Scream (not to mention Track of the Vampire and Playgirl Killer). Emile’s garish home is the real-life abode of
sculptor and social gadfly Baron Sepy Dobronyi, who undoubtedly also provided some of the gilded artwork (the Baron later allowed Gerard Damiano to shoot Deep Throat there). This DVD- R release is rounded out with trailers for other Dixie-lensed exploitation titles from SWV’s vast library, including Orgy of the Golden Nudes (an alternate version of Honeymoon with grubby nude inserts), as well as Sting of Death, Moon- shiner’s Woman and The Gruesome Twosome. PAUL GAITA
Twinsane in the Membrane
GOODBYE GEMINI (1970) Starring Judy Geeson, Martin Potter and Alexis Kanner
Directed by Alan Gibson Written by Edmund Ward Scorpion Releasing
The alternate title for Goodbye Gemini is Twin-
sanity, which could also function as a one-word review. Based on the novel Ask Agamemnon by Jenni Hall, Goodbye Gemini tells the tale of Jacki (Judy Geeson) and Ju- lian (Martin Potter), a pair of preco- cious, blonde and blue-eyed twin siblings returning from South Amer- ica to a London home owned by their absentee father. Secretive and unusually close, the brother and sis- ter seem most comfortable convers- ing with Agamemnon, a stuffed doll carried around by Jacki. Once set- tled into their new digs, though, they immerse themselves in the shady underbelly of London’s nightlife. But even the drugged-out hipsters
with whom they frolic notice something is amiss about these two: besides dressing alike, the in- cestuous overtones of their relationship are obvi- ous to the other partygoers. Upon meeting Clive (Alexis Kanner), a ringleader of sorts who wel- comes them into his inner circle with sinister in- tentions, Julian is raped by two transvestites as Clive takes photos. A degenerate gambler, Clive tries to use the pictures as blackmail to repay a debt, but things don’t play out to his expectations. Instead, Julian talks Jacki into helping him dole out Clive’s just desserts, which the knife-wield- ing twins serve up in a rather ritualistic manner, all while covered in long sheets. It is definitely one of the film’s most memorable scenes. Despite the craziness, brutality and murder,
Goodbye Gemini plays out as a slow, character- driven piece that is more psychological thriller than horror. Relying on a few instances of dis- turbing imagery and stylized cinematography, it scores several notches above Gibson’s directo- rial outings for Hammer (Dracula A.D. 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula – two of the worst entries in that particular series). Plus, the music
refreshingly sidesteps the usual James Bernard- style of orchestral scoring so prevalent in British thrillers of that era in favour of contemporary soul and funk numbers, including “Tell the World We’re Not In,” an infectious title track by The Peddlers. Scorpion’s release fea-
tures an audio commentary by Judy Geeson and pro- ducer Peter Snell, who three years later, would produce The Wicker Man (1973) and is currently in post-produc- tion on The Wicker Tree. Oddly enough, as you can see by reading the previous review of Girly, this isn’t the
only 1970 British thriller about insane child-like siblings to be released by Scorpion. Who knew? ERIC VEILLETTE
Stone Cold Stabbin’
KNIFE OF ICE (1972) Starring Carroll Baker, Alan Scott and George Rigaud
Directed by Umberto Lenzi Written by Luis G. de Blain and Umberto Lenzi MVD Visual/Wham! USA
Fans of Italo-genre workhorse Umberto Lenzi
may come to Knife of Ice, his third giallo with foxy American ex-pat Carroll Baker, expecting the same abundance of sesso e violenza as Orgasmo (1969) and Paranoia (1970), but the end result hews a lot closer to Hammer’s early ’60s Psycho carbons such as Scream of Fear. Taking his cues from Robert Siodmak’s The Spiral Staircase, Lenzi gives Baker a chance to do more than just look scared in various states of undress as Martha Caldwell, a sweet young girl left mute after witnessing her par- ents’ death, who’s now living an idyllic existence with her uncle Ralph (George Rigaud) in rural
Goodbye Gemini: And hello brutal murder!
France. The arrival of cousin Jenny (willowy Ida Galli, billed as “Evelyn Stewart”) throws her life into turmoil, as a psychopath – and a Satan-worship- ping one to boot – has also come to town and be- gins claiming those closest to Martha, starting with Jenny. Is the killer the local hippie? Sinister chauf- feur Marcos (Eduardo Fajardo)? Or bland, sorta love interest Dr. Laurent (Alan Scott)? The answer is steeped in the outta-left-field psy-
chology so typical of gialli, which should please devotees of the form. And the events leading up to it unfold with some suspenseful pacing and at- mosphere, most notably in an early scene where Martha and Jenny are stalked on a foggy street while stranded in a parked car. What’s lacking, as mentioned, is the level of sleaze and gore that typified the giallo in the early ’70s; the murders are delivered with a paucity of blood, and aside from a few sec- onds of Stewart in a nightgown, Knife is a particularly mild-man- nered entry (though there are two moments of animal death, and some bullfight footage). That, and the cliché-and-red-herring-heavy
script by Luis de Blain and Lenzi are what sepa- rates this picture from the better gialli, including Lenzi’s own Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972) and Eyeball (1975). However, if one wants to in- troduce the genre to a newcomer (or an overly squeamish viewing companion), Knife of Icemight be the place to start. Micro-label Wham! USA’s DVD is letterboxed, and makes excellent use of Marcello Giombini’s woozy score in its menus and slideshow of stills.
PAUL GAITA 69RM
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