Midnight Killer (1984) aka Morirai A Mezzanotte

3 / 5 Jan '11
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Lamberto Bava
Written by: Lamberto Bava, Dardano Sacchetti
Actors include: Valeria D'Obici, Leonardo Treviglio, Paolo Malco
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Giallo, Thriller
Length: 85 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well it's definitely a later entry into the giallo field and it's one of Lamberto Bava's worst but it's certainly not terrible, it is at least stylish in a way. The fashions are awful, and it's missing the gratuity one would expect in this style of film. The deaths are decent and a bit of creativity is used, and the nudity quotient wasn't fulfilled much to my Husband's dismay. The beginning in this film is quite strong at least, it starts with a violent fight between a fellow named Nicola and his Wife. Nicola leaves the seen and flees to an ex-girlfriend's house who just happens to receive a phone call while he's there stating the death of Nicola's wife. It's of course a mystery and a few other girls are killed along the way. I think I might have rated it higher were the ending more satisfying, but it sort of cheapened the film I thought. You could do worse, especially during this time frame with this style of film but you could definitely do better too.

Availability:  I don't believe it's currently on DVD

Inferno In Diretta (1986) aka Cut And Run

3 / 5 July '10
Tagline: The one story you won't be seeing on the 6 o'clock news!
Directed by: Ruggero Deodato
Written by: Cesare Frugoni, Dardano Sacchetti
Actors include: Lisa Blount, Leonard Mann, Willie Aames
Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror
Length: 90 minutes
Banned: Finland

Review:
Well in some way this is a sequel to Cannibal Holocaust, or at least it's very similar and from the same director. This isn't nearly as good as Holocaust, though I suppose it's nicely filmed. The plot is about a news team who suspect a member of Jonestown has survived and is hiding out in the jungle. Also they intend to hunt for the son of a TV Producer who has been lost in the jungle for quite a while and it has a cocaine smuggling plot too. The missing son is hilariously played by Willie Aames (Buddy from Charles In Charge) who is ridiculous when trying to act, it's almost sad to watch. This does have a lot of violence in it though nothing as extreme as in Holocaust, it does have a rather high body count I suppose (though I could have done with less poison dart death). One perk this does have is actor Michael Berryman (the creepy dude from The Hills Have Eyes) as a violent savage which is kind of neat. It's okay I guess when you add everything up but it certainly could have been much better.

Availability:  On DVD

Ratman (1988) aka Terror House aka Quella Villa In Fondo Al Parco

2.5 / 5 Mar '10
Tagline: He's The Critter From The Shitter!
Directed by: Giuliano Carnimeo
Written by: Dardano Sacchetti
Actors include: David Warbeck, Janet Agren, Eva Grimaldi
Genre: Horror
Length: 82 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Not the most exciting cheap Italian sleaze, in fact it's probably one of the weaker entries I've seen. The plot is paper thin, a ratman was created by a scientist I think using monkey sperm and a rat if I'm not mistaken. The ratman itself is rather amusing, a very little person in some extreme make-up and teeth with rat noises dubbed over top, kind of like the Zuni doll from Trilogy of Terror. When the dangerous ratman escapes some models are being bumped off (and their corpses have giant scratches all over 'em) between boring as heck photo shoots. This does have a fair bit of nudity if that be your thing but the parts that didn't have the creature were duller than dirt. It's a shame the cast wasn't into it, and the deaths aren't that great (often too dark or cutaway) though they don't mind showing some blood. All in all if you like strange Italian movies you'll maybe want to give this a try but I found it to be a bit of a struggle to sit through.

Availability:  On DVD