Cult Movie Forums | DVD + Blu-ray News + Discussion - Reviews

Enter The Devil (Frank Q. Dobbs, 1972)

jacksmith1983 — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:53:22 GMT

Following the runaway commercial and critical success of Roman Polanski's 1968 classic Rosemary's Baby, itself based upon a best selling novel by Ira Levin which was published the previous year, the American horror genre of the early to mid seventies, perhaps not surprisingly, soon developed a notable preoccupation with the Devil and all his works, eventually culminating with the arguably even greater success of both William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) and Richard Donner's The Omen (1976). In the interim however, American horror's sudden preoccupation with the Devil and in particular the activities of his diabolical Earthly followers, quickly inspired a succession of other less well known shocker's. Notable examples of this include Paul Wendkos's subtly disturbing and engagingly offbeat Twentieth Century Fox production The Mephisto Waltz based on the novel of the same name by Fred Mustard Stewart and starring Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset and Curt Jurgens, Brianne Murphy's "sexy" witchcraft opus Blood Sabbath (1972) featuring Dyanne Thorne of Ilsa fame, George A. Romero's offbeat Season Of The Witch (aka - Jack's Wife) (1972), Hollingsworth Morse's Filipino lensed Daughters Of Satan (1972) starring Tom Selleck of future Magnum P.I. fame and Waris Hussein's The Possession Of Joel Delaney (1972), which starred Shirley MacLaine, Perry King and veteran British actor Michael Hordern.

However, arguably the main product of American horror's Satanic preoccupations of the early seventies was a small spate of desert set shockers which whilst essentially unrelated, all centred upon the same notion of unwitting travellers passing through the arid landscape of the American South-West falling afoul of diabolical, Devil worshipping cults who have made the sweltering desert wastes of West Texas and New Mexico their stomping ground of choice. Playing out like something almost akin to contemporary westerns with horrific, diabolical overtones, this cluster of horror picture's which I'll affectionately christen the "desert Satanist" sub genre includes Bernard McEveety's creepy and underrated The Brotherhood Of Satan (1971), Robert Fuest's enjoyably trashy The Devil's Rain (1975) starring Tom Skerritt, William Shatner and a gleefully overacting Ernest Borgnine and, of course, Jack Starrett's cult classic Race With The Devil (1975) starring Peter Fonda and Warren Oates.

However, two of those three picture's were preceded by the decidedly more obscure yet notably similar independent chiller Enter The Devil. Sometimes known by the arguably more fitting alternative title Disciples Of Death, Enter The Devil was directed and co-written by Texan filmmaker Frank Q. Dobbs, a director, writer and producer of largely inconsequential television fare for whom Enter The Devil represented his one solitary crack at the horror genre. Shot on a meagre budget on location in California's Mojave Desert, Lajitas, Texas and Terlingua, Texas, Enter The Devil would be undeservedly lost amidst the groundswell of low budget horror fare flooding US theatre's and drive-in's during the early seventies glory days of the exploitation independent's. Since then Dobbs's film has largely remained mired in obscurity whilst the other aforementioned examples of the short lived "desert Satanist" cycle have gone on the achieve varing degree's of cult status.

The plot of Enter The Devil begins with young sheriff's deputy Jason Brooks arriving in the no mans land desert wastes on the border of West Texas and New Mexico in order to investigate the disappearance of a driver named Ozzie Perkins who has mysteriously vanished whilst passing through the area. Brooks's investigation leads him to a run down ranch near the Mexican border run by the amiable blue collar Glenn who runs the ranch with assistance of numerous migrant workers who have illegally crossed the Mexican border. Glenn and Brooks are soon joined at the isolated ranch by a group of rowdy rednecks on a hunting trip and the attractive anthropologist Dr. Leslie Culver who is researching a book she is currently penning on the subject of weird contemporary religious cults.

When the badly charred body of Perkins is discovered bearing signs of ritualistic murder and several more people mysteriously disappear only to later turn up dead, Glenn and Brooks begin to realise that there is something more sinister than they anticipated behind the disappearance's. Their suspicions are further compounded by the strange chanting which is constantly heard emenating from the desert in the dead of night and the odd behaviour of Glenn's migrant workforce who are clearly fearful for some reason but steadfastly refuse to reveal what they know. Before long Leslie's expertise on the subject of extremist religious cults also see's her get embroiled in the frightening goings on and after some investigation it becomes horrifically clear that a diabolical cult who dub themselves the "Disciples Of Death" and specialise in brutal acts of human sacrifice are indeed at large, preying on passers by and using a nearby network of long disused mercury mines to practise their horrific rites. Will Leslie and company succeed in scuppering the cults diabolical schemes? Or will they themselves be lined up as the devilish brood's next sacrifice?

Enter The Devil certainly opens in style, Dobbs doing a disarmingly efficient job of seizing the viewers attention from the very outset as the film opens with an extended sequence, skilfully intercut with the opening credits, in which an unfortunate portly driver passing through has his tyres shot out by a sniper and is then summarily captured and killed in a ritual sacrifice by a cowl wearing cult who operate in a nearby network of disused mines. From there it is a while until anything else of note really happens, but Dobbs more than compensates for the films comparative lack of incident during the films first act by conjuring up a highly effective senses of remote, isolated atmosphere and gradually mounting dread around the films desert locations. Cinematographer Michael F. Cusack, who also acted as the films producer, does a fine job of exploiting the films arid, desolate, sunbaked Texan and Mojave Desert shooting locations, using vast, sandy expanses of more or less nothing and dark, claustrophobic subterranean networks of disused mercury mines to a memorably ominous and apprehensive effect.

Meanwhile interest is further maintained by some solid central characterisation, which is in turn accentuated by solid performance's from the films largely obscure but nevertheless evidently game cast. Top billing is afforded to actor and occasional author Joshua Bryant. A prolific veteran of film and television perhaps best known for his intermittent role as Sgt Scully in the hit US series M*A*S*H, Bryant here makes for a serviceable, personable male lead as Glenn, the blue collar proprietor of the lonely ranch who gets sucked into the mystery. Bryant also receives solid support from David Cass, a former stunt double for Burt Lancaster who also served as this films co-writer and second unit director, as the young sheriff's deputy who arrives at the ranch to investigate the recent disappearance's and seasoned bit part players John Martin and Carle Bensen who portray the understandably concerned local sheriff and coroner respectively. By far the films standout performer however is Irene Kelly as the winsome female anthropologist and writer Dr. Leslie Culver whose expertise on the subject of religious cults predictably results in her becoming embroiled in the sinister goings on. An attractive, willowy brunette whose career sadly never really took off in the way it deserved to following this film and a handful of other roles (including one off bit parts in series' such as Star Trek, Mission Impossible and Quincy M.E.), Kelly actually makes for a refreshingly headstrong and resourceful female lead, continuing to place herself in danger in order to get to the bottom of the cult's activities, even after her male "superiors" have attempted to condescendingly corral her out of the way for her own safety. The obligatory romantic subplot between her and Bryant does slow the film down a little during its central third, but the effect is really not too detrimental on the whole.

Clearly keen not to rob them of their tangibly eerie aura, Dobbs and co wisely opt to keep the robe-wearing cult to a background presence for the most part up until the films final act. Nevertheless, on the rare occasions where the cult do appear onscreen in the interim, Dobbs certainly does an effective job of making their appearance's count. In addition to the attention-grabbing curtain-raiser in which the passing driver is waylaid and sacrificed, Dobbs also serves up a couple of other nicely staged set-piece deaths as the cult ambush a wayward redneck hunter and thrust him into a pit of rattlesnake's, and silence a loose-lipped Mexican girl who lets on too much about their activities by binding her with barbed wire then burning her alive. While the film largely avoids any overt bloodshed, the latter scene really is nasty enough in terms of its tone and execution to really make the viewer question the PG rating the film was given for its original US theatrical release, Dobbs even serving up a few brief yet gruesome shots of the female victims flame seared corpse whilst the cult members look on with a cold, disconnected satisfaction which chills the blood. The films most effective moments however are infinitely more subtle and the credit for much of them must be shared between Cusack's aforementioned cinematography and the films sparse yet creepy score courtesy of Happy Shahan (who also makes an acting cameo as the films opening victim) which consists of little more than some basic yet suitably ill-boding musical cue's and the ominous sound of ritualistic chanting. Indeed, it is the regular, highly evocative sequences of the robed, torch-bearing cult members marching in unison across twilight desertscape's set to Shaham's shuddersome score which generate the films most strong, palpable chills. Elsewhere Dobbs also wins additional points for his willingness to suddenly kill of seemingly important and sympathetic character's without much in the way of fanfare, keeping the viewer on their toes by abruptly killing off one of the films seemingly key protagonist's in a shocking fashion just past the hour mark.

As you have probably gleaned by this point Enter The Devil is an involving, efficiently produced and directed affair, which throughout its relatively scant running length of just over eighty minutes, never manages to outstay its welcome. In fact the main problem Enter The Devil possesses is, if anything, the exact opposite. Frankly the truth of that matter is that Enter The Devil really could have done with being perhaps ten or fifteen minutes longer. Indeed, while Dobbs and company surpass viewer expectation's in terms of the films powerful and chilling aura of dusty, menacing isolation, in terms of its narrative Enter The Devil is a little too thin for its own good in some regards, leaving a few too many unanswered questions and glaring plot inconsistencies for comfort. For instance we know that Leslie is in the process of writing a book on the rather disconcertingly vague subject of "crazy religious cults". However, it is anyone's guess how much she stands to ascertain on the subject whilst residing at a run down ranch in the middle of nowhere, where seemingly the only human inhabitants are a gang of redneck's on a hunting weekend and a few tight-lipped Mexican helpers. Meanwhile on a related note, it is also heavily hinted at that the aforementioned Mexican's are apprehensive for some reason and know far more about the spate of disappearance's than they are willing to let on. However, Dobbs and his co-writer Cass infuriatingly decline to develop this particular plot point.

This writers biggest bugbear however has to be the films failure to attach any kind of agenda at all to its devilish cult's waylaying and sacrificing of anyone foolish enough to wander off into the desert alone. Links to a cult which operated in the same area decade's earlier, linked to the Penitente cult of New Mexico and practising a warped concoction of misinterpreted Christianity combined with an Aztec penchant for human sacrifice are loosely implied in an almost throwaway manner, but by and large the cult's motivations remain a mystery and they thus remain a faceless menace at best, albeit a tangibly frightening one. Therefore at the films conclusion the revelation of the ringleader's true identities ends up falling somewhat flat and, without giving too much away, Dobbs is forced to draw Enter The Devil to a close in a messy hail of bullets leading in turn to an ever so slightly anticlimactic fade out.

So all in all Enter The Devil emerges as a largely satisfying, yet at the same time ever so slightly infuriating low budget horror picture. After watching Dobbs's picture you're left with the curious feeling that you've watched a disarmingly good chiller, but you're also left with the nagging feeling that with a little more effort Enter The Devil truly could have been something more than the sum of its parts. Had Frank Q. Dobbs and David Cass taken a little more time to flesh out its central characterisation, in particular the motivations of its depraved cultist antagonist's, in slightly more cohesive detail, then Enter The Devil could quite conceivably have emerged as something of a sleeper gem from the early seventies heyday of the American horror and exploitation independent's. Nevertheless, as things stand Enter The Devil is still certainly worth watching, getting by quite nicely purely on the basis of its tight pacing, solid acting and most of all its effectively realised sense of eerie, oppressively isolated desert atmosphere. As such I feel it is fairly safe to say that those who got a kick out of the comparable likes of Race With The Devil, The Brotherhood of Satan and The Devil's Rain will in all likelihood derive a not inconsiderable degree of enjoyment from Dobbs's neat if admittedly rather thin little chiller too.

Mildly Recommended.

At present Enter The Devil is unavailable on DVD through official channel's. However, a couple of labels such as Sinister Cinema and Something Weird Video do offer it for sale on DVD-R (and VHS), although it should be pointed out that the SWV DVD-R is, by the label's own admission, taken from a 35mm print which is in pretty rough shape. Alternatively, those who do not wish to go down the DVD-R route can always attempt to track down the scarce UK pre-certificate VHS release from Inter-Ocean, the same label who also put out the likes Mario Bava's classic Italian horror anthology Black Sabbath, Sergio Corbucci's seminal Spaghetti western Django, Ray Williams's unrepentantly nasty exploiter Wrong Way and Alan Birkinshaw's lurid British exploitation favourite Killer's Moon in Britain during the glory days of the pre-certification era.

Blu Review 20 - Shogun Assassin

samtyler — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:44:13 GMT

Shogun Assassin Blu-ray Review

Distributor: AnimEigo US

Never mind The Bride from Kill Bill, if you should find yourself embarking on a war against an army of crazed samurai killers, then Lone Wolf is the one warrior that you need on your side.

Originally taken from the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Shogun Assassin has built up a real cult following among various movie enthusiasts around the globe. From grind house theatres in the US, to one time video nasty status in the UK, the film has seen it's fair share of controversy over the years. At least two alternate edits of the film exist, including the original six part Lone Wolf / Baby Cart series and the Americanised movie version which splices together footage from two episodes and adds a brand new linking narration taken from the perspective of Lone Wolf's son Daigoro.

Previously released in the UK on video cassette and DVD, the film has always suffered from transfer problems including cropping and visible print damage. Released in 2006 in the US on DVD by the same distributor as this new Blu-ray release, the transfer was far superior to all other releases and was widely thought to be the best the film would ever look. Rather surprisingly then, this Blu-ray release has had even more time and attention spent on it, easily making it the ultimate release of the film to date.

Shogun Assassin in it's 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition, marks the d�but Blu-ray release for the AnimEigo studio and to get the ultimate print of the film, they took original masters from the two Lone Wolf Episodes and re-edited them together to exactly match the movie as previously released. This process enabled the distributor to release a pristine wide-screen 1080p print of the film which is huge improvement over all previous releases. Although the distributor had also performed the same trick with their US DVD release, this is the first time that they were able to produce an HD master and the difference is easily noticeable. The new HD transfer is excellent throughout with background elements showing far more detail than ever before. Skin tones and colours are also strong with black levels also being impressive. Never before has the extreme bloodshed looked so gloriously over the top, with reds gushing all over the screen in every angle conceivable.

As far as the audio is concerned, this movie was never going to present a sound effects fuelled extravaganza, however the dialogue is clean, crisp and free from distortion making Daigoro's narration seem all the more prominent and engrossing.

Extras here are also impressive. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release, there are a total of two audio commentaries. The first of which is with the films producer, the graphic designer and the voice actor for Daigoro himself. The second commentary track presents the thoughts of film scholar Ric Meyers and martial arts expert Steve Watson. Obviously there is a wealth of information available here, which should present even the greatest fans of the film with something new. Moving on from the commentaries, we are presented with a video interview with none other than Samuel L. Jackson who talks about his love for the film. Dating from his first initial viewing, to now modern day screenings, his genuine enthusiasm for movies of this kind is widely evident here.

All things considered, the Blu-ray release is definitely set to become the ultimate must own edition of the film. Whether or not the distributor will release the rest of the series on Blu-ray remains to be seen, however if their first step into the Blu market is anything to go by, they appear to be a company that puts a great deal of effort into their releases, so it will be interesting to see what follows. The only negative aspect concerning this Blu release is that it happens to be locked to Region A, further proof if ever needed, that multi-region Blu-ray is the only way to go.

In summing up, the ultimate tag line for the movie is best left to Daigoro's own narration.

�MY FATHER WASN'T SCARED OF THE SHOGUN...THE SHOGUN WAS SCARED OF HIM�

Attached Images

Killer Fish (Antonio Margheriti, 1979)

jacksmith1983 — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:50:15 GMT

Hi Guys and Gals,

I know I have been somewhat quiet on the review front as of late. I must apologise for that, but the fact of the matter is that over the last month or so I have got married, been on honeymoon and since then I've been heavily preoccupied with childcare commitments and voluntary work so the time I have had available to dedicate to watching films, writing, etc has been sadly rather limited.

At any rate over the last couple on months I've had a couple of request's for a review of Antonio Margheriti's Killer Fish and as I try to oblige my loyal readers wherever I can here you go! Hope you all enjoy and as always your feedback and comments are all incredibly welcome.

**********

Based upon the best-selling novel of the same name penned by Peter Benchley and released in the summer of 1975, Steven Spielberg's Jaws was, in the eyes of many, the film that ushered in the age of the major studio financed summer blockbuster as audiences worldwide thrilled to its now familiar tale of a man eating Great White Shark terrorising a small Long Island coastal township. Given its unprecedented success it was perhaps inevitable that the influence Of Jaws would be both immediate and immense and sure enough, throughout the remainder of the seventies the American majors and independents alike churned out a dearth of "Nature Runs Amuck" horror and exploitation opuses which saw man at the mercy of the tooth and claw of mother nature as snakes, rogue grizzly bears, birds, dogs and even worms either became violently antagonistic or developed a sudden and unexpected taste for human flesh.

Meanwhile it is perhaps not surprising given the Italian film industries long established penchant for imitating (or some would say plagiarising) pretty much any notably successful American horror, exploitation or action picture, that Jaws would inspire several not entirely insignificant Spaghetti imitators or generally ill repute. Indeed, the Italian shark cycle would rumble on sporadically right up until the ultimate collapse of the Italian horror film in the nineties with films such as Ovidio G. Assonitis's star-studded yet deathly tedious "Jaws with an octopus" effort Tentacles (1977), Tonino Ricci's truly bizarre genre hybrid Shark's Cave (aka - Cave Of The Sharks) (1978), Enzo G. Castellari's trashy yet uproariously silly and enjoyable The Last Shark (1981) (aka - Great White or The Last Jaws) (1981), Lamberto Bava's largely interminable Devouring Waves (aka - Devil Fish or Monster Shark) (1984), the Aristide "Joe D'Amato" Massaccesi obscurity Deep Blood (1989) and Bruno Mattei's shamelessly plagiaristic Cruel Jaws (1995).

However, momentarily looking past the "Nature Runs Amuck" and Italian shark cycle's, easily the most famous in its own right of all the numerous films which rode upon the coattails of Jaws would have to be Joe Dante's 1978 favourite Piranha. Backed by Roger Corman's New World Pictures with Corman himself acting as a co-producer, Dante's tightly budgeted tale of a deadly school of genetically engineered, flesh-eating piranha terrorising a ritzy riverside tourist resort whilst on paper little more than a freshwater take on Spielberg's film, succeeded in practise in standing out in its own right thanks to its highly engaging blend of energetic pacing, flesh-shredding aquatic gore and clever, playful, subtly handled black humour. A sleeper hit on release, Piranha soon achieved cult status in its own right, something which was only embellished even further when Dante subsequently achieved even greater success and widespread acclaim with The Howling (1980) and Gremlins (1984).

Given that Piranha was so heavily indebted to Jaws it is therefore quite deliciously ironic that Piranha itself would be swiftly imitated itself after a fashion by those ever opportunistic, irrepressible Italian's, who struck while the metaphorical iron was hot with their own deadly, man-eating piranha picture Killer Fish directed by famed Italian horror and exploitation specialist the late Antonio Margheriti, operating under his regular pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson. Born in Rome in 1930, Margheriti, a versatile filmmaker who operated within a variety of different genre's, is perhaps best known as one of the leading lights of the Italian gothic horror picture boom of the sixties, directing revered additions to that particular cycle such as The Virgin of Nuremberg (aka - The Castle Of Terror) (1963) featuring British horror legend Christopher Lee, Castle Of Blood (1964) and The Long Hair of Death (1964) both of which starred Barbara Steele. However, by the tail end of the seventies the moody, atmospheric Italian gothic horror picture had long since lapsed out of vogue and following a decade or so of dabbling within various Italian exploitation sub genre's, Margheriti would prove his versatility by making a brief, uncharacteristic foray into gorier, pulp horror territory with Killer Fish and the notorious Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) before settling down into a comfortable eighties run of action and adventure picture's. At any rate Killer Fish whilst hardly a carbon copy of Dante's film would still wear the obvious influence of Piranha proudly on its sleeve. However, whereas Piranha is today regarded as a fully fledged cult classic which spawned a sequel and two separate remake's, Killer Fish would soon be relegated to little more than a footnote in the history of Italian exploitation cinema, although it has succeeded in winning over a minor following amongst European trash cinema aficionado's who have encountered it in the years since via home video and late night television airing's.

The plot of Killer Fish begins with a gang of professional thieves led by the macho Lasky and female accomplice Kate stage a daring nocturnal raid on a high security power plant. Although a close call the raid is successful and Lasky and company come away with a priceless consignment of precious stones and jewels. Although Lasky executes the raid the real mastermind behind the operation is the conniving Paul Diller, who also happens to be Kate's boyfriend.

Following the raid Diller takes the stolen jewels and has them submerged at the bottom of a reservoir which lies adjacent to an upmarket lakeside tourist resort. Diller suggests to the rest of the group that they leave their haul at the bottom of the reservoir for 60 days so that the heat can die down before they risk retrieving it, however some of the group become paranoid that this is a ruse on Diller's part to trick them out of their share of the stolen riches. As a result mistrust soon sets in and several of the gang attempt to play Diller at his own game by covertly sneaking down to the reservoir then attempting to scuba dive to the bottom and retrieve the stolen riches for themselves. However, they do not discover until it is too late that the evil Diller has had the foresight to protect the submerged jewels by infesting the reservoir with thousands of ravenous, flesh-eating piranha fish, and when his fellow crooks attempt to retrieve the loot they are summarily devoured.

Upon discovering Diller's scheme Lasky is appalled and even Kate's loyalties towards him are stretched to breaking point, although she does later assist him in a perilous bid to salvage the consignment of jewels from the reservoir. However, the trio soon find themselves in a far graver muddle when a sudden and unexpected tropical storm results in them being left stranded on the middle of the resort lake on a sinking boat along with several of the resorts guest who are there to complete a ritzy fashion shoot. Unfortunately the storm has also destroyed the dam separating the lake and the reservoir, leaving them hopelessly adrift and quickly sinking into a lake infested with the shoal of ravenous piranha's. Will the group succeed in making it back to shore unscathed? Or will they meet with a horrific death in the infested water of the lake?

In all fairness to Margheriti and his cohorts Killer Fish is actually something more than just a simple, straightforward derivative rip-off of Joe Dante's much better known Piranha. However, having said that the influence of Dante's picture is still quite glaringly obvious with the films writer Michael Rogers (for whom Killer Fish is the only known screen credit) even cheekily incorporating the central motif of Piranha, namely the idea of the deadly carnivorous fish snacking on the denizens of a lakeside tourist resort into his own narrative. Unfortunately it does have to be said that Killer Fish gets off to a rather shaky and undistinguished beginning, opening with a protracted set-piece in which a gang of professional thieves, led by Lee Majors' and Karen Black's respective protagonist's, stage a stealthy yet fiery raid on the vault of a high security power plant, coming away with a fortune in precious jewels and stones. Unfortunately, following this mildly arresting curtain-raiser, it takes some time for Killer Fish to really get going as for the first half hour Margheriti frankly seems to be directing the picture in auto-pilot. Indeed, the initial pacing is tepid at best as Margheriti struggles to bring much life to Rogers' script with its generic cocktail of Euro-trash crime and heist movie motifs including organised criminal gangs, safecracking, sunken treasure, police chase's, pointless explosions and the obligatory sense of mounting mistrust amongst thieves. Even the attractive, picturesque Rio De Janeiro shooting locations which provide the films backdrop fail to lift the growing malaise, with Alberto Spagnoli's sunny, serene, picturesque cinematography sometimes feeling as if it would be better suited to a promotional film for the Brazilian tourist board as opposed to an Italian exploitation picture.

Fortunately once Killer Fish reaches, after what seems like an age, its middle act the film happily finds its much needed hook of viewer interest as the titular piranha fish are introduced via a clever plot twist in which it is revealed that the calculating mastermind behind the heist Paul Diller has infested the reservoir in which the jewels are hidden with the deadly fish in order to ensure that any of his cronies who attempt to double-cross him meet a sticky end. With this revelation Killer Fish finally hits its stride, the pace quickening as several of the gang attempt to pull a fast one and end up being devoured. While these scenes consist of little more than the actors in question screaming hysterically whilst the surrounding water foams up with blood they are at least executed with some much needed zeal and are enough to awake the viewer from the slumber they will in all likelihood have slipped into following the films painfully pedestrian opening third.

Meanwhile there is also some additional entertainment value bought to the table by the films surprisingly star-studded cast. In particular James Franciscus is excellent as the gangs self-serving leader Paul Diller, his urbane, casual demeanour thinly disguising the personality of a ruthless, calculating, thoroughly irredeemable individual who is more than willing to kill his associate's in order to ensure he receives the lions share of the loot. By contrast Franciscus's weaselish, odious presence is nicely complimented by that of Lee Majors who contributes his usual, typically rugged performance as macho professional crook Lasky, whose belief is the concept of honour amongst thieves soon brings he and the unscrupulous Diller into conflict. Elsewhere Karen Black gives a reliable turn as Diller's surprisingly headstrong scuba-diving girlfriend Kate and the scene in which she, at Diller's behest, dives into the piranha infested reservoir in order to retrieve the submerged jewels with the deadly fish rapidly closing in on her is a genuinely tense and well-execute set-piece. Unfortunately the late Margaux Hemingway is not so good, giving an expressionless performance as Gabrielle, a beautiful model present for a fashion shoot taking place at the resort whom Lasky takes a shine to, but in all honesty her only real function in the picture seems to be to provide some eye candy and in fairness Hemingway, then at the height of her beauty certainly accomplishes that if nothing else, even contributing a totally gratuitous wet transparent blouse scene which I'm confident most red-blooded male viewers will naturally appreciate! Meanwhile seasoned viewers will possibly be pleased to note the supporting presence of rotund, veteran character actor the late Roy Brocksmith, who provides some mildly amusing comic relief as the overweight, irritating Ollie, a sleazy, highly strung photographer working on Gabrielle's fashion shoot, not to mention a neat supporting turn from the lovely Marisa Berenson, best known for her prominent roles in Death In Venice (1971), Cabaret (1972) and Barry Lyndon (1975).

Although Killer Fish does finally gain some much needed momentum during its middle third, it is really in the films final twenty minutes that Margheriti's picture really begins to come into its own as a sudden and unexpected storm bursts the dam separating the piranha infested reservoir and the tourist lake. This results in a promising scenario in which Diller, Lasky, Kate, Gabrielle and several other protagonists find themselves adrift on the now lake with the water now full of fesh-eating piranha and their boat slowly beginning to sink. Margheriti manages to milk a considerable degree of tension out of the groups predicament as the escalating tensions between Diller and Lasky culminate and various supporting protagonists find themselves in the water where they quickly become food for the awaiting piranha. Although Italian knock-off's of popular American genre picture's generally have a largely warranted reputation for upping the ante on their more famous American cinematic cousin's in terms of blood and guts, Killer Fish is actually markedly less gruesome than Piranha. Nevertheless, the numerous piranha attack sequence's witnessed in the films final act as the dispensable supporting cast meet their demise are still worth sticking around for. Although clearly the budget was not there to facilitate convincing effects, Margheriti and co make the best of the resources they had to hand and the piranha attacks are quite effectively realised, depicted through close ups of frantically writhing fish gnawing flesh to bloody tatters as the surrounding water foams and turns red with the blood of the fishes unfortunate victims. Following the expertly sustained tension of the extended sequence with all of the key protagonist's strnaded on the adrift, sinking boat, Killer Fish does conclude on a somewhat anticlimactic note with its extended final denouement in which the fate of the stolen precious stones is finally resolved taking place safely on land, but if nothing else this conclusion does at least do a nice and slightly humorous job of tying up the loose ends of the films narrative.

So in conclusion you can rest assured that Killer Fish is certainly not the kind of film that too many aficionado's of European horror cinema are ever likely to cite as an example of the Italian horror and exploitation movement at its zenith. To reiterate my previous sentiments, by Margheriti's usual high standards Killer Fish all too often feels half-hearted at best occasionally struggling to generate and maintain any real momentum as the ravenous man-eating piranha motif of Joe Dante's infinitely superior Piranha is transplanted into a fairly standard Italian trash crime/adventure concoction consisting of the usual crooks, double crosses and perilous hunts for sunken treasure set against the typically sun kissed backdrop of Rio De Janeiro. However, having said that Killer Fish is still a pretty long way from being a total washout. Indeed, while hardly Margheriti's best work, once the viewer gets past the rather stodgy and convoluted exposition of the its first act, not to mention the highly inconsistent pacing, Killer Fish does reward you with some decent tension, (mostly) committed performance's from its name stars and a liberal if not exactly gratuitous quantity of flesh-nibbling aquatic gore. The results never approach the trashy, budget-deprived delirium of say Enzo Castellari's The Last Shark (which coincidentally also featured Franciscus), but approached with low expectations Killer Fish passes as reasonable if ever so slightly patchy entertainment, and at the end of the day when you consider that Margheriti's film is essentially a knock-off of a film which was already a knock off to begin with itself, that is probably as much as anyone could ever reasonably expect.

Mildly Recommended.

Killer Fish is available on Italian Region 2 DVD from Pulp Video. Whilst the Pulp Video release presents the film in full screen (the Internet Movie Database lists the films original shooting ratio as 1.85:1) the image quality is highly attractive. In addition the Pulp Video release contains the option of English or Italian audio tracks and also includes optional Italian subtitles. It is also fully uncut including all of the (mild) gore which was reportedly cut from perhaps the most noteworthy of the films piranha attack sequence's by the BBFC for its A rated UK theatrical release. Don't go expecting a Spaghetti gorefest though as if it were resubmitted today Killer Fish would probably scrape past the BBFC with a 12 certificate.