Music For a Giallo Evening

Over at the film blog groove-machine that is Cinebeats, Kimberly Lindbergs has been making horror-themed music compilations all month long (part of The Countdown to Halloween) and her latest, Giallo Note, might just be the most inspired installment. Gathering music from a wide spectrum of Giallo films, you’ll hear pieces from Morricone to Goblin and dive deep into all manner of lounge music, Italian style.

And in light of the inclusion of music from Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970), I thought I would re-post my illustration of Edwige Fenech based upon a scene from the latter film (seen above).

And be sure to check the other blogs participating in this year’s Countdown to Halloween! There’s plenty of thrills and chills to be had.

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Edwige Fenech For an August Moon

 An illustration of Italian actress, Edwige Fenech, based upon a scene from Mario Bava’s, Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970), plus stills from some of her films (including Five Dolls).

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Edwige Fenech, Italian Horror Actress

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Sophia Macello: Freelance Assassin

 

Sophia Macello’s character has been evolving of the past several months, as does her back-story. She has become a much darker character than what I first started with, but still with a slight camp appeal (maybe a little more serious than, say, Danger Diabolik which, initially, was my primary inspiration). She has become motivated by revenge, and, the character herself, has become much more mysterious.

I thought I would present her current back-story. I like creating back-stories for characters, even when the characters appear in illustrations; this helps me define the the character overall when I’m working over various designs.

Sophia’s story begins in Rome in the late 60s. Historically the late sixties, early seventies was turbulent time in Rome. These were the “Years of Lead”, wide-spread social turmoil and terriorsim  ripped across Rome.

Sophia is an agent for a secret government agency of highly trained assassins. After the killing of innocent civilians, an incidnet that was blamed on terriorist groups, she decides to leave the agency, no longer wanting to be a part of this corrupt arm of the Italian government. Of course, the shadowy leaders of this agency will not let her do this, and they plant a bomb in her car which kills her (presumably) and her father.

Now, weeks later, government officials are being killed one by one. Soon Sophia reveals herself to be the one who is doing this, that she is now a rouge assassin, taking her revenge for the killing of her father. But is she really a ghost, as many believe, or did she indeed survive the car bombing, and if so, how? No one seems to know.

This is where her real story begins.

This idea had various inspirations, namely the British movie Deadlier Than The Male  and Mario Bava’s Danger: Daibloik as well as Japan’s Pinky Violence films. The character herself, at least the latest version, was inspired, to a great extent, by the Italian film actress, Edwige Fenech.

For more information on all things realted to 60s cinema, go to Cinebeats.

 

 

 

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I’m On Cinebeats!

The wonderful website devoted to 60’s and 70’s cinema, CINEBEATS, recently had a post about film art which included images from amazing cartoonists like Darwyn Cooke, Paul Pope, Shag, Pete Emslie and…me? Wow, what an an honor to be included among such amazing artists! And if you are a fan of international cinema from the 60’s and 70’s, CINEBEATS is hands down best website out there. Smartly written and wonderfully designed, if you haven’t seen it yet, now is your opportunity.

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Edwige Fenech

 

Although this illustration doesn’t really look anything like Edwige Fenech, the Italian film actress (well, the eyes, maybe), I’ll will say that it was inspired by Edwige Fenech. Fenech has made dozens of movies, most notably many in the Giallo genre (Italian thriller/horror films). Some of her more famous Giallo films include “5 bambole per la luna d’agosto” (Five Dolls for an August Moon) and “Tutti i colori del buio” (All the Colors of the Dark). 

If you want to find out more about Edwige Fenech you should start at the Cinebeats website. It’s a great resource for all sorts of Italian and European films of the sixties and seventies.

And now, the real Edwige Fenech:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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