Juliet of the Spirits / Giulietta degli spiriti (1965)

Moving away from the stark, downbeat neorealism of his celebrated earlier work, here Federico Fellini finally embraces Technicolor with Juliet of the Spirits. And what an eye-popping experience it is!

Rooted in both psychoanalysis and the surreal, Juliet of the Spirits nevertheless provides just about enough of an anchor in the real to make some sense of the unrelenting assault of psychedelic weirdness that comprises the brilliant, and busy, final third. Here, a dazzling and dizzying display of fragmented symbols convey the thoughts, dreams, fears and fantasies of a superstitious cuckquean played by Giulietta Masina.

Flashback exposition of a traumatic school play presage the recurring appearance of nuns and the resurrection of a school friend. While guilt and fear are expressed in a semiotic relationship with the iconography of Christian martyrdom. Complex, yes! Yet, while this is something of an enigmatic feature, demanding patience and concentration throughout, both should be rewarded in abundance.

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Naughty Nun / La bella Antonia, prima Monica e poi Dimonia (1972)

Despite assured direction from Mariano Laurenti, this unfocused Pasolini inspired Decamerotic ribaldry falls more than a little flat. Viewers would probably expect far more from the writer of the excellent, and superior, Giovannona Long-Thigh! Indeed, this is a disappointingly average comedy that tends to stray far too close to a weak, unfunny, sub-Carry On childishness.

However, there are positives. Because, for its flaws, Naughty Nun is nevertheless blessed with delightful costuming, a quirky and fun score, and a period-appropriate location of Gubbio, Perugia. It is incredibly easy on the eye. As, incidentally, is the delightful, disrobing, and ever professional top-billed Edwige Fenech. Yet, on this occasion, a nork-show is simply not enough to save the day.

Even cult favourites, Malisa Longo and Lucretia Love from The Devil Has 7 Faces, fail to put the boosters under this tepid attempt at funny.

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Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks / Terror! Il castello delle donne maledette (1974)

By entering an Italian cinematic milieu that would produce the likes of Lado, Martino, Bava, Argento and Fulci, what American producer Dick Randall would direct here could never be considered anything more than a footnote. Nothing more than a curio for the completist.

Yet, with a story that involves Frankenstein's monster, a midget and a reanimated Neanderthal played by Sal Boris, Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks can hardly be faulted for imagination. Sadly, in execution, it really isn't that good a movie.

Nevertheless, as a producer, Randall would be something of a legend. He would be responsible for bringing the world the occasional Bruce Lee clone, a midget spy, Pieces, Invaders of the Lost Gold and The French Sex Murders.

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Eyes of Crystal / Occhi di cristallo (2004)

Despite being being born at the peak of the giallo film wave, director Eros Puglielli, here, manages to capture something that will certainly appeal to fans of the golden age classics. For, while Eyes of Crystal is stylistically, at least, very much a twenty-first century film, it is, at the same time, a giallo of the most traditional sort. This may well be, in part, due to the involvement of a genre veteran. Because, here, writing credits are shared with Rings of Fear writer and frequent Dario Argento collaborator, Franco Ferrini. Moving at a good clip, with psychoanalytical themes, creepy dolls and human taxidermy create an eerie and unsettling ambience that is punctuated by some fairly hefty gore sequences.

Lead Luigi Lo Cascio, star of Buongiorno, notte, occasionally chews scenery as he puts in a troubled cop performance which at times rivals the intensity of Tomas Milian's turn in Almost Human.

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