I am thrilled to learn that Vinegar Syndrome is releasing a Blu-ray boxset of Camille Keaton’s Italian films. Keaton is most famous for starring in the rape-and-revenge film Day of the Woman (better known as I Spit on Your Grave). But before that film, she had a brief film career in Italy where she appeared in various strange films.
The first film Keaton acted in was Massimo Dallamano’s giallo What Have You Done to Solange? (1972), where she played the titular character. Her appearance in the film is brief but incredibly haunting and memorable. The film has been widely released around the world on VHS and DVD. A few years ago, Arrow Video released the film on Blu-ray.
The second film Keaton acted in was a medieval sex comedy Decameron II (1972), an unofficial sequel to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Decameron (1970). Keaton plays in one of the stories as a heathen girl, in search of enlightenment, who traverses a desert to find a Christian hermit (really a charlatan) who wants to ‘put his Devil in her Hell’. Very soon after, the girl becomes obsessed with putting the Devil in Hell 24/7. This is a bizarre film with some surreal imagery. For example, when the girl is searching for the hermit, she must follow a trail of dung throughout the desert. I was actually reminded somewhat of Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist (2009), with the whole premise of a ‘crazy nymphomaniac’ lost in a desolate wasteland. Decameron II is currently only available on a cropped VHS. The copy I saw was dubbed in Italian but apparently there exists an English dub. This film is not included in the upcoming boxset.
Another comedy Camille Keaton acted in was Oscar Brazzi’s Il gatto di Brooklyn aspirante detective (1973) starring Franco Franchi, Luigi Pistilli, Giovanni Petrucci, and Annabella Incontrera. This is sort of like an Italian Scooby-Doo style haunted house movie with slapstick gags and funny faces. Keaton plays a young woman who wants to turn a mansion into an orphanage. However, a group of rich people are against the plan and proceed to stage hauntings at the mansion, which Franchi and Pistilli must investigate. This film is currently only shown on television in Italian.
Tragic Ceremony (1972) is a Gothic horror film directed by Riccardo Freda as an Italian-Spanish co-production. The film had an incredibly limited release in Italy and Spain before disappearing for decades. Eventually, bootlegs of the Venezuelan VHS (which contained the shorter Spanish version) reached the English-speaking world and were highly sought after by Eurocult fans. In 2004, the Italian version was re-discovered and released on DVD by Dark Sky Films a few years later. Reception to this film has been mixed by many Keaton fans adore her appearance in this film. Tragic Ceremony will be included in the upcoming boxset.
Il sesso della strega (1973) is another Gothic horror film featuring Camille Keaton. This time, it takes the form of a sleazy and baffling giallo with a rather nonsensical plot involving inheritances, family curses, castles, and a killer with bizarre perversions. Keaton remembers that even when making the film, she had no idea what the story was about. For a long time, the film was only available on murky VHS tapes but was released on DVD by CineKult a few years ago. The DVD quality was certainly an upgrade over the VHS but suffered from heavy de-noising. Il sesso della strega is also included in the boxset.
The last film Camille Keaton starred in before moving back to the United States was Roberto Mauri’s psychodrama Madeleine: Anatomy of a Nightmare (1974). Keaton plays a young woman who has a series of nightmares brought on by a traumatic miscarriage. In these nightmares, she runs away from witches in a forest. During the day, she has a series of extramarital affairs and falls under psychic influences. Keaton considers this film to be her favourite of her entire filmography. It’s easy to see why as it features one of her most substantial roles and performances. Despite being picked up by Columbia Pictures, Madeleine only played in theatres for a week in Italy before disappearing. Over the years, fuzzy bootlegs of the Italian VHS was the main way to watch Madeleine. The English version remained unseen for 47 years but will finally be made available to watch by Vinegar Syndrome.
When the Camille Keaton in Italy boxset is released, I plan to review each of the three films in more detail. Stay tuned.
The Glass Cellar 