Andreas_W333

One of the first eurocult movies I saw, and now seeing it almost 40 years later. This movie was easily accessible in Sweden, since it was a common video club title in the 80's. Coming from a family obsessed with home video, of course this movie found its way to our home too. I was around 6-7 years when I popped this into our video recorder, and remember I sat with big eyes and saw insane fights, full frontal nudity by a swimming pool (a defining moment, not least since I started collecting Belinda Mayne titles some 20 years later) and that chainsaw. Watching it now, at 44 years and counting - I am so thrilled to have seen it again, and in high definition. It's eurocult at its finest and most insane. Hilarious story and dialogue, full of fights, extreme (for the time, and now) violence and everything you would expect from a french-turkish co-production that features Gordon Mitchell. If you like movies like "Ricco the mean machine" or "Professional killer (aka The satanic mechanic, with Lee van Cleef)" - then you will love this low budget firework of a movie. Pure entertainment!

Well, first thing first. Looking for a giallo or even a borderline giallo? Forget this one. What you get here is a good cast in a poorly executed film. A sort of hostage drama. It doesn't qualify as a sexy giallo, and it lacks the loose mechanics of even the most vague gialli (as for example Cat in heat). If this is even to be mentioned as a giallo, then every crime drama by Elio Petri och Damiano Damiani is a giallo as well, which they of course aren't.

This movie however is best servicable, if you see it with the Italian language track - since the English one is simply dreadful. One of the absolute worst on record for an Italian film of this production standard. The fake accents are just unbearable to listen to. But since the English track is most widely spread I will have to give it a 4 out of 10. With the Italian track it's a 5.

While the first "Joker" was a good psychological thriller drama - I really didn't see on forehand how a follow-up would be super interesting or even possible to deliver in a good way - I was floored by this demented masterpiece. Even darker than the first movie, but balancing with the journeys into the main character's imagination. A radical move back to real international cinema of the golden days. Very much anti Hollywood in general but very anti streamline cinema in particular. Yes, it qualifies as a musical - but remember, this is about a demented entertainer. The entertainer who puts on a mask to survive and to be enough in a harsh reality. A beautiful piece of cinema.