Colby-Sawyer College to Screen Italian Cult-Horror Film
Colby-Sawyer College will host a free screening and discussion of the remastered 1970 European cult-horror classic “Hatchet for Honeymoon” on Tuesday, October 29, at 7 p.m. in Clements Hall in the Ivey Science Center. Funded by the Olivetti Series Endowment Fund and sponsored by the Cultural Events Committee, the event features a pre-screening lecture with Italian scholar Evan Calder Williams and a question-and-answer session after the viewing. The film is dubbed in English.
“Hatchet for Honeymoon,” directed by Italian horror legend Mario Bava, tells the story of a killer's journey to discover his repressed childhood trauma. The film stars Stephen Forsyth as John Harrington, the head of an affluent fashion house with an uncontainable blood thirst for women in bridal veils. Only by murdering his victims is John able to uncover the reason for his homicidal obsession.
The 88-minute film is rated VM-18 by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the equivalent of the Motion Picture Association of America's NC-17 rating (restricted to persons 17 and older). Distributor Kino Lorber, which specializes in critically-acclaimed classic and contemporary world cinema, describes the film as “Bava's most visually sumptuous film” and credits Bava as “innovating the grisly Italian genre known as giallo.”
Tim Lucas, author of the critical biography Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, calls the film Bava's most personal horror movie. Lucas, who also provides commentary in Kino's re-release, believes Bava to be the visionary and true pioneer of his genre. “Time has shown the film, initially misunderstood and considered one of Bava's lesser works, to be startlingly prescient,” says Lucas.
Guest lecturer and Fulbright Doctoral Fellow in Italian Film Studies Evan Calder Williams will offer his thoughts on the movie, its maker and the genre. Williams, a writer, theorist and artist, is completing his dissertation in the Literature Department at University of California Santa Cruz. He is the author of Combined and Uneven Apocalypse and Roman Letters, and he writes for “Film Quarterly,” “Mute” and “The New Inquiry.” He has presented performance work internationally and is an experimental historic and gothic novelist. Across these media, his work focuses on capitalism, cinema, horror, ornament, the metropolis and obsolescence. His next research project aims to develop a new theory about the relation between sabotage, hostility and time.
For more information, contact Loretta Barnett at (603) 526-3668 or lbarnett@colby-sawyer.edu. To learn about upcoming events at Colby-Sawyer College visit www.colby-sawyer.edu/events.
–Kellie M. Spinney, College Communications
Colby-Sawyer College is a comprehensive college that integrates the liberal arts and sciences with professional preparation. Founded in 1837, Colby-Sawyer is located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire.
Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000
