MONDO ESOTERICA

Just a quick note - this computer I have Frankenstinianly assembled from the remains of the faithful machine that has served me since the first days of this website, has finally given up the fight and is just awaiting the arrival of its replacement before a meeting with a shotgun behind the cattle shed comes a calling.

Mondo Esoterica will return in September as soon as I get the new machine up and running.

Stay tuned…

Finding and getting to enjoy a lost cinematic gem is the aim of all film reviewers, unfortunately Tonino Ricci’s Encuentro en el abismo is not by any stretch of the imagination a “gem”. Instead this terminally dull Bermuda Triangle cash-in is all but unwatchably bad, while at the same time lacking enough crummy special effects to make it ironically enjoyable. Even the presence of Spaghetti Western veteran Gianni Garko does nothing to help.

Now quite hard to find on DVD, it is certainly not worth the effort.

Wild East present another fine Spaghetti Western double-bill, this time featuring a duo of performances from little known Jugoslavian actor Anthony Ghidra. Tequila Joe is the reason to get this set - a well written, solidly directed film with a very good leading performance from Ghidra and looking very good on DVD. A Hole Between the Eyes is rather generic but worth watching once and makes for a nice bonus feature.

And with that Mondo Esoterica hits 60 complete Spaghetti Western reviews! Stay tuned for loads more to come as well…

As if you needed proof that Mondo Esoterica is the most versatile DVD review site on the web, a review of something completely different. Riddle of the Sands is a classic British adventure novel, well adapted for the screen with Michael York in the lead role. Recommended for all fans of period adventure films.

Alan Steel and Rosalba Neri star in a wonderfully daft attempt to combine Peplum and Pirate films Hercules and the Black Pirate (1964) available as a decent if unexciting print from Retromedia. More interesting is the grand scaled  Sandokan the Great (1963) starring Steve Reeves and directed by Umberto Lenzi. Filmed on location in Sri Lanka it is highly enjoyable and would make for a great Sunday matinee.

Will this do? A new review of two little known, storyline focused Spaghetti Westerns from Wild East. Hate Thy Neighbour (1968) and Django the Last Killer (1967).

I’ve also thrown in updated biographies of Horst Frank and Ferdinando Baldi - the most detailed English language biographies of these two important players in the Spaghetti Western available on the internet.

Hope that is enough to keep things moving, more updates coming real soon (honest).

Not quite the frequent updates I was planning. Lets see if I can’t find something in my archives for tonight.

One of the most controversial actors of his day, John Drew Barrymore was born into an acting dynasty and appeared in several films, but his hard living reputation and several spells in jail saw him unable to find work in the US and instead, like many actors during the period, he travelled to Italy to find an industry desperate for imported talent.

He appeared in several adventure films including a few Pepla and I have reviewed one of his most unique entries, the horror themed Roma Contro Roma (1964). If you want to read the full story of the Barrymore family’s black sheep, I have also uploaded an all new biography.

So I take up where I left off in August, with Spaghetti Westerns and a look at Wild East’s recent Demofilo Fidani double bill. Notorious for his low budget Spaghetti Westerns with their alluring titles, this DVD marks the first English language release of the two titles and the first time to really see their charms. Low budgeted, poorly scripted and with terrible music, they have a wonderfully innocent charm to them and Spaghetti Western fans will certainly be interested in this rare chance to see an example of the low budget exploitation films that cropped up in their dozens during the Spaghetti Western era.

The disc includes Dead Men Don’t Make Shadows (1970) and One Damned Day at Dawn… Django Meets Sartana! (1970) with their original trailers, plus a forty minute interview with star Hunt Powers which contains loads of interesting stories about making Spaghetti Westerns and is worth the price of admission alone.

I have also uploaded an all new Spaghetti Western guide and an updated biography of Fabio Testi.

Getting right back into the world of cult cinema, I take a look at the late, great Vincent Price.

An all new biography is first, but I also have new reviews of the Corman Poe productions Tales of Terror (1962) and Tomb of Ligeia (1964) and the lesser known independent anthology horror Twice Told Tales (1963). There is Price’s solo television play An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe (1972) and the 3-D horror of House of Wax (1953) which saw Price in his first horror movie leading role.