Film Reviews by sb

AKA Free Hand for a Tough Cop - become a huge fan of Umberto Lenzi whose work-rate in the 1970's was amazing.

He could make 2 (or even 3) films a year spanning Giallo, Cop Thrillers and Cannibal movies and this is another cracker.

Bad guy Brescianelli (Silva) has kidnapped a little girl for ransom - the twist being she has a kidney condition and must recieve hospital treatment every 5 days.

Cop Sarti (Cassinnelli) decides to by-pass the plodding Italian Police and breaks thief Marazzi (Milian) out of jail as he has loads of contacts may lead Sarti to where the girl is being kept.

Along the way they hook up with Marazzi's old gang and the hunt is on.

Its rattles along at a frantic pace with endless car chases , mass shoot-outs and beatings and is tremendously violent with at its heart another terrific performance by Milian who could turn his hand to anything and here plays the wily thief always with his eye on the main chance......great entry in the Lenzi canon - 4/5

AKA Man from Deep River - Another Umberto Lenzi movie and one of his best.

Rassimov plays Bradley a photographer on assigment in Thailand where after a bar fight goes wrong flees up river with his guide.

He awakes one morning to find the guide murdered and is taken captive by a local tribe. He is used as slave labour and after a while tries to escape but is captured and kills one of the tribes warriors.

Realising his worth the tribal elder invites him to become a warrior helped by the fact that his daughter (Lai) has taken a fancy to him.

Soon that are married and she is with child - Bradley saves a small boy thus undermining the local witch doctor and when Lai is taken ill and goes blind its implied its his doing..

Later in his career Lenzi would make some of the more infamous cannibal movies of the genre and this is seen as the movie that launched them which is a little unfair.

There is only one small cannibal scene and that's when a rival tribe attack and its main influence is a Man Called Horse with a parallel story line where the civilised man sees nobility in the more simple way of life.

it was banned under the video nasty scare in the uk - mainly for the animal sacrifice scenes but its a much better film than a lot of these.

Rassamov and Lai are very good in the roles and it avoids most of the normal condesension about savage natives that tends to be the normal view - 4/5

AKA I AM SARTANA, YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH

Second in the series and to honest a bit of a letdown compared to the original.

Garko returns as the titular character who has been framed for a bank robbery he didn't commit so has to clear his name while being pursued by the Law and an army of bounty hunters.

There are mega shoot-outs galore with the usual sleight of hand gunplay plus Klaus Kinski as a suave gambler who doubles as a bounty hunter but the plot is too overly convoluted to maintain the interest.

It also meanders a lot with lots of sub-charcters showing up only to get shot with no explanation as to what role they played.

There were 3 more in the "official" series which were much better so this one is worth a look but not much more - 3/5

Loved the whole Dr Strange/Multiverse unleashed in the last Spidey movie but this one is a real slog and a bit of a mess.

The plot is back of a fag packet stuff - Wanda (having lost her twins at the end of WandaVision) used her powers as the Scarlett Witch to steal the powers of America (a teenage girl who can open multi-portals at will) to re-create her family.....and that's about it - for 126 minutes....

Strange agrees to protect America and the scene is set for endless battles across mutli-universes ( and by endless I mean endless).

Its just one huge CGI scene after another and as the story never develops beyond that that is all you are left with......ok Olson is good in the part but not really enough to carry the whole film....and when you have cameos from Captain Marvel and Charles Xavier shoe-horned in it all gets a bit desperate..

The film is saved by Raimi's full throttle direction with the final third crammed with his trademark slapstick horror stuff that does provide some comic relief but overall was rather glad when the end credits hove into view.

I know it got good reviews and it made a fortune at the box office - I just found it a minor entry in the MCU....3/5

Odd but effective Italian thriller has Reed as an ex-cop turned prison governor whose wife is kidnapped and the price for her release is he must help free an inmate (Testi).

He does this but has no intention of just handing him over - he needs a guarantee for his wife.

The planned handover goes badly wrong and he discovers she is now in Paris but his involvment in the prison break has been uncovered so they are now both wanted men. To cross into France they have to make it over the mountains and then onto Paris...

At first its implied that the kidnappers want Testi to finish off a job but as the plot thickens it involves political assasination, high level cover ups and all manner of dubious characters with even more dubious agenda's,

Reed is very good in the part bringing his customary intensity to the role with Testi in the initially lighter role but matching him as the film progresses.

Good use of the wintery Paris locations but the film is somewhat let down by some terrible dubbing - even Reed seems to sport an American accent which he loses about halfway through and whole swaithes of the film don't make any sense...

But overall it works as a '70's paranoid thriller with a fine score by Morricone the QT has borrowed from - so overall 3.5/5

AKA Sartana's Here....Trade your Pistol for a Coffin

Number 3 in the official 5 canon series (there were loads more most of whom were nothing to do with Sartana) has Hilton taking over the role as the dashingly handsome lanconic gunfighter.

This one has a labyrinthian plot involving a shipment of gold that involves corrupt bankers, local bandits , all manner of mercenary hired hands and a lethal foppish gunfighter (Southwood) who is Sartana's equal.

Each element wants to get their hands on the gold and will combine and then betray each other - in some cases several times over.

Its a wonderfully stylish film with a colossal body count and some very witty gunplay - after a while you give up trying to work out who is working for who and just admire the fun - easily one of the best of the series - 4/5

AKA Seven Blood Stained Orchids - excellent stylish Giallo from the master of the genre.

Some-one is slaughtering young women (just for a change) but what lifts this is the logic of the plot and the way the focus changes away from the police to the central characters.

Giana (Glas) is the third victim but survives and a plot is hatched with her husband Mario (Sabato) to pretend the killer succeeded so they can follow up the clues and unmask him.

She used to own a hotel and 7 women stayed there in a single week - the two previous victims and herself so they know who the killer will target - can they be saved while working out why they have been selected.

The plot become ever more complicated with an veritible ocean of red herrings and blind alleys but in the end it makes logical sense as its proceeds to its finale.

Shot mainly in Rome it makes great use of the locations with a solid supporting cast - it tends to suffer a bit from comparisons with Argento but its a very fine example of the genre - 4/5

AKA Highway Racer - another Italian cop thriller has Merli as Marco a hotshot Rome detective with a penchant for fast cars and taking dangerous chances. His boss was a similar hotshot in the day and Marco is out to outdo him.

Into this heady mix comes Nazzardo (Infanti) a suave bank robber out of prison and back on the job - his trick is to have two souped up getaway cars of same make,model and licence plate so the cops don't know which is the real one and which the decoy.

During one robbery Marco crashes and his partner is killed so he decides to quite but his boss offers him a chance at redemption by going undercover and inflitrating the bank gang.

As an added insentive he chucks in his legerndary Ferrari GTO and the two work on getting it back on the road.

Marco has to prove himself worthy to the gang with he does with considerable relish - but without making enemies who don't trust him....Meanwhile the biggest bank job yet is being planned and he is in.

Shot on location in Rome it has endless tyre screaming car chases and some truly spectacular stunts all using the well known locations and if at times it all gets a bit samey and macho Merli's rougeish charm carries it on.

The final reel is interesting as events unfold in a somewhat unexpected manner - so overall its a visceral thrill ride - 4/5

Well that was bags more fun than I expected - a good old fashioned rollicking treasure adventure.

Holland plays Nate who as boy was obsessed with Spanish treasure and he is hired by Sully (Walberg) to seek out some lost gold.

This brings them into conflict with Banderas bad guy and his lethal hench lady (Gabrielle) with whom Sully has some history.

It zips from New York to Barcelona to the Phillipines picking up another of Sully's exes (Ali) along the way and the scene is set for thrills and spills and more double crosses than you can shake a stick at....

Holland is as likeable as always and Wallberg tones down his more annoying traits - Banderas isn't given much to do so its Gabrielle who becomes chief villain.

On the one hand its a blatant mish mash of various other franchises with 2 parts Raider, a bit of National Treasure and a whole side order of the follow the clues so beloved of the Robert Langdon films but it barrels along at a cracking pace and makes no bones that it is anything then the sum of its parts.

Ok it can be a little too blatant as times ( the main set piece stunt is ripped off from The Living Daylights) but caught in the right mood fun can be had - 4/5

AKA The Man in the Metal Mask - odd but really interesting Cold War/Sci-Fi hybrid.

Leading American scientist is involved in a car crash in Germany - he is recovered by the Soviets but he is so badly injured they have to be-build him as part human and part metal bionic man.

Time passes and the Soviets return him to the American's but is he who he says he is - or he a Soviet plant - or even if he is who he claims to be how do the American's know he hasn't been turned as part of the process.

Eliot Gould is the FBI man tasked with finding out - at first he is sure its a plant and if allowed back to the top secret project will betray everything to the Soviets and even if he is the real deal he may still do the same.

To complicate matters we see in flashback his interogation by a Soviet Colonel (Howard) so that we know more about what went on than Gould does- so its a real cat and mouse job.

Along the way the film muses on what makes us human and what defines a personality - is it merely the combination of memories or is it more?

Good performances and a remarkable job by Joseph Bova who manages to covey all the inner pain and confusion while in a metal mask.

It has a very clever reveal towards the end that is not where you thought the film was going and its a really interesting take on the genre - 4/5

AKA The Hands of Orlac- after the success of Dr Caligari director Weine and actor Veidt re-united for a slice of body horror.

Veidt plays Orlac a concert pianist who is on the way home to his wife when is is involved in a horrific train crash.

The surgeon saves his life but cannot save his hands and its revealed they are the transplanted hands of a convicted murderer.

Orlac realises that not only can he no longer play but becomes obsessed with the fact that the hands retain some muscle memory of the lethal instincts of the previous owner.

He refuses all contact and even keeps his wife at a remote distance for her safety - meanwhile a mysterious stranger seems to a strange power over the maidservant and soon begins to ensnare Orlac in his web - is he who its implied he is?

Its been remade serveral times but never as powerfully as this - as always Veidt is electric using the hands as almost reptillian beings that must be destroyed and his eyes are endless pools of despair as his mind fragments under what he must endure.

The set design is remarkable - all art-deco rooms far larger than than they need be with minimal furniture and dark shadows that seen to trap Orlac with no-where to hide and a constant strident atonal score that becomes more and more disorintating as the film progresses.

Ok you can see the ending as a sleight of hand (pardon the pun) but then its revealed that its far more than that - a truly remarkable film - 4/5

AKA So Sweet....So Perverse - Umberto Lenzi became the Master of Italian Giallo in the 1970's and this is an early entry.

Trintigrant plays Jean a rich business man trapped in a loveless marriage with cold remote Danielle (Blanc) who turns a blind eye to his affairs until Nicole (Baker) moves into the flat upstairs,

She appears to be in a violent abusive relationship with Klaus (Frank) that she cannot escape from and one thing leads to another with Jean.

Of course this being a Giallo the whole thing is a set up and the rest of the film is working out each characters motivation with endless crosses and betrayals.

It takes its inspiration from Les Diabolique and then complicates even that and this is the films major flaw. There are just too many over-complications so after a while you begin to lose focus. There are also several inserts/flashbacks and its never explained how they fit into the main plot- and the ending makes no sense whatsover.

Baker is very good as the femme fatale and is Blanc as the much put upon wife and it looks very stylish - fortunatly Lenzi would hone his trade so this is an interesting if not that succesful go at the genre - 3/5

A mysterious stranger arrives in a small town and buys a plot of land - he encloses with a wall that has no gateway or door for he is Death and within the walls are the souls of all he has collected.

One is the fiance of Dagover (one of the most popular actresses of the Wiemar Republic) who in despair takes poison to join her beloved.

Death (Goatzke) takes pity on her and shows her three guttering candles each representing a soul - if she can save one he will restore her lover to her.

So we enter 3 stories - an Arabic Caliph whose sister is in love with a foreign unbeliever, an unhappy Venetian betrothed to an rich man she hates while in love with another and 2 magician apprentices in ancient China the female who the Emperor takes a fancy to.

All three pairs of lovers are played by the same actors in the modern setting (Jannsen joining Dagover) but all 3 candles gutter out before she can save them.

Death (who is revealed to be a sympathetic figure who is tired of being at Fate's call) offers her one final chance but its revealed to be beyond the price she is prepared to pay.

For its time the visual effects are quite remarkable especially in the Chinese part as are the sets and costumes and was a major influence on Hollywood as well as inspring everyone from Hichcock to Brunel to Bergman.

Ok from a modern view having German actors make up to be other races may raise eyebrows but considering its over a hundred years old its still quite remarkable - 4/5

Fun post-modernist horror comedy - set among the normal horny high school students this has one who has become possessed by a demon - and becomes a literal man eater - its all very stylish and ironic - Fox is smoking as Jennifer with good support from Seyfriend as her nerdy best friend who tries to curtail the wholesale slaughter - its all very self-consious in a Scream way but works well - and its all got the great pay-off line - I will eat you soul...and sh*t it out....

Very good urban drama with Gosling as the heart of gold teacher who seems to function normally but has a serious secret drug habit - one of his pupils (Epps) discovers this but keeps quiet and the two strike up a tentative frienship - her uncle is a dealer and tries to get her to join the business - forcing Gosling into direct action. What's interesting about it is that is non-judgemental - a junkie teacher would be an obvious target for moral panic but the film merely observes without drawing any conclusions - both leads work very together and Gosling shows even back then just what a superb actor he is - highly reccomended...