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Spirits of the Dead

Spirits of the Dead

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Terence Stamp reminds me of a floating cat
Review: this film of three poe stories is based on moody imagery totally rare in cinema today.a painter as director's film,the shots become canvas.perhaps the stories are a tad tedious at times but it is the incredibly looking actors than spring into imagination.It is fellini's toby dammit that is pure dream.There is an ethereal japanese quality to the lighting into the framework of hell.terence stamp,no other actor besides christopher walken or david bowie comes close to his otherworldly stare,he only smiles when he loses his head.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: bardot, stamp--barbarella tramp!!
Review: This was a very interesting little watch. I would've never watched it if my new roommate, a recluse and fellow film student, hadn't rented it. It's actually three short films: One by Roger Vadim (French director of "And God Created Woman" and "Barbarella"), Louis Malle, and Fellini all based on stories by Edgar Allen Poe. When one short ends smoke sort of appears, acting as the seugeway to the next short, and then the title for the next one comes up.

Anyway
The worst one was by far the first one, the Vadim. Although very amusing. Jane Fonda speaks French and lusts after her cousin, coincidentally played by Peter Fonda, her brother. Not good at all. In fact bad, but very amusing.

The second one was probably my favorite, the Louis Malle. It's about this guy haunted by his dead ringer. Really cool. Liked this one a lot.

The last one was the Fellini and stared Terance Stamp as a drugged out, miserable, very famous actor. This one had some nice stuff, but dragged on too much just like Fellini movies always do. If he'd chopped ten or so minutes off the end it would've been an almost perfect short. Nonetheless it still had some really great, classic Fellini moments. Stamp being interviewd and then at the awards show thing were great. Just should've been a little shorter that's all.

All in all though, very interesting film. It was nice seeing some short films made by famous directors.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: INTERESTING STORIES HARD TO EXPLAIN
Review: Three different storylines in one movie In the first story Jane & Peter Fonda play lovers when one dies the other begin to have a passion towards horses, this story didn`t intrest me a bit. But famous french star Alain Delon who plays William Willson(the best story of the three)a renagade Australian Soilder who has gone crazy because he is haunted by an exact duplicate of himself everytime he commits a vile act. The last story in this strange and offbeat trilogy Is called Toby Dammit,

played by Terence Stamp a reckless film star at the end of his rope accepts a deadly bet if he can survive a car crash of some sort. Confusing but yet enjoyable as long you don`t think about it too much. This is certainly a film of the 60`s no chance nowaydays to pull off a film of this strange & obsuere subjects.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best film Fellini has done!
Review: Toby Dammit is the best thing I've ever seen Fellini do and I'm a HUGE Fellini fan! Truly, it is the only reason to watch Spirits of the Dead. Vadim's segment is tedious and boring although young Jane Fonda is always a delight to behold. I'm not a big Malle fan. His segment, although much more interesting than Vadim's, is hugely misogynistic. However, it's Fellini's Toby Dammit that is the crown jewel of Spirits of the Dead. Fellini's dreamlike hyper surrealism is perfect in a scary movie context. It quickly establishes a nightmarish scenario and never lets up for a second. Terrence Stamp is sexy and perfect as Toby. Fellini uses subdued lighting and a subtle color palette instead of his trademark Technicolor kaleidoscopes. The run time at 40 minutes is the perfect length (length is one of the tiny faults in many Fellini films). The highlight definitely is the high-speed race through the streets of Rome at night and there are so many influential elements that it's astounding, everything from aphex twin's scary grinning face to Sweet Charity's outlandish costumes to the opening of David Lynch's Lost Highway to the creepy ghosts from The Ring or The Grudge. There is an incredible velocity to Toby Dammit that I've never seen in any other Fellini film. If this is your first foray into the phantasmagorical world of Fellini, you may be disappointed with his other works. Usually his films meander along, slowly unfolding like a lovely dream. It only makes me wonder what Fellini could have done if he ventured into making scary movies.


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