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Starring: Peter Fonda, Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Terrence Stamp. Written by Daniel Boulanger, Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim and Bernardino Zapponi based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini. France/Italy. 121 minutes. |
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Spirits of the Dead is an Edgar Allan Poe anthology film with a difference. The result of a French-Italian co-production, it stands out as a true oddity in both the Poe adaptaion and the horror anthology genres. Consisting of a trio of tales directed by three European filmmakers (Vadim, Malle & Fellini) not normally associated with fright films, the Baron first caught this on late, late, late, LATE night network TV when he was but a wee sprout and was simply blown away by its somber tone and dreamy imagery. A fairly recent addition to home video and DVD, it's a true pleasure to see that time hasn't done a stitch to diminish its power. Aside from the fact that they're all inspired by Poe stories, the three segments all share one common theme: the all-consuming, all-destroying power of GUILT.
The first story in the bunch, "Metzengerstein", stars Jane Fonda (who at the time was Vadim's wife) as the vain, decadent, orgy-throwing Contessa Frederica, a real cold-hearted bitch who becomes fixated on her cousin - a brooding, solitary Baron (played by Jane's brother Peter) - when he has the unique distinction of being the only person ever to have the audicity of refusing her sexual advances. Hell-bent on getting a little righteous payback for this unthinkable insult, the Countess dispatches one of her lackeys to set fire to the Baron's stable and barbecue his precious horses. The plan goes awry, however, when the Baron is consumed in the inferno along with his beloved steeds. The next day, a mysterious black stallion appears in Fonda's courtyard, not allowing anyone but the countess to touch him. It's a kinky, obsessive, atmospheric yarn that is far more successful in evoking a Gothic mood than Vadim's flaccid (and inexplicably highly-praised) Blood and Roses. And the casting of brother and sister Fondas gives it all a strange, incestuous twist.
Louis Malle's episode, "William Willson", features debonair Alain Delon as the titel chracter- a handsome, charismatic, and consumately wicked bastard whose life is plagued by that most cerebral of monsters: the doppleganger. Whether he's bullying and tormenting a weaker child in military school or, later, about to orchestrate the gang-rape of a woman in medical school, his evil efforts are continually foiled by a fellow who looks exactly like him and whose name, it just so happens, is William Wilson too. A case of Mr. Hyde being dogged at every turn by a pesky Dr. Jekyll. Things build to a head when the evil Wilson engages a brunette Bridget Bardot in a friendly game of cards. The stakes? Her ASS! Wilson cheats his way to victory and is about to claim his luscious prize, when who should walk in but...
For my money, "William Wilson" is the best of the bunch, a really intense number about a willfully cruel man's submerged guilt made manifest. And if you're a fan of flogging scenes like moi, you're just going to adore the scene in which Delon puts Bardot to the lash. BOING!
Towards the end of his career, Federico Fellini expressed his regret at having never directed a horror movie. However, Fellini did indeed make a short horror film here in the form of the final chapter of Spirits of the Dead, called "Toby Dammit". A very pale and vampiric looking Terence Stamp plays a self-descructive alcoholic English actor who travels to Rome to star in a Spaghetti Western about the life of Christ (sounds like something Alejandro Jodorowsky might have directed!). Stamp is soon haunted by visions of a spooky little girl (Lucifer?) with a rubber ball. Although it's derivative of Bava's classic Kill, Baby... Kill!, Fellini did exceptionally well here with his one and only dalliance with the genre and it's a damn shame he never returned to it.
If you're fond of high-class, top-shelf horror movies like Kwaidan, Spirits of the Dead is an absolute must. If you're looking for blood n' guts and tits n' ass packed Euro-sleaze look elsewhere... but oh MAN is that Bridget bardot flogging scene hot! Ah-ah-AWROOOOOOOOOOOO!
***1/2 Skulls Full of Maggots |
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