noahbbrown

I'm a big fan of the late Bruno, and had been looking forward to seeing this film for ages. I was hoping for a crazy, no-holds-barred sleaze and violence-filled Western along the lines of the 'Edge' novels put out by New English Library in the 70s and 80s, of which I'm also a big fan.

I think the problem here is I was expecting too much. I may have seen a cut version, I'm not sure, but the violence wasn't anywhere as strong as some of Mattei's other films - a couple of scalpings, a quick bloodless decapitation and the torture scene with the hooks. The version I saw ran at 96 minutes. Having heard how violent this movie was, I was a tad disappointed.

But I wouldn't like you to think I'm just some uncouth gorehound, so what of the rest of the movie? Well, it's a very thinly plotted revenge movie, performances are very hammy and the dubbing, as always, doesn't really help matters. There's a few bits of dialogue that will make you chuckle, but nowhere near as much as 'Rats: Night Of Terror' or 'Hell Of The Living Dead'. I was bored in places - the movie falls between two stools, not really funny enough for true camp value but not striking or brutal enough to shock. The whole feel of the film, apart from a few gory moments and a bit of rough dialogue, seems like something from the 50s or 60s rather than 1987. The score is more akin to a 50s American Western rather than anything Morricone-inspired - indeed, the whole thing doesn't feel that 'spaghetti' to me.

Not bad, worth seeing, but I was disappointed. In its favour, there's a couple of decent twists right at the end and Mapi Galan's a pretty girl. I think I should seek out 'Cut Throats Nine' for something a bit harder-edged, perhaps.

I had never heard of this film, I must confess. The 90s were a horrible dry time for horror, but this isn't bad at all. It's pure schlock, frustrating at times and plot exposition isn't handled as well as it could be, but it's worth a watch if you like obscure horror.

The film plays like a cross between The Evil Dead (with the backwoods, claustrophobic feel and some 'running fast with the camera' bits) and the superior recent French movie Inside (the central concept, albeit given a supernatural angle). It's quite professionally done (although due to a lot of the nonsense I subject myself to, my standards are low!), the effects are good enough and the performances capable. Some of the concepts are a little distasteful, and in the gloomy netherworld of tame mid-90s horror, were probably quite nasty. I wasn't aware of Aswangs before watching this movie, very creepy mythical beasts. It's a shame this film didn't do better, as there's quite a bit of mileage in these nasty bloodsucking creatures, I reckon

( I really, really recognise the guy who plays the central male role, but this is the only movie he's done apparently...strange. He looks just like somebody else. Who could I be thinking of?)