THE WAX MASK (1997) (Blu-ray Review)

THE WAX MASK (1997) 

Label: One 7 Movies
Release Date: January 31st 2017 
Region Code: A
Duration: 94 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, Italian Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Dolby Digital 2.0 (No Subtitles) 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Sergio Stivaletti
Cast: Robert Hossein, Romina Mondello, Riccardo Serventi Longhi

Synopsis: There is a new attraction in town, not for the fainthearted. A wax museum that recreates for the thrills of a paying audience some of the most gruesome murders ever committed by human hands. A young man bets with his friends that he will spend an entire night in the museum but is found dead the morning after. Who is the savage slayer? The police is unable to come up with a reason or a clue to identify the murder. Weirdly enough, the museum starts featuring new murder scenes as the killing spree increases. Maybe that metal-clawed killer that haunted Paris in past years is back, this time prowling on the streets of Rome looking for fresh blood and young flesh.

The Wax Mask (1997) was originally envisioned as a comeback vehicle for Italian gore-maestro Lucio Fulci (City of the Living Dead), working for the first time with longtime rival Dario Argento (Tenebre) as a producer, and co-written by Fulci regular Daniele Stroppa (The House of Clocks, Voices from Beyond). Sadly Fulci's health was already in decline and he died before principal photography began. Argento was already working on his awful adaptation of Phantom of the Opera at this point and handed over directing duties to longtime collaborator Sergio Stivaletti. While it would be the first time directing for the special effects artist he seems to have picked-up some directing skills from his collaborations with not just Argento, but Michele Soavi (The Church), and Lamberto Bava (Demons), and it shows in the visually rich composition of this Gothic horror. The movie is based on Gaston Leroux's short story "The Waxwork Museum", but Stivaletti amps up the Goth with some bloody gore, adding a weird science fiction angle, and in usual Italian exploitation style, also adds the surprise element of a steampunk Terminator-esque villain!

The film proper opens in Paris, the year is 1900, and as fireworks explode in the Parisian sky a young couple are brutally murdered in their apartment by an intruder with a strange metal claw/hand, slicing open the man's throat, ripping off his hand and tearing his heart out. Their young daughter Sonia witnesses the heinous crime and survives by hiding beneath the bed. Twelve years later we catch up with  Sonia (the gorgeous Romina Mondello) who is now living in Rome with her blind aunt. Sonia is hired on as a costume designer for a newly opened wax museum, which is curated  Boris Volkoff (Robert Hossien, Cemetery Without Crosses). The place is spooky, with the wax effigies portraying horrific true crime scenes in exciting and gruesome detail, including what turns out to be a too-keenly detailed portrayal of Sonia's own father's murder. 

Early on a pair of young men at a brothel make a wager with each other, one man dares the other to spend the night in the wax museum, for which he will receive a lucrative reward. The man accepts the challenge and makes his way inside, and we discover that something sinister is afoot, with the man dying of fright in the night. As a variation on The Waxwork Museum it should come as little surprise that the curator Volkoff is up to no good in his basement laboratory.  

The attractive Sonia catches the eye of a local reporter named Andrea (Riccardo Serventi Longhi), who is covering the opening of the macabre museum, sensing that something sinister is happening they team-up to solve the mystery of the murderous wax museum, culminating in an inferno of melted wax and Terminator-esque weirdness.  

The movie is certainly a grand-looking affair with wonderful Gothic atmosphere helped along by longtime Fulci cinematographer Sergio Salvati (The Beyond) with nicely lit sets using rich, saturated colored lighting with fluid camera movement. The period settings are finely detailed with nicely textured decoration, every nook and crannie of Volkoff's basement laboratory is brimming with cool steampunk gadgetry that the diabolical curator uses to create his macabre creations, I love the style of the whole production which does a fantastic job with the period setting and Gothic designs.  

As I recall the Italian horror scene was a bit anemic in the 90s with just a few notable entries that come to mind from Lamberto Bava (Body Puzzle) and Michele Soavi (Cemetery Man), so this is a notable release. I love the attractive Gothic atmosphere, and the sweeping score from Maurizio Abeni (Seed of Chucky) which also enhances the Gothic visuals. It has Hammer Gothic-ness to it but it steps up the horror with some well done practical gore effects, the rich visuals are only marred by some awfully dated 90s digital effects. Also nice to watch are the gorgeous women, the Italian movies never seemed to want for European beauties, and this one does not disappoint. 

Audio/Video:  The Wax Mask (1997) was previously issued oN DVD by Image Entertainment in 2000 as part of the EuroShock Collection, the long out-of-print disc was non-anamorphic and looked awful but it was the best we had at the time. That was then, now One 7 Movie bring it to Blu-ray for the first time! Pretty sure this is the first ever Blu-ray from One 7 Movies, as their debut HD offering this is very nice. The 1080p HD really brings out the color, warmth and  richness of the cinematography, good stuff. Audio options include both English and Italian with a choice of Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0, the surround has some fun use of surrounds with stuff like water dripping and the score bleeding into the rear channels. Sadly no English subtitles are available for the Italian audio options.  Worth noting, the audio on the English dub reverts to Italian for a few seconds, not ruinous, but noteworthy, especially since we have no subtitle options to assist. 

Onto the extras we get about a half hour of behind-the-scenes video footage of Stivaletti directing and more of the special effects team working on gore-gags, applying make-up effects on the actors and preparing special effects shots for filming. If I had to nitpick I would love to have had a commentary on this one from someone along the lines of a Kim Newman, Stephen Thrower, or Alan Jones. Another dig is that the artwork for this release is just awful, too dark and drab, the packaging looks like a cheap public domain release. These One 7 Movies releases are not cheap, I would expect some more work be put into the aesthetics of the packaging to reflect that. 

Special Features: 

- Backstage Scenes (23 min) HD 

- special Effects scenes (13 min) HD 

Glad to see The Wax Mask back in circulation, One 7 Movies have put together a pleasing Blu-ray that has been long-overdue. The movie, it's a fun and entertaining Gothic mystery with some decent gore, a bit over-long and the mystery is a bit on the convoluted side, but it has a lot more going for it than it had negatives. 3/5 

RED KROKODIL (2012) (DVD Review)

RED KROKODIL (2012) 

Label: One 7 Movies
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
duration: 88 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 with Optional Italian, French Subtitles
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Domiziano Cristopharo
Cast:  Brock Madson, Valerio Cassa, Viktor Karam

Synopsis: Red Krokodil tells the story of a man meant to represent all men. It is the story of a man addicted to Krokodil , that suddenly finds himself alone in a post-nuclear city similar to Chernobyl. His physical decay, caused by the massive intake of drugs, is mirrored in his inner world, as reality mixes with hallucinations. The result is a film that uses the Krokodil as a metaphor of destruction. 

Director Domiziano Cristopharo's film Red Krokodil (2012) combines post-nuclear suffering with Krokodil addiction to tell a dark and hopeless story of a man living in an apartment of a high-rise in Russia after the bomb has dropped. The man without a name (actor Brock Madson) is wrapped in gauze bandages and wearing only some well-worn undies, he spends his days concocting his drug of choice while hallucinating of bunny-faced strangers, detached from reality and entwined within his own psychological issues brought on by the drug-use, wallowing in despair and waiting for death. 

The movie is largely dialogue free aside from some narration from our main character, who speaks cryptically of how he has lost his way and of his descent into madness All the while his body is decomposing, a compounded flesh-rot brought on by what I assume to be radiation sickness and the ill effects of the drug krokodil - a scarily real-life drug. Actor Brock Madson does an alright job in the wordless role, I found it hard to gauge as so very little is happening externally for him, the performance is largely internal, portraying addiction, a deteriorating mental state, confusion and frustration, and to that end he is very successful. 

The setting of the apartment is a dirty place, there's a layer of filth on the walls and floor, the place gave me an icky feeling, definitely the sort of movie that requires a shower afterward. By design the story and movie is dark and depressive, and it made for a challenging viewing, the minimal story and dark tone didn't keep me plugged in. I really struggled to make it through this one, this sort of movie is just not for me, it didn't engage me personally but I know movie fans who dig this sort of slit-your-wrist cinema, but I am not one among them.

The disc from One 7 Movies presents the film in anamorphic widescreen, the image quality is quite good for a low-budget movie. Th colors are desaturated, but the colors and black levels are good. I didn't notice and artifacting or compression issues, this a very fluid image. Audio comes by way of an English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 track with optional Italian and French subtitles. The box indicates an English subtitle option, but there are none. Extras include two deleted scenes, a selection of trailers, the ending with alternate music, a photo gallery and test footage for the ending scene. A pretty well-stocked release by One 7 Movies standards, which are isuallu pretty light on bonus content. 

Special Features:
- Ending with Alternate Music (3 Mins) 
- Deleted Scenes (5 Mins) 
- Trailers (4 Mins) 
-Teaser Trailer (1 Mins) 
- Photo Gallery (3 Mins) 
- Test FX for Ending Scene (1 Mins) 

Watching this I was reminded of another film that was not awful, but like this, wasn't for me, that was the movie was Phil Stevens' Flowers (2014) from Unearthed Films. If you were a fan of that you might dig the sort of darkness this is dredging up, for me it was a chore to get through, turns out post-nuclear drug addiction is a hard thing to watch, and maybe that was the point. Stay away from drugs kids, they're bad for you. 2/5 

SWEET AND PERVERSE MILLY (1990)

SWEET AND PERVERSE MILLY (1990)  Label: One 7 Movies Region Code: Region FREE Rating: XXX Duration: 80 Minutes Video: Full Frame (1:33:1) Audio: Italian Dolby Digital Mono with Optional English Subtitles Director: Christopher Clark Cast: Milly D'Abbraccio, Joanna Lin, Cindy Torn SWEET AND PERVERSE MILLY (1990) is a straight up x-rated entry from One 7 Movies starring Italian porn actress Milly D'Abbraccio that has the slutty Milly exploring the US "in search of big cocks for my hungry pussy". That's about the entire story and what unfolds for the next eighty-minutes is a very loosely connected string of sex vignettes beginning with an extended solo shower scene and then straight into a raunchy escapade in a limo featuring the always eager Milly with mouthfuls of cocks and a few too many too-close for comfort penetration shots ending with Milly's ass being frosted before she pisses into a cup... for better or worse we never do find out what happened to that cup of piss. So we have a painfully threadbare plot with bucket loads of raunchy sex - which I guess is about par for porn. Preferring the artful eroticism of Radley Metzger and Tinto Brass I must confess I don't find most adult films as entertaining as I did when I was watching late night softcore on cable as a teen but I can appreciate them to a certain base degree. Sometimes you just wanna fast forward to the good stuff and tug one out and to that end this one is jammed front to back with plenty of spank material if that's what your craving. There's the orgy scene, a threesome with Milly being finger cuffed before taking it up the backside, some girl on girl carpet-munching and even a hermaphrodite on hermaphrodite scene, which may not be your taste but c'mon, that's just never boring. All in all a pretty raunchy sex romp with not an an ounce of artful pretension to distract from the base pleasures onscreen. On a personal note Milly D'Abbraccio doesn't do it for me, she's just not my type. I can appreciate her nice build and what a willing slut she is but that short-cropped orange hair wasn't doing it for me, maybe good for a quick wank but after that cannot see revisiting this one again.

DVD Review: BRUTALIZATION (1973)

BRUTALIZATION (1973) 

Label: One 7 Movies

Region: 0 NTSC

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 98 Minutes

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.77:1) 

Director: Fons Rademakers

Cast:  Bryan Marshall, Alexandra Stewart, Sylvia Kristel

Synsopsis: Sylvia Kristel, of Emmanuelle fame, stars in this nasty rape and revenge thriller in which a gang of wealthy bastards break into peaceful homes and rape the women while forcing their husbands to watch in pain. Inspector van der Walk (Bryan Marshall) a strong-willed police cop, is determined to make them pay for their awful crimes but the members of the gang are bounded by an oath that is linked in some unpredictable ways to some high ranking people in the upper echelon of the Dutch society. Thus begins a painstaking quest for truth and to make sure that the ruthless gang of rapists is put behind bars. But van der Walk has to play against all odds...

Not sure why this one was re titled for it's American release on DVD but its only slightly better known as Because Of The Cats (1973) which is what the title card for the film advertises. This is a Dutch/Belgium co-production from 1973 with the dramatic tendencies of a classic crime procedural with the more exploitative elements of a 70's rape-revenger beginning with a nasty bit of business right at the start. A middle-aged upper crust couple arrive home to discover a group of stocking-masked miscreants have broken in, the youths rape the woman several times over as her helpless husband can only look on in horror as they hurl mean-spirited taunts at him.

Inspector Van der Walk (Bryan Marshall) is on the case, this just one in a series of similar incidents. As the film plays out  it's a pretty straight faced procedural as the inspector sets about sleuthing the crime which leads him to The Ravens - a gang of teenage tyrants, violent, middle class snots with a bit too much time on their hands. There are also female counterpart to the male delinquents, a foul-mouthed cadre of young women known about town as The Cats. Van der Walk investigates and interrogates various suspects which leads him down a path some members of polite society wish he would just abandon. 

The DVD cover would have you believe that this one is a rape-revenger through and through  and while it does to a degree that's just one part of the story, this is way more of a police procedural and it's a bit of a slow burn but I rather like a drawn out story, especially when it goes a bit nutty at the end. The cast is only just decent - no one's pouring themselves into these characters - though it was nice to see a very young and gorgeous Sylvia Kristel (from the Emmanuelle films) here in what amounts to only a peripheral appearance despite what the marketing of the film would have you believe, exploitation indeed.

The film starts of scuzzy with the home invasion and rape but quickly settles into crime thriller mode for awhile before we have a surreal nude swimming orgy/death scene then straight into some fun erotic ritual weirdness. The transition is a bit jarring but I just went with it. Note to cat-lovers, you should be aware that no less than three kitties are skinned, skewered and stabbed to death in short order here - you've been warned. 

Brutalization (1973) comes to DVD from One 7 Movies with an anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1) transfer that quite watchable if unremarkable. Color reproduction is strong but detail and clarity are lacking  plus there's some some unfortunate DNR scrubbing and edge enhancement on display. On the bright side the source elements are in great shape with only minor print damage. Similarly the English mono audio is unimpressive but I dig the funky Ruud Bos score, the only extra is a theatrical trailer for the film. 

Rape-revenge enthusiasts might be disappointed by the lack of the visceral stuff other than the uncomfortable scene at the top of the film as this one tends not to play up the exploitative elements too much, but it's a decent watch. A time slice of Euro-Cult with some sweet nudity and a pretty decent story if not a lot of juice. 2.5 Outta 5 

DVD Review: The Dark Side of Love (1985)

THE DARK SIDE OF LOVE (1985)

Fotografando Patrizia

Label: One 7 Movies

Duration: 91 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Italian, English Dolby Digital Mono
Director: Salvatore Samperi
Cast: Monica Guerritore, Lorenzo Lena, Gianfranco Manfredi, Gilla Novak

Tagline: Incest is no longer a Sin!

Synopsis:  Patrizia hides a very dark secret - her brother Emilio is secretly in love with her. At first she just tries to play with him, confessing her love stories with other men, but fate has other plans for the doomed and incestuous would be lovers...

Film: Oh those Italians and their exploitation cinema, gotta love it and you gotta love One 7 Movies for unearthing these previously obscure nuggets of sexploitation and erotic cinema and making them available to the masses. This time out we have Salvatore Samperi's Fotografando Patrizia (1985) now re-titled The Dark Side of Love for the American DVD release. In it a young neurotic young man named Emilio (Lorenzo Lena) mother has passed on and his older sister Patricia (Monica Guerritore) returns home to care for her sheltered and socially awkward brother. It's an odd sibling dynamic to say the least. He chronically jerks it while he watches "art films" (read: porn) while conversating with his sister whom regularly parades topless through the house. More so she straddles him in bed while she excites him with stories of her sexual escapades, whoa, that's gotta be uncomfortable.... or is it. 

There's an uneasy sexual tension between the two that builds towards that most taboo of loves, the love that dares not be named - incest. Patricia lays upon her brothers lap (in only a bath towel, mind you) to console his sadness when she notices a throbbing erection in his pants, yeah, that's weird but what's even weirder is that she returns to her room and immediately rubs one out while little brother listens to hear spin a tale of sexual discovery, soon he's watching her masturbate and things just get stranger and more uncomfortable - for the viewer - these two don't seem to mind in the least, there's tons of nudity and weird sexual situations but the film just never takes the plunge into the deep end of the gene pool. It plays out as more of a lurid psychological thriller with a  lot of flesh. It's a weird one, you're watching this brother and sister fall in love, the sexual tension is thick enough to cut with a knife, they engage in mind-games and petty jealousies and push each other's boundaries. One such boundary pushing adventure has Emilio escorting Patricia to the cinema to observe her bring a complete stranger to his ultimate climax with an impromptu hand-job, a reenactment of a story she told him about being molested as a child.

The film offers no deep exploration on why these two have come to this odd place in their lives, perhaps a history of past sexual abuse (in her case we know this has happened), or maybe the two had incestuous encounters in their adolescence when they were developing their sexual identities... nothing is really offered as explanation and the film doesn't seem too concerned with the details either. Sadly, the film also doesn't seem too interested in giving me what I wanted, some lurid exploitation sleaze, the damn things is just way to slick and timid to ratchet up the sex and instead is quite pleased to settle on unsettling, erotic voyeurism. 

DVD: One 7 Movies presents the film in it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen (16x9) and it's sourced from a very nice print with very little  print damage, the transfer is quite attractive. Very crisp - definitely one of the better On 7 Films releases I have seen. Colors are warm and vibrant, black levels are decent and helped in no small part is cinematography from Dante Spinotti whom would go onto lens Manhunter (1986) and L.A. Confidential (1997), it's gorgeous stuff that's well framed and definitely classes up a film that's about incest. Audio options include the original Italian language mono track and a dubbed-English track with no subtitle options which is a bummer since I prefer watching films in their native language but when all is said and done the dub is pretty great. When toggling back and forth from Italian to English it was evident that the dub was the more robust option. The dialogue is crisp and clean with only a few minor instances of distortion, Fred Bogusto's score is above average, too. There are no bonus features but the presentation is just fine. 

Verdict: This is definitely one of those moments when I will make it way too apparent that I am a pervert because this is a classic case of not enough sleaze to appease my inner perv. Truly, it's a gorgeous slice of exploitation cinema but it's much too subtle for my taste. 3 Outta 5 

DVD Review: NAUGHTY TEEN (1978)

NAUGHTY TEEN (1978) DVD
aka CARA DOLCE NIPOTE 

Label: One 7 Movies
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 86 Minutes
Audio: Italian Dolby Digital Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Andrea Bianchi
Cast: Ursula Heinle, Femi Benussi, Francesco Parisi, Lucio Flauto

NAUGHTY TEEN (1978) aka CARA DOLCE NIPOTE is an Italian sex-comedy from director Andrea Bianchi whom notably brought us the stylish Giallo shocker STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER (1975) and the fantastically entertaining BURIAL GROUND: THE NIGHTS OF TERROR (1981). It tells the story a sweet, middle-aged man by the name of Corrado (Lucio Flauta) whom has recently lost his beloved wife of many years. During this time of grief his wife's attractive niece Daniela (Ursula Heinle, in her only onscreen performance, sadly) comes to Milan to help her uncle in his time of loss. Not having seen the sweet young thing since she was but a child Corrado is equal parts shocked and spellbound at the similarity of teen niece and his departed wife. The well-meaning widow slowly begins to lose his mind and become obsessed with the nubile beauty who herself is not exactly an angel, toying with his emotions and egging on his aching libido. Not merely content to toy with her uncle's emotions Daniela also busies herself with the attentions of a young officer, a counter-culture hippie and Corrado's neighbor, a sex-crazed airline pilot named Attenni who's wild orgies and famed womanizing have not only pique her curiosity but also that of Corrado's gorgeous housemaid Marietta (Femi Benussi, STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER) whom is quite a stunner in her own right.

As 70's sex comedies goes this is a pretty mediocre  and workman-like production with stagnant humor, clunky dialogue (at least that's how the English subtitles read) and one-note characters with no depth. Ursula Heinle and Femi Benussi are standouts here, attractive women both and their plentiful nude scenes certainly do please and may just be worth the price of the DVD alone if that's what you crave. While the script and plot are simplistic and uninspired the performances are above average considering what a throw-away film this is really, also worth mentioning is the wonderfully comic performance from the actor portraying the horny airline pilot next door Attenni, fun stuff.

Standout scenes include the ever amorous Attenni seducing Corrado's sexy ginger-maned housemaid Mariette while she tends to the laundry as he describes what it's like to fly a plane during intercourse, a later scene wherein Daniella exposes Attenni as a sad little man whose sexual exploits have been greatly exaggerated and the poor confused Corrado rescuing his drugged-out niece from a counter-culture orgy only to have the attractive girl throw herself at him, his frustration is quite entertaining. Honestly, the main attraction here for me is to simply take in a formerly rare Andrea Bianchi film with some nice lurid peeping moments but overall this only gets a weak recommend.

DVD: One 7 Movies give this Italian rarity a 16x9 widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and while it's marred with imperfection it is quite watchable. The image is  murky and marred with compression issues throughout. There are also two blurred spots along the lower frame of the film - not sure what this aberration might be but at the very least while it's distracting it's not ruinous. The DVD has a Italian Dolby Digital mono soundtrack with optional English subtitles. Dialogue comes across decently and the Esio Mancuso's (DJANGO: THE BASTARD) jazzy 70's score sound quite good, overall there's minimal background noise. It should also be noted that the DVD cover art features a woman who does not actually appear in the film which I just find sorta weird when you have both Ursula Heinle and Femi Benussi to choose from.

Special Features: One 7 Movies have been great with unearthing rare Italian Euro-sleaze a getting them on DVD in their original aspect ratios but the bonus content offerings have been  less than phenomenal and less so here with absolutely nothing.

Verdict: The film is a one-note Italian sex comedy that's not without it's charms, it's fun stuff. The sleaze-factor is pretty low, this is more a sex-comedy than anything else with some decent performances that make for a fun watch particularly when you keep in mind this is from the demented mind of the director of BURIAL GROUND: THE NIGHTS OF TERROR (1981) which features one of the most mind-bending incestuous tit-chomping scenes in cinema of all time. While this doesn't even come close to that level of gotta-see-it awesomeness the association is at least enough to land it on the to-watch-list. 2 Outta 5

  

DVD Review: EROTIC ESCAPE (1985)

EROTIC ESCAPE (1985)

aka FUGA SCABROSAMENTO PERCICOLOSA

LABEL: One 7 Movies
RELEASE DATE: October 25th, 2011
REGION CODE: 0 NTSC
RATING Unrated
DURATION: 90 mins
AUDIO: Italian Dolby Digital Mono with English Subtitles 
VIDEO: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
DIRECTOR: Nello Rossati
CAST: Rodrigo Obregon, Eleonora Vallone, Franbky Liner, Roberto Reyes, Humberto Arango
TAGLINE: She went all the way to be free!

EROTIC ESCAPE aka FUGA SCABROSAMENTE PERICOLOSA comes to us from Nello Rossati, director of THE SENSUAL NURSE (1975). Set in the year 1951 it follows the depraved exploits of Manuel (Rodrigo Obregón, HARD TICKET TO HAWAII), a political prisoner forced into hard labor at a high security penitentiary somewhere in the Colombian jungle. When offered to partake in a daring daytime prison break Manuel takes his chances and with the luck of the draw turns out to be the only one to escape alive. With the prison authorities in pursuit he finds himself on the estate of a wealthy businessman where he takes the entrepreneur's daughter Amparo (Eleonora Vallone) hostage, steals a car, and makes a mad dash for the border where he hopes to claim political asylum. Eleonora's father, desperate to recover his beloved daughter, sets out in search of the escapee with the assistance of heavily armed authorities.

Manuels drags his pretty captive through the jungles, up a mountain and through the parched desert enroute to his freedom occassionally taking a break from verbally degrading and slapping around the woman to beat-off to the sleeping beauty and occasionally rape her. Amparo portrayed by Playboy Playmate Eleonora Vallone is a stunning woman but her beauty ill equips her to deal with the forced sojourn frought with near starvation, abuse and rape.

Manuel is most certainly not a man wrongly imprisoned, this guy's a murderous sonofabitch with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. As a character he's a convincing scumbag and for her part Vallone's portrayal of the attractive and helpless Amparo is decent enough though her character's motivations prove puzzling.

The film is a rough assembly of barely coherent plot that struggles to move forward without aid of a proper storyline or character development though there are about 10 minutes of redeeming film here when Manuel is taken prisoner and taunted by the semi-erotic teasings of Amparo that at least offers some sleazy titillation if only briefly.

One 7 Movie's have turned me onto a few rare Italian films recently like SEX, DEMONS AND DEATH, ALIEN FROM THE DEEP and TRANSGRESSION but this was a miss for me at least.

DVD: Distributor of rare Italian cult and exploitation cinema One 7 Movies have recsued another sleazy flick from the vaults of obscurity. When I last visited the One 7 Movies catalog it was the rather enjoyable SEX, DEATH AND DEMONS which despite it's schlocky sexcorcist origins proved rather fun. Here we have another film made available for the first time ever on DVD. Presented in 16:9 widescreen (1.85:1) the film looks like a VHS tape rescued from the trashbin and is possibly one of the worst looking prints I've seen on DVD with every assortment of nicks, scratches, dirt and washed-out colors you could ever hope for, it definitely had the look of a well worn public domain print. The transfer is marred with artifacting and the presentation is generally fuzzy, overly dark and soft. It's not unwatcheable but it ain't no picnic either. More pleasing but not stellar either is the Dolby Digital mono audio with optional English subtitles with many grammatical errors.

VERDICT: Not near sleazy enough to be the "steamy women on the run classic" it purports to be this is more an uninspired, mean-spirited schlockfest that's not even schlocky enough to be a guilty pleasure, just kinda distastefully boring. This warrants a borrow at best, you would have to be quite the collector of Italian exploitation or a huge Nello Rossati enthusiast to splurge on this one and not regret your decision.

DVD Review: SEX, DEMONS AND DEATH (1975)

SEX, DEMONS AND DEATH (1975)

aka DIABOLICAMENTE...LETIZIA

Label: One 7 Movies
Release Date: October 25th 2011
Region 0 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 93 mins
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Italian Dolby Digital Mono 2.0
Director: Salvatore Bugnatelli
Cast: Franca Gonella, Mirella Daruda, Gianni Dei Vito, Giorgio Bugnatelli
Tagline: Satan's Mistress on a Sex Prowl!

One 7 Movies have done it again, they've unearthed an obscure Italian Eurocult film that has never before had it's day on DVD, that is until now. This one coming from the equally obscure director Salvatore Bugnatelli whom has only five directing credits to his name. His debut is the 1975 psychotronic-sex-occult film SEX, DEMONS AND DEATH aka DIABOLICAMENTE... LETIZIA which tells the at times confounding tale of the wealthy couple of Marcello (Gabrilele Tinio, CUT AND RUN) and Micaela (Magda Knopka, SATANIK) whom are having trouble conceiving a child, it's an emotionally difficult hardship particularly for Micaela who seems to be at sanity's end over the ordeal, spouse Marcello seems more indifferent about the whole thing but to soften the blow over her inability to conceive they decide to pull their niece Letizia (Franca Gonella, A VIRGIN IN THE FAMILY) out boarding school, a place she's been since her parent's death some time prior, and raise her as their own. I don't recall it being said what happened to her folks but given what turns out to be her predisposition for the supernatural chicanery I think we can safely assume they weren't the most natural of deaths on record.

Letizia is pretty cute and though she is supposedly in her teens the actress playing her is probably in her late-20's at this point in her career, regardless of age she is a total sex-pot fully capable of encouraging libidinous urges in both men and women. She has intensely spooky eyes that are quite startling and there's no shortage of close-ups of her oculars throughout the film either. Once she arrives at auntie's home she wastes little time before shedding her clothes and before you know it the house servant Giovanni (Gianni Dei, PATRICK VIVE ANCORA) enters her room and catches an eyeful for a few brief moments before she reveals herself to be a demon or perhaps just a bearded primate of some sort, it's not too dissimilar to the Lady in the Radiator from David Lynch's ERASERHEAD, weird stuff. The shenanigans continue with some sort of telekinetic activity in the form of levitating pillows, which isn't so much weird as it is really stupid, that's something else this film has no shortage off, blatant stupidity.

From this point the film plays out in a string of lurid, somewhat nonsensical scenarios that involve Letizia in various states of undress seducing and corrupting the occupants of the home one by one. These seductions include her uncle who gives inrather easy I must say. There's some sweet 70's lesbian action with house maid Giselle (Karen Fiedler, THE LOVES AND TIMES OF SCARAMOUCHE) and even some incest with dear auntie Micaela! The encounter further unhinges Micaela and stresses the couple's already strained relationship, pretty soon everyone in the housat each other's throats. The shocker finale tends to play down the supernatural elements that came before it but it has a fun trashy giallo twist to it.

At it's core SEX, DEMONS AND DEATH is an Italian knock-off of the hugely successful THE EXORCIST which the Italians were churning out at a steady clip at the time with some trashy erotica and giallo elements thrown into the mix and while the end result is certainly not great it's just trashy and ineptly entertaining enough to make this one a fun watch. There's a fun synth score from Guiliano Sorgini (LET SLEEPING CORSPES LIE, THE BEST IN HEAT) and the cinematography is decent if not on the level of Luciano Tovoli or Vittorio Storaro, the acting is acceptable for the most part with a very decent performance from Franca Gonella as the seductive demon-tart.

DVD: SEX, DEMONS AND DEATH is presented in 16x9 enhanced widescreen (1.85:1) with Italian language Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio and optional English subtitles. This marks the films first time on DVD, the transfer
reportedly culled from the last surviving 35mm elements of the film, and it shows. Plenty of print damage, scratches, dirt, cigarette burns and jump cuts. The audio much like the video leaves plenty to be desired but given the obscurity of the film and the fact that this marks it's DVD debut I'm gonna give it a pass. The lone extra consists of a letterboxed trailer (2:30) for the film.  

Verdict: SEX, DEMON AND DEATH is a sleazy good time, it's not for everyone but as Italian knock-offs of THE EXORCIST go it ain't too shabby. Trashy,

psychotronic Eurocult sin-ema for those paddling far past the more travelled waters of Dario Argento, Luicio Fulci or even Sergio Martino, out past the waterways of Ruggero Deodato and Umberto Lenzi and into the truly obscure dark waters of Italian exploitation. Not a high recommend unless you're a serious collector of obscure Italian cinema or if you can pick it up on the cheap, it's a bit pricey. Thumbs up to One 7 Movies for resurrecting this one from the grave.

DVD Review: Transgression (1988)

TRANSGRESSION (1988)

Label: One 7 Movies
Region Code: ALL REGIONS NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 84 mins
Video: 1.66.1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono with English Subtitles
Director: Fabrizio Rampelli
Cast: Milly D'Abbraccio, Pierfrancesco Campanella, Giorgio Ardisson
Tagline: She Wasn't Just Another Dream

Angelo (Pierfrancesco Campanella) is an angst-ridden college student who fears that he will fail his impending test, so he does what anyone would do in the same situation - he decides to shoot some milky-white intravenous drugs into his arm in an attempt to chill the fuck out, not likely. Instead of mellowing out he begins to hallucinate like at an LSD fiend. While out of his drug-fueled mind he takes to the road where he gets picked-up by pervy businessman Mr. Roberto (Giorgio Ardisson). The older man gives him a lift and invites him back to his estate where Angelo meets his satisfyingly lusty daughter Valeria (Milly D'Abbraccio). That night Angelo makes himself at home as anyone would, spying on Mr. Roberto banging the maid through a keyhole and getting his voyeuristic rocks off while watching Valeria masturbate in her room - now that's what I call a sleepover!

The next day the none too subtle and completely naked Mr. Roberto makes a strong come-on slash attempted rape maneuver on Angelo on top of a billiards table when Valeria walks in on the shenanigans and cracks her father upside the skull with a pool cue. Ciao. Valeria and Angelo seem to bond over what should be traumatic event for both on several levels but before you know it they're on a demented kill spree that lasts for days, each killing bringing with it more sadistic delight and as the body count soars so to do their perversions.

TRANSGRESSION aka LA TRASGRESSIONE was written by it's star Pierfrancesco Campanella and his writing much like his acting leaves quite a bit to be desired. His performance is pretty bland and stiff, you just can't get behind this guy - even though Mr. Roberto certainly tries. Starring opposite him is Italian porn superstar Milly D'Abbraccio who's not Sophia Loren herself but at least is game enough to flaunt copious amounts of skin throughout this Italian drug-induced sex thriller. This is Fabrizio Rampelli only directing credit and I guess it's not surprising, the films competently shot but is quite rudimentary in it's form and lacks much style associated with many Italian filmmakers. Something about the film felt very 70's to me and if I didn't know this was a late 80's production I would assume it was mid 70's, it doesn't hurt it and I kind of liked it, weird.

Despite these shortcomings I found a lot to like about this film. Rampelli's drug-fueled murder spree takes us to some weird places, good sleazy exploitation that recalled to me the demented exploits of ISLAND OF DEATH and the dark depths to which that film sank in it's depravity. Angelo tortures an infant, repeatedly stabbing the child with a needle which elicits a pained wailing, they burn a couple alive that they meet at the beach and they seduce unwitting victims and then delightfully murder them afterwards. There's even a scene wherein Angelo has an odd encounter with a farm animal much like what we saw with Island of Death, a film of which it shares many similarities though without the artful eye and direction of Nico Mastorakis.


DVD: One 7 Movies continue bringing us obscure Italian cinema to DVD and while the transfers aren't anything to boast about at least they're on DVD, and anamorphic, right? TRANSGRESSION is presented in 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen, what I would presume was it's original aspect ratio with Italian language Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. The print is not exactly pristine, there's print damage , heavy grain and the image is soft throughout plus the colors are muted but it's watchable enough. The Italian language mono is decent and handles the dialogue and score pretty well, there are also optional English subtitles. Special features include two deleted scenes and two trailers for the film.

Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes (4:47) 4:3 Letterboxed
- Original Trailers (5:48) 4:3 Letterboxed

Verdict: Not a perfect film but definitely a depraved slice of Italian exploitation that delights in it's own trashy perversion. If you've seen ISLAND OF DEATH and enjoyed it's pervy exploitation this will prove a fun watch and if you haven't seen it I recommend snagging that film first and then giving this a watch if you crave something similar afterwards. Coming in October from One 7 Movies we can look forward to more obscure Italian exploitation with Joe D'Amatos EXOTIC MALICE, Salvatore Bugnatelli's SEX DEMONS AND DEATH and Nello Rossati's EROTIC ESCAPE which are available for pre-order from Amazon. 2.5 outta 5