There is no time to write. It's tough writing every day. Soon as October ends, BAM -- AFI Fest begins. Life of Pi, Lincoln, Hitchcock, John Dies At The End, Antiviral, Wrong, Here Comes the Devil, and many more. Not that I will be able to get into all those. I am guessing unless you are related or know Stephen Spielberg or maybe clean his toilets, then you won't be able to get into Lincoln. Hell, I worked on Life of Pi and I doubt I can get into that. Besides, I prefer checking out the smaller films like Brandon Cronenberg's, Antiviral or Quintin Dupieux's, Wrong or Don Cascorelli's, John Dies At The End. So I guess you all know what I am doing the beginning of November. More movies. Yay!
Well, almost to the end of my October adventure. Day 28. Today I would get to meet a legend in the horror genre. Not a director or actor, but a composer, Claudio Simonetti, the man behind the keyboards for Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, Tenebrae, Patrick, and Contamination to name a few. Behind Moricone, Claudio's band, Goblin is probably the most known Italian horror film composers.
The first time I became conscious of his music was the first time I saw Suspiria on Laser Disc. When the Goblin soundtrack kicked into high gear with the technicolor red/green/blue nightmare pallet to complement, I think my jaw dropped to chest and my eyes pealed wide open. I instantly fell in love. Fell in love with everything, the music, the lighting, the camera angles, Jessica Harper. This was no ordinary run of the mill horror film. This was like watching a ballet of horror. There was something so striking about it that it swept me up into its nightmarish river. The movie flowed and felt like a dream or nightmare -- all to the pulsing rock rhythms of Goblin. I immediately chased down all the Argento films I could get my hands on as well as Goblin's music. I actually had heard Goblin before as they were on the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack, but at the time I wasn't aware of who Goblin was. I just knew it then as the creepy music behind Romero's classic. Suspiria is when I really took notice.
The day before he performed solo for 30 minutes or so at the Cinefamily Theater Halloween party, but I was at the Aero's all night horrorthon, so I missed it. I may regret it, but I think I will get the chance to see him play again and hopefully with the full new Goblin band.
I arrived later than I wanted to. I was aiming for 5:30. The Q&A with him started at 7:30, but there was a pot luck dinner at the theater beforehand at 6:30. I knew the line would be huge. The night before when he played there were around 300 people there and the theater only seats 180!!! Since it was a party and they were using the outdoor patio and the upstairs psychedelic black poster space, they could legally let in more than the 180 seats. I was prepared for the worst. I had to get some wine for the pot luck, couldn't show up empty handed.
Anyway, when I arrived, much to my surprise there was hardly anyone in line. In fact, by the time the Q&A started there was only about 50 or so people there. What! I simply couldn't understand it. I thought it would be packed. Man, I can never tell what will do well and what won't. Hell, later that night the screening of Cannibal Ferox had more people and ON A SUNDAY MIDNIGHT! This was a 90 minute Q&A in a primetime slot with one of the most seminal rock composers for film and a screening of Tenebrae, a Dario Argento cult hit. Wow! Cannibal Ferox is a horrible low budget Italian Cannibal movie. How could that get more people than Tenebrae with Claudio Simonetti. Wow! I'm truly puzzled.
In some respect, I am glad it wasn't crowded. I got to spend a good amount of time talking with him. He had a table on the patio in the back of the theater where he was selling his music. A DC superhero T-shirt covered his portly frame. He had salt/pepper short spiky hair that was laying a little flat and he wore glasses. Apparently, speaking with Hadrian, the head programer at Cinefamily, his first request when he landed was to know where the nearest record store was. He bought some Emerson, Lake, and Palmer records and some soundtracks. Awesome! He's pretty much a geek like me. We chatted about his films. We talked a little about Rome. I bought some of his CD's which he gladly signed for me. Such a nice guy!
The Q&A is all a blur now. I wish I had written this right afterward. My memory ain't what it use to be. I remember one interesting question. His first sound track album, Profundo Rosso (Deep Red) sold so many copies in its time that it seemed almost everyone in Italy had a copy of the album. Yes, a soundtrack album. Can you imagine! A horror film soundtrack selling millions of copies today. Wow! The host asked him what that was like...were like, teen girls putting on makeup for prom rocking out to Profondo Rosso? I'm not sure Claudio knew how to respond. I guess he just sorta laughed.
The Q&A covered his entire career from beginning to end. His influences, the directors he has worked with, everything.
The screening afterward was Tenebrae. If you haven't seen it. I highly recommend you do. It's one of Argento's best and the soundtrack is amazing. It's different than Simonetti's early work in that it is more disco inspired.
I stuck around for the midnight show of Cannibal Ferox. Funny, Simonetti's Agent was there and went about how he hated the director of Cannibal Ferox. Pretty much everyone in Italy thinks he's an asshole. I talked with him early and he warned me that the film was a piece of shit. He was right. Terrible! I mean, it's gross. It has blood and guts and horrific imagery. Unfortunately they filmed some scenes of reel animal deaths. Yes, animals died for the making of this crappy exploitation movie, this is partially the reason I have avoided seeing it. Such a waste of time. He was right.
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