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Video Nasties Lurid Trumps – Series 3

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Gods & Monsters

Lurid Trumps are a card game based on the fondly remembered Top Trumps of the 1970’s and 1980’s, themselves based on an even older game called Quartets. The third in a series of four covering the so-called Video Nasties films banned in Britain during the 1980’s, the final two sets will cover the Section 3 films – those which were not banned outright but which could still be seized by local authorities and the owners/sellers tried at magistrates courts.

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Produced by UK-based company, Gods & Monsters, Lurid Trumps are a card game playable by two or more players. Each player is dealt an equal number of cards from a shuffled pack, keeping the face of the card shielded from prying eyes. From the dealer’s left, each player in turn reads a category and score from their top card – the highest value wins, the winner taking all the cards played in that hand and placing them at the bottom of their stack. The ultimate winner is the player left with the most cards.

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The first two series of Video Nasties Lurid Trumps covered the 72 films banned outright as a result of the Video Recordings Act 1984, which required all home released videos to be assessed and rated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The 72 films listed by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) were each given a rating on their respective cards. The categories are:

Gore Score

Gratuitous Sex

Infamy Level

Nasty Rating

Each is given a rating out of 100 – no one card is impossible to beat. With the first two sets having sold out within days (and now commanding absurdly high prices on internet auction sites), Gods & Monsters have now released the penultimate set, covering the murky world of titles classed as “Section 3”. These films were liable to get a conviction under the lesser section three of the Obscene Publication Act:

3. In section 3(5) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 (exempted supplies), for paragraphs (b) and (c) substitute—

“(b)does not, to any significant extent, depict any of the following—

(i)human sexual activity or acts of force or restraint associated with such activity,

(ii)mutilation or torture of, or other acts of gross violence towards, humans or animals, or

(iii)human genital organs or human urinary or excretory functions, and

This would mean the confiscation and destroying of video tapes ordered by a magistrate but were not considered to be capable of getting a conviction at the High Court – though there were examples of guilty pleas at Magistrates Court.

The list of the Section 3 titles is as follows:

Abducted

Aftermath

The Black Room

Blood Lust

Blood Song

The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll

Brutes and Savages

Cannibal (aka Last Cannibal World)

Cannibals

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Child

Christmas Evil

Communion

Dawn of the Mummy

Dead Kids

Death Weekend

Deep Red

Demented

The Demons (Jess Franco)

Don’t Answer the Phone!

Enter the Devil

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein

The Evil

The Executioner

Final Exam

Foxy Brown

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th Part 2

GBH

Graduation Day

Happy Birthday to Me

Headless Eyes

Hell Prison

The Hills Have Eyes

Home Sweet Home

Inseminoid

Invasion of the Blood Farmers

The Killing Hour

The Last Horror Film

The Last Hunter

The Love Butcher

The Mad Foxes

Mark of the Devil

Martin

Massacre Mansion

Mausoleum

Midnight

Naked Fist

The Nesting

The New Adventures of Snow White

Night Beast

Night of the Living Dead

Nightmare City

Oasis of the Zombies

Parasite

Phantasm

Pigs

Prey

Prom Night

Rabid

Rosemary’s Killer (aka The Prowler)

Savage Terror

Scanners

Scream for Vengeance!

Shogun Assassin

Street Killers

Suicide Cult

Superstition

Suspiria

Terror

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Thing

Tomb of the Living Dead

The Toy Box

Werewolf Woman

Wrong Way

Xtro

Zombie Holocaust

Zombies Lake

Zombies -Dawn Of The Dead

As with the previous sets, the cover card will feature a key figure in the history of the Video Nasties saga: following in the footsteps of Mary Whitehouse (Series 1) and former BBFC zealot James Ferman (Series 2), Series 3 will feature Graham Bright, an MP who was particularly outspoken about films he’s never actually seen, going as far to suggest that some of the films had the power to even corrupt innocent dogs who may be watching! Having been made a Sir (British democracy at its finest?), keen dog-protector Bright is now a highly-paid Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner, although he finds it difficult to attend meetings that finish “too late in the evening”…

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The Musk

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‘Please do not disturb Tony. He already is!’

The Musk is a 2015 American-Italian horror film produced, written and directed by George Nevada.

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Cast:

Fabrizio Occhipinti (as the mutant Tony Maio), Frances Williams, Antony Ferry, Raphael and Danny Willis, Marcello Iaia, Ruby Miller, Francesca DiCaprio, Gabrielle Bergère.

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Plot:

Farmer Tony Maio turns into a fierce mutant because of a meteorite impact on Earth. Disguised as a scarecrow in order to hide his appearance, he starts to kill people with a machete to satisfy his bloodlust…

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Teaser 1:

Teaser 2:

IMDb | Official website | Facebook


Death Smiles at Murder (1973)

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Death Smiles at Murder – aka Death Smiles on a Murderer (Italian: La morte ha sorriso all’assassino) – is a 1973 Italian horror film photographed and directed by Aristide Massaccesi [aka Joe D’Amato] from a screenplay co-written with Claudio Bernabei and Romano Scandariato.

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Main cast:

Ewa Aulin, Klaus Kinski (Nosferatu the Vampyre; Schizoid; Venom), Angela Bo, Sergio Doria, Luciano Rossi (City of the Living Dead), Attilio Dottesio, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart.

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Plot:

1909: A rich couple take in a young girl who was in a horse carriage accident and has amnesia, and both have an affair with her. Meanwhile, Dr. Sturges (Klaus Kinski) uses an ancient Incan formula to raise the dead for his own series of revenge murders…

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Languid, yet morbidly compelling, with a delirious amount of close-ups of the actors eyeballs, Massaccesi’s focus on eroticism and necrophilia predates his 1979 ‘nasty’ Beyond the Darkness yet is considerably more arty – which perhaps explains why it remained pretty obscure until the digital age? Despite a baffling plot, the gothic ambiance and stylistic presentation are engaging. Meanwhile, the cast seem to believe in the nightmare scenario, especially Klaus Kinski who is typically manic.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

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“The plot cuts back and forth and twists and turns in upon itself as if to mimic the many bulging veins in Klaus Kinski’s forehead. Despite its nonsensical story, the film itself is surprisingly inviting. D’Amato pulls off a number of impressive scenes, in particular a montage of flirtation and fornication…” Jason McElreath, DVD Drive-In

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” … benefits greatly from high quality cinematography (helmed by D’Amato), terrific locations, and a perfect soundtrack by the great and under-appreciated Berto Pisano (Burial Ground, Interrabang), all of which are integrated together to create one of the best looking and sounding gothic horror era pieces that’s the stuff of dreams and nightmares.” At the Mansion of Madness

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“Just when you think you’re beginning to figure things out, random stuff happens that leaves you scratching your head, like the maid’s hallucinations, the unexplained revival of Eva in her tomb or the flowers that turn into a cat. Despite its drawbacks, though, it’s a highly entertaining, sumptuously made piece of trash cinema that holds up to repeated viewings.” Filmiarity

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” … achieves a hallucinatory ambience reminiscent of Mario Bava or Antonio Margheriti. At its worst it is as crude and banal as could be expected from a film-maker who later went on to specialise in sex / horror hybrids and outright porn.” Giallo Fever

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Cast and characters:

  • Ewa Aulin – Greta von Holstein
  • Klaus Kinski – Dr. Sturges
  • Angela Bo – Eva von Ravensbrück
  • Sergio Doria – Walter von Ravensbrück
  • Attilio Dottesio – Inspector Dannick
  • Marco Mariani – Simeon, the butler
  • Luciano Rossi – Franz, Greta’s Brother
  • Giacomo Rossi-Stuart – Dr. von Ravensbrück, Walter’s Father
  • Fernando Cerulli – Professor Kempte (as Franco Cerulli)
  • Carla Mancini
  • Giorgio Dolfin – Maier – Ballet dancer
  • Pietro Torrisi – Dr. Sturges’ Mute Assistant (uncredited)

The Virgin of Nuremberg (1963)

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‘Women’s virtues made him a killer!’

The Virgin of Nuremberg is a 1963 Italian horror film directed by Antonio Margheriti (Castle of Blood; Killer Fish; Cannibal Apocalypse) [as Anthony Dawson] from a screenplay co-written with Edmond T. Gréville and Renato Vicario. The film’s brassy score is by Riz Ortolani (Mondo Cane; Cannibal Holocaust).

Horror-Castle

The film’s original Italian title is La vergine di Norimberga and it has also been released as The Castle of Terror (UK, by Compton Films) and Horror Castle (USA, by Zodiac Films). 

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Main cast:

Rossana Podestà, Georges Rivière, Christopher Lee, Jim Dolen, Lucille St. Simon, Patrick Walton.

Production:

The Virgin of Nuremberg was based on an Italian paperback novel La vergine di Normberga, issue #23 in the KKK series of Italian pulp paperback novels. These novels were part of a trend of cheap paperback novels that blended Gothic, horror and erotic styles.

KKK-Vergine-di-Norimberga

The film’s producer, Marco Vicario, was the co-founder of the company G.E.I. who published the KKK paperbacks. Margheriti changed elements of the plot of the story to include a war and surgery subplots. The film also removes some of the more extreme elements of the novel, such as a part where a man severs a woman’s nerve before pulling out almost all of the bones from her body.

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Many sources state that giallo specialist Ernesto Gastaldi was credited as Gastad Green, but he has denied contributing to the film’s writing, stating he may have discussed plot elements with Margheriti, but did no actual writing. The official documents relating to the film’s production credit Marco Vicario’s brother Renato Vicario as Gastad Green.

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Plot:

When Max Hunter leaves his American bride Mary alone in his German castle, a series of gruesome slayings occur in the abandoned torture chamber. In a shocking revelation, a hideous phantom killer, with a ghastly Nazi past, stalks the castle corridors and dusts off some of the tools of torture for some fresh bloodletting…

Reviews:

” … a totally illogical script in which virtually every plot development hinges upon the heroine’s bottomless stupidity and complete lack of any sense of self-preservation!” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

” … the film isn’t without its problems, which mainly reside in the script. The amazing, literary style quotes of so many classics are sorely missed here and the dialogue is merely average. The plot displays only one decent twist but it is ahead of its time in the way of being quick to the punch and this trait separates it from the vast pack of slower, story building gothic horrors.” Brett H., Oh, the Horror!

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“As a director, Antonio Margheriti provides few of the subtle, wonderfully atmospheric moments present in his more successful Castle of Blood. Instead, Margheriti prefers to stun the audience with gratuitous gore and graphic tortures that disgust rather than frighten.” Lawrence McCallum, Italian Horror Films of the 1960s 

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Buy Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

“It’s a stylish, atmospheric and effective gothic horror film…” Monster Minions

“The script and the dialogue are ludicrous, but the extraordinary cruelty of the film – like the rat cage placed over a woman’s face, with predictably terrifying consequences – soon chokes the temptation to laugh and the efficient special effects arranged by Margheriti himself makes for some impressive scenes.” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

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” … worth it, especially if you like cold violence, as Margheriti pushes the limits with his tortures” Danny Shipka, Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980

“The ultimate explanation is so far-fetched that it borders on goofy, but if you can handle such things, the film might satisfy.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Screen Shot 2016-01-31 at 17.07.56

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Cast and characters:

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Choice dialogue:

Max Hunter: “Was he a moralist? Or a maniac?”

Max Hunter: “The war left my spirit in a worse state than Erich’s face.”

Martha: “You shouldn’t trust strange Americans.”

The Punisher: “Instruments of torture are more or less the same, wherever you go!”

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Offline reading:

Bizarre Sinema: Horror All’Italiana 1957 – 1979, Glittering Images, 1996

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Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957 – 1969 by Roberto Curti

Italian-Gothic-Horror-Films-1957-1969-Roberto-Curti-Ernesto-Gastaldi

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Italian Horror by Jim Harper

italian horror jim harper

Buy: Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

Italian Horror Film Directors by Louis Paul, McFarland, 2010

Italian-Horror-Film-Directors-Louis-Paul-McFarland

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Spaghetti Nightmares by Luca M. Palmerini, Gaetano Mistretta, Fantasma Books

Spaghetti Nightmares

Buy: Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

Italian trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: antoniomargheriti.com


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