzo, Fiore Argento and Geretta Giancarlo. Music is by Claudio Simonetti and cinematography by Gianlorenzo Battaglia. A wonderfully nutty spiced Spaghetti Horror, plot has a group of people trapped in a Berlin movie theatre that suddenly comes under attack by ravenous demons. It could reasonably be argued that Bava’s movie has some cheeky narrative depth underneath the gloop and schlock, this is after all purposely set in a movie theatre and features a film that basically becomes real, sort of. But really it’s a pic that’s set up for like minded horror buffs to feast upon, to jump head first into its feverish horror comic book glee. The script is as poor as the dubbing is, with a roll call of cardboard cut out characters and loose end scenarios jettisoned in readiness for the next plasmatic explosive sequence. Yet the care free abandon of the gruesome killings on show, and the rapid pace of it all, ensures it’s a fun packed ride. Even t...

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Demons (1985) dir Lamberto Bava

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Dario Argento’s Demons (1985) Directed by Lamberto Bava

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Dèmoni (1985)

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A Blade in the Dark (1983)

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Demons (1985)

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A BLADE IN THE DARK (1983) Reviews and overview of Lamberto Bava Giallo

A BLADE IN THE DARK (1983) Reviews and overview of Lamberto Bava Giallo

‘When the lights go out, the knife goes in…’

A Blade in the Dark is a 1983 Italian Giallo thriller film about a killer stalking a composer and his female visitors in a secluded villa. The composer is staying at a secluded villa writing the soundtrack score to a horror movie that has an incriminating clue to the killer’s identity.

Directed and edited by Lamberto Bava (Twins; Delirium; Demons andD…

[aloneandforsakenbyfateandbyman]

Fabiola Toledo in A Blade in the Dark (1983)

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A Blade In The Dark Directed by Lamberto Bava (1983)

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A Blade in the Dark (1983) (AKA La casa con la scala nel buio)

Directed by Lamberto Bava

Screenplay by Elisa Briganti and Dardano Sacchetti

Music by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis

Country: Italy

Running Time: 101 minutes

CAST

Andrea Occhipinti as Bruno

Lara Lamberti as Julia (as Lara Naszinski)

Fabiola Toledo as Angela

Anny Papa as Sandra

Stanko Molnar as Giovanni

Valeria Cavalli as Katia

Michele Soavi as Tony Rendina

Giovanni Frezza as young boy in film clip

Lamberto Bava (cameo in editing room)

(Apology: the pics aren’t too hot because the print wasn’t too hot. Probably something to do with A Blade in the Dark being shot on 35mm (for TV) then blown up for 70mm (cinema). Or just the usual pot luck of Blu-Ray transfers.)

A Blade in the Dark is a 1983 giallo by Lamberto Bava which doesn’t exactly disgrace itself, but nor is it as flamboyantly trashy as you might expect from the director of the nonsense classic Delirium (1987). It’s like Delirium’s better behaved but far duller cousin. While A Blade in the Dark doesn’t make you want to run around without your trousers on, nor does it make you want to take up golf. It’s…okay. Much like the house most  of the movie is set in, A Blade in the Dark possesses too many vacant stretches for comfort, but every now and again there’s an item of interest that makes you glad you bothered. Sometimes it’s a gruesome kill, sometimes it’s something agreeably ridiculous like a small kid in a bad wig, sometimes it’s something heart swellingly surreal like an indoor rain of tennis balls, sometimes it’s just the hope that Bruno will change his jumper, but there’s usually something to keep you awake before too long. True, the movie title does fib about the dark; it’s not actually very dark, even at night; but there is definitely a blade or two, and that’s’ what matters in a giallo. Well, it’s hardly nut-tight plotting and believable characters that matters, is it now? C’mon.

So, in case you were wondering what the set-up is…Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti), a somewhat dull witted composer with bad taste in jumpers, rents a large house from twitchy Tony Rendina (Michele Soavi) in order to work on the score to a giallo, but soon finds his work rate impaired by a series of bizarre occurrences. Occurrences which strongly suggest someone is bumping off young women in the house whenever his back is turned. With a singular lack of bodies and only a slashed up spank mag and a bunch of suggestive blood stains to back him up, Bruno decides not to contact the police but instead raises his concerns with the two people he knows and the gardener, who all basically tell him he’s soft in the head. Bruno might not be a very exciting person but he could have a point. Why do female visitors mysteriously disappear? Why is there blood on the bushes and in the bathroom? Who is the mysterious Linda? What’s that stink coming out of the pool filter? Why would anyone keep a suitcase full of tennis balls? Who rents out a house this badly furnished? Is Bruno just a morbid bugger or is there (da-da-DA!!) really a killer in the house? [Spoiler: there’s really a killer in the house.]

In my defence, it’s not much of a spoiler as we see the murders in all their gory glory. Bruno is a singularly unimaginative man so it’s never in doubt that this is really happening; this isn’t one of those tricksy movies where it’s all going on in someone’s mad head. No, A Blade in the Dark is not exactly unpredictable plot-wise. You will probably guess who the killer is, but you will fail to guess why, as the explanation is as rewardingly “say what now?!?” as in any giallo worth its ketchup. A Blade in the Dark might have a noticeable tension deficiency, but it sure has some murders in it. Without wishing to sound like a thoroughly reprehensible individual, they are quite good murders too; even if the build ups are a bit too long-winded. There’s only so much panicked running away you can watch without starting to suspect the victim’s heart really isn’t in this getting away lark. Eventually, though, the killer corners them and gets stuck in, usually with a craft-knife. This is the killer’s preferred weapon, mainly because it’s available; like many composers Bruno has one lying about along with his spank mags on his work desk. (Oscar® winning movie score composer John Williams never starts a score without a copy of Juggly Wugglies and a craft-knife to hand.) But the killer isn’t too fussy and if a massive kitchen knife, a wrench or a spool of film is at hand then that’ll do. A good giallo killer should always be adaptable.

A Blade in the Dark was originally made for Italian TV so I was a bit taken aback by the levels of violence on show. Nowadays, sure, anything goes. “Won’t anyone think of the children!”; it’s the end of decency and humanity, blah, blah,  and all that. But back in 1983 I’m not sure television was ready for a scene where a woman’s hair washing is interrupted by a knife through the hand, a bag over her face and a repeated and very determined face-sink interaction. Turns out, television wasn’t ready for that, so I win that one. Originally filmed as four half-hour parts of a TV mystery series (Brutal Lady Murder Mystery Half Hour?), with each part ending with a murder, A Blade in the Dark logistically requires a minimum of 4 murders. But Bruno only knows 2 women - his scatty actress girlfriend Julia (Lara Lamberti) and the oddball director of the giallo he’s working on, Angela (Fabiola Toledo).

Julia likes to show up unannounced, sex Bruno up and tell lies, while Angela, like many movie directors no doubt, thinks ringing Bruno up and threatening to kill him in a creepy voice is a real thighslapper of a joke. Obviously both these ladies are a bit freak-ay and thus squarely in the frame as the craft-knife wielding killer, so to maintain the suspense someone else has to get slaughtered upfront. Luckily the house has a swimming pool. As we all know swimming pools attract young women like inappropriate internet content attracts men. And you never know when a young woman might fall out of  a cupboard, for reasons even she seems unsure of. By hook or by crook A Blade in the Dark gets its murders in. Basically, it’s the kills that lift A Blade in the Dark out of mediocrity. Well, the kills and one other thing. Surprisingly this thing turns out to be a lively, self-deprecating intelligence.

While A Blade in the Dark’s TV origins might lead you to expect an approach as dull as Bruno’s jumper, that’s misleading. It certainly caught me quite off guard with the first trick it plays (no spoilers), but that isn’t the only trick this cheeky monkey plays; which is even more surprising. Because, for reasons known only to itself, A Blade in the Dark gets a bit meta, which is fun; it’s even more fun because it just can’t quite manage to pull it off. That’s okay, when meta works it always feels a bit smug; wonky meta is way better. I like my meta a bit rough round the edges, but that could just be me. The crux of the meta is the movie within the movie. Crucially, the movie Bruno is scoring and Angela is directing may contain the key to the mystery. It definitely contains Giovanni Frezza, who has now appeared in so many movies I’ve watched recently (Demons, The House by the Cemetery and this one) I fear he may be haunting me, like that guy in Wes Craven’s Shocker (1986).

But I digress, the line between that in-movie movie and the movie you are watching is blurred occasionally to enjoyably disquieting effect.  Mostly A Blade in the Dark does this by having a bit of fun via Bruno’s music, with that diegetic and non-diegetic business people like to go on about to look smart, and then they wonder why no one invites them to parties. There’s no consistency or real point to A Blade in the Dark’s metatastic boondogglery, but it is fun. Basically, its reach exceeds its grasp, but, hey, points for trying. (NB: If you want to watch a meta-(neo) giallo where the meta actually works (and without any smuggery) then see Berberian Sound Studio (2012)). As TV shows rejigged into movies go, A Blade in the Dark is no Mullholland Drive (2001) but it is just luridly nonsensical enough to be a decent giallo. And there ain’t no harm in that.

[carlosivan]

HELIO

Helio: El Taller de Mike is a group exhibition of artists living and working in Mexico City who have employed the use of traditional heliogravure in their practice.

Dating back to the 19th century, heliogravure is a photographic printing process where a copper plate is exposed to a film-positive, then etched, and run through a traditional printing press that leaves an image on paper. As technology and access rapidly increased — particularly the speed of silver-gelatin printing and consistently evolving smartphone technology of the 21st century — heliogravure began to lose popularity, becoming an antiquated and somewhat obsolete process.

However, Heliogravure has seen a resurgence in recent years, and particularly in Mexico City as the workshop of artist and photographer Miguel Counahan has operated as a collaborative space for artists to learn the medium and process, and apply it to their own work.

Helio: El Taller de Mike, is divided into two parts. The first is an exhibition of work by artists selected to visually interpret the soujourn of a Stoic — a narrative journey of the artist Miguel Counahan himself. The second section illustrates the physical process of heliogravure itself through a selection of images, copper plates, positives, and tests done by all the artists who have passed through the studio, El Taller de Mike.

Curated by Leslie Moody Castro

Artists on show: Mike Counahan, Eunice Adorno, Silvana Agostoni, Tomás Casademunt, Fernando Etulain, Guillermo Espinosa, Gerardo González, Pilar Goutas, Fernanda de Icaza, Magali Lara, Carlos Iván Hernandez, Andrea Martínez, Rafael Martinez, Fabiola Menchelli, Alejandro Pintado, Jorge Rosano, Carla Rippey, Uriel Salas, Miguel Angel Salazar, Martin Soto Climent, Laureana Toledo, Yvonne Venegas, Mariana Yazbek, Sergio Yazbek, and Tamara Goutas.

Artishock

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Blu-ray Review: Demons & Demons 2

As the son of Italian horror legend Mario Bava (Black Sunday, A Bay of Blood), Lamberto Bava had enormous shoes to fill as a filmmaker, but he learned the tricks of the trade from two of the all-time greats. In addition to working closely with his father on several of his works, he also served under another revered Italian horror maestro in Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red) as assistant director on Inferno and Tenebrae. The Bava progeny made several good movies throughout his career, but his undisputed crowning achievement is 1985’s Demons. Produced by Argento, the film updates the elder Bava's stylish sensibilities for the high-octane, blood-thirsty 1980s.

Written by Bava, Argento, Dardano Sacchetti (The Beyond), and Franco Ferrini (Phenomena), the plot begins when an ominous man in a mask (future director Michele Soavi, Cemetery Man) gives Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) free passes to a movie preview. She drags her friend Kathy (Paola Cozzo, A Cat in the Brain) along to the Metropol cinema in Berlin for the event. They hit it off with a pair of flirtatious preps, George (Urbano Barberini, Opera) and Ken (Karl Zinny, Delirium), and sit down for the mystery movie. On screen, a group of friends discover Nostradamus’ tomb containing a metallic mask that is prophesied to contaminate the world by turning people into demons.

The same mask is on display at the theater, and someone has already put it on and shed their blood. The theater is soon overrun by clawed, fanged, green slime-spewing demons fueled by the desire to kill. While not exactly Scream-level meta, it's clever how the movie-within-a-movie parallels and informs what the characters experience. Like Italy's answer to The Evil Dead, the movie is replete with goop and gore. Sergio Stivaletti (Cemetery Man) created the impressive special effects, including gnarly bladder work and a tooth gag that still gets under my skin.

Part of what makes Demons so enjoyable is the colorful supporting cast, which includes the theater's strict usher (Nicoletta Elmi, Deep Red); a boorish pimp (Bobby Rhodes) and two of his prostitutes (Geretta Geretta, Rats: Night of Terror; Fabiola Toledo, A Blade in the Dark); a blind man (Alex Serra, Ladyhawke) and his guide (Sally Day), who ditches him to make out with her lover; an amorous young couple (Fiore Argento, Phenomena; Guido Baldi), a middle-aged married couple (Stelio Candelli; Nicole Tessier), and a gang of coked-up punks.

Heavy metal soundtracks are often tacked onto horror movies, as they ostensibly should go hand-in-hand, but more often than not they feel cheesy at best and distractingly incongruous at worst. (Even Argento himself wasn't able to integrate it seamlessly in Phenomena.) That is not the case with Demons. High-energy tracks from the likes of Mötley Crüe, Accept, Saxon, and Billy Idol are in perfect harmony with the film's flamboyant tone. It's coupled with a fantastic electronic/prog-rock score by Goblin keyboardist Claudio Simonetti (Dawn of the Dead, Suspiria).

Demons feels like Bava and company somehow distilled the essence of 1980s excess, complete with relentless pacing, splatstick effects, rich cinematography by Gianlorenzo Battaglia (The Barbarians, A Blade in the Dark), memorable music, and a huge finale that includes a motorcycle, a samurai sword, and a helicopter crash. Comparable to quintessential contemporaries Evil Dead 2, The Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Demons, Re-Animator, and Dead Alive, it's amphibious, non-stop fun that is unafraid to push itself to the extreme.

The core creative team - Bava, Argento, Sacchetti, and Ferrini - returned for Demons 2 in 1986. The sequel swaps the movie theater setting for a high-rise apartment, offering a similar sense of containment while opening the world for more possibilities. The meta element is carried over, albeit with considerably less verisimilitude, with a sequel to Demons’ movie-within-the-movie playing on TV as several tenants watch - until a demon literally comes through the screen, Videodrome style, and begins infecting people.

The ensemble of characters this time around includes Sally (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Opera), a young woman celebrating her birthday with her rambunctious friends; Ingrid (Asia Argento, Land of the Dead), a precocious young girl; Hannah (Nancy Brilli, Body Count), a pregnant woman waiting for her husband, George (David Knight); Hank (Bobby Rhodes, returning in a new role), a trainer leading a group of bodybuilders in the gym; a prostitute (Virginia Bryant, The Barbarians) and her client (Michele Mirabella, The Beyond); a security guard (Lino Salemme, who played one of the punks in Demons); and a new gang of punks in a divergent subplot.

Although plenty enjoyable in its own right, Demons 2 retreads too much material from its predecessor, and Demons' energy is frankly unrivaled. There are some good moments of mayhem from Stivaletti - including a tanning bed death 20 years before Final Destination 3 - but the comparatively subdued gore fails to make much of an impact. Simon Boswell's (Santa Sangre, Lord of Illusions) score is an admirable replacement for Simonetti, while the heavy metal roots are eschewed for the gothic rock stylings of The Smiths, The Cult, and Fields of the Nephilim.

Synapse Films’ Demons and Demons 2 box set is available on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. Both films have been remastered in 4K from the original 35mm camera negatives for vibrant visuals. Two cuts of Demons are included: the original 88-minute version with uncompressed DTS-HD MA English and Italian 5.1 and 2.0 audio mixes from archival audio masters, and the slightly altered U.S. cut (most notably removing a scene in which cocaine is snorted out of a Coke can) with newly remastered uncompressed DTS-HD MA English 2.0 mono audio. Demons 2 has DTS-HD MA English 5.1 and Italian 5.1 and 2.0 audio mixes from archival audio masters as well as remastered uncompressed DTS-HD MA English 2.0 stereo mix.

Demons offers two audio commentaries: a fascinating new dissection by film historians Kat Ellinger and Heather Drain, in which their mutual appreciation for the movie is palpable, and an archival track with Bava, Stivaletti, Simonetti, and Geretta looking back at the making of the film, including how they pulled off many of the special effects. The other new special feature, titled Produced by Dario Argento, is a 27-minute deep dive into Argento's producing oeuvre by Scottish film critic Michael Mackenzie.

Two different archival interviews with Argento are featured. Although he's more spirited in one than the other, collectively they touch on the making of both movies, including writing the script, the use of heavy metal on the soundtrack, and his "Dario Argento Presents" credit. Other existing extras include an interview with Simonetti, an interview with stunt performer Ottaviano Dell’Acqua, and the Italian, international English, and U.S. theatrical trailers.

Demons 2 has a new commentary by film critic Travis Crawford, which is rather unfocused but worthwhile for the exhaustive rundown of the plethora of unrelated films that were released as Demons sequels in various territories. Meanwhile, genre scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas provides a new visual essay, "Together and Apart," in which she explores the use of space and technology in the two films.

Archival interviews with Bava, Stivaletti, Boswell, and Lamberto's son Roy Bava (who worked on both films) are also included. Boswell's chat is the highlight, as he discusses his differences with Simonetti and shares an amusing anecdote about convincing Morrissey to allow the production to use the Smiths song. Italian and international English theatrical trailers round out the extras.

Synapses’ two-disc box set features a slipcover with art Juan Jose Saldarriaga and Chris MacGibbon and reversible cover art with each film’s theatrical artwork. It includes a replica of the Demons movie ticket, a Demons 2 party invitation, and a fold-out poster with art by Wes Benscoter. Beyond the aforementioned extras, the 4K edition includes additional archival special features for both films. Each version is limited to 6,000.

Demons & Demons 2 are available now on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray via Synapse Films.