September: Django’s Bastards

In 1966, Sergio Corbucci pushed violence to its limit in Django, one of the jewels of the Italian Western. The film's immense success turned Franco Nero into a star and cemented Corbucci's place in the pantheon of great Spaghetti Western directors, the Holy Trinity of the three Sergios: Sergio Leone, Sergio Sollima, and Sergio Corbucci!

Following this success, a whole series of Italian productions capitalized on the Django phenomenon—a typical tradition in Italian B-cinema! Often, the similarities ended with the title, as in the case of Execution (released in Flanders as Django bereidt uw vonnis). This fake Django (the protagonist isn’t even named Django, but… Clint Clips) was released in 1968, a mythical year for the Italian Western and an absolute peak in the number of Westerns produced in Italy. The film was directed by Domenico Paolella, a veteran of the peplum genre (best known for his nun film The Nuns of the Holy Archangel, starring Ornella Muti). Paolella partially disregards the genre's rules, refusing excessive violence in favor of a dramatic story about friendship. Unlike his other Westerns, which were mainly shot in Spain, he filmed in the occupied Palestinian territories, using the barren natural environment to emphasize the tragic dimension of the story.

Django the Bastard is the best Western from Sergio Garrone, who is best known for his Nazisploitation films that were banned worldwide (SS Experiment Love Camp). The film is an atmospheric Western with a fantastical (even gruesome) twist, inspired by John Boorman’s Point Blank, which sets it apart from the classic Western.

October: Trick or Treat ?

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is the black sheep of the Halloween franchise. Michael Myers, the franchise's iconic figure, was not invited back, as producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill believed the film series had the potential to evolve into an anthology where each film would have its own characters, setting, and plot. The film was a flop, snubbed by fans outraged by Michael Myers' absence, who would later regain his role as the series’ killer. For those tired of repetitive adolescent massacres, this terrifying exception is a breath of fresh air in the form of a dark conspiratorial thriller.

The Sentinel stands as a return to the classics of satanic horror, in the vein of The Exorcist and The Omen. It’s a renewal of the satanic horror film, featuring all the typical genre codes of the 1970s: a deluge of macabre images, stunning special effects and makeup (by Dick Smith), a constellation of Hollywood stars including Chris Sarandon, Ava Gardner, José Ferrer, Burgess Meredith, Beverly D’Angelo, and John Carradine, all under the direction of Michael Winner. After Death Wish, Winner made increasingly cruel and bizarre films, often bordering on excess, and delivers a bone-chilling film here.

November: Evil Twins

This B-Z Double Bill celebrates the theme of twins, where an actress and an actor are invited to play two roles in the same film. In his early days, Brian De Palma was an unclassifiable director, trying his hand at all genres: comedies, political satires, and overtly experimental films. In 1973, he directed Sisters, a suspense thriller—a genre in which he found his calling and developed a style that would lead to three masterpieces: Carrie, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out. This first foray into voyeuristic horror is a macabre and unsettling psychological thriller, in which De Palma obsessively delves into the unfathomable mysteries of twinhood, to the point of murderous madness.Known for his striking cyberpunk experiments, Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto swaps the frenetic visual style of Tetsuo: The Iron Man and Tetsuo II: Body Hammer for a more majestic and lush aesthetic in Gemini. The film is steeped in an atmosphere of fear and wonder, thanks to a bold color palette, extravagant makeup and costumes, creating a burlesque carnival interspersed with violent scenes. The film's dynamic unfolds to the rhythm of an explosive soundtrack. Adapted from a short story by Edogawa Rampo, a famous horror author, Tsukamoto still manages to infuse it with his obsessive, Manichaean quest for identity.

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