The Masters of Italian Exploitation series returns to Spectacle this March to showcase Luigi Bazzoni, one of Italy’s unsung masters of genre cinema. Bazzoni began his career as the assistant director to Mauro Bolognini before stepping into the director’s chair in 1963 with the short films DI DOMENICA and UN DELITTO. Two years later, Bazzoni would direct his first feature film, THE POSSESSED, and follow it up with four more. Even though he only directed five feature films in his career, they are regarded as some of the best Spaghetti Western and Giallo movies ever made.
LE ORME, Bazzoni’s final feature, played throughout 2023 at Spectacle, returning for the best of Spectacle in January 2024. This series will focus on his earlier Giallo films, THE POSSESSED and THE FIFTH CORD.
THE POSSESSED
(AKA LA DONNA DEL LAGO)
(AKA THE LADY OF THE LAKE)
dir. Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini. 1965.
Italy. 94 mins.
In Italian with English Subs.
FRIDAY, MARCH 8TH – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13TH – 10 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 23RD – 5 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 28TH – 7:30 PM
Upon returning to a sleepy lakeside town, a writer learns that the woman he had been infatuated with has died by suicide. Devastated by the news, he investigates her death and soon discovers a dark secret.
Bazzoni’s first feature-length film, THE POSSESSED, is a mastery of slow-burn mystery and suspense. The film delivers classic Noir tropes – a sad investigator, a mysterious woman, and a dead body – with flashes of excessive violence and a hint of the supernatural, foreshadowing the future of Giallo.
Thematically and tonally similar to Bazoni’s later film LE ORME, THE POSSESSED plunges the audience into a familiar tale of deception and self-doubt. Whereas LE ORME relied on color to create the film’s dream-like aesthetic, Bazzoni shot THE POSSESSED in black and white. The cinematography gives THE POSSESSED a haunted quality that accentuates the ominous atmosphere, resulting in a tone closer to a nightmare than a dream.
THE FIFTH CORD
(AKA GIORNATA NERA PER I’ARIETE)
(AKA BLACK DAY OF THE RAM)
dir. Luigi Bazzoni, 1971.
Italy. 93 mins.
In Italian with English Subs.
FRIDAY, MARCH 8TH – 10 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 12TH – 10 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 18TH – 10 PM
SUNDAY, MARCH 24TH – 5 PM
Andrea, an alcoholic journalist, is thrust into chaos after a killer targets his acquaintances. As the prime suspect, he must race against the clock to discover the killer’s identity and clear his name.
Where Bazzoni’s other thrillers inspired or drew inspiration from Giallo films, THE FIFTH CORD falls squarely within the genre. Even though the Giallo genre is often synonymous with eccentricity and violence, which this film has incredible flourishes of, Bazzoni doesn’t stray too far from his signature slow burn, reserved style. This combination makes THE FIFTH CORD an anxiety-inducing fever dream that will keep you guessing until the last moment.
With cinematography by Vittorio Storara (APOCALYPSE NOW, LE ORME), a score by Ennio Morricone, and a killer performance by Franco Nero, THE FIFTH CORD is widely considered one of the most visually and audibly stunning Giallos ever made.