Film

[Cat Stevens]

Hello.

Did you know that the word "vampire" is the only Serbian word that went into all dictionaries of the world? (even in Georgian, I checked)

Well, yes it is! Yup! Yessir! Sometimes I think it's the best word in the whole linguistic universe! Let's see what some distinguished critics had to say about this magnificent little word.


"triffic, innit" - Percy Bysshe Shelley

"love it" - William Butler Yeats

"way kewl" - Wallace Stevens


Ok, so you better learn it properly now: it is written "vampir", pronounced - vampeer.

Anyhow, didn't really know how to start a film thread, so now I'd like to introduce you to the first Serbian horror film, that possibly only conky - or is it davey here - saw; it was called Leptirica "Butterfly" (1973).





www.imdb.com/title/tt0200800/

Words cannot describe the utter horror this TV film (60 min) made on the Yugoslavian kids (me included) when it was shown (for the 2nd time only) in the mid 80-ies; during its premiere in 1973 one older fellow in Skopje (now capital of Macedonia) actually died of fear; it was that unusual for the Serbian cinematography (by that time made mostly of pathetic partisan movies).

It was filmed after a short story by a Serbian writer Milovan Glisic (1847-1908). Here he is:


"I'm gonna write this story which will fuck up all your kids brains for good, LOL!"


Glisic was heavily influenced by Gogol (in his youth he even translated some of his work into Serbian); and so was the director of this film, who decided to alter the end of Glisic's story and add the bit from Gogol's "Viy"; and I guess that's the most frightening bit - that typical Slavic metaphysical fear; even now when I'm seeing that wood where it was filmed and the old mill (in Serbian mythology the home of all the ghosts, witches, etc), I have this unpleasant feeling; my family still has got a holiday house in a region of Serbia called "Shumadija" (shuma - forest); 3 houses on each mile, surrounded completely by wood, during the day it's beatutiful, birds singing, sun shining, the wonderful nature; but when it gets dark... all you can hear are the crickets. Damn crickets! It's amazingly rural ambience; the peasants still talk - and they are quite convinced - that some of their fellow neighboures are vampires; that during the night you can quite clearly see a ghost of a young woman who visits her children to breastfeed them in their house made of mud (I saw the awful house, it was frightening even during the day), etc.

Shit, I can't type no more, 2 am... here are 2 clips of Leptirica on youtube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmBIfDw5cI8&mode=related&search=

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmRyQL9723U

edit: and even that fucking bird called "drekavac" (something like "howling") that can be heard as the only "soundtrack" for most of the scenes; once I heard it live walking through the woods and couldn't believe it, the damn thing actually exists.

[david]

I was going to say I'd never heard of it, but I think you mentioned it to me once along with some other Serbian films worth seeing. I went looking for them and found none of them were available in these parts. Those clips seem creepy enough, away.

My favourite vampires:
The Hammer films don't seem to be much appreciated by critics, but some of them are just flat out classics and the first of the Christopher Lee-Peter Cushing Dracula series is terrific.


Everybody knows this guy . . .


And a sentimental fave. I expect it would all look pretty tame these days, but this was pretty scary stuff when I was 8 or 9

[Cat Stevens]

Hello there conky, I knew you'd show up pretty fast.

I had always been a fan of horror films, but for some odd reason never of the Dracula ones. Until...

... I saw it.





I hate when they call it a remake; I always thought of it as an homage... we discussed this Herzog's masterpiece at length at the old place though, so nevermind the amazing soundtrack and the Brueghelian images now; what I'd like to say (shit, at 3 am) now is that it was a delight to watch again the repulsive count with rodent-like teeth, being actually afraid of the cross (nowadays: "ah, that shit doesn't work anymore, haha" - Carpenter's Vampires, for example), instead of a young sexy Dracula fucking his gorgeous model-like victim first, and only then sucking her blood... fucking hollywood, man...

[david]

Yes, but that rat-like monster vampire is more of a central European concept. Dracula is a completely different thing. Bram Stoker was an Irishman writing a Victorian era sex fantasy (while the other classic Victorian vampire novel, about lesbian bloodsuckers, was written by another Irishman, Sheridan Le Fanu). It's no wonder Hollywood picked up on it.

[manho]

sharon tate being persuaded to donate her blood:

[Cat Stevens]

sharon tate waiting to get persuaded to donate her blood:

[dino]

where is chucky manson?

[david]

Alfie Bass in The Fearless Vampire Killers was another great vampire. Somebody waves a crucifix at him and he says something like "Oy vey, do you have the wrong vampire!"

[Cat Stevens]

please David... you of all people should know that the correct - Roman's - title is "Dance of the Vampires".

agreed about the classic line you've quoted involving the jewish vampire... loved all the actors in it, but Jack MacGowran was amazing... who later did another famous horror flick and died several days after completing his part...

[owen]

not horror, but i watched this for the first time tonight

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oysXuCup67A

spencer tracy - one cool guy

[Cat Stevens]

"not horror"

it's a film thread.

it just started with that genre coz it had to start with something.

[david]

I think Spencer Tracy's cool too.

This is the film I saw last night:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnYyVBjDjHY


There's a film festival on here. I'm seeing Control, the film about Joy Division, tomorrow and I'm Not There on Sunday.

[owen]

what other tracy films are worth seeing?

ive seen the evolution vs creationist one

[manho]

northwest passage
pat and mike
the old man and the sea

[david]

Besides Bad Day at Black Rock, Inherit the Wind and the ones Nick mentioned (all worth seeing), there's also:
Libeled Lady
Quick Millions
Adam's Rib
Father of the Bride
The Last Hurrah
Judgement at Nuremberg
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Fury
Woman of the Year
San Francisco
Boom Town

To start with, anyway . . .

[Cat Stevens]

Coppola disses Pacino, De Niro and Nicholson

By Mary McSweeney Oct 18, 2007, 15:01 GMT


Francis Ford Coppola dissed Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino in a surprising critique of three of America's greatest actors in an interview.

New York Daily News Rush and Molloy report that Coppola directed Pacino in "The Godfather" and Pacino and De Niro in "Godfather II," and was uncredited when directing Nicholson in the Roger Corman horror flick "The Terror."

But in the new GQ magazine, Coppola reveals that he's disappointed in the three as they've gotten older — and richer.

"I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come," Coppola tells GQ's Nate Penn.

"They were young and insecure. Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. De Niro was deeply inspired by (Coppola's studio American) Zoetrope and created an empire and is wealthy and powerful.

"Nicholson was — when I met him and worked with him — he was always kind of a joker. He's got a little bit of a mean streak. He's intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios.

"I don't know what any of them want anymore. I don't know that they want the same things. Pacino always wanted to do theater ... (He) will say, 'Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I'm never going to go to L.A.,' but they all live off the fat of the land."

Rush and Molloy report that "not one of the actors would comment (De Niro and Pacino were on the set of Jon Avnet 's crime drama "Righteous Kill")."

Coppola is coming out with an art film, "Youth Without Youth," for the first time in 10 years, during that time he executive-produced daughter Sofia 's pictures and, ironically, De Niro's "The Good Shepherd" last year.

"I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would. Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times. I guess they don't want to do it anymore.

"You know, even in those days, after 'The Godfather,' I didn't feel that those actors were ready to say, 'Let's do something else really ambitious.' A guy like (38-year-old "Before Night Falls" star) Javier Bardem is excited to do something good: 'Let me do this' or 'I'll put stuff in my mouth, change my appearance.' I don't feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from those guys, because if it was there, they would do it."

tinyurl.com/3x2y65


Coppola disses De Niro, Pacino

Reel Life
Published in the Thursday, October 18, 2007 Edition of
By Ryan Malone


There is an unwritten rule in Hollywood: If you haven't made a good movie since 1979, then you aren't allowed to rebuke Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Jack Nicholson. Francis Ford Coppola has broken that rule. In this month's GQ, the artistic integrity of Pacino, De Niro, and Nicholson is questioned by the guy who directed Jack. Coppola claims the three greatest actors of his generation are just in it for the money, and that "they don't want to do it anymore." It bears note that Coppola didn't direct a single film for 10 years. This was probably not because he didn't "want to," but because he couldn't get Pacino, De Niro, or Nicholson to act like they were 9 years old for two hours.

[dino]

is coppola still alive?

[manho]

whatever you think about coppola, he's right about pacino and de niro.

i can't think of any other great actor who's made as many shite films as de niro.

[dino]

yeah, what was de niro last worthwhile film? cant even remember

hey nick, i heard there is highwater everywhere in your neighborhood

[Cat Stevens]

when I even hear on the telly in a commercial De Niro's name together with the moronic term "romantic comedy", it makes me wanna throw the damn box out of the window.