Angel killer III - Ultima sfida

When I bought the box-set trio of movies, I didn't expect much. Something controversial, yes, something in sexy movie history, yes, but not necessarily any good. The first two has a plethora of oddball characters which go way, way over the top, often chewing up the scenery, ruining what had been built up, especially in the original (see my recent review). It is as one of the other reviewers said, this one's the best. By far. Unfortunately I am not a Mitzi Kapture fan, and she's really the least convincing ANGEL of the lot. But I had a great surprise finding Laura Albert (the G-string not nude dancer very early on) and discovering Tawny Fere (wow, sigh, anybody else ever noticed the influence Kylie Minogue had on Tawny's nightclub appearance?).

Hey, you buncha IMDbored commentators... In this genre, you should know, this is a gem. There's an actual story, not too much ghoulish gruesome bloodiness, some really really pretty scenery of the two-legged kind, and a really pretty kid like Tawny Fere thrown in as a co-star.

Good thing they dropped the cowboy and the old auntie. Don't wanna step on too many SILK STALKINGS toes, but the lead lady kinda doesn't do it for me...

My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

Third entry in New World's "Angel" series is a tired-blood melodrama about sisterly devotion. Prospects are extremely weak, even among devotees of the first two sexploitationers.

All-new cast (though several of the characters are the same) is headed by Mitzi Kapture as Angel, now a 26-year-old shutterbug in New York City, who recognizes her long-one mom Gloria (Anna Navarro) in a photo and tracks her to L. A. Mom reveals Angel has a 14-year-old sister, Michelle (Tawny Fere), who is involved with bad company. Mom is killed by a car bomb and Angel decides to go back out on the street as a fake prostitute to find sis and avenge her mom.

Baddies are led by Maud Adams, running a combo white slavery and drug smuggling ring. Padded film wallows (with too many in-jokes) in the world of porn filmmaking as Angel takes many risks en route to saving sis and a poorly staged shootout finale.

Kapture is miscast as Angel, playing it too hard-edged to generate any sympathy and Fere too mature and far from innocent-looking in the youngster role. Comedian Mark Blankfield gets no laughs (his dialog is awful) as Angel's stereotyped street-person friend, played as if written for Craig Russell in "Outrageous". Rest of the cast phones it in.

Technical credits are chintzy.

This third installment in the Angel franchise can be enjoyed as a stand-alone film.Molly Stewart who we have seen in two previous films as a teenager in high school and then as a college student in the second film now is an adult woman working as a photographer in New York.She goes back to Los Angeles when she discovers her long lost mother and finds out she has a half sister.It seems that her mother has become involved with international drug dealers who are holding her daughter hostage to force cooperation with them.When Molly's mother proves to be too troublesome she is killed.So Molly Stewart goes into her Angel persona to track down her mother's killers and find the lost half sister she discovered she has.

The movie is so over the top that it actually works as a low budget action exploitation film.

Yes, we're in desperation stakes again. This almost has the feel of a lot scenes, bits, desperately pieced together. This pathetic excuse, (let's not even call it a movie) for a number three, sees Angel (played by yet another actress, then again, so are the Griswald kids) not a lawyer, a photographer now, who stumbles onto a story, that may'be hits too close to home, more so on a personal note, where she has tracked down her mother while working on a story, involving of course, prostitution. It isn't soon before she's butting heads with a cop (Roundtree, wasted again) while falling in love with guess who? Think back to General Hospital. We meet another cooky character, not seen in the last two Angels, who doubles as a clown and ice cream driver. Again the bold, brazen, and independent Angel, also learns she has a.... yeah, a sister, involved in.... yeah, prostitution. Her mother, an art collector, running a front for drugs is blown up, hence it's Angel on the revenge trail, while trying to rescue her younger hottie sister, who turns blinders to her. She goes undercover as a high class call girl, for a madam, played with convincing evil by Maud Adams (wasted, yes) while also getting into porn, and learning some ugly truths from other girls, soon to be escorted off to the real real slavery. Angel has a great line at the end when Nadine (Adams) gets locked in an ice cream truck, sopping with chocolate. If fans of the Angel series, apart from the nudity and hot broads in some lingerie, this one may run short of your expectations. But good news: There's a fourth.

Perfectly acceptable and fun sequel that does manage to add a few interesting twists and turns along the way. This time, Angel is avenging the death of her estranged mother who's been mixed up in a sex trafficking organization run by Maude Adams and is trying to save her long lost sister from being the next victim of the organization.

It's nice to see Angel's real family, the cast is pretty good, there are some exciting action set pieces, and funny bits of satire on the adult film industry. It breezes by with very few slow spots, which makes it a very easy viewing experience.