Grindhouse Classics & Legendary Shockers

[Alex]

Truck Turner honestly didn't wow me too much. Not bad really, just not as good as some others in the genre. Hayes himself was actually the problem, he seemed very stiff and unconvincing to me. I did actually like Tough Guys a lot, but mainly for Lino Ventura as the priest.

I've had Drum sitting on my 'to watch' pile for ages now, maybe i'll finally get to it tonight.

[venoms5]

Truck Turner honestly didn't wow me too much. Not bad really, just not as good as some others in the genre. Hayes himself was actually the problem, he seemed very stiff and unconvincing to me. I did actually like Tough Guys a lot, but mainly for Lino Ventura as the priest.

I've had Drum sitting on my 'to watch' pile for ages now, maybe i'll finally get to it tonight.

I guess that's the one thing we disagree on:D I thought Hayes was dynamite in TURNER. Lots of violence and Truck was a great character. I hated TOUGH GUYS. No real action to speak of in this. Ventura was the best thing as you said but he didn't do enough here for me to give this another chance. Williamson (whom I think is terribly overrated. He's got charisma but he's lousy in the fight scenes; especially when he's doing kung fu) breaks his own three rules with this movie, too.

[Alex]

Ok, i've dug up a couple as promised. I wrote these a few years ago when I was still fresh to the genre as a whole, so please excuse the lack of in depth detail and the patchy writing. These were more excited impressions of the films than actual reviews, I wrote them as recommendations to some people on another board who were looking to explore this fun area of 70s film.

Violent Professionals - this movie is bad-ass, period. I wanted it as soon as I saw the box, and I didn't know a thing about it.

Luc Merenda is the main character, a suspended cop who goes undercover on his own to avenge the death of his friend the police captain. Main villain is played by Richard Conte, who is most known for the role of Don Barzini in the Godfather. Merenda spends most of the movie beating up/shooting bad guys, pimp-slapping hookers and zooming around in some kind of cool looking muscle car (GTO maybe?), while the villain chews scenery like gum.

The story is a 'cop on the edge' scenario with a few nice twists, but more importantly it's heavy on action. Action scenes are effective, particularly the car chases and the assasination of the police captain. The drama falls a bit flat and some of the notions that they try to put across are a reach, but I didn't think this took away much from the film over-all - this is not what you watch these kinds of movies for.

Like i said at the start, this is just bad-ass. I got out of this exactly what I was looking for when I picked it up - a scruffy loner anti-hero, gregarious villain, cool locations, shoot-outs and car chases, hot european girls, etc etc etc. It's definitely a good place to start exploring the genre.

[Alex]

Contraband - dir. by Lucio Fulci. Fulci is most known for gore (Zombie), this is somewhat of a departure for him. His trademark touches are still here though, there are scenes of a face being burned with blow torch, graphic close-up of a shotgun to the gut, etc. In the context of the movie they seem a bit out of place since otherwise this is a pretty straight forward mafia themed action flick, but it's not enough of a distraction to matter.

Some of the reviews say that the first half is a bit slow, I disagree. The characters being introduced are colorful and fun to watch, and the set-up pays off at the end. Once it kicks into high gear we see that Fulci was taking some cues from Peckinpah and maybe even his great contemporary Castellari - stylized high-impact action scenes with liberal use of slo-mo.

The story is nothing special, something about a cigarette smuggler who's getting muscled by French drug trafficking. Fabio Testi is good as the lead, Marcel Bozzuffi is even better as the drug king pin (pretty much the same character this actor played in the French Connection).

Recommened for fans of the genre, for anybody interested in Fulci and a bit for gore hounds.

[Alex]

Note, this was was just re-released a few weeks ago by BU as Mad Dog Killer. The new version seems to be identical in every way except the title

Beast with a Gun - this one is a bit different from the ones posted above. The others are straight action/crime thrillers that stick to the genre. Beast with a gun is much more exploitative, almost grindhouse territory. The impression is amplified by the fact that it's very low budget, and somewhat poorly plotted. The motivation is not well defined for the main character, some scenes details don't make sense and there are a few continuity errors. On the upside the trashy style allows actions scenes with no restraint, and some of them come out like a fist to the gut. One scene in particular caught my attention, where Helmet Berger beats the crap out of a gas station assistant. It's so effective for a second I felt like I was the one getting kicked on the ground.

The basic plot is about an escaped maniac who takes some hostages and the police captain who pursues him. The actors are well chosen - Helmut Berger is believable as a lunatic, Richard Harrison flexes his super-mustachioed machismo as the cop and Marissa Mell is a top shelf prerequisite piece of ass.

Enjoyable overall, worth renting but not necessaraly buying.

A note for movie nerds: this movie is actually playing on tv in Jackie Brown. The short exchange between Samuel Jackson and Bridget Fonda in the living room while she's taking bong hits refers to this movie. I think it goes something like "Oh shit, is that Rutger Hauer?" "No, it's Helmut Berger"

[Alex]

Violent Naples - Part of a duo of films about the same character, Inspector Betti, played by Maurizio Merli, the other one being Violent Rome.

Merli does an awesome job here as a cop fed up with corruption and crime. After being transfered to a new post he starts kicking ass left and right, and predictable complications follow.

There are a few nice moments in this film, particularly one really intense car chase and a few parts which are a bit more violent that usual. However I remember watching this and being more impressed with it as a cop drama than a straight up action film. Not that it's lacking in action, I just liked the 'serious' parts more i guess.

A solid flick, with all the cool elements of polizei present.

[Alex]

Note: BU re-leased this a few weeks ago with about a minute more of footage. I have not picked up the new version, so I can't speak to it being better or worse than the old AB one.

Violent City (aka The Family) - this one deserves attention based on the talent involved alone. Going down the list:

Dir. Sergio Sollima - a well respected director in all areas of italian pop cinema, from swords and sandals gladiator movies to modern action. Most notable other work - Big Gundown and Big Gundown 2 aka Run Man Run (both of these required viewing for Spaghetti Western fans), and Revolver which I might do later in this thread.

Charles Bronson - no explanation necessary

Telly Savalas - c'mon dude, it's Kojak. Seriously, he's played the tough mafia boss a bunch of times, so he knows what he's doing here.

With all this talent plus a Morricone score, this one would have to try hard to suck. Admittedly, there are a few slow stretches in the middle and the 'retiring hitman' plot is somewhat predictable (MOSTLY), but the good far outweighs the bad. Sollima does a nice job staging action, the players do their thing to make the most of conventional roles they were born to play. Honestly, can you think of many people more suitable to play a world weary killer than Bronson?

The only overtly weak part here is Jill Ireland, Bronson's wife who for a period of time appeared in every movie he was in (I think it was part of his contract rider). She's terrible in pretty much everything she's in, and although her character does have a crucial role in the resolution and is therefore necessary, her parts in the middle are grating.

One pleasant surprise of this was how it reminded me of Point Blank. Somehow it achieves the same dreamy, 'far away' quality. There are also some stylistic similarities between the two. I don't think Violent City is quite the 'art-action' movie that Point Blank is, but the feel is definitely there.

[Alex]

The next three are really special, I'd love to go back and re-watch these and write them up in much more detail. This will have to do for now

Milan Caliber 9, Manhunt (La Mala Ordina), The Boss - Possibly the three best examples of the genre. Honestly, even though my personal preference is with Violent Professionals, I must say that objectively these 3 are the best italian crime movies I have and/or seen.

Fernando Di Leo's notorious mafia trilogy. Di Leo is a very talented director, particularly within this genre. Listing his accomplishments would need a whole separate thread, so I'll concentrate here on his masterpiece.

This is a loose trilogy, connected by one subject - inner workings of the italian mafia. Same actors show up in all 3 but playing different roles. No characters carry over from one to another. Stories are as follows:

Milan Caliber 9 - a thief is released from jail and is immediately harassed by his enemies and ex-friends who think he kept the money from the heist that landed him in the stir. He denies this, and tries to outrun and outwit the people after him. Gaston Mochin is absolutely excellent as the protagonist, he embodies the world weary crook as good as Bogart or Mitchum ever did in the US or Lino Ventura and Jean Gabin did in France. This is a very solid flick with a lot of focus on drama and characters, it transcends simple action to become something more. This is one of the few titles I'll mention in this thread that I would consider good cinema on the grand scale, to be judged alongside with the best gangster and noir opuses.

Manhunt - a shipment of drugs is lost en route between Milan and NY. Luca, a small town pimp is fingered by one of the bosses. NY sends two hitmen to capture him and retrieve the dope, Milan sends their own for reasons that become clear later on. Luca is of course innocent, so he's got to fight. I know on short description this sounds really similar to Milan Caliber 9 but the two are actually quite different - explaining how would be involve serious spoilers. Also, this one has more of a focus on the action, and because of this is a bit more entertaining in the immediate sense. A special note of appreciation for the bickering American pair of heavies, played by old cult favorites Henry Silva and Woody Strode. They are allegedly the inspiration for QT's Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction.

The Boss - story of a war of mafia families. A Machiavellian boss (Richard Conte again) uses a hitman to achieve his own means, but as things progress loyalties and motivations become unclear, and so shit hits the fan. Silva is in the main role here as the hitman, watching him wield a rocket launcher against a room full of porn-watching pervs is a delight. One of the few movies I've seen that seems to be a realistic (to a point of course) representation of how the real Italian Mafia works. The focus here is mostly on the boss' manipulations and the action, with a healthy dose of loyalty issues. This one is the weakest of the three overall, but this is in the same way that Casino is the weakest of the Scorsese gangster trilogy.

This DVD includes a bonus feature Killer vs Killers, which is from the mid 80s and is very cheap and cheezy and fun. It's nowhere near the same quality as the other 3, but has a lot of action and is good time waster in itself.

[Alex]

The next one was written in stressed out tired state so it's even more rambling than usual. I'll try to edit it into coherence, but it might be beyond saving.

Danger: Diabolik - I say this with full force of conviction, this is a 60's pop-art masterpiece. Visually, certain parts of this movie is simply incredible. Before I even get into details, BUY IT (or rent it). This movie got lost by the side of cinematic history, and as a result can be found in almost any video store for something like $10. If you're a fan of cult cinema, it's well worth the price.

Small nerd fact before I get to the details - this is the movie that is used in the Beastie Boys "Body Moving" video. The video itself is also on the dvd.

The movie is based on a comic strip about the adventures of a thief named Diabolik. This guy is kinda like a combination of James Bond and Batman, except he's a bad guy. Actually, his underground layer (one of the best parts) makes the Batcave look like a studio apartment, and his gadgets are as nifty as anything Q ever came up with, maybe even better.

For plot we follow this guy and his ridiculously hot girlfriend (Melissa Mell) as he is declared Public Enemy #1, and then proceeds to bitch slap the police by pulling off a series of crazy heists right under their nose. Although most of the screen time is devoted to intricate but somewhat random set pieces, the movie manages to come to a coherent and satisfying conclusion. Everything ties up nicely in the end and you leave wanting more, in a good way.

Dir. Mario Bava is mostly known for stylish giallos, this is one of his few ventures outside of horror. He does a good job here, playing up his strengths. Eye candy is his bread and butter, and this is exactly what he concentrates on here. The sequence of Diabolik entering his lair in the beginning is an orgasm of trippy color and architecture of the kind which is rarely seen on screen, and while it's a definite standout there are many more that are up to the same standard.

Wisely, Bava doesn't take himself or the material too seriously, and the general tone is a lot like the 60's Batman movie, except the hero and the villains are not bumbling douchebags. In one particularly ridiculous point Diabolik even looks directly and the camera and half-smirks, letting you know that he is in on the joke and the tounge in cheek feel present throughout is fully intentional.

Another thing that's got to be mentioned is the music. Done by Morricone, so you expect it to be good. It surpasses the expectations. The themes have a definite psychedelic tinge to them, and work really well with what's presented on screen. The only other movies I can think of that produced such a successful combo of visuals and Morricone audio

are the Leone classics.

If there are any negatives about this, it is that some of the material is a bit dated. For instance I imagine some of the heists seemed a lot more technically impressive in the 60's than they do now. There are other small things like that, but for me it just adds to the overall enjoyment factor.

So I guess it's pretty obvious by now how much I like this. A cool adventure flick, a psychedelic visual orgy, a kitschy throwback, one of the most fully realized transfers of comic book to film ever, if any of this sounds good you should see this ASAP.

[Alex]

Le Professionel(1981) - another one of my alltime personal faves. I was a bit worried buying the dvd because of nostalgia factor - I used to watch this when I was little and remembered it with much love. Previously I've encountered a few movies from my younger days that turned out to be a real disappointment to me now. Fortunately this one lived up to expectations and then some.

Before getting to the details, I got to mention the overall feel of this. The other movies I posted here are all very fast paced (or they try to be), the general effect is very frantic and energetic. This one is different, maybe because it's French and not Italian - it feels very laid back. There is a fatalistic attitude that prevails in the plot, the characters, even the fantastic Morricone score. In this aspect it could be likened to its betters such as Le Circle Rouge and Le Samourai. Even though there is action, it is almost secondary, the main attraction is watching the events unfold.

The story here is about a French spy Joss Beaumont who is sent to Africa to assassinate a president of an opposing nation. He is caught, spends some time in prison and then escapes. When the same president visits Paris, now as an ally of the French government, Beumont shows up out of nowhere to settle old scores and complete his assignment. Obviously his arrival is not welcomed by his former colleagues who now have the job of protecting newly be-friended foreign dignitary.

As I mentioned above, this is not an "action spectacular." There are certainly action scenes, but the hero mostly accomplishes his goals by outwitting everyone around him. That's the part I actually enjoyed the most - he's a badass and could kill at will, but he uses his head instead and makes everybody else look like assholes. Admittedly, herein lie the biggest weakness of the peace, some parts work out waaay too neat and clever and test the limits of plausibility.

The character of Beumont is not very original but well defined. It's clear that he was conceived from some kind of insanely cool composite of Jef Costello, James Bond and a leather jacket, but it's perfect for the films purposes. Belmondo is a good fit for the role, he is much older here than he was when he worked with Godart and his hearthrob days are behind him. It's cool to see an action hero who is a bad ass and a success with the ladies (understatement in this case), but is by no means a pretty boy, or even good looking.

The villain deserves mention also. Beuamont is given a great foil in the guise of Commisaire Rosen played by another French great, Robert Hossein. A seasoned veteran character actor AND leading man, Hossein plays Rosen as a cold calculating sadistic hound who will not stop at anything to catch his prey. He seems to be only alive during the 'chase', which makes him particularly hateful as he seems to have no other purpose or motivation than to destroy the hero. As a result, their final western-inspired standoff is extremely satisfying.

For the redundant bottom line, this movie is my shit. A really cool mix of spy thriller, action and character drama, with a Morricone score that will make you want to cry like Ghostface's "All that I got is you"

[Alex]

This one is not my review, I forgot where I grabbed it actually. I think I was too lazy to write up the whole thing, so I cribbed the only description I could find (this is understandably quite obscure). I'm posting it because it's just too strange to not mention.

SON OF HITLER [a.k.a. Hitler's Son] (1978).

With black comedies like HAROLD & MAUDE and BREWSTER McCLOUD to his credit, 30-year-old Bud Cort must've seemed like the perfect candidate for a Nazi-themed laff-fest. Nevertheless, this German-made farce about der Fuhrer's secret offspring was barely released. That's because it's one of those rare, unfathomably wrongheaded projects that makes you wonder "what the hell were they thinking?" The cinematic equivalent of a 20-car pile-up, any vaguely interesting notion is quickly crushed in favor of an unsuccessful cheap laugh. 30-year-old orphan Willi (Cort) has lived in the mountains for his entire life, secluded from civilization and education, but when his beloved Uncle Fritz passes away, he finally uncovers info about his dad. His birth father was none other than Adolph Hitler, but uneducated Willi doesn't recognize the infamous name or know anything about World War II. With birth certificate in hand, Willi journeys to Munich, is quickly arrested for vagrancy and tossed into a mental hospital. Top-billed Peter Cushing plays aged, still-unapologetic Nazi officer Heinrich Haussner, who's spent three decades searching for Hitler's MIA son, in hopes of resurrecting the Nazi Party with this "chip off the old block." Busting Willi out of the asylum, Haussner is unaware Adolph Jr. turned out to be a gentle simpleton who's mainly interested in next-door cutie Veleska (bland Felicity Dean). But rather than make an absurd comedy about Hitler's nice kid in the modern world, the plot focuses on how Willi creates a rift in the local Neo-Nazi party over its leadership... What went wrong? Almost everything! It might've been more successful if not for the deadening script delivered by Burkhard Driest (Fassbinder's QUERELLE) and Lukas Heller (WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?). Or if it had been directed by someone other than Rod Amateau, whose urbane filmography ranges from the original pilot for GILLIGAN'S ISLAND to THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE, and whose idea of humor is having Willi roam the city in his pop's old, oversized Nazi uniform. Cort isn't too bad as this sweet and wimpy oddball, who's suddenly thrust into potential greatness-- while making Chauncey Gardiner look quick-witted in comparison. Cushing (hot off of his STAR WARS gig) plays it relatively straight, plus Anton Diffring turns up as Veleska's dad and burly Leo Gordon is Haussner's assistant. It's definitely painful, but worth a look just to see poor Bud Cort shuffling about with a classic Hitler haircut, looking understandably uncomfortable with this gig.

My take: a slapstick comedy about the lost son of Hitler. Waaaay more entertaining than the description above makes it seem. When I laughed hysterically at the sequence of Cushing teaching Cort to walk like a Nazi officer using the old 'book on the head' trick (guess what book) and subsequently uttering the immortal line "Mein Fuhrer what have you done to Mein Kampf?!?!", I felt like I've reached a new low. The name of the producer is actually Goering. The oddest part is that it's not even meant to be exploitative in any way - they earnestly meant to make a Mel Brooks styled fish-out-of-water comedy. But then again, there's the completely out of tone stock footage of nazi rallies and parades and a child molestation joke. I basically sat with my mouth open in the biggest WTF moment ever for the whole 95 mins.

[Alex]

This is a classic that most cult fans have probably heard about.

I'm not gonna hype it up to the point which can only lead to disappointment, all I'm gonna say is I loved it and I would rate it as one of the best in the genre I've seen so far. Keep in mind, it's not very action packed in terms of shoot-outs or fights or car chases, if you're looking strictly for that check out some of Castellari's or Lenzi's work. It is however very tense, very well acted, very dark, and incredibly edited - the opening robbery and getaway sequence in particular had my jaw on the floor.

The story is deceptively simple - 3 criminals commit a robbery, fuck up the getaway, kidnap a woman and hijack a car which just happens to contain a sick child being driven to the hospital. The rest of the film follows the 6 people as the robbers try to get to their hideout. Most of the action actually takes place inside the moving car, which despite how it sounds never gets tedious.

It was directed by Mario Bava, although if you're expecting the usual crazy color combinations and visuals ala Diabolique you'll be disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it is shot incredibly well, but I think there was a conscious effort to keep it as realistic looking as possible.

Bava relies on his horror chops here instead, a sense of dread and inevitable tragedy is present throughout. Certain scenes are very uncomfortable to watch. The movie is definitely not for the squeamish, along with the disturbing psychological passages there is also some serious bloodletting.

I'll stop here but i could go on for hours. This dvd specifically is an improvement over previous bootleg and foreign releases, the transfer is near perfect and subtitles are nice big and yellow. Not much in the way of special features, but the dvd does have 2 different cuts of the movie. Rabid Dogs is the original cut and it is the definitely the preferred version, Kidnapped is a bastardized cut completed after Bava's death.

Highest possible recommendation

[Alex]

Maghretti is a solid second-string Italian cult director, dabbling in all sorts of stuff but mostly known for the gorefest Cannibal Apocalypse and a string of surprisingly good 80's lowbudget commando/mercenary flicks. Here he comes up with an entertaining Vietnam action fest.

Like a lot of good exploitation, the premise for this one is ripped off entirely from better more famous movies, in this case Apocalypse Now and Deer Hunter. The fun starts with a burned out Willard-like army captain relaxing in a brothel, when a close friend decides to blow his own brains out for reasons that are explained later on. Soon after the Captain is sent into the VC territory on a vague mission to destroy a radio tower transmitting anti-American propaganda on a US Army wave-length. On his jungle adventure he meets up with a friendly GI Bro, mows down hundreds of charlies with nothing but a 45 and runs into an outpost of crazed Americans lost behind enemy lines. All this climaxes with a grim (albeit nonsensical) surprise ending, which I totally called way ahead but didn't mind at all.

The main draw here is the action, which is plentiful and extremely well staged, with some nice suitably gross gore added to spice things up. Cult staple David Warbeck plays the Captain as a likable gruff badass, and does a pretty good job with it (Warbeck actually ALMOST had a legitimate career, he played Sean's friend in the flashbacks in Duck You Sucker and was allegedly in contention to be the 3rd Bond). Marghretti succeeds in creating some nice scenes of tension and 'nam craziness, so even the quieter parts don't drag too much.

The only problem I had with it really was a lack of the main villain, there needed to be somebody to focus your hate on while you're rooting for Warbeck.

Overall, not too shabby and much better than your run of the mill Apocalypse Now ripoff from the same time period. Nothing to run immediately to the store for, unless you're euro-crazy like myself, but if you see it for cheap or for rental somewhere it's well worth checking out.

[venoms5]

Great, Alex! A lot of those reviews I posted were written back in 2006 and didn't really go into as much detail as I normally like to do. LAST HUNTER is awesome and a fave Euro sleaze classic! I've never been crazy about BEAST WITH A GUN though. Outside of his peplums, Harrison, alias Mr. Sleepy Eyes, appears to be tranquilized in most of his movies. The Di Leo 'Milieu' trilogy is tops in my book. His second trilogy was nowhere near as good though, IMO.

[Alex]

I have a huge Harrison fetish. It's hard to admit, it's a lot like telling your family you smoke crack, but there it is. Two specific reasons for this:

1. I grew up watching those Godfrey Ho ninja 'edits', and I have fond childhood memories of him in that Ninja headband

2. "Challenge of the tiger", which came as a double bill with the Weng Weng classic For Your Height Only. The movie itself is not great, but it starts with a scene of Harrison lounging in a palatial mansion surrounded by naked women, observing topless women play tennis. The scene has absolutely nothing to do with the plot, it's in there because Harrison requested to shoot it himself as a compensation for being in a movie. Now that's a man to look up to

To be honest I'm not exactly sure what comprises DiLeo's second trilogy. I've seen Kidnap Syndicate and Live Like a Cop Die Like a man, and like those. The only one of his that I didn't like was the much touted Mr Scarface - that dune buggy and the trampoline assisted fights are just too much for me.

[venoms5]

Honestly, I have a huge Harrison fetish. It's hard to admit, it's a lot like telling your family you smoke crack, but there it is. Two specific reasons for this:

1. I grew up watching those Godfrey Ho ninja 'edits', and I have fond childhood memories of him in that Ninja headband

2. "Challenge of the tiger", which came as a double bill with the Weng Weng classic For Your Height Only. The movie itself is not great, but it starts with a scene of Harrison lounging in a palatial mansion surrounded by naked women, observing topless women play tennis. The scene has absolutely nothing to do with the plot, it's in there because Harrison requested to shoot it himself as a compensation for being in a movie. Now that's a man to look up to

To be honest I'm not exactly sure what comprises DiLeo's second trilogy. I've seen Kidnap Syndicate and Live Like a Cop Die Like a man, and like those. The only one of his that I didn't like was the much touted Mr Scarface - that dune buggy and the trampoline assisted fights are just too much for me.

Yeah, I watched a ton of those awful "ninja" movies too and the ones with Mike Abbott, Bruce Baron and a French guy in one that was actually pretty good called FULL METAL NINJA. The box art was the best thing about these things.

The second trilogy was...

NICK THE STING

LOADED GUN

RULERS OF THE CITY (Mr. Scarface) An awful movie and everybody but me over at lovelockandload.com seems to love this one. I don't know why. Nothing happens in this movie till the end and even then it's nothing special. Palance was better in COP IN BLUE JEANS.

[venoms5]

Honestly, I have a huge Harrison fetish. It's hard to admit, it's a lot like telling your family you smoke crack, but there it is. Two specific reasons for this:

1. I grew up watching those Godfrey Ho ninja 'edits', and I have fond childhood memories of him in that Ninja headband

2. "Challenge of the tiger", which came as a double bill with the Weng Weng classic For Your Height Only. The movie itself is not great, but it starts with a scene of Harrison lounging in a palatial mansion surrounded by naked women, observing topless women play tennis. The scene has absolutely nothing to do with the plot, it's in there because Harrison requested to shoot it himself as a compensation for being in a movie. Now that's a man to look up to

Yeah, according to Luciano Pigozzi, Harrison was quite the ladies man asking if he could use his hotel room for a tryst with a handful of girls. Harrison contradicts such things in his interviews in the GODS IN POLYESTER book. He makes himself out to be this big saint. I'd be curious to converse with him anyways. His peplums are his best movies, IMO. He seems to actually act in those. He said he only emotes for films he enjoys doing and he had nothing but kind words for Chang Cheh and Shaw Brothers. Chang Cheh mistakenly refers to him as a British actor in his book!

[venoms5]

This one is not my review, I forgot where I grabbed it actually. I think I was too lazy to write up the whole thing, so I cribbed the only description I could find (this is understandably quite obscure). I'm posting it because it's just too strange to not mention.

SON OF HITLER [a.k.a. Hitler's Son] (1978).

With black comedies like HAROLD & MAUDE and BREWSTER McCLOUD to his credit, 30-year-old Bud Cort must've seemed like the perfect candidate for a Nazi-themed laff-fest. Nevertheless, this German-made farce about der Fuhrer's secret offspring was barely released. That's because it's one of those rare, unfathomably wrongheaded projects that makes you wonder "what the hell were they thinking?" The cinematic equivalent of a 20-car pile-up, any vaguely interesting notion is quickly crushed in favor of an unsuccessful cheap laugh. 30-year-old orphan Willi (Cort) has lived in the mountains for his entire life, secluded from civilization and education, but when his beloved Uncle Fritz passes away, he finally uncovers info about his dad. His birth father was none other than Adolph Hitler, but uneducated Willi doesn't recognize the infamous name or know anything about World War II. With birth certificate in hand, Willi journeys to Munich, is quickly arrested for vagrancy and tossed into a mental hospital. Top-billed Peter Cushing plays aged, still-unapologetic Nazi officer Heinrich Haussner, who's spent three decades searching for Hitler's MIA son, in hopes of resurrecting the Nazi Party with this "chip off the old block." Busting Willi out of the asylum, Haussner is unaware Adolph Jr. turned out to be a gentle simpleton who's mainly interested in next-door cutie Veleska (bland Felicity Dean). But rather than make an absurd comedy about Hitler's nice kid in the modern world, the plot focuses on how Willi creates a rift in the local Neo-Nazi party over its leadership... What went wrong? Almost everything! It might've been more successful if not for the deadening script delivered by Burkhard Driest (Fassbinder's QUERELLE) and Lukas Heller (WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?). Or if it had been directed by someone other than Rod Amateau, whose urbane filmography ranges from the original pilot for GILLIGAN'S ISLAND to THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE, and whose idea of humor is having Willi roam the city in his pop's old, oversized Nazi uniform. Cort isn't too bad as this sweet and wimpy oddball, who's suddenly thrust into potential greatness-- while making Chauncey Gardiner look quick-witted in comparison. Cushing (hot off of his STAR WARS gig) plays it relatively straight, plus Anton Diffring turns up as Veleska's dad and burly Leo Gordon is Haussner's assistant. It's definitely painful, but worth a look just to see poor Bud Cort shuffling about with a classic Hitler haircut, looking understandably uncomfortable with this gig.

My take: a slapstick comedy about the lost son of Hitler. Waaaay more entertaining than the description above makes it seem. When I laughed hysterically at the sequence of Cushing teaching Cort to walk like a Nazi officer using the old 'book on the head' trick (guess what book) and subsequently uttering the immortal line "Mein Fuhrer what have you done to Mein Kampf?!?!", I felt like I've reached a new low. The name of the producer is actually Goering. The oddest part is that it's not even meant to be exploitative in any way - they earnestly meant to make a Mel Brooks styled fish-out-of-water comedy. But then again, there's the completely out of tone stock footage of nazi rallies and parades and a child molestation joke. I basically sat with my mouth open in the biggest WTF moment ever for the whole 95 mins.

Only ever heard of this one but it sounds good though!

[venoms5]

This is a classic that most cult fans have probably heard about.

I'm not gonna hype it up to the point which can only lead to disappointment, all I'm gonna say is I loved it and I would rate it as one of the best in the genre I've seen so far. Keep in mind, it's not very action packed in terms of shoot-outs or fights or car chases, if you're looking strictly for that check out some of Castellari's or Lenzi's work. It is however very tense, very well acted, very dark, and incredibly edited - the opening robbery and getaway sequence in particular had my jaw on the floor.

The story is deceptively simple - 3 criminals commit a robbery, fuck up the getaway, kidnap a woman and hijack a car which just happens to contain a sick child being driven to the hospital. The rest of the film follows the 6 people as the robbers try to get to their hideout. Most of the action actually takes place inside the moving car, which despite how it sounds never gets tedious.

It was directed by Mario Bava, although if you're expecting the usual crazy color combinations and visuals ala Diabolique you'll be disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it is shot incredibly well, but I think there was a conscious effort to keep it as realistic looking as possible.

Bava relies on his horror chops here instead, a sense of dread and inevitable tragedy is present throughout. Certain scenes are very uncomfortable to watch. The movie is definitely not for the squeamish, along with the disturbing psychological passages there is also some serious bloodletting.

I'll stop here but i could go on for hours. This dvd specifically is an improvement over previous bootleg and foreign releases, the transfer is near perfect and subtitles are nice big and yellow. Not much in the way of special features, but the dvd does have 2 different cuts of the movie. Rabid Dogs is the original cut and it is the definitely the preferred version, Kidnapped is a bastardized cut completed after Bava's death.

Highest possible recommendation

I've got both versions of this in the second Bava box set. Haven't gotten around to looking at either of them yet.

[Alex]

I would definitely recommend bumping that up to the top of your cue, you will not be disappointed

[vonhumboldtfleisher]

This is a helluva good thread.

I forgot I had this:

[venoms5]

Now you're talkin' Von! I got an old review for this female DEATH WISH, too...

SAVAGE STREETS 1984

Linda Blair, Robert Dryer, John Vernon, Linnea Quigley

Directed by Danny Steinmann

Brenda is the leader of a female street gang who runs into trouble with a vicious bunch of hoodlums from an all male gang, The Scars led by Jake (Dryer). When Brenda's deaf and mute sister, Heather (Quigley) is brutally gang raped in the girl's locker room, Brenda goes after the ones responsible. Only after one of Brenda's friends is murdered, thrown off a bridge just before her wedding, does she learn who the culprits are. She goes out and buys some weapons of death and dresses up in a black leather outfit and wastes the punks.

Absolutely one of the best vigilante movies ever. While Anchor Bay releases EVIL DEAD and HALLOWEEN over a dozen times each, this great piece of 80s sleaze remains unreleased on DVD. The films title sums up the proceedings perfectly. It's one mean-spirited movie. It also contains one of the most ferocious and uncompromising rape scenes ever put on film. Not only do all four of the Scars gleefully rape this underage girl, but she is mute and cannot scream for help. After the men are finished with her they beat her senseless leaving her for dead.

During the final 25-30 minutes, Brenda has had enough and takes to the streets with a crossbow and beartraps (among other things) to kill all the Scars members one by one. The sleaze never really lets up for the duration of the picture. Even the principle of the school played by John Vernon is a bit of a freak as he tries to get into Brenda's pants. There's ample nudity and Blair gets fully naked at one point. The film also has a bit of Women-In-Prison shenanigans with a big cat fight in the school showers. Lots of flesh on display throughout the movie. Director Steinmann who also directed the sleaziest entry in the FRIDAY THE 13TH series with part 5, really knows how to deliver the goods.

It also appears I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1979) may have possibly been an influence here. In the Scars gang there are 4 members, one of them is hesitant to comply with the acts of violence the others participate in. In I SPIT...there are also 4 members and one of them was also hesitant especially in the rape scene.

Blair is spot on as the take-no-shit, vigilante-in-waiting female avenger character. Her acting isn't so hot, but she has presence and even seems butch at times. Even still, she's a long way away from Reagan of THE EXORCIST (1973). Blair is also good in the same years raunchy as all hell comedy NIGHT PATROL from former female porn director Jackie Kong who helmed the H.G. Lewis tribute movie BLOOD DINER (1986). Blair is also memorable in one of my favorite slashers, HELL NIGHT (1981) where she plays a resourceful damsel in distress.

Linnea Quigley looks much younger here than she did in the same years SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT and the classic RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. I don't know if they used appliances to make her appear younger, but here, she is noticeably flat chested. She also delivers probably the best performance in the film as the deaf-mute sister. The rape scene is really excrutiating to watch especially considering she tries to scream but cannot.

All the villains are OTT and really make you anxious for when they get theirs. Especially the lead heavy. Dryer goes overboard with the menace resembling a maniac on PCP. Even in the scenes where he isn't shaking, face blood red and eyes about to pop out of his head, he's quite intimidating. I've only seen him on an episode of the A TEAM and the obscure ALIEN spoof, THE CREATURE WASN'T NICE aka SPACESHIP (1981) starring Leslie Nielsen and Cindy Williams.

If you like your vigilante movies with an imposing nasty streak, then this one is for you.

***ADDENDUM***

This is supposed to be getting a legit DVD release sometime this year.

[venoms5]

ANTHROPOPHAGUS 1979 aka ANTHROPOPHAGUS THE BEAST aka THE GRIM REAPER aka SAVAGE ISLAND

George Eastman, Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova, Serena Grandi

Vacationers are stranded on a desolate Greek Isle and are stalked by a flesh eating madman who stalks them one by one. It is soon discovered exactly who the maniac is and how he came to be on the island.

Joe d'amato does a sort-of slasher movie with this infamous horror flick that isn't quite as good as its reputation. I've always enjoyed it, but I find it hard to recommend it to anyone save for curiosity value. Too many slow stretches between the action even though the film picks up towards the end, it still has some seriously creepy moments. One of the best sequences is when the group stumble on a young blind girl who claims she can SMELL him coming. During a thunderstorm, she screams. When the others come upstairs and enter the room, she yells that "He's here, he's HERE!" As the people exit and close the door there's darkness. Then lightning flashes and you can see he was hiding behind the door the whole time!

Another bit deals with the controversial scene where the killer rips Grandi's unborn child from between her legs. It's understandable why such a scene would cause such a stir (I believe in Britain, censors thought this was snuff footage) as it is quite tasteless although you never really see him eat the fetus, you do see him bite down on it. In the trailer this scene is shown from a different angle that actually reveals a tad bit more footage. Supposedly this sequence was removed from US prints but in a review back in 1979 from the (in)famous drive-in critic Joe Bob Briggs, he mentions this and a later scene that was also supposedly trimmed. Perhaps theatrical prints were complete but cut for the video release? Or maybe some prints got out uncut? I don't know for sure.

The other scene that was removed at least for the US video release under the title THE GRIM REAPER (Great box art, BTW) is the final shot where the killer is stabbed with a pickaxe. His innards spill out and he then proceeds to chow down on them! In the video version, you see him stabbed then cut to him falling over cue THE END.

The effects in the film aren't that great but are serviceable for what must have been a very small budget. Actually, Eastman confirms this in the interview on Media Blasters 2 disc set. There's an axe in the head, a head in a bucket, a scalp is ripped off and a hanging among other things. Nothing overly special but Eastman brings a fervent voraciousness to the role and is clearly the best thing about this movie and the one aspect that holds it all together and the only reason to sit through the film.

The music in the original film is very pedestrian and uninteresting save for maybe one or two cues. In the US video version, the original score is supplanted by creepy stock music that can be heard in old TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, the films KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS (1977), THE DARK (1979) and briefly in ALLIGATOR (1980). I actually prefer the music in the US cut as it definitely sets the mood much better than the humdrum original.

For some odd reason the first scene is all in German until after the second kill. In the US tape, this bit is in english. I assume the elements they had lacked english dialog for this opening sequence. This scene is interesting as well as it sort of sets the story up like the killer might truly be a monster. With the first kill recalling JAWS and the POV shot of something emerging from the ocean blood dripping onto the wet sand, an impression is given that this thing may not be human.

Another creepy story conceit is the appearance of an old woman who wanders around aimlessly never acknowledging when anyone has spoken to her. Also the seemingly abandoned villa. Everyone seems to have vanished without a trace. Director d'mato sets the film up very well and is successful in certain areas but the near endless parading around by the cast members seems to go on for what seems like an eternity. With some of this trimmed down, the film could possibly flow better.

On the interview with Eastman and Kerova, it seems to be quite a laidback affair, although Eastman seems embarrassed to be still talking about this movie. Kerova, who looks more beautiful now than she did at the time of the film, seems to enjoy the attention the film has gotten. A bit more in depth discussion on this film would have been nice. There's also a continuation of a Joe d'amato documentary that covers his career and not this film in particular. An audio commentary would have been great. I'm sure judging by Kerova's enthusiastic responses, she would have gladly participated in one.

The sequel, ABSURD (1980) is a bit better and is a far gorier version of HALLOWEEN. It's unrelated other than the fact that it shares the same crew. As it stands, ANTHROPOPHAGUS is an enjoyable movie whose notoriety is more intriguing than the actual film itself.

[venoms5]

HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE 1972

Paul Naschy, Maria Elena Arpon, Rosanna Yanni, Maria Perschy

Gotho, an abused and very sad man who also happens to be a hunchback is in love with a young lady (Arpon). She is terminally ill and Gotho stays by her side all through the day. After she succumbs to her illness, a scientist claims he can bring her back to life if Gotho would help him in his experiments by supplying him with cadavers. The scientist creates a monster out of a vat full of viscera. Realizing the mad doctor has no intention of bringing his loved one back from the dead, Gotho destroys the lab and struggles briefly with the creature before both fall into a vat of acid.

Considered to be Naschy's masterpiece, the film is visually striking, but like so many other Spanish horrors, the narrative is muddled and bewildering. Naschy is excellent in the role of the hunchback Gotho and the scenes where children throw rocks at him or he is verbally abused by adults are quite poignant. The big problem is that Gotho is too quick to lop off someone's head or sever limbs from torso's to feel very much sympathy for him. At the outset you see Gotho slicing off limbs from dead cadavers in the morgue he works in. These scenes are at odds with the ones that are supposed to create compassion for his character. If the film had only built up to the gory acts through Gotho's numerous scenes of ill-treatment at the hands of his persecutors, the film would have been more powerful and the characters more involving. But then, this is an exploitation movie and it definitely delivers the goods.Naschy did in fact win several awards for his performance beating out actors like Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing at various film festivals.

Naschy talks of Lee on the commentary track exclaiming how unapproachable he is/was, and that he hates to talk about his many incarnations as Dracula. Maybe he did then but I don't believe so now. Lee was, a few years back, at a FANEX convention in Baltimore where he stayed long after the place closed to converse with fans. Naschy doesn't speak very kindly of him. An interesting note also on the commentary track, Naschy talks about Lee's involvement in heavy metal bands. He says he's touring with two one being my absolute favorite metal band, MANOWAR. I did not know of his involvement with MANOWAR, but Lee has collaborated on two albums with the Italian metal band RHAPSODY now known as RHAPSODY OF FIRE.

Getting back to the movie, the set design is exquisitely gothic and suitably nasty. The score, although extremely repetitive, is quite good. There is also plentiful gore. More than the usual Spanish horror movie although I understand Naschy's THE MUMMY'S REVENGE (1973) is also loaded down with gore. The effects are also good for the time. One scene in particular revolves around Gotho actually cutting away on a real corpse. Naschy says in the commentary that he was given permission to sever the head by the morticians but he could only do one cut before becoming queasy. Another scene that is most talked about involves Naschy being attacked and bitten by live rats. The scene cuts rather quickly so it is difficult to see anything but Naschy did have protective clothing on and had to be vaccinated afterwards. Not only relegated to Italian cannibal movies, animal cruelty extends here as the rats in this sequence are burned alive by Gotho with a torch.

Rosanna Yanni, who was also in Naschy's splendidly gothic, but nonsensical COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE (1972), is involved with Gotho in a minor "romantic" subplot that is never really explored although a sequence involving the two making love revealing Gotho's paper mache hump is missing from this version, supposedly no longer in existence. Purportedly, dupes of this title contain this scene. Sadly, we do not get a glimpse of Yanni's assets here as you do in the former film.

Maria Perschy is wasted here and has little to do. Maria Arpon, Virgina in TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD, also has little to do here as Gotho's doomed love interest. She's only in the movie for a brief time other than playing a corpse the remainder of the film. She was apparently a trouper allowing the rats to crawl all over her face and body during the catacombs scene where the rats descend on Gotho.

The scientific jargon makes little sense and it's never made clear why the mad doctor wants to make a creature out of a tub full of guts in the first place. This bit of the storyline is very similar to FRANKENSTEIN and it was not unusual for Naschy to combine various monsters from the old Universal movies he loved so much. In fact, the monster itself looks remarkably similar to the one seen in the nutty Shaw Brothers exploitation classic THE OILY MANIAC (1976).

Naschy is still appearing in movies today and like Lee having appeared as Dracula more than any other actor, Naschy has played a werewolf (and Polish!) more times than anyone else. His movies may be wildly illogical but Naschy obviously has passion for what he does and his performance here is one of the best he ever delivered.

[venoms5]

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD 1970- aka THE BLIND DEAD

A young woman leaps from a train after being spurned from a former lesbian lover. She makes her way to an abandoned temple. She stays the night there. As night falls, zombiefied, skeletal creatures arise from their tombs and attack the young woman. She tries to escape but the zombie monks climb atop their likewise zombie horses, give chase and eventually kill her. Her two friends go looking for her and uncover a terrible legend. The Templars were Knights of Christ who were excommunicated for blasphemy. They were hanged and crows ate out their eyes. Centuries later, they occassionally arise from their graves to the hauntingly loud boom of a ghostly bell to seek new victims for their blood sacrifices. During the finale, the main characters and a couple of seedy bandits are cornered in the temple. One survives and boards a train as the Templars give chase. The Templars manage to also board the train where they systematically slaughter the passengers.

Amando de Ossorio's first entry in his popular quadrilogy was a big hit when first released. At the time Spanish horror was frowned upon and seldom attempted mainly because of the censorship laws in Spain at the time. The one who got it going was Paul Naschy and his Universal/Hammer homages. These films, amazingly, were not very popular in their homeland but more so in America and other countries.

Ossorio's movie was a bit different. Instead of using popular horror movie creatures as a template, he chose the historical Templar Knights who were soldiers of Christ. Their exploits are well documented and they were feared by the King who believed that their growing popularity with the common people would bring about dissent. Inevitably the Templars were hunted down and executed as heretics.

Ossorio plays with the facts a bit as well as changing the mythology from film to film. Ossorio even incorporates some vampire lore with a hint of Romero's slant on zombies from his NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968). After Virginia's body (the young lady from the beginning) is delivered to the morgue we see an eccentric morgue attendant playing with a turtle in a bowl. In the background you see Virginia's slashed and chewed body lying covered on a table. The sound of the eerie church bell can be heard. Shortly after you see the sheets move as the corpse of Virginia rises in the background as the attendant is unaware of what is transpiring behind him. The now zombiefied Virginia gets closer and closer until she puts the bite on the careless man. The scene is very creepy as is a similar scene soon after this one as Virginia's corpse attacks a woman in a manniquin shop. A blinking red light adds a sinister ambience as Virginia casually stalks the young woman inside the locked warehouse filled with mannequins.

As for the Blind Dead themselves, they are one of the most memorable and original creations in fantastic cinema. These monsters are blind so they find their prey through sound alone...even the sound of a heartbeat can alert them to a potential victims location. Their centuries old cloaks, their bony hands reaching out with swords drawn to slash, stab and skewer their victims before sucking the blood from the body and the long dead horses they ride whose scenes are shot in slow motion stick in your mind as they are quite a striking image. The Templars even have small tufts of hair dangling from their bony chins for an added effect. The soundtrack from Luis Anton Abril is desperately in need of a CD release. It is one of the most frightening horror movie scores of all time.

One of the oddest aspects of the four films is the inclusion of a rape scene. Each film has one. In the first film, there is a lesbian sub-plot involving Virginia and her girls school friend who seems to now like the company of men. This is what leads to her jumping off of the train. Later in the film, the two main characters have to enlist the aid of a group of small time criminals that know the area around the temple as no one else is foolish enough to go there. During the conclusion, the leader of the gang rapes Lone Fleming's character, the former lesbian who says she has never been able to enjoy the touch of a man. Then, the hoodlum forces himself on her, slaps her around a bit before finally stripping her naked and raping her. Afterwards, he non-chalantly hands her a cigarette! Each succeeding film features a scene like this. It is not known (to me at least) why Ossorio included such bits. Did he have some kind of emotionally destructive altercations with the opposite sex? Or was it just crass exploitation?

The films plot is nothing special. There really isn't any plot to speak of. The film is mainly just a series of drawn out set pieces--The opening bit involving Virginia exiting the train, her exploration of the decrepit temple followed by her death from the Templars. The middle portion is a brief search followed by two scenes of Virginia claiming victims and the explaination of the history of the Templar Knights. The final bit involves the cast making a trip to the temple to see if the legend is true and the final comeuppance of the train that refused to stop earlier in the film because of the strange occurences in the area.

The imagery, the atmosphere, the outrageously spooky music and the Templars themselves are the reason to watch. Ossorio wrings every bit of tension out of the set pieces he can and pushes the terror to the max. There are also numerous scenes of illogical behavior. During the final bit at the end, Lone Fleming takes an incredibly long time to get on the train (even with help) as the slow moving Templars have reached the train themselves and dismount their steeds. It could be said that she was nearly frozen with fright but nonsensical behavior is a mainstay in horror movies so it's nothing to really fuss about.

The US release had some of its scenes shuffled around and some of its violence was excised. The film was trimmed down from around 100 minutes to just under 80 minutes. The film was a mainstay on the popular syndicated show ELVIRA'S MOVIE MACABRE. Strangely, the bloody train massacre finale was shown intact on the Elvira program but was cut from the video release!

Ossorio followed this success with three sequels each one lesser than the one before it. It should be noted that John Carpenter must have seen the second and third films before he made THE FOG (1979). That film, about the ghosts of wrongfully murdered lepers returning on a ghostly vessel inside an ominous fog to get revenge on the tiny seaside town that lured them to their death a century before. The idea of a 100 year celebration of the history of the town is similar to Ossorio's second film RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD (1972) in which a small township celebrates the 100 year celebration of the execution of the Templars by the townspeople. The ghostly, fog enshrouded ship features in Ossorio's third film THE GHOST GALLEON (1973). By the fourth film, the quality returns somewhat to the first and second entries but the ending feels a bit rushed.

All four present wonderful ideas and hauntingly surreal imagery involving the Knights Templar. Ossorio had planned to re-visit his most famous creation but died before he was able to do so. The Templars would later feature in a few other movies including the rarely seen John Gilling movie CROSS OF THE DEVIL and in Jess Franco's pornographic MANSION OF THE LIVING DEAD.