Favorite European Trash Cinema Images - Bacanais na Ilha das Ninfetas

 
Eurotrash Icon Oswaldo de Oliveira did a pair of Women In Prison films in 1981/82 that got excellent US DVD releases as BARE BEHIND BARS (a real favorite of mine) and AMAZON JAIL. I had no idea there was a third starring Zilda Mayo called Bacanais na Ilha das Ninfetas.  Yep, evil wardress...nude frolics...it is all there. But no matter how great and outrageous the more known films are, they don't have Crotch Coiffure!
Wow!  What a great European Trash Cinema moment even though it is from South America....  And while this is going on the various guards and thugs are getting bossed around! Just surreal and oddly brilliant. 

 

 

Leandro Lucchetti - Apocalypse Mercenaries

Another day...another Leandro Lucchetti film!  Today we have another review from TOUGH TO KILL-THE ITALIAN ACTION EXPLOSION, this time written by the master of Hutsploitation, Paul Cooke!  Paul is also the webmaster of the amazing BALLISTIC BLOOD BULLETS blog, so check it out. 
For me, this is by far the least of the Lucchetti films, missing out on the trademarked sleaze and loaded up with stock footage. But everyone starts somewhere and if nothing else we have the LANDGREN LUNGE to enjoy!

Apocalypse Mercenaries

1986 Filman International

Director John J. Dawson (Leandro Lucchetti)

With Vassili Karis , Karl Landgren , Maurice Poli

‘‘You’re Nothing More Than An Animal And You’re Going To Die Like One’’ 

Exploding into Action before the opening credits get to cry out his name comes star Karl Landgren, armed with an inflammable back pack and sporting a flame thrower spewing out the hot stuff like an over indulgent drinker the morning after the new years eve party. His dead pan expression shows he means business as he flushes out an enemy soldier base camp during World War II. The mercenary apocalypse has begun!

 The star roster scrolls out a list of recognisable Action favourites, teamed together as mercenaries to fight for the republican troops. Their mission is to locate and eliminate a Nazi command HQ that is central to the organised assaults against the Yugoslavian Liberation Army. Vassili Karis is the experienced team leader of a crack unit of specialist men and is known simply as Mister. His elite combo of men consists of Landgren as the do or die soldier armed to the hilt with heavy artillery, a pilot, a field surgeon and an explosives and demolition expert called Priest. This is no ordinary holy man as he has a self established interpretation of the bible, making up poignant psalms as effortlessly as piecing together devices of destruction.

 The often used old film stock gives the movie a grainy authenticity that is appropriate to the films setting adding a texture that has the feel of wartime. The Bosnian hills give credence to the time period setting as Mister’s men hike the terrain as foot soldiers, sneaking past Nazi patrols in stealthy pursuit of their objective. They break from their objective to administer retribution upon a German officer who takes sadistic pleasure in raping and torturing a local young woman. Just before the pretty young woman dies from her vicious attack she tells of a train delivering arms to the German soldiers, camouflaged as a Red Cross Hospital transport.
The Action heats up as the crack commandos act upon the information relayed to them and raid an airstrip where Nazi troop planes await orders to lay siege. A shoot out soon follows with Karl Landgren coming into his own as he proves to be just as adept with a Big knife as he takes out a German soldier before igniting the flamethrower, stoically delivering the classic line ‘Excuse me Kraut I need a light’. Cue exploding aeroplanes as ‘The Eagle Has Landgren’d!’

 Karis and Landgren lead the mercenaries into the enemy cave complex codenamed The Eagles Nest. As they fight to secure the HQ outside the air assault is put into disarray by the daring assault, aiding the Yugoslavian troops as they engage the enemy in ground force combat. With Priest blessing his handiwork of explosively set charges time ticks down for the surviving team of heroes to escape from the cavernous command centre, just as the encroaching German soldiers realise they have been compromised.

 Star Vassili Karis is as commanding in his role as he is in his performance, alongside the bravado of Karl Landgren as the fearless freedom fighter with flawless follicles. Brushing shoulders with the bad guys these two stand out in an undemanding yet watch able entry , in a rarer than most war ‘B’ movie release that is well worth seeking out. The story and acting may be wooden but it’s the type of wood that whittles away ninety minutes of mindlessly fun entertainment, leaving no mental scar nor splinter to remind you of a bad experience.
3 Exploding Huts

Leandro Lucchetti - Getting Even

The first review of Leandro Lucchetti films this week comes from TOUGH TO KILL - THE ITALIAN ACTION EXPLOSION, though I've given the write up a little tweaking and found that watching it close to the other LL films had me focused much more on the trashy knife wielding than the action sequences I was looking for back when this was first written.  A solid action flick that features the prolific eurotrash star George Ardisson in a small role for the scuzz film librarian in all of us. 

 GETTING EVEN / LA VENDETTA

1988- A.M. Trading Intl. Film

Directed by Leandro Lucchetti

With: Harrison Muller, Michael Aronin, Richard Roundtree

“Through the refugee camp, there is no one guarding it… so we can take our pick of weapons!”

Sleaze master Lucchetti contributed some vintage Eurotrash with his women in prison film.... but that did not mean he couldn't do more.  Getting Even is an aptly titled film as we meet Evans, a grubby and heroic Harrison Muller Jr. in full homeless Vet mode, beating down some rapist thugs. Instead of cheers however, he ends up with a gut full of bullets instead of thanks and maybe even a little kiss on the cheek.  Where is his parade? While he lies twitching in his hospital bed, he flashes back to his tour of duty in Vietnam, hastily catching up with someone he is about to go after again.  A premonition? Nope, but it sure helps us figure out what is going on after this…  

As part of a three man platoon, he finds himself blowing up everything they see in the name of action, but the sex n’ violence habits of sociopathic Slisco, played with knife wielding and bug eyed aplomb by Micheal Aronin, are really not to his liking.  Seems Slisco likes to carve up hookers with his trusty kris blade-a Lucchetti specialty.  Slisco gets an opportunity for Evan’s busting him while on a mission Evans is trying to bring his wounded friend home. Slisco double crosses him and leaves him in Vietnam, where he stays in a P.O.W. camp for five years… begging to die. But of course, Evans pulls through and makes it home to sleep under bridges.  Flashbacks finished, Richard Roundtree appears as the pairs old C.O., now working to find a serial killer which he believes to be Evans’ old pal Slisco.  More women are dying under the knife and even though it’s been a long time, he believes it must be the same rogue commando.  

And now Slisco is an arms dealer to boot!  A lot of combat ensues with gunfights and fisticuffs in a gym, with a funky twist ending to enliven things in the final reel. 

While Getting Even is a solid action film, it manages to distinguish itself by slipping a few bonus genres into play.  It’s Vietnam action, no…it’s a cop film with a Ripper twist, but wait, gritty urban violence abounds as well!  Getting Even all adds up to an extra trashy treat for 93 minutes. Lucchetti’s sleaze adept hand adds a bit of rough around the edges nudity and sadism to what is sold as a "stuff blows up while Shaft shoots bad guys" film-and this is jarring and unusual enough to be memorable as well. 

 Harrison Muller Jr. is his usual self, though he always appears a bit too thin and weedy to be the ass kicker he portrays on screen. But you can count on him to deliver his performance well, especially in the flashback scenes where he rants up a storm.  Aronin plays Slisco to the hilt (of his knife) here, terrorizing the ladies and looking greasy.  Look for Ottaviano Dell’Acqua in a George Hilton type role, and it’s great to see this welcome face get a last laugh or two.  Richard Roundtree, a main selling point, dials in a standard sub-standard performance.  His best sequences are mostly pick up shots as he is spliced into one action scene which contains footage from the same producer’s film The Violent Breed.  If you like Harrison Muller shooting gas cans in one film, then you’ll love it in two. The Man Who Was Shaft certainly should stay away from rocket launchers as he looks terrified waiting to fire it into said stock footage.  Leandro Lucchetti scores big with this urban gun and fist tale, with a half scoop of Vietnam action to make the package complete.