La proie de l'autostop

Odd and strangely compelling thriller from director Pasqualie Festa Campanile. The film has the usual quota of dodgy dubbing, questionable acting and awkward scenes for this genre but it does have an underlying power that keeps you hooked until the end. There are enough twists and turns in the script to keep you guessing - it took me by surprise and I've seen literally thousands upon thousands of horror thrillers. Ennio Morricone's score is again, quite unique and adds quite a lot to the film and the cinematography is outstanding and looks beautiful on the region 2 Anchor Bay disc. All in all, if you're a fan of 70's and 80's Euro horror you will want to check this one out.

A bickering marriage : Franco Nero, Corinne Clery after spending a night at a RV camp, they pick up a man whose car is broken down at a deserted stretch of California . Along the way things go awry , the couple is tormented by the fateful hitchhiker : David Hess . Hitch a Ride..Hitch a Date with Death!

Ferociously surprising film with thrills , chills , graphic violence , nudism , plot twists and anything else . The plot is plain and simple , as a pleasure trip becomes a journey into hell , as all of them attempt to encounter a way to deal with each other when they are tempted for a sum of money , the loot from a heist . The film is as hard as its characters , all of them are unkind , ambitious and unpleasant roles . Trio of protagonists give acceptable performances . Franco Nero is nice , though overacting at times, as an alcoholic reporter with no much success , while his spitful wife well played by Corinne Clery in the best performance of her lousy career . And Davis Hess gives a grim and threatening interpretation as the sadomasochist delinquent who is taking them as hostages to get his purports . Along with brief appearances from some usual secondaries from B-Italian genres as Pedro Sánchez or Ignacio Spalla , Mónica Zanchi , Benito Pacifico and Joshua Sinclair .

It contains a thrilling and suspenseful score by Ennio Morricone, adding catching songs in American style . As well as colorful and evocative cinematography by cameraman Giuseppe Ruzzolini who photographed some Sergio Leone films . Being shot on location Campo Imperatore L'Aquila , Abruzzo , where was filmed Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ, it was chosen because the outdoors looked like California and Mexico territory , though assistants put gas station, marks , and road signs to make an Americanized look . Furthermore , the classic Falls from Monte Gelato where time before shot hundreds of Peplum of Sword and Sandals movies . The motion picture was decently written/directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile , though it has some flaws and gaps . He was an expert on comedies , writing and shooting a lot of them until his early death at 58 . As he made the following ones : When women lost their tails , When women had tails , Rugantino, Bingo Bongo , The Naked Cello , The Chastity Bell, La Ragaza di Trieste , Manolesta , The Libertine , among others . The film will appeal to Franco Nero and Corinne Clery fans.

A road rager full sick people and guilty pleasures. Nero is a twisted newspaper writer with a nasty streak against his lovely and all too forgiving wife played by Clery. On a return from holiday they pick up a stranded motorist (David Hess), who unknown to them was just involved in a $2 million dollar heist. What follows is a weell-paced often violent road flick that manages to entertain and promote a little thoght. You almost need a score card to follow all the backstabbing and two-timing going on. The plot zig-zags like a road to hell and nobody taking the trip is who they seem. 7/10

Intense, off-beat Italian thriller is an underexposed classic.

Fueding married couple, traveling across the country, make the mistake of picking up a hitch hiker who turns out to be a violent bank robber. But that's only the beginning of the story.

Skillfully well done thriller is gripping in it's wildly turning plot. The cinematography is stylishly good, with some beautiful country side filming locations. The music, though seemingly out of place at times, is great too. In addition there is a decent amount of violence and some nudity.

The real highlights of this film though are it's three stars, who seem to be in a show-stealing competition all through out the film. Franco Nero does a convincingly good performance as the alcoholic reporter, who has grown tired of his wife. Corinne Clery is fetching and talented as Nero's equally weary wife. The terrific David Hess makes for another great villain, also having played a crazed criminal in both Craven's Last House on the Left (1972) and another Italian exploitation film House on the Edge of the Park (1979).

For those who are seeking an unconventional thriller or just a fan of Hess, this film will be a well rewarding watch.

*** 1/2 out of ****

No, they don't do movies like this anymore. A tough one about self-hatred, mayhem and self- destruction: Franco Nero as a down-&-out reporter, Corinne Clery as his sexy, completely hollow spouse, plus David Hess doing his usual good- humored-and-mean-as-hell thing. "Autostop Rosso Sangue" is sleazy, sexist, ultra-violent, but not without some unforgettable moments: The naked Clery in front of a trailer holding a huge rifle in the middle of the night is like a hastily written, edgy but brilliant poem found in a tattered paperback left in a cheap motel. For a few short hours in his life, Pasquale Festa Campanile, creator of some of the worst Euro comedies ever, turned into a poète maudit of the most cynical kind. This is the kind of grindhouse cinema nobody can embrace with seventies nostalgia: mature, brutal, knowing, never "cool", always cold, gripping and utterly nihilistic. Anything else you would ask for?