What if Federico Fellini delivered a film that wasn't the equivalent of NyQuil? That's exactly what his frequent script collaborator and artistic advisor, Brunello Rondi, achieved with proto-The Exorcist horror, The Demon. Provocative, disturbing and ahead of its time. An early Italian horror gem blessed with a career defining performance from Daliah Lavi.
Film:
Cash on Demand (Quentin Lawrence, 1961)
The Demon (Brunello Rondi, 1963)*
Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971)
The Legend of Hell House (John Hough, 1973)
Assault! Jack the Ripper (Yasuharu Hasebe, 1976)*
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)
Madame Claude (Just Jaeckin, 1977)*
The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)
Scanners (David Cronenberg, 1981)
Night of the Creeps (Fred Dekker, 1986)
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)*
A Bittersweet Life (Kim Jee-woon, 2005)*
The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005)
The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006)
Popeye the Slayer Man (Robert Michael Ryan, 2025)*
Television:
V (Kenneth Johnson, 1983-1983)
V: The Final Battle (Richard T. Heffron, 1984-1984)
Andor - Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2 (Tony Gilroy, 2022)*
Adolescence - Season 1 Episodes 1-4 (Philip Baratini, 2025)*
* First time viewings.
Dada Debaser Notes:
- Mentioned A Bittersweet Life being an obvious blind spot in my recent Picks of 2005 post. Having seen it, I can confidently confirm I didn't miss out on Kim Jee-woon's attempt at mimicking Guy Ritchie's gangster flicks.
- Watching anything Star Wars related is like getting back with an ex. Two episodes of the critically acclaimed Andor was enough for me to call it quits. So bored. The magic can never be rekindled.
- Finally got to watch the notorious Nikkatsu Roman Porno Assault! Jack the Ripper. About a couple who get off on sexually assaulting and murdering random women. Utterly depraved and definitely not for the easily offended. Colour me surprised this was recently made available in my region uncut. Thank you, Natasha Kaplinsky!
- Speaking of offended. File Der Fan as a rare film that's way too uncomfortably problematic even for me. Do like a couple of songs off its synth pop soundtrack, though.
- My take on the whole Adolescence hype: Phenomenally great performances, particularly impressive screen debut from child actor Owen Cooper, but the writing is laughably cringe. The one-take gimmick out stays its welcome after the first episode. Didn't need to waste what felt like twenty minutes on Stephen Graham driving to a B&Q.
- The dreaded Dada Debaser death curse struck twice. My mention of Wings Hauser had him galloping to the big rodeo in the sky a couple of weeks later. This was later followed by Clive Revill drifting to the spirit world days after my blog post on The Legend of Hell House. Really ought to watch something with James Corden to make the world right.
- Also revisited V and V: The Final Battle. Has aged considerably, but Jane Badler's scenes as Diana, the Alexis Colby of fascist space lizards, are still top notch.