The Visitor (Giulio Paradisi, er, Michael J. Paradise, 1979)

[Henry Gale]

Has anyone seen this?

'Cause it is insane and amazing and you should absolutely see it. I'm not even positive if at it's core it's actually any good, I just know I bought it on a whim and now I am in love with it.


http://vimeo.com/77999098

Trailer by Jason Eisener ^

[Yxklyx]

No, but that cast is a bit insane:

Mel Ferrer
Glenn Ford
Lance Henriksen
John Huston
Sam Peckinpah
Shelley Winters
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Netflix doesn't have it on DVD.

[megladon8]

That's one I almost blind-bought on a whim a month ago because I loved the cover, but decided against it.

Maybe I should check it out. It sounded, yeah, absolutely nuts.

[Henry Gale]

That's one I almost blind-bought on a whim a month ago because I loved the cover, but decided against it.

Maybe I should check it out. It sounded, yeah, absolutely nuts.

The poster is pretty awesome, and the Blu-ray has an even cooler reversible cover that derives from this art:

http://drafthousefilms.com/_uploads/packages/Mondo_TheVisitor.jpg

This is the first of the Drafthouse Films series I've bought, but if they all do stuff like this with their packaging then I look forward to picking up more from them in the future. They're slowly building themselves as something of a bizarro-Criterion brand, numbered releases and all.

Not to mention the transfer (aside from the effects-heavy stuff which I assume came from sources harder to remaster) is pretty stunning, and the film itself has no shortage of stunning images.

[Milky Joe]

I saw it in the theater last fall and have watched it multiple times on Blu Ray since then. It's more than "actually good." It's one of the greatest films I've ever seen. It's like B-movie Holy Mountain, an absolute occult masterpiece. I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Henry Gale]

I saw it in the theater last fall and have watched it multiple times on Blu Ray since then. It's more than "actually good." It's one of the greatest films I've ever seen. It's like B-movie Holy Mountain, an absolute occult masterpiece. I can't recommend it highly enough.

This helps validate the astronomical high I got from it.

It's the sort of thing where I fall so head over heels for something while I'm watching it that the idea of imagining anyone else disliking it doesn't even cross my mind, and kind of blinds me to any possible critique. But of course it isn't for everyone, or else we would have all heard about this a lot more before Drafthouse's revival of it.

[Milky Joe]

Have you watched the interviews on the blu-ray? Pretty funny. There's one with Henriksen where he talks about going to see it after it premiered with some friends and being totally embarrassed by it. And another one with one of the writers whose description of working with Paradisi is hilarious.

Have you seen any of Ovidio G Assonitis's other esteemed productions? There's Beyond the Door (Exorcist rip-off, more profane children), Tentacles (Jaws rip-off starring John Huston and Shelley Winters), and Choke Canyon (Indiana Jones rip-off about a cowboy cum nuclear physicist), among others. Love that guy's work.

[Henry Gale]

Have you watched the interviews on the blu-ray? Pretty funny. There's one with Henriksen where he talks about going to see it after it premiered with some friends and being totally embarrassed by it. And another one with one of the writers whose description of working with Paradisi is hilarious.

Oh yes. I wish they'd gone on even longer than they did.

Before I watched the movie for the first time I happened to click the Henriksen Easter Egg on the Main Menu where he talks about his most vivid memory being one of the crew members being cut open by glass because they didn't use candy glass in one of the big scenes towards the end, but then having amazing wine and pasta for lunch, wondering what would happen next.

Pretty good way to set the tone of what I was about to see.


Have you seen any of Ovidio G Assonitis's other esteemed productions? There's Beyond the Door (Exorcist rip-off, more profane children), Tentacles (Jaws rip-off starring John Huston and Shelley Winters), and Choke Canyon (Indiana Jones rip-off about a cowboy cum nuclear physicist), among others. Love that guy's work.

As I watched The Visitor and the interviews, I realized how much of a goldmine of a blindspot this whole era and world of productions must be for me. So thanks, I'll absolutely use those as a starting point.

[MadMan]

Based on that trailer and the film's cast I really want to see this. Hurray for bizarro 70s cinema.