Movie-Ception

CQ (Dragonfly scene)

(Roman Coppola, 2001)

 

Outside of Francis and Sophia, I didn't even know there was another member of the Coppola famiglia directing movies. Roman Coppola's CQ (2001) is a love letter to European Cinema from the sixties. The film hardly set the world abalze upon it's release since it's never mentioned today. It's worth noting that the the best thing about it are the obvious homages to various movies from that era; even the Godard rip of Breathless (1960) is somewhat palatable, thanks largely to a full frontal nudity shot of Élodie Bouchez. However, what really caught my interest were the sequences for the movie the film's lead actor, Jeremy Davis, has to complete - Dragonfly; a sci-fi caper film which undeniably takes inspiration from Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik (1968) and Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968). 

This got me thinking about other fictional movies featured in movies, so here are a few personal favourites:

Coed Frenzy / Blow Out (Brian DePalma, 1981)

How apt that Alfred Hitchcock, who grandfathered the slasher, would spawn a spiritual successor in the form of Brian DePalma, and that his opening scene from Blow Out would feature a few minutes from a  fictional slasher called Coed Frenzy. Best thing about this wildly exploitative short film is it ticks all the checkmarks for many a teen slasher from the golden era. Can't help but wonder what it would have been like if DePalma did deliver a full feature film in a similar vein to Coed Frenzy, probably something along the line of The House on Sorority Row (1982) while being blessed with flourishes of idiosyncratic flamboyance you would expect from the man.

Vera / Nekromantrik (Jörg Buttgereit, 1988)

Poor old Rob. Not only does he lose his "streetcleaning" job, but his girlfriend, Betty, dumps him and takes off with their ménage à trois rotten cadaver. What better way to find some healing than joining the rest of the goons at the local cinema and watching a thoroughly scuzzy, DIY slasher called Vera. It's equally as micro-budget as Nekromantik, itself. Much of it looks like it was shot in someone's back garden, but those precious few minutes remind me of  Norbert Moutier's hilariously bizarre Ogroff aka Mad Mutilator (1983); another film with the production cost of an old episode of Get Stuffed. Buttgereit also followed up Vera with a mockful arthouse short film called My Breakfast With Vera, which really outstayed its welcome in Nekromantik 2 (1991) and is nowhere near as entertaining as its predecessor.

The Equestrian Vortex / Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, 2012)

 

Outside of the opening credits sequence, the viewer doesn't get to see the rest of  The Equestrian Vortex featured in Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio. As described by the fictional director, Giancarlo Santini, "it's not a horror film, it's a Santini film", and it's left to our own imagination in picturing the horrific audio scenes recorded by the continuously neurotic, Gilderoy (Toby Jones). 

 

Honourable Mentions: See You Next Wednesday featured throughout John Landis' filmography; the untitled "snuff movie" that Laura Gemser investigates in Emanuelle in America (1977); Joe Dante's sci-fi horror Mant! from Matinee (1993); and, Carson Clay's (Willem Defoe) hilariously pretentious, Playback Time from Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007).