Mariangela Giordano Movies
Euro-horror master Jesús Franco directed this oddball blend of terror, comedy, and music video. The Killer Barbys are a flashy and trashy hard rock band out on the road. En route to their next show, they find themselves hopelessly lost and are forced to take shelter at the estate of Countess Von Fledermaus (Mariangela Giordano). While the Countess seems like a pleasant enough host, the band discovers she has a deadly secret -- she feeds on the blood of strapping young men to stay young and vital, and lead singer Silvia Superstar is soon forced to save her male bandmates from the clutches of the Countess. The Killer Barbys also features Carlos Subterfuge and Pepa Lopez. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
This stylishly photographed horror movie centers upon a beautiful, good-hearted schoolteacher whose life becomes a living hell after she is chosen to bear the son of Satan. Her horrible ordeal begins when an ancient enigmatic traveller places an ancient, supposedly extinct, insect up her nose. It crawls into her brain. She soon begins having terrifying dreams and more. When she learns the awful truth about her relationship with the Dark Master things get even worse. Still the baby is born and the poor woman faces a terrible and, genre-wise, surprising choice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this comedy, Saverio (Carlo Verdone) and his brother-in-law Filippo (Sergio Castellitto) both work at a travel agency which is wholly owned by their wives. In effect, they are their wive's employees. In the course of doing his job, Saverio discovers that his brother-in-law is setting up a woman in an apartment using company money. If this is what he thinks it is, Filippo is going to be in trouble. He goes over to meet Alice (Ornella Muti), the lady in question, and instead of sustaining a sense of outrage, he is bowled over by her charm, her beauty, and the poignancy of her story. Before long, both brothers are condoning what they imagine to be an affair the other one is having with the cagey Alice -- when in fact, she is fancy-free. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo Verdone, Ornella Muti, (more)
- 1990
Serafina, Pulcinella and Isabella are three lusty, beautiful members of a traveling theatrical troupe touring the French countryside in the 17th century, leaving in their wake a crop of broken hearts. This picaresque romantic comedy is based on the 1863 novel Le Capitaine Fracasse by Theophile Gauthier. In the story, the company stops at a castle owned by the scruffy young Baron de Sigognac (Vincent Perez), who is deeply smitten with the charms of the middle-aged (and somewhat morose) beauty Serafina (Ornella Muti). He decides to travel with the company, and Serafina perversely tries to get him to woo the youngest of the company, the newly bereaved Isabella (Emmanuelle Béart). When the company plays before a group of noblemen, the three women make yet more conquests, a few of them unwelcome, and a series of competitions and duels for the hearts of the lovely ladies follows, before everyone settles down with the "right" person. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Massimo Troisi, Ornella Muti, (more)
- 1988
Millionaire Volpone (Paolo Villaggio) recruits his new butler Mosca (Enrico Montesano) to fool three heirs to the family fortune in this engaging comedy. Gathering around the deathbed, the potential heirs compete for favors of Volpone. One man offers the keys to his Maserati, a married friend offers his beautiful wife and the local mayor (Eleanora Giorgi) for a final night of passion, and another signs over his luxury yacht, hoping it will be returned by Volpone after his death. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paolo Villaggio, Enrico Montesano, (more)
- 1987
Carlo (Carlo Verdone) is a responsible sibling who deals with his black-sheep sister Silvia (Ornella Muti) in this situation comedy. When Silvia returns after many years to attend her mother's funeral, Carlo deals with the fallout caused by her many love affairs. Carlo is convinced to kidnap Silvia's child whom she left in a Hungarian children's home, but she soon abandons Carlo and the baby when she takes up with a British rock star. Elena Sofia Ricci co-stars with Sebastiano Balaw in this hilarious homecoming. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo Verdone, Ornella Muti, (more)
- 1987
Two men becomes friends when they are among a dozen people attending a two-week survival camp in this amusing comedy. The group gathers in the Amazon rainforest, and Silvio (Renato Pozzetto) and Mario (Enrico Montesano) are the odd couple who are paired together to survive. Silvio is a banker, there on the advise of his psychiatrist, while Mario tries to overcome his insecurity after being abandoned by his wife. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renato Pozzetto, Enrico Montesano, (more)
- 1981
Another entry in a nearly endless string of Italian variants on George A. Romero's zombie films, Andrew Bianchi's Le Notti del Terrore borrows its scenario most heavily from Night of the Living Dead. The story opens with a loony professor unsealing a crypt and releasing voodoo-animated corpses, who immediately make up for lost time by devouring him and every other living human within reach. They eventually gate-crash the professor's posh country villa where a collection of painfully annoying upper-crust types are throwing a party... and since these jet-setters are also phenomenally stupid, the shambling zombies are soon enjoying a human buffet. Virtually plotless, this silly little gore-fest may hold a certain perverse appeal for those looking forward to seeing these obnoxious characters eaten alive (at least the zombies have the good sense to keep silent). The most outrageous scene comes when a young mother is so overjoyed to see her weird, huge-headed son (played by an adult dwarf) back from the dead that she immediately decides to breast-feed him! ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karin Well, Gian Luigi Chirizzi, (more)
When the daughter and wheelchair-bound brother of a recently deceased aristocrat are placed in the care of a lecherous nun, the atmosphere around a remote Italian castle becomes thick with dread and debauchery in director Mario Bianchi's masterpiece of Euro-sleaze. Antonio is the latest in a long line of wealthy landowners. A merciless brute who abuses women, steals his brother's pain medication, and buries the rotting corpses of anyone who dares cross him deep in the cellar, Antonio is husband to insatiable nymphomaniac Maria. As the film opens, Maria has died. But this is only the beginning of the abhorrent events about to unfold in the castle, because the nun responsible for bathing her daughter and handicapped brother soon becomes overtaken with a dark sexual urge that leads to commit the ultimate act of sacrilege, and the once-innocent daughter embarks on a frenzied rampage of sex and murder after becoming possessed by the vengeful spirit of her late mother. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Giallo specialist Mario Landi directs Patrick Still Lives, a thriller about a boy named Patrick who seems to possess powerful telekinetic capabilities, even though he is in a deep coma. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Craig Hill, whom baby boomers will remember as one of the stars of TV's Whirlybirds, heads the cast of this spaghetti western. Hill, Ken Wood and Peter White play three hardened convicts who are given a second chance. A Mexican youth has been framed for murder. Our "heroes"' mission: find the real killer. No Graves on Boot Hill didn't see much American play until it was released to TV syndication in the late 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
In this spaghetti western, an evangelical bounty hunter teams up with another to bring an outlaw gang that has been sneaking illegal immigrants over the border to sell as slaves to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1968
In this spaghetti western, a nameless stranger begins looking for revenge against the man who brutally murdered his friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Harrison
- 1967
Djurado (Dante Posani acting as "Montgomery Clark"), is a gun-slinging professional gambler in this weak spaghetti western from director Gianni Narzisi. Djurado struts into a small town and wins half of the local saloon, the other part of which belongs to Barbara (Scilla Gabel). While winning Barbara's heart, Djurado battles notorious outlaw Tucan (Luis Induni) and saves the town of Silver Mine for peace and true love. Maudlin and predictable, this tiresome effort brings nothing new to the genre and will be of interest to completists only. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this Italian comedy set in the 16th-century, a prince and a princess marry. Trouble ensues when a rumor that they have not consummated their marriage is circulated. The prince's father is most concerned, as a virgin marriage means he will have no heirs. He insists that the marriage be annulled. He then requires his son to marry another, but his current wife's family will not agree to the annulment until the prince proves he is a capable lover. The prince refuses to cooperate until his father threatens to cut him off financially. The prince then is paired with a virgin, and eventually passes his test. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
When Prince Don Vincenzo Gozanga (Vittorio Gassman) decides to remarry after his divorce, the father of the bride-to-be demands proof of the Prince's virility. Soon the whole town is talking about the Prince and what will become of his royal command performance before the prying eyes of his future father-in-law in this costume comedy drama that takes place in 15th-century Italy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
