Friday, February 29, 2008

Movie Review: HIS NAME WAS HOLY GHOST



aka Uomo avvisato mezzo ammazzato... Parola di Spirito Santo; Forewarned, Half-Killed... the Word of the Holy Ghost; They Call Him Holy Ghost; Y le llamaban El Halcón
Directed by Giuliano Carnimeo (Anthony Ascott)
Italy/Spain; 1971

“Anybody hurt or killed?”
“Yep. All of you!”

The Mexican government has been overthrown.
The people’s beloved President is out and forced into hiding among them in Morelos while the pompous, self-appointed, cigar-chomping stand-in, General Ubarte, has sent out a search detail to Bring Him the Head of Don Firmino by any means necessary.
Soldiers storm local villages; people are questioned; people are shot; people are stabbed and beaten regardless of age or infirmity; a hungry little boy is the sole witness to his mother’s murder in cold blood.
And all this takes place during the opening credits!

In order to assert themselves among the peasants, and humiliate Firmino in the process, the military string him up alongside his daughter, Juana, in a crucifixion position and force all the villagers to spit in his face, one by one while the officers sit ringside, stuffing their sweaty faces with local rations. All who refuse get an honorable discharge from the Lieutenant’s revolver, right between the eyes.
And just as this salivary processional hits full swing, up jump the Holy Ghost with his trusted companion, Eagle (a white dove with an identity crisis!), and proceeds to mow down the soldiers with his automatic rifle leaving them slumped in a not-so-living portrait of “The Last Supper.”
Why has Holy Ghost (real name “Harold”) come here, of all places, and saved the day? Why, to get the prospecting rights renewed for a goldmine he recently ‘acquired’, of course. And as soon as he learns the President is unable to complete his request at this time, Holy Ghost politely loses interest and rides off to gain audience with the uncooperative Ubarte, who unsuccessfully tries to recruit Spirito Santo into his stable of nitwits.

Soon enough, Don Firmino and Juana are recaptured in the cellar of a saloon, but Holy Ghost (who again pops in out of the blue, this time wanting to ask Firmino directions to his new goldmine) offends the arresting officer by suggesting he fix lunch for everyone since he’s killed the saloon owner! After thwarting his own execution by blinding the firing squad with the mirrored lining of his cape (!), Juana has convinced Holy Ghost to join them in their revolution to take back the state in exchange for help with his goldmine. Holy Ghost agrees, and for additional revolutionary insurance, a one-time hustler and cohort, now a reborn servant of God, joins the party– the Bluto-esque mass of a man, Chicken Little!
Together, they take on the presiding military presence by way of projectile Bibles, fun with corpse animation, bird beak interrogation torture, dynamite-fed chickens which lay explosive eggs used to make OMELETTE BOMBS, tough-as-nails prostitutes, cross-dressing combat tactics (aka the Trojan Whores, with Garko looking like a member of the Cockettes!), angry farmers with machetes, and many a manner of traps, set-ups, and knock-down drag-outs!

This is the second in a brief series of “Holy Ghost” films teaming director Carnimeo with star Gianni Garko, who would also join forces for films in both the SARTANA and HALLELUJAH cycles.
An offbeat comedy-western of the finest variety, the action is horn-a-plenty with mucho gunplay and killings, seasoned with a pinch of acrobatics and crashing camera zooms, while the comedy is integrated in a way which works, but does not overpower nor distract. There are sequences during the big battle scene which perfectly embody a classic 3 Stooges brand of bizarre slapstick.
The ofttimes underrated Garko plays the role perfectly-- nonchalant, sarcastic, charismatic, focused, never missing his target even while not looking in the direction of the danger. The effective Bruno Nicolai score fuses familiar effects with the humble atmosphere of a 10-pew cathedral.
Despite the title’s inference, a supernatural slant to the character is not so prominent. The handful of instances which might qualify could easily be attributed to successfully suspending one’s disbelief. Your choice.

A very nice quality widescreen print exists on DVD in Spain (Spanish language only), but unfortunately it is incomplete. European Trash Cinema carries a good quality dubbed print which appears to be uncut.
Recommended!

Review by Scott "Jealous Pervert" Wallis!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Worldweird Cinema Recommends: The New ELECTRIC LARVAE Store!

There's a new e-store in town, and it's catering to the "worldweird" fan in all of us. From the mean streets of Athens, Greece comes ELECTRIC LARVAE, previously a topnotch "gray market" dealer of all things "world", "weird" and "cinema", it has hence been reborn , in a new straight up manner distributing DVDs, VCDs, and classic OOP VHS tapes. You can search all over the internet for these obscure items or you can one-stop-shop!



The amazingly varied selection is helpfully organized by country or region/language. Ya got Hindi, Turkish, Filipino, Thai, Pakistani, Indonesian, Arabic etc. with a load of rare items filling out each category with the promise of more to come! Certainly our review docket will be shot through with a ton of titles from this bank, so stay tuned for that!



In the meantime, check out the store here! And order lots of stuff!!

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Simply Awesome Onar News!!!

If we here at Worldweird Cinema have one overarching goal in mind, it's to aid in the ascent to world dominance of Onar Films! The small Greek one-man DVD operation has been gifting all of us with astoundingly rare and amazing Turkish trash films gems for more than two years now and while global hegemony might as of yet eluded our friends' grasp, we feel confident that these releases will be viewed by future generations as some of the best the medium had ever to offer. Here we present a rundown of the HUGE new developments from Onar. 2008 looks to be a landmark year for this most humble and yet important of digital disc providers.

Firstly, the next blockbusting DVD release!

KIZIL TUG CENGIZ HAN!




ONAR presents the oldest Turkish Historical Peplum Sword film surviving! Made in 1952 and considered lost till now it precedes the Italian Peplums by many years and puts them to shame. A spectacular and epic production proving that the older the better when it comes to Turkish Fantastic Cinema! The only surviving material was unearthed in watchable condition but thanks to Onar's touch the result is now better.

Trailer:



NOW, ON 500 COPIES ONLY!

Country: Turkey
Year: 1952

Director: Aydin Arakon

Actors: Turan Seyfioglu, Mesiha Yelda, Atif Kaptan, Cahit Irgat

FEATURES:

ULTRA-LIMITED EDITION OF 500 numbered copies
Turkish audio with English & Greek subs
Dolby Digital 2.0
Documentary: Turkish Fantastic Cinema - Part 1
Booklet (32 pages): Full Catalog of Turkish Fantastic Films
Photogallery
Biographies
Filmographies
NEW Trailers

Notes on the AMAZING extras for this DVD from Onar Films' blog:

1- Documentary: Turkish Fantastic Cinema - Part 1 :
I have bought a superb Documentary, running 92 minutes, including dozens of interviews and scenes from countless obscure films of all genres. It runs by genre (Western, Historical, Superhero, Cuneyt Arkin, etc etc) so, I decided to offer it in relevant parts, depending on genre.
This DVD is Historical so you'll see the part featuring lots of sequences from cult films/series like TARKAN, KELOGLAN, MALCOCOGLU and many more, plus interviews and explanatory voice-over!

2- Booklet (32 pages): Full Catalog of Turkish Fantastic Films:
I used the best experts and managed to make a huge, complete catalog of ALL Turkish Fantastic Films, by genre and year. With english translation for each title. Plus, intriguing introductions on each genre, with highlights on specific titles and directors.Plus, tons of photos!
I really believe this will be the DEFINITE, ULTIMATE GUIDE on Turkish Cult Cinema!!

3- NEW Trailers
I have bought many NEW films, you know. I'll tell you about the titles at another post, this month. BUT, if you want to check their trailers you better get this DVD.

And in other MINDBLOWING Onar news ... (also from the blog)

Remember a mysterious teaser I uploaded last December?
It was called "Turkish Eerie Lost Gem" and I only had a promo of the first 7 minutes off which I made up a 2 minutes teaser.

Ok now, I just received the screener of the whole movie, watched it carefully and made up a big trailer of about 7 minutes:



The title is CICI CAN (pronnounced CHICHI JAN) and was made in 1963 by the team that later on made the 007 ripoff ALTIN COCUK series.

I was told it was based on a kids comic!! The movie itself ranges from spooky to weird and eerie and nutty and silly and superheroic and metaphysical and nostalgic and romantic and....
Generally I find it to be a truly unprecedented Turkish movie and totally original in every way.
For example, can you tell me of ANY other films of that period that used the "cartoon with real actors" effect?
Here, we have a gross ghost animation among real actors! In Turkey! In 1963!!

On the blog Bill Onar asks that that you VOTE on whether or not he should release this unique and bizarre film. I strongly INSIST that you vote Y-E-S!!!!
You can do so as a comment at the blog itself (just go to the Onar site [link is above and to the right]).

More updates, reviews and other stuff soon - if there is anyone left out there!