Surrealist ambiances
Hippies, hallucinations, surrealism… Two films, two genres imbued and twisted by a dreamlike atmosphere… or nightmarish in the case of Let's Scare Jessica to Death, a forgotten gem of 70s-era American horror that plunges viewers into the interior universe of a little girl lost between fantasy and reality. One of the best horror movies, according to Stephen King, and one of the most freaky according to others, this oppressively atmospheric film took years to emerge from the shadows and finally reach cult status. The same goes for Matalo!, a psychedelic Italian Western ahead of its time (that is, prior to Jodorowsky's El Topo) and completely misunderstood when it was first released, a true countercurrent to the usual Westerns from across the Alps. Sadism and Latin violence, it's all there. Lou Castel (Requiescant, El Chuncho) is also part of the cast… but this time armed with boomerangs as he goes up against bell-bottomed hippie cowboys accompanied by an acid rock soundscape and psychedelic visual experimentations.
