Movie Review: Death Walks at Midnight (1972) directed by Luciano Ercoli Dateline: Milan, Italy in the early 1970s. Valentina (Nieves Navarro) is a model whose primary job is appearing in fumetti fotoromanzi which are basically comic books done with photographs instead of drawings, a popular medium of the time. As a lark, she agrees to take an LSD-like… Continue reading Movie Review: Death Walks at Midnight
Tag: Italy
Comic Book Review: Botticelli’s Apprentice
Comic Book Review: Botticelli’s Apprentice by Ursula Murray Husted Sandro Botticelli actually has several apprentices, from senior apprentice Nino to rookie Datus. But the person we’re concerned with here is Mella, the chicken girl. Her duties include feeding and tending the chickens and collecting their eggs to make tempera paint with. She also cleans paintbrushes… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Botticelli’s Apprentice
Book Review: The Castle of Otranto
Book Review: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole Today is a particularly bad day at the castle. Worst of all for Conrad, sickly son of Prince Manfred, who is crushed to death by a mysterious giant helmet. This is taken hard by his mother Princess Hippolita and sister Matilda. Prince Manfred is beside himself,… Continue reading Book Review: The Castle of Otranto
Movie Review: Bloody Pit of Horror
Movie Review: Bloody Pit of Horror (1965) directed by Massimo Pupillo, Italian title “Il Boia Scarlatto” (The Crimson Executioner) Horror paperback publisher Daniel Parks (Alfredo Rizzo) wants to have the covers of his next few books be photographs. So he and a small crew of models, photographer and writer are touring Italy for the exactly right… Continue reading Movie Review: Bloody Pit of Horror
Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors
Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors edited by Groff Conklin and Noah D. Fabricant, M.D. While medical doctors are common and important in science fiction, stories directly about them or the field of medicine are a bit rarer. It was one magazine’s speculation that it would be difficult to fill an anthology with really… Continue reading Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors
Movie Review: For Your Eyes Only
Movie Review: For Your Eyes Only (1981) directed by John Glen James Bond (Roger Moore) is visiting his wife Tracy’s grave when he’s informed that a helicopter has come to take him to “the office.” This turns out to be a trap, as the pilot is murdered by his own headphones so that a man who… Continue reading Movie Review: For Your Eyes Only
Book Review: The Saracen Blade
Book Review: The Saracen Blade by Frank Yerby The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was born in Jesi, Italy in 1194. But another child was born on that day in that place. Pietro, son of Donati the armorer and his lovely wife Maria, was delivered by one of the same midwives as she’d gone into… Continue reading Book Review: The Saracen Blade
Movie Review: The Snorkel
Movie Review: The Snorkel (1958) directed by Guy Green Paul Decker (Peter van Eyck) has gotten away with murder before. Years ago, he murdered his wealthy friend Mr. Brown by drowning him in a boating “accident” so that he could marry the widow and her considerable inheritance, including an Italian villa near the French border. Now… Continue reading Movie Review: The Snorkel
Book Review: But Not Forgotten | The Schemers
Book Review: But Not Forgotten | The Schemers by Ruth Fenisong It’s time for another Ace Double paperback, this time a pair of mysteries by Ruth Fenisong (1904-1978). She’s best known for her Lieutenant Gridley Nelson series, but he’s barely in the first, and the other is independent. But Not Forgotten Leo Socarus is a… Continue reading Book Review: But Not Forgotten | The Schemers
Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales
Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley The author of the classic horror novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus also wrote other things. This chapbook from Union Square & Co. reprints one of her short stories and an essay she wrote. “The Mortal Immortal” is a memoir by a fictional student of… Continue reading Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales