17 movies since the last post
Thanksgiving break afforded me a lot of time to catch up on the "to watch" pile. I saw these films in the past week or so ...
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (Wiseman, 2007) ... Watched it a couple of times. I dig it. The unrated version is silly. Its just a lot of digital blood squibs and a whole bunch of swear words delivered via ADR while Bruce's face is away from the camera. Unneccessary.
WARRIORS OF THE APOCALYPSE (Suarez, 1985) ... Really entertaining and hilarious ROAD WARRIOR clone about a band of Warriors (of the apocalypse) who all try and outdo each other with the size of their shoulder pads. Soon the plot gives way to a garden of eden in danger from some techno wizards who shoot lazer beams out their eyes at each other. See? ENTERTAINING. Oh yeah and the immortal pygmies who get killed over and over throughout the movie are worth your time too.
TAKE A HARD RIDE (Margheriti, 1975) ... OK Margheriti western w/ Fred Williamson and Jim Brown (showing surprising acting chops) and Lee Van Cleef. A couple of good set pieces including a very cool scene w/ a machine gun mounted on a moving wagon!
INDIO (Margheriti, 1989) ... Fair Margheriti action stuff notable for the presence of Francesco "Rhah" Quinn from PLATOON. Pretty much a RMABO clone with lots of jungle action and guerilla stuff, including an awesome bit where Francesco sets a booby trapped palm tree for an attacking helicopter. Brian Dennehy is actually really good in this as the JAWS-inspired ruthless land developer.
TIGER JOE (Margheriti, 1982) ... Second in Margheriti's "Vietnam trilogy" has likeable gun runner David Warbeck up against a bitter North Vietnamese army. And how odd, a flamethrower scene :) Surprisingly bereft of Margheriti's signature miniature work until a train explosion near the end.
TORNADO (Margheriti, 1983) ... Downbeat third "Vietnam trilogy" entry is fairly grim stuff and left me feeling a bit cheated seeing as how all its big action scenes were lifted from THE LAST HUNTER. Most of the original material is just DEER HUNTER prison camp stuff but at least the hero manages to steal a big bulldozer for some shenanigans near the end ... Hilariously all the "American soldiers" are seen wearing Italian camoflage uniforms, but at least they all manage to dress the same this time, which is more than can be said for other Italian "Vietnam" films. Spoiler: hero dies in the last few SECONDS from a stray bullet fired from offscreen. War is hell!
THE BIG ALLIGATOR RIVER (Martino, 1979) ... Foxy Barbara Bach menaced by a toy alligator in a fish tank. Kinda fun when you realize its ripping off first JAWS and then KING KONG 1976 of all things! Mostly though its fucking stupid.
NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES aka ZOMBIE CREEPING FLESH aka HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD (Mattei, 1980) ... I though this one was gonna suck but I ended up enjoying it. On the surface (and especially in the trailer) it doesn't so much seem like a ripoff of the 1978 DAWN OF THE DEAD as it seems like Dawn of the Dead ITSELF. A bunch of SWAT dudes in blue uniforms shooting up a tenement block riot and then menaced by ghost-faced zombies, all accompanied by the Goblin music from DOTD. Shortly though it distinguishes itself and becomes something of a combination of DOTD and Fulci's ZOMBI. The zombies here are "pure" zombies, exactly the same look and bahaviour as Romero zombies. This is one of the very few zombie movies that seems totally faithful to the mythos and if you can watch it as a companion piece to Romero's original, you might be surprised. I can't believe how many times over how many years I have seen and passed on this stupid video and now I regret it.
THE SEVEN MAGNIFICENT GLADIATORS (Mattei, 1983) ...
RUSSKIES (Rosenthal, 1987)
DELTA FORCE COMMANDO (Ciriaci, 1987)
DEMONOID (Zacarias, 1981)
THE BARBARIANS (Deodato, 1987)
FIREBIRD 2015 A.D. (Robertson, 1981)
STORM OF THE CENTURY (Baxley, 1999)
SUPERSTITION (Roberson, 1982)
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (Wiseman, 2007) ... Watched it a couple of times. I dig it. The unrated version is silly. Its just a lot of digital blood squibs and a whole bunch of swear words delivered via ADR while Bruce's face is away from the camera. Unneccessary.
WARRIORS OF THE APOCALYPSE (Suarez, 1985) ... Really entertaining and hilarious ROAD WARRIOR clone about a band of Warriors (of the apocalypse) who all try and outdo each other with the size of their shoulder pads. Soon the plot gives way to a garden of eden in danger from some techno wizards who shoot lazer beams out their eyes at each other. See? ENTERTAINING. Oh yeah and the immortal pygmies who get killed over and over throughout the movie are worth your time too.
TAKE A HARD RIDE (Margheriti, 1975) ... OK Margheriti western w/ Fred Williamson and Jim Brown (showing surprising acting chops) and Lee Van Cleef. A couple of good set pieces including a very cool scene w/ a machine gun mounted on a moving wagon!
INDIO (Margheriti, 1989) ... Fair Margheriti action stuff notable for the presence of Francesco "Rhah" Quinn from PLATOON. Pretty much a RMABO clone with lots of jungle action and guerilla stuff, including an awesome bit where Francesco sets a booby trapped palm tree for an attacking helicopter. Brian Dennehy is actually really good in this as the JAWS-inspired ruthless land developer.
TIGER JOE (Margheriti, 1982) ... Second in Margheriti's "Vietnam trilogy" has likeable gun runner David Warbeck up against a bitter North Vietnamese army. And how odd, a flamethrower scene :) Surprisingly bereft of Margheriti's signature miniature work until a train explosion near the end.
TORNADO (Margheriti, 1983) ... Downbeat third "Vietnam trilogy" entry is fairly grim stuff and left me feeling a bit cheated seeing as how all its big action scenes were lifted from THE LAST HUNTER. Most of the original material is just DEER HUNTER prison camp stuff but at least the hero manages to steal a big bulldozer for some shenanigans near the end ... Hilariously all the "American soldiers" are seen wearing Italian camoflage uniforms, but at least they all manage to dress the same this time, which is more than can be said for other Italian "Vietnam" films. Spoiler: hero dies in the last few SECONDS from a stray bullet fired from offscreen. War is hell!
THE BIG ALLIGATOR RIVER (Martino, 1979) ... Foxy Barbara Bach menaced by a toy alligator in a fish tank. Kinda fun when you realize its ripping off first JAWS and then KING KONG 1976 of all things! Mostly though its fucking stupid.
NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES aka ZOMBIE CREEPING FLESH aka HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD (Mattei, 1980) ... I though this one was gonna suck but I ended up enjoying it. On the surface (and especially in the trailer) it doesn't so much seem like a ripoff of the 1978 DAWN OF THE DEAD as it seems like Dawn of the Dead ITSELF. A bunch of SWAT dudes in blue uniforms shooting up a tenement block riot and then menaced by ghost-faced zombies, all accompanied by the Goblin music from DOTD. Shortly though it distinguishes itself and becomes something of a combination of DOTD and Fulci's ZOMBI. The zombies here are "pure" zombies, exactly the same look and bahaviour as Romero zombies. This is one of the very few zombie movies that seems totally faithful to the mythos and if you can watch it as a companion piece to Romero's original, you might be surprised. I can't believe how many times over how many years I have seen and passed on this stupid video and now I regret it.
THE SEVEN MAGNIFICENT GLADIATORS (Mattei, 1983) ...
RUSSKIES (Rosenthal, 1987)
DELTA FORCE COMMANDO (Ciriaci, 1987)
DEMONOID (Zacarias, 1981)
THE BARBARIANS (Deodato, 1987)
FIREBIRD 2015 A.D. (Robertson, 1981)
STORM OF THE CENTURY (Baxley, 1999)
SUPERSTITION (Roberson, 1982)
posted by figurebuilder at 2:02 PM
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