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Violence is Italian art-Lucio Fulci Thread of Classic Italian Horror and Explotation

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Manos: The Hans of Fate

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Just a place to talk shop on classic Italian Horror films-Fucli, Bava, Argento, Lenzi, Mattei, Castellari, Martino, Deodato, ANTONIO MARGAREEETTTII, and others.

Let's fill the thread up with DVD/VHS/LD/CD covers, our collections, gory scenes, talk of great cinematography and music.

Only one rule: Don't start talking about how awesome Argento is and say you learned about him from Juno!
This is how we deal with hipsters in this thread.
commandoshedscene.gif


I'm celebrating me being done law school (knock on wood) with Italian art! I watched Zombie this morning (fun, but nowhere near the best Fulci movie) and now I'm watching the great Blue Underground DVD of CONTAMINATION aka Alien Arrives on Earth (Cozzi's preferred title).

contamination%20uncut%20dvd.jpg


So what have you been watching recently and what are you Italian Horror, Giallo, Sleaze, Ripoff Mania films?
 
I love the Martian cave scene in Contamination. Also the Goblin score is awesome.

Any other gory Italian sci-fi recommendations? I've seen most of the available horror and giallo stuff.
 
Big fan of Argento's work. Suspiria and Profondo Rosso in particular. Recently watched Cemetary Man (due to GAF praise), and I suppose you could say it fits in this topic. Very cool flick.
 
Last thing i've watched was Hell of the Living Dead and yesterday i've watched the Interviews on the Zombi 3 DVD (bought the whole Zombie Pack).

Mattei really doesn't seem to like his movies :lol And it's amazing that a shitty movie like Zombi 4 has such a good Soundtrack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ-YAzovtAY :D
 
While I won't gush over Argento (though I could), but I feel the need to give a shout out to Goblin's soundtrack work. Love Tenebre stuff the most, but all their work for Argento is pretty good.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
So no one here likes Italian Horror and Sleaze?
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I'm just getting back into it...my dad was a huge Argento/Romero/obscure Italian/european horror movies. He had us watch all the original Dead films, "Zombie", "Cemetery Man", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie".

But I haven't gotten into Dario Argento that much (blasphemy, I know). Some of his films are on Netflix watch instantly--recommendations?
 
Count Dookkake said:
I love the Martian cave scene in Contamination. Also the Goblin score is awesome.

Any other gory Italian sci-fi recommendations? I've seen most of the available horror and giallo stuff.
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The gateway to awesome my friend. Guy who runs it is really cool.
http://www.trash-online.net/
http://www.trash-online.net/dvd-POST.htm

Hmm, lets see....I haven't seen all of these, but I've seen parts of most of them. Anything with asterisk next to it has my personal recommendation. Keep in mind some are Post Apoc films. Some are also objectively bad, but I still enjoy watching them and not in some bullshit hipster way.

Alien from the Deep (Alien degli abissi, 1989)
Alien 2 (Alien 2 sulla Terra aka Alien 2 on Earth, 1980)
Endgame (Italian title: Endgame - Bronx lotta finale, 1983)
2019 After the Fall of New York*
Rome 2072*
Raiders of Atlantis (I Predatori di Atlantide aka Atlantis Interceptors, 1983)
Robowar*********
Shocking Dark*
Hands of Steel*
Raiders of Atlantis*
Rats Night of Terror*

Bruno Mattei's scene for remake of Aliens!
Shocking Dark aka Terminator 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS3xgakrHcQ
Raiders of Atlantis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ0m-idDCLg&feature=related
Hands of Steel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqk2QuI4iTY
Zombies: The Beginning (the second remake Mattei did of Alien's, but with Zombies!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQY0qNp-Y3w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5PMo3bM8s0&feature=related
Rats Night of Terror
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzoTaeCIrIg&feature=related
ROBOWAR!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3NOa8WfrKo

I'll add some more later.

I want some opinions on those trailers though!
 
Stitch said:
Last thing i've watched was Hell of the Living Dead and yesterday i've watched the Interviews on the Zombi 3 DVD (bought the whole Zombie Pack).

Mattei really doesn't seem to like his movies :lol And it's amazing that a shitty movie like Zombi 4 has such a good Soundtrack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ-YAzovtAY :D
Click to expand...

Mattei was awesome! Yes, they're bad, but at least they're fun to watch. Granted the nature footage in Hell of the Living Dead is madness, the dubbed over UN footage is hilarious though. He still has unreleased movies made when he died. He's like the Tupac of Italian Exploitation!

Zombie 3 has an interesting production history. Zombie 4 is totally fucking nuts, especially the 80s pop song AFTER DEATH!!
 
Goblin doing the soundtracks for these films has always been the best part of the movies.

They just know exactly how to get it right.
 
I love Mattei, he's so awful. Rats makes for an awesome, awesome movie night. When you watch Zombi 3, you can definitely pick apart what was the original Fulci stuff and what Mattei did after the fact.

Also, gotta put some love out there for Sergio Martino. I love the gialli of his that I've seen: Torso, All the Colors of the Dark, and Blade of the Ripper (Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh). He's a master of suspense.
 
BattleMonkey said:
Saw 'cat in the brain'.... I still don't know if I liked it :lol

Some of it was pretty lol worthy
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Keep in mind that anything without Fulci in it was all footage from other films (some not even his own, not even his best ones made with good resources).

wenis said:
Goblin doing the soundtracks for these films has always been the best part of the movies.

They just know exactly how to get it right.
Click to expand...
Not just Goblin, but Fabio Frizzi, Stevlio Cipliani, and tons of others!


BattleMonkey said:
Awesome music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUEC8dNeeYE
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A track that has always been a part of my study music. :D
 
Trombone Zombie said:
I love Mattei, he's so awful. Rats makes for an awesome, awesome movie night. When you watch Zombi 3, you can definitely pick apart what was the original Fulci stuff and what Mattei did after the fact.
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He's awful, but he's entertaining and genuinely fun to watch. It's an important distinction. The way to tell Mattei footage is SWAT teams usually. :lol

Also, gotta put some love out there for Sergio Martino. I love the gialli of his that I've seen: Torso, All the Colors of the Dark, and Blade of the Ripper (Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh). He's a master of suspense.
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I've only seen his 2019 After the Fall of New York.
 
Awesome thread idea! I rented House by the Cemetery not long ago. Classic Fulci - creepy atmosphere, great soundtrack, unsettling ending, and gore...Made me nice and depressed that night. :D

Would love if someone could make a gif of the drill murder from City of the Living Dead. That scene really got to me as a kid. There was nothing even supernatural going on there as I recall - it was just a random homicide in the midst of everything else screwy going down.
 
Fourth Storm said:
Awesome thread idea! I rented House by the Cemetery not long ago. Classic Fulci - creepy atmosphere, great soundtrack, unsettling ending, and gore...Made me nice and depressed that night. :D

Would love if someone could make a gif of the drill murder from City of the Living Dead. That scene really got to me as a kid. There was nothing even supernatural going on there as I recall - it was just a random homicide in the midst of everything else screwy going down.
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Yeah, it was Fulci commenting on vigilante justice and facism.
Horror is not a goal in itself to me. I am basically interested in the fantastic. As a matter of fact, there are few horror scenes in City of the Living Dead; tension is the important thing in this film. I have given up on horror for horror's sake, instead I wanted to make a nightmare film where horror is ubiquitous, even in apparently innocuous forms. Horror only appears in two scenes in a spectacular way, let alone the fact that the drill scene is a warning I wanted to give against a certain type of fascism, the girl's father killing the young guy in such an abject way just because the young guy is different, a frightened victim who, like the so-called witch in Long Night of Exorcism, does not understand all this hostility towards him. I wanted to show this boy as a dropout whom girls protect because of his kindness, but unfortunately, I was not able to develop the conservatism of some Dunwich inhabitants. City, to me, is a visual rendering of the metaphysical side of bad dreams.
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http://www.shockingimages.com/fulci/interview2.html
 
Jal said:
Love Suspiria and Demons, Cemetery Man is ok, the other few i've seen where a bit meh.
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Demons is fucking hilarious, the second is even goofier.

Bobby Rhodes the pimp is great. I'm actually friends with him on facebook.

Fun Fact: He only speaks Italian and is a native of Italy. Lamberto Bava said in the commentary track, rushes (which had scratch sound recorded on set as a guide for dubbing) were shown to potential buyers. A bunch of them would often go LOL when they heard Bobby speaking in Italian. Demons actually got really well distributed in the US and even played uncut. Man those were the days, imagine going to a cinema playing Demons, Contamination, or City of the Living Dead as part of its normal run!
 
Fourth Storm said:
Sweet, thanks for this!
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Sure thing! There are a couple of interview (from text sources including back in the 1980s!) on the internet. Just try googling Luci Fulci Interview.
Fourth Storm said:
What did you guys think of Argento's Masters of Horror episode, Pelts? There were some nice sadistic sequences in there and Meat Loaf did a fantastic job of portraying a miserable fuck of a human being (a very important character type for any horror movie imo).
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Eh, I've never seen any of Argento's stuff, I've just never had an interest in his works.
 
Mr. Snrub said:
But I haven't gotten into Dario Argento that much (blasphemy, I know). Some of his films are on Netflix watch instantly--recommendations?
Click to expand...

Best films are: Suspiria, Deep Red, Tenebre, Opera, The Bird With Crystal Plumage, Inferno, The Stendhal Syndrome, Phenomena, Sleepless

Avoid: Mother of Tears :( One of the biggest letdowns i've ever seen. Giallo was pretty damn shit too. I need to get round to seeing his version of The Phantom of the Opera as well which is supposed to be a trainwreck.
 
muntersaur said:
Avoid: Mother of Tears :( One of the biggest letdowns i've ever seen. Giallo was pretty damn shit too. I need to get round to seeing his version of The Phantom of the Opera as well which is supposed to be a trainwreck.
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Opera is apparently not that bad, but it's what killed his commercial value abroad.

Mother of Tears was FUCKING AWFUL, the effects looked like the Sci-Fi Channel.

Some comments that I posted elsewhere about it.

Okay, here are some examples. Also I have NEVER seen another Argento film.
1. The Special FX is awful, seriously this wouldn't pass muster in Hong Kong (look how far effects work has come there). Seriously look up clips of Sci-Fi original movies. The detail and work is awful. No one who did special effect work on this should be proud of it. It looks like Mother of Tears should be coming out via the Asylum in the US. The ending scene is just goofy and looks more like look what I can do in front of a green screen.
2. The fact that during the scenes of chaos people in the background and people are just walking around with nothing going on is just crappy. It destroys the attempt and once again has more in common with Chuck Norris's Invasion USA. Hell, look at Five Days in May and the opening scene with protesters. It just looks bad. Heck, the end of Demon's gives a better feeling of chaos and apocalypse. Fulci did it with the end shot in Zombi 2 in NYC.
3. Bad lighting I understand you want to have darkness at times, but thats no excuses to light the film so poorly (which seems to be covering up for poor budget). Many scenes were just harder to see what was going on.
4. The camera work and film quality used makes it look like a BBC mystery episode (ie washed out on tape).
Day of the Beast made back in 1995, looks ten times better and makes a much better use of colors and lighting. Seriously, it screams DTV.
5. The t-shirt relic. Seriously thats the big object, it looks like it was made with a bedazzler with a discount t-shirt.
These are just of the off the top of my head. Look I liked the story and ideas and actor wasn't that bad, BUT the technical aspect was just really lacking.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
I've only seen his 2019 After the Fall of New York.
Click to expand...

You're missing out. His gialli are easily up there with the best in the genre:

All the Colours of the Dark, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh and The Case of the Scorpion's Tale are excellent! Torso is also great as a giallo/proto slasher, and Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (yes that is the title :lol) is also a good giallo hybrid update of Poe's The Black Cat. His worst hybrid giallo, imo, is Suspected Death of a Minor which he tries to combine with a poliziotteschi (Italian police film), and is pretty dull.

Edit: Just read this:

Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Eh, I've never seen any of Argento's stuff, I've just never had an interest in his works.
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What is this blasphemy? Creating an Italian cult film thread and never seeing an Argento film apart from his worst.. tut tut.
 
As for Fulci, he is quite rightly best known for his zombie films but his masterpiece (along with The Beyond) is Don't Torture A Duckling. In fact all of his gialli are good (eg. A lizard in a Woman's Skin, Perversion Story) except for Murder Rock which is some bullshit hybrid between a giallo and Flashdance, which makes it very funny in places :lol He also did a lot of work in genres other than horror and I have particularly enjoyed Four of the Apocalypse and Beatrice Cenci.
 
muntersaur said:
As for Fulci, he is quite rightly best known for his zombie films but his masterpiece (along with The Beyond) is Don't Torture A Duckling. In fact all of his gialli are good (eg. A lizard in a Woman's Skin, Perversion Story) except for Murder Rock which is some bullshit hybrid between a giallo and Flashdance, which makes it very funny in places :lol He also did a lot of work in genres other than horror and I have particularly enjoyed Four of the Apocalypse and Beatrice Cenci.
Click to expand...

Very true. Don't Torture a Duckling is an excellent film. I still need to see Lizard, Perversion Story, Four of the Apoc, and Beatrice Cenci. I really want to see Murder Rock since I've heard its a good movie, but very OTT 1980s silliness.

I still need to watch my copy of The Psychic I have from Severin.
 
Anyway this thread has reminded me that I have had Night Train Murders and Last House on the Beach (two Last House on the Left rip-offs) sat on my shelf for a couple of years. I think I may watch them over the weekend.
 
BattleMonkey said:
4604235043_8c4130bece_o.jpg


This was a personal fave of mine. Also had the creepy kid who was played by a dwarf who had incestuous feelings for his mom. :lol
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Zombi Holocaust?

muntersaur said:
Anyway this thread has reminded me that I have had Night Train Murders and Last House on the Beach (two Last House on the Left rip-offs) sat on my shelf for a couple of years. I think I may watch them over the weekend.
Click to expand...

I never saw Night Train Murders or Last Beach, but a person did review Last House on the Beach for my website.
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2009/02/last-house-on-beach-severin-dvd-review.html
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Zombi Holocaust?
Click to expand...

No that is Burial Ground: Nights of Terror. A must watch!

As said the dwarf kind is genius, as is some of the one-liners: "Mama, this cloth smells of death" :D :D :D
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Thanks! I think I have that here somewhere in my apartment. It may be with the second Media Blasters Zombie Pack.
Click to expand...

Yea it was in one of them along with Zombie Holocaust and Flesheater
 
I'm a huge Fulci fan. His movies are so much fun. The Beyond is one of my all-time favorite horror flicks. House By The Cemetary and City of The Living Dead are also amazing. He also made a totally bizzare swords and sorcery movie that's terribly underrated called conquest. Zombie is a little overrated in my opinion, but it has some cool scenes.

He's my second favorite Italian horror director, after Mario Bava. I enjoy Fulci's movies a lot more than Argento's stuff, even though Argento's movies are more credible in a lot of ways. I love the way Fulci lets logic and reason go by the wayside, and his movies are always full of surprises. Fulci's best films are just more fun to watch.
 
Can anyone tell me what's the best version of "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" or is it "Living Dead at Manchester Morgue somethingoranother"? I'm confused and I've heard good things. (That's what she said.)

Okay, here are some examples. Also I have NEVER seen another Argento film.
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Don't take that for face value of his work. He has earned his keep even he's fucked everything up since his prime. Though his Masters of Horror episodes Jenifer and Pelts sure are tasty.
 
Krowley said:
I'm a huge Fulci fan. His movies are so much fun. The Beyond is one of my all-time favorite horror flicks. House By The Cemetary and City of The Living Dead are also amazing. He also made a totally bizzare swords and sorcery movie that's terribly underrated called conquest. Zombie is a little overrated in my opinion, but it has some cool scenes.
Click to expand...
Conquest IS so damn nutty, it has a chick naked pretty much at all times and mostly having a snake slithering all over her. It also has Apemen and a ton of gory. Silly movie, but fun...and I think I'm going to have to watch it next. :)

He's my second favorite Italian horror director, after Mario Bava. I enjoy Fulci's movies a lot more than Argento's stuff, even though Argento's movies are more credible in a lot of ways. I love the way Fulci lets logic and reason go by the wayside, and his movies are always full of surprises. Fulci's best films are just more fun to watch.
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Ditto. Bava is visually the best though a much as I love Fulci, but then again Fulci always referred to Bava as the Master. Bava's films looked gorgeous. I had a chance to see Black Sabbath (AIP Cut) on MonstersHD and it looks like a living water color painting. Bava was a true artist in every sense of the word.
 
oh yes :)
Speaking of Lucio Fulci, you guys should really see his movie where a zombie on a wheelchair kills people by running them on (yes, using his wheelchair. really)

ok i exaggerated things for comic effect, it only happens twice during the movie, but it does happen
 
afternoon delight said:
Can anyone tell me what's the best version of "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" or is it "Living Dead at Manchester Morgue somethingoranother"? I'm confused and I've heard good things. (That's what she said.)
Click to expand...
Same version, no differences between the two except title. Get the Blue Underground Blu-ray it's amazing visually, sonically, and loaded with extras.

Very good movie. It also has one of the craziest lines in all Euro-Horror that a cop says to a guy.
"You're all the same the lot of you, with your long hair and faggot clothes. Drugs, sex, every sort of filth!"
Click to expand...

I'd highly recommend it.

Don't take that for face value of his work. He has earned his keep even he's fucked everything up since his prime. Though his Masters of Horror episodes Jenifer and Pelts sure are tasty.
Click to expand...
I understand, I might get the BU Blu-ray of The Bird With the Crystal Plumage and give that a try. I'm ignoring everything it made after Opera though. :)
 
muntersaur said:
As for Fulci, he is quite rightly best known for his zombie films but his masterpiece (along with The Beyond) is Don't Torture A Duckling. In fact all of his gialli are good (eg. A lizard in a Woman's Skin, Perversion Story) except for Murder Rock which is some bullshit hybrid between a giallo and Flashdance, which makes it very funny in places :lol He also did a lot of work in genres other than horror and I have particularly enjoyed Four of the Apocalypse and Beatrice Cenci.
Click to expand...

Of Fulci's gialli, I've only seen New York Ripper and Seven Notes in Black (aka The Psychic). Lizard has been sitting on my shelf for a couple months, I should really get around to watching it.

Seven Notes is a fun, Poe-esque flick, but I didn't think it was amazing. I've certainly heard better things about Lizard and Duckling.
 
BattleMonkey said:
4604235043_8c4130bece_o.jpg


This was a personal fave of mine. Also had the creepy kid who was played by a dwarf who had incestuous feelings for his mom. :lol
Click to expand...


That sounds and looks kind of familiar. Is this the same one that had the scene with the zombies working together and using a battering ram?


Also:

nightmarecity.jpg
Click to expand...

This movie is fucking terrible with a cop-out bullshit ending (I also hate Umberto Lenzi) yet I find it incredibly fun to watch.

Krowley said:
I'm a huge Fulci fan. He also made a totally bizzare swords and sorcery movie that's terribly underrated called conquest.
Click to expand...

I'm actually one of the few people who really like Conquest even though that movie killed Fulci's career. Can't say the same about New Gladiators though. :lol
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Same version, no differences between the two except title. Get the Blue Underground Blu-ray it's amazing visually, sonically, and loaded with extras.

Very good movie. It also has one of the craziest lines in all Euro-Horror that a cop says to a guy.


I'd highly recommend it.
Click to expand...

It also has a scene that me and my friends refer to as the "popped cherry tomato" sequence:
two zombies attacking a receptionist (or nurse, can't remember), strip her and reach down to her groin, and all you see is a POP of red blood squirt out and up onto her stomach
 
Space A Cobra said:
This movie is fucking terrible with a cop-out bullshit ending (I also hate Umberto Lenzi) yet I find it incredibly fun to watch.
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Yeah, the ending also pisses me off. I think the main problem was Lenzi getting stuck with Hugo "emotes like a corpse" Stiglitz. Mel Ferrer or John Saxon as Lenzi wanted would have been a lot better.


I'm actually one of the few people who really like Conquest even though that movie killed Fulci's career. Can't say the same about New Gladiators though. :lol
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I actually like Conquest too, but I really also liked New Gladiators, the score is bad ass, has some cool model effects, some nice themes and ideas, and cool action.

Conquest didn't kill his career though. It made a crap load of money in Mexico (it was a co-pro). New Gladiators actually had a big budget than Conquest!
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Yeah, the ending also pisses me off. I think the main problem was Lenzi getting stuck with Hugo "emotes like a corpse" Stiglitz. Mel Ferrer or John Saxon as Lenzi wanted would have been a lot better.
Click to expand...

I love the ending; it is the definition of so bad it is good as is the wooden acting of the lead!
 
muntersaur said:
I love the ending; it is the definition of so bad it is good as is the wooden acting of the lead!
Click to expand...

It just always strikes me as pointless nihilistic.

Speaking of such things how many people in this thread live near NYC? We should just meetup with a case or two of beer and watch Italian Horror and Sleaze! :D
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Conquest IS so damn nutty, it has a chick naked pretty much at all times and mostly having a snake slithering all over her. It also has Apemen and a ton of gory. Silly movie, but fun...and I think I'm going to have to watch it next. :)


Ditto. Bava is visually the best though a much as I love Fulci, but then again Fulci always referred to Bava as the Master. Bava's films looked gorgeous. I had a chance to see Black Sabbath (AIP Cut) on MonstersHD and it looks like a living water color painting. Bava was a true artist in every sense of the word.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Bava is one of the most visually striking directors of all time. Sometimes I watch his movies just to look at them.
 
Trombone Zombie said:
Of Fulci's gialli, I've only seen New York Ripper and Seven Notes in Black (aka The Psychic). Lizard has been sitting on my shelf for a couple months, I should really get around to watching it.

Seven Notes is a fun, Poe-esque flick, but I didn't think it was amazing. I've certainly heard better things about Lizard and Duckling.
Click to expand...

Lizard and duckling are both very good. I prefer duckling, but Lizard is probably more accessible. Duckling is a little bit arty.
 
I was just inspired to watch The Beyond once again. I love the depiction of Hell at the end of the movie - so simple yet so utterly devastating.

"And you will face the sea of darkness and all therein that may be explored."

Bravo, Maestro!
 
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