What’s up and welcome back! I know, it’s crazy. It feels likes it’s been forever since C&C popped in. But I needed to squeeze something in before March comes and goes. And I made it just in the nick of time!
Since March Madness is in full swing (for all you college basketball heads out there) I figured I’d dig into some flicks about real madness. The crazies, the cuckoos, the criminally insane. The schizos and the sickos. The freaks and the freaking nutsoids. You know who I’m talking about! As my ex-psychiatrist would say, “people living with mental health issues.” So, psychos? Shout out to Dr. Aziz — the man with a Red Bull always glued to his hand.
The two main flicks I’m featuring is Liliana Cavani’s second film, L’Ospite / The Guest (1971) and Janie (1970) by Jack Bravman, Roberta Findlay, and/or Michael Findlay — who really knows. Plus some others tossed in there just for fun.
The Quick Gist
L’Ospite is about a woman who’s spent half her life neglected in an insane asylum. When she’s finally released to live with her brother and her family, she struggles to acclimate to normal life.
Janie is a sexploitation flick about a sicko teenager who gets her rocks off killing people.
L’Ospite
Cavani’s L’Ospite is the most serious flick in this featured bunch. Anna, a 40 year old woman who’s spent nearly all of her adult life in an asylum, finally is discharged to live with her brother and his family. But adjusting to normal life proves to be much harder than previously imagined.
In the asylum, Anna has her routines, and finds comfort taking care of a young catatonic boy. But when she has to leave him for a supposedly better life, she quickly realizes the world has moved on without her. The world outside the hospital’s walls is nearly just as cold and uncaring.
She tries to find solace and healing, but is always met with disdain. No one cares, no one understands. It’s a heartbreaking movie about people who refuse to show empathy to those living with mental illness, ultimately perpetuating the cycle that led Anna to her fate in the first place.
I quite liked this movie, and I think it’s definitely worth a watch.
Janie
Janie is a chick with serious daddy issues and weird hang ups about sex. This psychedelic sexploitation movie is just over an hour long, so you’d think it’d be a relative breeze. But unfortunately it kinda just drags on. The jam band score by The Fear (not Fear, the punk band) that plays for the entire run time surely doesn’t help. But if that’s your thing, you might want to tap in for some Janie.
It’s sleaze galore: sex, violence, and rock n roll. Really, it’s not even that sleazy. Maybe for 1970. But by all accounts, a bit tame now. Except for the dad obsession. That’ll always be a lil freaky.
A few different directors are credited on this one. Sometimes just Jack Bravman, other times it’s Jack Bravman and Roberta Findlay, and other times it’s Jack, Roberta, and her husband Michael Findlay. Who really knows! Both the Findlays make appearances though, so that’s something.
I’d say this is pretty much for Roberta Findlay completists or serious lovers of exploitation. Because it’s really not the crème de la crème of the sexploitation crop.
Some More Flicks to Go Crazy Over
These films can be watched through Plex. Need access? Send a request!
La rupture/The Breach (1970) - Claude Chabrol
Often considered the Hitchcock of France, Claude Chabrol’s 1970 film examines a family and marriage in total breakdown. Charles is a father and husband struggling with drug addiction and mental illness. After he commits a heinous act against his son, Michel, Hélène decides to file for divorce. But unhinged Charles goes to extreme lengths to keep full custody of his son.
A Woman’s Torment (1977) - Roberta Findlay
Another Roberta Findlay flick. By comparison, this one is much better than Janie. A pretty decent movie overall if you’re into the genre. Many consider this one a "hardcore Psycho," and a "porn rip off of Repulsion." It's about a mentally unstable woman who holes up in a beautiful beach house. Suffering from paranoia and hallucinations, she ultimately is compelled to kill. I wrote about it before, and you can read more about it here.
Dark (2017) - The Paul Schrader Cut
This flick isn’t necessarily difficult to access, but I figured I’d throw it up anyway. It stars Nicholas Cage, a CIA agent who has to track down a terrorist before he totally loses his mind to dementia.
Apparently Paul himself uploaded his cut to Pirate Bay after he was wholly dissatisfied with the producer’s cut of the film, originally titled Dying of the Light. Paul in his own words:
Dark was filmed in 2013 and released in 2014 under the title “Dying of the Light”. The film was taken from me after the first director’s cut, re-edited, scored and mixed without my input.
I offered to revisit the film, cut and mix a new version at my own expense but was denied permission by the producers.
This cut was created using work print DVDs. I had no access to the original hi-res footage and unmixed sound. I used those limitations to my advantage when creating this new film.
I was working toward a more aggressive editing style when “Dying of the Light” was taken away from me. “Dark” represents the direction I was hoping to go.
“Dark” was not created for exhibition or personal gain.
The Driller Killer (1979) — Abel Ferrara
This is not on C&C, but it is on TUBI and we rep tubi. It’s his first real feature after his porn debut, 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy. Long gone are the days when you could go from porn to multi-picture deal. An Abel Ferrara classic, The Driller Killer follows a struggling artist, played by Ferrara, who slowly goes insane, and begins to stalk the streets of NYC, murdering people with… you guessed it… a drill.
Alright, so that does it for March. Lots of movies from 1970. Maybe people don’t lose their minds as much anymore? Anyway, hopefully these flicks will hold everyone over. Thanks for watching, thanks for reading, thanks for sticking around!
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