L'ange de la mort

Weird and funny action in South America film. It is the result of collaboration between two rather bright European b movies masters. And it looks more like Franco's film, than Bianchi's. It is one of those banana super actions, with jungle locations, naked women, senseless story. But it has absurd and drive indeed. It looks like comics in some parts and have lo fi special effects amusement. The characters including Howard Vernon are nice and they make that real-time two-weeks made drive. The fans of Commander Strike, Oasis of the zombies will probably love this super-improvised hallucination etc.

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I have the substance release of this film...not great quality but pretty watchable. I can't wait til someone like full moon features rereleases this film and restores it. Great 80s action...extremely cheezy but awesome

Written by the legendary Jess Franco and directed by Andrea Bianchi (Burial Ground), Angel of Death (AKA Commando Mengele) is a dreadfully inept Euro action flick that is nowhere near as sleazy, gory or trashy as it should have been given subject matter and the 'talent' involved, and which consequently bores for almost its entire runtime.

The film stars Antonio Mayans as Marc, a Nazi hunter on the trail of the notorious German doctor Josef Mengele (Howard Vernon), who is alive and well, creating mutant monkey men in his laboratory. Assembling a team that includes an explosives/weapons expert, a martial artist, a circus acrobat, and an electronics wizard, Marc must gather evidence before launching an attack on Mengele's heavily guarded fortress.

Incredibly uneventful for most of the time, I kept telling myself that it must get better eventually, but that simply wasn't the case. After lots of excruciatingly dull Nazi nonsense, with not a single credible performance from the entire cast (a chimpanzee steals the show), the film finally gets to the action packed finale in which almost everyone dies. Sadly, an opportunity to go overboard with the blood and guts is sorely missed, most of the extras simply falling unconvincingly to the ground with red paint on their shirts.

I recently watched the French film 🇫🇷 Angel of Death (1985) on Tubi. The plot follows a commando unit dispatched to South America to capture the notorious Nazi, Dr. Mengele, who continues his sinister experiments on the locals. The mission: infiltrate Mengele's compound and deliver justice.

Directed by Andrea Bianchi (Maniac Killer), the film features performances by Christopher Mitchum (Big Jake), Fernando Rey (French Connection), Howard Vernon (Delicatessen), and Dora Doll (Maniac Killer).

Angel of Death is one of those movies that's so bad it's strangely captivating. While the premise and settings offer potential for an authentic thriller, the execution falls short. The shootouts provide some entertainment, albeit with dated flair, and are arguably the film's highlight. However, the wardrobe choices leave much to be desired, with instances like a character sporting boat shoes and wool socks that distract from the narrative. The portrayal of "Nazis" feels superficial, lacking the authenticity of proper uniforms and relying on arm bands and plainclothes. Sniper scenes feature peculiar visual effects, while dirt bike sequences elicit unintended laughter. The martial arts scenes are particularly cringe-worthy. The martial arts expert🥋 commando literally kicks a guy into the pool in his big action scene, like you'd do with your friends as a kid. The makeup and bandages on the experimental subjects are more likely to induce laughter than horror.

In conclusion, Angel of Death's sheer awfulness compels you to keep watching, if only to witness how much worse it can get. I'd rate it a 3/10 and suggest giving it a single viewing, if only for only the experience. 😂

Oh, how visibly low-budget this is. It's immediately detectable in the extra excitable cinematography, curt editing, uneven sound design, oddly meek costume design, and "yeah, no, that's good" direction. To these facets add dialogue, scene writing, characters, and exposition that are Just So, and sometimes laughably perfunctory. The story is passable in the most uselessly broad of strokes, and plot development, but it really feels like after a basic concept was pitched, the rest of the screenplay was cobbled together just to loosely assemble a picture around it. All this definitely does reflect in turn on the acting, and it often comes across that the players are Just Getting By, or in sometimes plainly overacting - though in some cases I'm unsure if they're simply not very good at their trade. True, one may expect such qualities from movies that Jesus Franco was involved with, in varying proportions, but still 'Angel of death,' also known as 'Commando Mengele,' readily shows itself to be a viewing experience only for ardent fans of the filmmaker or the blithely curious. And even then, let me be frank: it's not recommendable.

I do like Norbert Verrone's music, though some of it is weirdly repetitive, and other themes are peculiarly out of place. The filming locations are lovely. I'm unclear whether it's Franco or Andrea Bianchi who is to be credited as director (or maybe both?), but while that aspect is seemingly content with a single take of every moment, it's technically proficient. For the most part this isn't outright bad, just unmistakably weak owing both to limited resources and limited skills. Yet when the question turns to the screenplay whipped up between Georges Friedland and Marius Lesoeur in addition to Franco, the whole absolutely falls apart right in front of our eyes. 'Angel of death' at least maintains a steady pace, such that it seems to go by rather quickly. Yet "cobbled together" really does feel like the best phrase to describe the plot; the premise seems clear enough, but it belies a story that in actuality is thin, almost haphazard in its construction, and roundly unconvincing in multiple capacities. The movie doesn't inspire excitement so much as it does considerable skepticism: characters come together in flimsy fashions, and we never get a clear idea of who they are; scenes are written and executed with the tack of "sure, that'll work"; specific advancement of the narrative is marginally slow and a little oblique. Some shots are repeated while others have no purpose; some moments are repetitive as they are employed, and others are needlessly embellished with slow motion; no few small details decidedly raise a quizzical eyebrow.

It sounds promising from the outside looking in, but it doesn't take long to start forming an unfavorable impression, and that impression is only augmented and confirmed as the feature progresses. The single most admirable element here might be the practical effects, but what is that saying? The action-oriented climax is reasonably well done (though still not written well), but by that point, does it matter? 'Angel of death' comes off as a production where all involved were doing the bare minimum, and even at that, either not especially trying, totally incapable, or so restricted by the resources available to them as to give off those airs. "I suppose that'll do" was apparently the order of the day, but whoever was managing the project, they were emphatically mistaken, for the final cut is one instance after another of dubious craftsmanship. As indisputably fishy as some story ideas or otherwise inclusions are, somehow as the title enters the third act it still manages to become even more shady. To be blunt, my favor waned more and more over these ninety minutes until watching ultimately became a chore. There was some potential in the concept, and in a scattering of the notions herein, yet by and large the end product might the worst possible rendition of that concept. I congratulate those who get more out of the feature than I do, but the number of people who could earnestly enjoy it is surely very small. Leave 'Angel of death' for Franco devotees and those who, for better or worse, will watch anything; everyone else, move along.