PATRICK STILL LIVES! *** Italy 1980 Dir: Mario Landi 92 mins A notoriously bizarre and debauched Italian “sequel” to the popular – but frankly boring – Australian chiller PATRICK, with a beguilingly sleazy build-up (“Screaming women make me nervous!”) paying off with astonishing second half. Professor Sacha Pitoeff (the best…
Browsing: Italian
MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY (a.k.a. Cannibal Ferox 2) **** Italy / Brazil 1985 Dir: Michele Massimo Tarantini. 88 mins A belated but engaging addition to the Lenzi-led jungle exploitation sub-genre. A mismatched ensemble set off for the famous “valley of the dionosaurs” – led by bone-hunting American adventurer Michael Sopkiw,…
Severin Films have more Italian horror goodness releasing in May and it is one of the most insane zombie movies ever. Shortly before completing the sequel to his classic ZOMBIE, the legendary Lucio Fulci became ill and left the Philippines-based production. But when director Bruno Mattei (SHOCKING DARK) and writers…
CANNIBAL FEROX *** Italy / USA 1981 Dir: Umberto Lenzi. 92 mins In a come-on typical of its sub-genre, the opening title card of Lenzi’s most notorious movie warns of at least two dozen scenes of torture and sadistic violence about to unfold before our very eyes. Does anybody actually…
GHOSTHOUSE *** Italy 1988 Dir: Umberto Lenzi. 89 mins In the dying days of the Italian horror scene, Lenzi made this heavy-handed stew of haunted house clichés in America with U.S. actors and a slew of dialogue references to contemporary icons (Simon LeBon, Kim Basinger, Kelly Le Brock). Set to…