Nobody Beats the Riz

Having heard Riz Ortolani's theme from the very downbeat The Hunting Party (1971) for the first time recently, makes this a good opportunity to list some other joints I dig from the composer. Despite scoring soundtracks for some notorious films from the world of cinema, his music has often been a universal positive to soundtrack heads like myself.

I Giorni Dell'ira / Day of Anger (1967)

Miami / Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971)

Il Ricordo di Serena / Confessions of a Police Captain (1971)

Web of the Spider / Web of the Spider (1971)

Seven Bloodstained Orchids / Seven Bloodstained Orchids (1972)

Cyclone / Cyclone (1978)

Il Corpo di Linda / The Pyjama Girl Case (1977)*

Adulteress Punishment / Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Roma Imperial Rock / Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984)

Riz Ortolani - Do It To Me

House on the Edge of the Park OST, 1980

Ryōji Kaji · Riz Ortolani - Do It To Me

Fave Ortolani cut will always be Do It To Me off  Ruggero Deodato's thoroughly mean-spirited nasty House on the Edge of the Park (1980), which was hilariously titled wrong in the film and its trailer. It's been a disco themed earworm that could have played at Fontaine Khaled's swanky London club back in the day. The song being associated with the most amusing scene from House on the Edge of the Park, before things go very sour for its uppity class party hosts, is probably another reason, too.

* Other than Il Corpo di Linda, the soundtrack to The Pyjama Girl Case is ruined by French singer Amada Lear sounding like a heavily sedated Marlene Dietrich struggling to remain conscious and in tune. If only the much preferred trailer music was included instead as it knocks, before Lear’s awful song plays near the end. No idea if Ortolani was responsible for it, though.

Viewings: April 2023

Willem Dafoe going insane in a luxury penthouse in Vasilis Katsouopis's downbeat, art-heist film Inside was my favourite first time watch in April. Judging by the reviews, it's the latest example of movie Marmite, and I'm cool with that.

Other notable highlights were Kurando Mitsutake's pinku / giallo mash-up Maniac Driver, and Jon S. Baird's film Tetris being a very pleasant surprise.

Film:

The Whip and the Body (Mario Bava, 1963)

She-Wolves of the Ring (René Cardona, 1965)*

The Valachi Papers (Terence Young, 1972)*

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, 1975)*

Death Game (Peter S. Traynor, 1977)*

Martin (George A. Romero, 1977)

Beyond Terror (Tomáz Aznar, 1980)*

Document of the Dead (Roy Frumkes, 1980)

Violence in a Women's Prison (Bruno Mattei, 1982)

Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983)

The Devil’s Honey (Lucio Fulci, 1986)*

Body Melt (Philip Brophy, 1993)

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (John Erick Dowdle, 2007 / 2014)*

Maniac Driver (Kurando Mitsutake, 2020)*

Creed III (Michael B. Jordan, 2023)*

Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis, 2023)*

Knock at the Cabin (M. Night Shyamalan, 2023)*

One Day as a Lion (John Swab, 2023)*

Tetris (Jon S. Baird, 2023)*

Television:

The Last Train Episodes 1 & 2 (Matthew Graham, 1999)

Neighbours vs. Zombies (Ric Forster, 2014)*

Mastermind Epsiodes 28 - 31 (Bill Wright, 2022 / 2023)*

University Challenge Episodes 30 & 31 (Don Reid, 2022 / 2023)*

The Grand National 2023*

World Snooker Championship 2023*

*First time viewings.

Dada Debaser Notes:

• Fulci was never one for restraint. Much like his ultra gory horror films, The Devil's Honey, his attempt at the erotic thriller, leaves nothing to the imagination and is completly bonkers. Eighties saxophone sleaze undiluted.
  
• Completely underwhelmed by John Swab's One Day as a Lion. Frank Grillo and J.K. Simmons relegated to minor roles. Swab's previous film Candy Land (2023) is far better.
  
• Sylvester Stallone dodged a bullet not appearing in Creed III as it's entirely forgettable. Why couldn't Adonis be flamboyant like his old man?
  
• After decades, I finally watched another holy grail - Death Game. Alan Scouser overrated the hell out of that one.
  
• One of my films in the latest wish list post became a doubly accurate prediction the very next day.
  
• Even spookier, I'm now wondering if I inadvertently put a death curse on Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Len Goodman, since they both passed away the same month as my Strictly Come Dancung / House on the Edge of the Park post.
  
• Congratulations to Greg Wallace off Masterchef for winning this season's Mastermind. His specialist subjects sucked, but he became my favourite once that bloke who reminded me of Louis Theroux got knocked out in the semi-finals: