#but the attitude of the cult still permeates the camp

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

So obviously the entire Feanorian Host as a whole is a bit intense about the cause, but I feel like there’s different levels of devotion between their individual followers.

So my question to you is, from least to most intense, which Feanorions followers are the most cult-like and why?

the cultishness absolutely varies by region! i'm being a little facetious when i call them an out-and-out cult, but fëanorian minion culture certainly has... tendencies. the isolationism, the way loyalty to the group supersedes absolutely everything, what they do to those who 'betray the cause,' not to mention how absolutely psyched they get at the opportunity to do murder. still, the precise way that manifests, as well as how intense they are about, does change a lot depending on where you are in east beleriand. surprisingly it doesn't track that much with how tolerant of outsiders each subdivision is, which is most evidenced by:

the gap: maglor and his cronies are easily the most xenophobic part of the host, which is both a cause and a consequence of them having probably the least regular contact with non-fëanorians out of all the armies of east beleriand. paradoxically, this gives them very little incentive to go full cultist; much of the deliberately off-putting stuff the rest of the host does is partially to distinguish them from the outgroup, which isn't something you need to do when everyone you deal with is either part of the gang or an obvious enemy. they still do the elaborate facial deformations, they still have a bit of a Thing about fire, but the thing that's holding them together is much less utter devotion to the cause and much more the organic friendships and kinship bonds between riders

there's a few other reasons why the folk of the gap are relatively less culty. the gap is sparsely populated to begin with, and most of its population is at least semi-nomadic; it's a lot harder to cultivate that kind of obsession when everyone's off doing their own thing most of the time. while the gap doesn't have the highest headcount of mithrim sindar - as stated above, its population is tiny even by east beleriand's low standards - it has more mithrim sindar as a proportion of the population than anywhere else in east beleriand, and the culture of the gap has this big mithrim sindarin focus on community and clan to counteract the noldorin tendency to sacrifice everything for grand ideals. the general lack of new recruits from outside the host only serves to intensify all of this; the riders of the gap fight together because of the spiderweb of social and personal obligations that link them all together, not necessarily because of the cause (though that is still a factor, i want to be clear.) this fairly isolated society held together by individual and familial bonds stands in stark contrast to:

himlad: the thing about celegorm and curufin's people is that they're up against the fuzzy border between east and west beleriand, between maedhros' definitely-not-a-kingdom and the finarfinians' section of fingolfin's defensive line. as such, they're more or less constantly in contact with the outside world, coordinating troop movements, sharing information and resources, recruiting from the same sindarin populations. there's still a clear delineation between the fëanorians and the fingolfinians, partially because there's a lot of mountains between their major centres and partially because this lot actually do have an other to define themselves against and thus a reason to emphasise their own identity, but there's a lot of chatter and petty squabbling and philosophical discussion and a steady regular connection to the outside world counteracting the worst of the cultishness. unlike pretty much any other part of the host, the himlad minions never really lose the sense that they belong to a greater community of elves

which explains what they do in nargothrond. i don't believe that literally every single one of their followers abandoned celegorm and curufin, but i'd buy it was a lot of them, maybe even most of them. it helps that it's specifically the finarfinians their lords are betraying, the people they've - perhaps not fought side by side with, but who definitely always had their backs. even without that, though, the very existence of that relationship means they're used to working with people from outside the host, getting to know them, empathising with them, which is a pretty hefty counterbalance to the specific the-whole-world's-out-to-get-us undercurrent of internal propaganda. by no means was it an instant switch, or an easy one; after finrod got ousted there was a ton of interhost politicking and debate and the occasional brawl as everyone tried to figure out what to do. but the fact that the question was even open says a lot, i think. that probably wouldn't have been the case even in:

thargelion: caranthir’s domain is the most heavily populated part of east beleriand, and the settlement at lake helevorn is the closest thing it has to a city. a significant portion of that population aren’t fëanorians by even the loosest definition; they’re dwarven traders or miscellaneous humans or sindar far enough from the front line of the siege they can just keep on with their lives the way they always have. the fëanorians (and here, more than anywhere else, that’s a fuzzy category; this is the easiest part of the host to join, and the easiest to leave) are mixed in with all these groups, negotiating supplies, managing tribal levies, patrolling the roads, state stuff. out of all the subdivisions of the host, the thargelion minions are the hardest to distinguish from outsiders.

to keep their ingroup coherent, then, they actively mark themselves out. the minions in thargelion are probably the loudest about their collective identity and the cause and the joy of bathing in your enemies’ blood and all that. they have weird midnight rituals and purpose-built meeting halls and elaborate coded language, and while being overly tyrannical about it would be bad for business there’s definitely a sense that they form a tightly knit core which looks after its own above all else. that image is somewhat complicated by the aforementioned blurry edges of the thargelion host - is the sindarin bureaucrat who’s never touched a weapon in her life but plays a vital role in the military administration a fëanorian? is the noldorin freeholder who pays very little attention to the day-to-day minutia of the war but keeps his sword sharp for the hour it is needed? - but the alliance of old soldiers at its heart is a clear and palpable thing, especially when you can feel its eyes. when their hackles aren’t up the minions are perfectly happy to mingle socially with the other peoples of thargelion, though, which sets them apart from:

himring: on the frontlines of the siege of angband, with all the nightmares of the north pressing directly on their spirits, maedhros’ followers stoke the flames of their devotion high. the warriors of the cold fortress are less showy about their fervor than their counterparts in thargelion or even himlad, but the ardour underlying it is markedly more intense; they don’t have much in the way of over-the-top rituals, but they have vast amounts of ironclad unspoken rules they follow unwaveringly. they’re polite to outsiders, sometimes even welcoming, but you never forget that you are, in fact, an outsider, and that himring and its satellite forts form an internal world others can never quite see. even to other fëanorians, they come across as aloof

their fervour also tends to manifest as a deep personal loyalty that borders on reverence towards maedhros himself. all the brothers command respect, of course, they’re all magnetic personalities who draw people in and bind them together, but maedhros’ minions are on a whole other level. they mythologise him, tell stories of his deeds like he personally holds the line against morgoth, treasure the slightest contact with him, hold being called to his direct service as the highest honour of all. most of the new recruits to the himring host are brought in by the vast pull of maedhros’ reputation, from all across beleriand and even from the north. but no matter where they came from, they all understand that they will fight and live and die together beneath the banner of their lord. which is a bit weird, even by fëanorian standards, but they’re nowhere near as bad as:

ossiriand: amrod and amras’ henchelves are considered by the rest of the host to be notably psychotic, which is saying a lot. the minions of ossiriand are utterly terrifying, absolutely fanatical about the cause, the most bloodthirsty murder cult in east beleriand. you’d think the green-elves they share their territory with would act as a calming influence, but in practice the two groups mostly avoid each other, because the green-elves naturally prefer to stay away from these nutbags. you’d think being away from the front lines would lessen the need to solidify their identity through cult nonsense, but in practice it gives them the free time to go full gonzo. most of the horrible rumours you hear about the fëanorians in the rest of beleriand are either specific quirks of the ossiriand minions, or most egregrious in the ossiriand minions. they have an orc pit

or so they’d have you believe. the fëanorians in ossiriand effectively serve as the host’s intelligence division, scouts and spies and saboteurs. a lot of their work is clandestine by its very nature, and they tend to be pretty secretive about what they actually do. half the things you hear about them are probably disinformation, lies they’re deliberately spreading to make themselves sound scarier. hopefully, at least. as anyone who’s chatted with an ossiriand minion knows, they are both eagerly awaiting the fulfilment of the oath, and already preparing for what will come after

(this paradigm does break down after the siege is broken and the union of maedhros fails and the dregs of the armies of east beleriand wind up stuck in the same ever-shrinking territory. still, i think the origins of the survivors are... interesting. the people of the gap were almost completely wiped out in the bragollach, the people of himlad mostly jumped ship with celebrimbor, even the people of thargelion took heavy losses in the nirnaeth. but the people of himring stood firm around their lord, and the people of ossiriand were never really frontline fighters in the first place. minions from the more cultish parts of the host tend to survive longer, and in greater numbers. i feel this could have... consequences)

#ask #whotookliterallyallthenames #feanorian minions #maedhros #beleriandic politics in a nutshell #my terrible headcanons #post nyanyannya askbox clearout #like by the time elrond and elros show up most people are too tired for cult bullshit #(except that one guy who quintupled down as a coping mechanism) #but the attitude of the cult still permeates the camp #cults aren't about silly rites after all #they're about relationship to the outside world. and control #this was a lot of fun to write! had more headcanons than i thought i did #feanorian-state-in-east-beleriand-worldbuilding is a weird special interest to have but holy hell do i have it #feel like i could pinpoint the stereotypes each part of the host has about the others now #but yeah i think all the 'positive' aspects of their culture fell away as the cause became unreachable #leaving only the really nasty stuff

[sgrayonderii]

a knight does not die with empty hands

SSM20 prompt #30: Only One

Sasuke’s old habits are hard to break. Rated K

Their romance begins in an utterly mundane fashion, and Sakura wouldn’t have it any other way. 

She doesn’t have a story of cosmic and world-ending consequences like Naruto’s or Hinata’s. And unlike Ino and Sai, there are no evil cult leaders and daring rescues.

Her story and Sasuke’s story are those quiet nights walking back side-by side after a hospital shift. It is a soft affection that grows at the table sipping tea while talking about the weather. Just a girl and a boy and the emergence of something deeper.

---

They don’t hold hands. Not really. 

Sasuke has never been a proponent of public displays of affection and Naruto finds it to be a great insult on her behalf. 

“You two are acting the same as always,” Naruto berates Sasuke one day as they all are having dinner. “How are we all even supposed to know you two are dating?

Taking offense to the comment, Sasuke hisses back “We’re not dating. We are courting.”

“What’s the difference?! It’s the same thing!”

“You’re an idiot.” 

“And you don’t know how to romance a lady!”

The two continue to argue loudly until Sai informs them that management is unhappy with the noise level and considering kicking them out. Hero status notwithstanding

---

When they were younger, Sakura took great pride in being one of the few allowed to touch her beloved Sasuke-kun. Normally he rejects any shows of affection and comfort, especially if they involve hugs and hand holding and touching of any kind. 

Although he never did quite look happy when she wraps her arms around his middle or hooks their arms together or when she cries over him when she thinks she lost him, Sasuke doesn’t quite shake her off either. 

In fact, there are even times when Sakura thinks those stray touches have a deeper meaning. Their intertwined hands in a dark forest. The desperate embrace during his descent into madness. His arm catching her before she falls. 

Things are different now. Sakura doesn’t quite love him like she used to and Sasuke doesn’t really hate her as much as he claimed. And they are so weak for each other. 

Now when Sakura grasps his hand, threading their fingers like a promise, he smiles so softly at her. It makes Sakura fall a little more. 

---

Except there are times, more often than not, she notices that Sasuke isn’t at ease as he seems. 

He grits his teeth when they shop hand in hand at the market. Sweat drips from his brow, his breathing quickens, and his grip on her hand tightens whenever someone approaches too close. There is a slight trembling in their clasped hands whenever someone stops to talk with them on the streets.

He accepts her hand and her arms and her affection, but Sakura knows he is uncomfortable. He always has been a private man and she feels guilty for forcing him out of his comfort zone. She worries that due to his never ending penitence, he feels he has to indulge her.

So Sakura tries to reduce the amount of times they touch each other in public. She makes sure to stand at a respectable distance, hoping to ease his anxiety even just a bit.

Perhaps that’s why Naruto complains about Sasuke’s aloofness. Or why Ino wonders how he is still so cold to her. Or why Kakashi sometimes looks at them with pity. 

To the outside world, that’s what it must look like. A foolish girl in love with a heartless man. 

It hurts to not be able to express her love, but she loves him enough to compromise her desires for his comfort. 

Yet, away from prying eyes, Sasuke is more receptive. He actively seeks out her embrace. Her hands, her lips, her love. He holds her closer and closer still.

So when he asks if she would leave with him, Sakura knows it will be good for them. Things will be different. 

---

Sasuke is not much better even with the scenery change. 

When they are on the road, Sasuke is still on edge. He tenses when she reaches for him. He jumps when she extends her arm.  He clutches his sword a bit tighter when she draws near. 

Yet sometimes, when the night is so quiet it seems like they are only ones in the universe, he inches closer and closer still until they are one. 

She finds herself feeling disappointed hoping that being away, from Konoha, from expectation, from everyone, would change things. 

Sakura does not understand. And all she ever wanted was to understand him. 

---

The ambush had been a surprise but hardly a battle for their combined skill. A few thieves on the road are nothing compared to what they have already seen. The highwaymen are quickly apprehended and left with the nearest officials. 

Despite this Sasuke throws himself forward as vanguard, first to engage. Afterwards he brushes her off, never meeting her eyes or responding to her concerned inquiries. When she reaches for his only hand, he all but snatches it away, horrified. 

“You know I could have taken them.” she tells him after they make camp as he methodically wipes the blood from his sword. “I am perfectly capable of fighting, you don’t have to jump in front every time.” 

Sasuke continues cleaning his weapon, “It’s not like that.” 

“Then what? Why are you acting like this?”

Sakura is frustrated. It’s one thing to be protected, it’s another thing to not be trusted to protect herself. And the weeks and weeks of his hot and cold attitude, she finally reaches her limit. 

She sits down across from him seething and does not speak to him the rest of the day. 

----

As they settle in for the night, she senses Sasuke lying down next to her in their makeshift tent. She is facing away from him and he turns to her. Sakura is aware of the heat radiating from him like an imploding sun.

Then slowly, ever so softly, he reaches for her. 

His fingertips barely brush against the back of her shirt before he clutches the fabric between the tips of his fingers. Sakura almost believes she is imagining it if not for the slight trembling of his only hand.

For a long time they are still. The only sound permeating the tent is the night outside and the synchronization of their breathing. 

Eventually Sakura turns to face him, the only man she’s ever loved. She brushes his hand away from her shirt. Sasuke is startled by her sudden movement, but when she intertwines their fingers he relaxes. He brings their connected hands to lips as a silent token of gratitude. 

Sakura notices that the trembling still hasn’t subsided. 

This time she reaches for him. Her other hand cups his cheek and brings him close until their foreheads touch.

“I’m sorry.” 

“Sasuke-kun, it’s…” but he cuts her off. 

“I trust you, I do. I just...” There is a faraway look in his eyes. “I have only one.” He squeezes their clasped hands. 

She already knows about his qualms about a prosthetic arm. He had told her once upon a time ago that he didn’t deserve it. It is both a reminder of his sins and a testament to his atonement. 

“If I couldn’t protect you because I was…” she follows his gaze to the shape of their connected palms, “Distracted.”

There is a long silence, “If something were to happen to you, I don’t think I could forgive myself.”

---

The next morning when they set off, Sakura grabs his empty sleeve. She wraps it loosely around her wrist as if they are bound together. 

This is her new oath

Sasuke is surprised but does not try to shake her off. Sakura raises her opposite hand and clenches it into a fist. 

“If something happens, I’m sure we can take them one hand behind our backs! Together” 

And the way he smiles afterwards is so gentle makes her fall for him a bit more. 

--- 

Sarada unsurprisingly starts to learn to walk much quicker than her parents  initially anticipated. 

Sakura watches with amusement as their daughter attempts to stand using Sasuke’s pant leg as purchase. Her husband is very patient and always carefully helps Sarada back up when she loses balance. He murmurs words of encouragement that Sarada doesn’t understand but nevertheless welcomes. 

Eventually, Sarada grows tired of just standing and attempts to take her first step. Unfortunately she overestimates her gross motor control and starts to topple forward. Her father catches her before she falls. 

Not deterred, Sarada tries again. This time with her using her father’s hand for balance. 

As she takes another step, Sakura takes her daughter’s other hand. Sarada takes another step. Her husband glances over at her, but she finds instead of a tense gaze it is one of contentment. 

And the Uchiha family walk together hand in hand, one small step at a time.

A/N: Oof and that’s it for me this month! SSM is always so fun so I’m glad to be able to participate again. Thank you for reading! Happy SSM20 and stay safe!

#sasusaku #ssm20 #ssm20d30 #sasusaku month #sasusaku fanfiction #Sasuke Uchiha #Sakura Haruno #sakura uchiha #sarada uchiha #sgrayonderii

[phantomofthepairofdice]

Double Features 2: Splatter, Splicer, Slander, Slasher

Considering the fact that we’re locked down and most folks aren’t going out much, why not settle in on a weekend with double feature. As part of a series of articles, I’ve decided to suggest some titles that would make for an interesting pair. It’s a time commitment like binging a few episodes of a TV show, and hopefully these double features are linked in interesting enough ways that it has a similar sense of cohesion. They also can be watched on separate occasions, but the lesser the distance between them, the more the similarities show. Do it however you want, really. I’m merely a guy on the internet, and that qualifies me for absolutely nothing! Enjoy at your own risk.

This template is back! I wanted to suggest a few more double features, but this time keep them in a specific genre: horror. I love horror movies, and I realized that I hadn’t really given them their due on this here blog, so I wanted to remedy that by showing a lot of love across a lot of different movies. I’ve put together some international movies, some classics, some that are silly, some that are serious, and even a bonus suggestion hidden in one of these blurbs. So without any more ramble in the preamble, here are four new suggested double features.

Note: The pairs are listed in the order I think best serves them being seen.

Hausu & Evil Dead II:

Hausu aka House (not to be confused with 1985 American horror film of the same name) has sort of transcended cult movie status to become a staple of off-center horror-comedy. Directed by recently deceased Nobuhiko Obayashi, the film shows his roots in advertisements with every shot designed for maximum effect, a (still) cutting edge approach in the edit, and a joyous, playful approach to special effects. It’s a gauzy and dreamy romp about a group of schoolgirls who head to the countryside on vacation. While staying at one of their aunts’ house, the supernatural hauntings begin, and heads start to roll (as well as bite people on the butt). It’s the type of movie where the main cast of characters are named Gorgeous, Kung Fu, Melody, Prof, Mac, Sweet, and Fantasy and they each have corresponding character traits. I was lucky enough to catch this at a rep screening at the Museum of Fine Arts a few years ago (further proof that this has gone beyond the cult curio status), and this is absolutely a movie that benefits from having a crowd cheer and laugh along - but it’s fairly easy to find and still has lots of pleasures to be enjoyed on solo watch. I’m pretty much willing to guarantee that if you enjoy it on first watch, you’ll want to share it with others. Now, where does one start when talking about Evil Dead II? Sam Raimi is rightfully as well known for his start in the hair-brained splatter genre fare as he is for his genre-defining Spider-man films. The influence of the Evil Dead movies is nearly unquantifiable, apparent in the work of directors like Edgar Wright, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, and the Korean New Wave filmmakers like Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook. There’s a reason that the second film of his Evil Dead odyssey is the one that people hold in highest esteem, though. There is an overwhelming gleeful creativity, anything goes, Looney Tunes approach to it that makes the blood geysers, laughing moose heads, and chainsaw hands extend beyond gore and shock into pleasure. It’s been noted over and over by critics and Raimi himself that the Three Stooges are probably the biggest influence on the film, and by golly, it shows. Evil Dead II and Hausu are pure in a way that few other movies can be. Both of these movies are an absolute delight of knowing camp, innovative special effects, and a general attitude of excitement from the filmmakers permeating through every frame. They’re a total blast and, in my mind, stand as the standard-bearers for horror-comedy and haunted house movies.

Total Runtime: 88 minutes + 84 minutes = 172 minutes aka 2 hours and 52 minutes

The Thing (1982) & The Fly (1986):

Feel free to roll your eyes as I explain the plots of two very famous movies. The Thing is John Carpenter’s body horror reimagining of Howard Hawks’ The Thing from Another World and the story that was adapted from, “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr. The film is centered around a group of men in an arctic outpost who welcome in a cosmic force of shape-shifting annihilation. What ensues is a terrifically scary, nihilistic, paranoid attempt to find who isn’t who they say they are before everyone is replaced with the alien’s version of them. The film is a masterpiece of tone in no small part due to Dean Cundey’s photography and Ennio Morricone’s uncharacteristically restrained score. The real showstopper here, though, is the creature effects designed by Rob Bottin with an assist from Stan Winston – two titans of their industry. There may not be a more mind-blowing practical effects sequence in all of movies than Norris’ defibrillation – which I won’t dare spoil for anyone who hasn’t seen it. The story is so much about human nature and behaviors, that it’s good news that the cast is all top-notch – anchored by Kurt Russell, Keith David, and Wilford Brimley. While The Thing is shocking and certainly not for anyone opposed to viscera, David Cronenberg’s The Fly is the best example of a movie not to watch while eating. Quite frankly, it’s got some of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen on film. Chris Walas and Stephen Dupuis’ makeup effects are shocking, but the terror is amplified because this builds such a strong foundation of romance in its opening stretch between Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis in what might be their career-best work. The story is simple: a scientist creates a teleportation device that he tries out himself, but unknowingly does so with a fly in the chamber with him. When he reatomizes on the other end, his DNA has been integrated with the fly. Slowly his body begins to deteriorate, and he transforms into a human-fly hybrid. While this is first and foremost a science-fiction horror film, it’s truly one of the most potent love stories at its center. The tragedy is that the love, like the flesh, is mutated and disintegrated by the hubris of Goldblum’s Seth Brundle. Here are two remakes that – clutch your pearls – outdo the original. They both serve as great examples of what a great artist can bring by reinterpreting the source material to tell their version of that story. The critical respect for Carpenter and Cronenberg is undeniable now, but both of these movies make the case that there are real artists working with allegory and stunning craft in less respected genre fare. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to transpose the thematic weight of the then-new AIDS crisis onto both films, but they both have a hefty anti-authority streak running through them in a time where American Exceptionalism was at an all-time high. If you want to get a real roll going, fire up the ’78 Invasion of the Body Snatchers first to get a triple dose of auteur remakes that reflect the social anxieties of the time and chart from generalized anxiety to individualistic dread to romantic fatalism.

Total Runtime: 109 minutes + 96 minutes = 205 minutes aka 3 hours and 25 minutes

Theatre of Blood & The Abominable Dr. Phibes

That old Klingon proverb that Khan tells Kirk about revenge being a dish best served cold is challenged by these two Vincent Price tales of the macabre. They posit that revenge is best served in extremely convoluted and thematically appropriate predecessors to the Saw franchise. Where Saw trades in shock and extremity, though, these classic horror tales offer an air of panache and self-satisfied literacy. In Theatre of Blood, Price plays a disgraced and thought-dead stage actor who gets revenge on the critics who gave him negative reviews with Shakespeare-themed murder. There’s good fun in seeing how inventive the vengeful killings are (and in some cases how far the writers bend over backwards to explain and make sense of them). It’s a little rumpled and ragged in moments, but Price is, of course, a tremendous pleasure to see in action as he chews through the Shakespeare monologues. Imagine the Queen’s corgis with a chainsaw and you’re on track. Phibes came first and, frankly, is the better of the two. The story is about a musician who seeks to kill the doctors who he believes were responsible for his wife’s death during a botched surgery. The elaborate angle he takes here is to inflict the ten plagues from the Old Testament. I hesitate to use a word that will probably make me come across as an over-eager schmuck, but it really feels best described as phantasmagorical. It’s got this bright, art deco, pop art sensibility to it that’s intoxicating. It also has a terrifically dark sense of drollery - it knows that you can see the strings on the bat as it flies toward the camera. Aesthetically, it feels adjacent to the ’66 Batman show. The music is great and the indelible image of his tinker toy robot band, The Clockwork Wizards, is a personal obsession of mine. Both Theatre of Blood and The Abominable Dr. Phibes feature great supporting turns from Diana Rigg and Joseph Cotton, respectively. Settle in for a devilishly good time and enjoy one of cinema’s greatest vicarious pleasures: getting back at those of criticized or hurt you.

Total Runtime: 104 minutes + 94 minutes = 198 minutes aka 3 hours and 18 minutes

Blood and Black Lace  & The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The final pairing comes from beyond American borders and, to some, beyond the borders of good taste. Mario Bava and Dario Argento are likely the two biggest names in Italian horror, and that’s for very good reason. Bava, who started as a cinematographer, has made loads of movies (even the film which gave Ozzy Osbourne and crew the name their band name) that have tremendous visuals and terrific sense of mood. Argento, probably most famous now for Suspiria, emerged onto the Italian film scene a handful of years later and picked up that baton from Bava to crystallize the dreamy logic puzzles cloaked in hyper-saturated colors. These two films are regarded as quintessential in the giallo genre – named for the yellow covers of the pulp crime fictions that inspired them. As someone who loves the flair that can be applied to make a slasher film stand out amongst their formulaic brethren, I found that the giallo made for a smooth transition into international horror. Blood and Black Lace is a murder mystery that’s as tawdry and titillating as its title suggests. Set in an insular world of a fashion house in Rome, models are being murdered. The plot feels like a necessity in order to create a delivery system for the stunning set pieces that revolve around a secret diary. Bava puts sex right next to violence and cranks up the saturation to create something thrillingly lurid. Six years later, Argento made his first film which has often been credited for popularizing the giallo genre and already is playing around with some of his pet themes like voyeurism and reinterpretation. Built around an early set piece (that stacks up as one of the best in thrillers) in which a man is trapped but witnesses a murder, the film sees said man trying to find the piece of evidence that will make the traumatic killing make sense. Like Bava, it blends sex and violence with tons of flair, including a score by the aforementioned Ennio Morricone. The film is absolutely on a continuum between Hitchcock and De Palma. If you’re looking for a pair of exciting horror/thrillers, or even an entry point to foreign genre cinema, this is an accessible and enjoyable place to start.

88 minutes + 96 minutes = 184 minutes aka 3 hours and 4 minutes

Well, there you have it. Eight movies, and hours of entertainment curated by some guy with no real qualifications. If you’re interested in some more suggestions (in horror and other genres), stay tuned for the next entry in this Double Features series. And if you’re looking for a way to watch these movies, I highly recommend the app/website JustWatch where you can search a title and see where it’s available for streaming or rental. Happy viewing.

Thanks for reading.

#evil dead #evil dead 2 #hausu #hausu 1977 #the thing #the fly #theatre of blood #dr phibes #blood and black lace #bird with the crystal plumage #double feature