SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS (Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review)

Italy/1989
Directed By: Enzo G. Castellari
Written By: Tito Carpi, Enzo G. Castellari
Starring: Lou Ferrigno, John Steiner, Roland Wybenga
Color/93 Minutes/PG-13
Region A
Release Date: February 6, 2018

The Film
A young prince recruits the aid of Sinbad and his shipmates which include a viking, and a samurai are recruited by Prince Ali to rescue the princess who has been kidnapped by the evil Jaffar in order to marry her. Jaffar also has magic gems that help generate his powers and has them spread across the land guarded by various evil creatures. After escaping Jaffar's torture chamber Sinbad and his crew set sail to gain control of the magic gems and strip Jaffar of his evil powers.

SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS is as a bed time story being narrated by Daria Nicolodi who has constant voice overs describing the action we see on screen. It's clunky and even if the story would be  a bit bumpy and choppy without it, it's unnecessary. Luckily it doesn't matter because this is a whimsical romp into fantasyland. Lou Ferrigno has stated that this movies was one of his favorite movies to make and it shows every second he's on screen. You can tell he's having a blast as the legendary sailor and he's perfect for the role. Ferrigno is ripped, jacked and cut. He looks the part and while he's not going to win any awards for his acting abilities he's the perfect mound of muscle to cheer on as he fights demons, rock monsters and all of the other perils and pitfalls he encounters along the way. His sidekicks add a bit of fun as well with some sword play and martial arts action to mix things up a bit but Ferrigno really is the main course as Sinbad.

Enzo Castellari is known for successfully making films in whatever genre was trendy at the moment in Italy. Whether it be war and actioners or spaghetti westerns and even gialli, Castellari was able to craft really great, or at least very entertaining pictures in whatever genre gave him work. SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS is more along the lines of the latter. It would be easy to rip this thing apart as much of the acting is stilted or totally overblown, the writing jumps from scene to scene with little flow and it claims to be based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Thousand And Second Tale Of Scheherazade" without resembling that story at all except maybe for a balloon scene. SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS simply asks for you to not expect too much except for fun. Castellari nailed the most integral thing in making this movie a success and that's sheer entertainment value. The action and fantasy in this movie are silly but pure at heart. I dare you to watch Sinbad pick up a demon creature and swing him around over his head knocking out several other demon creatures and not smile ear to ear. It is delightful and it's that childhood feeling I get while watching it that makes the bedtime story narrative angle passable even if it gets intrusive at times. SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS is like gathering a few friends in the park or playground and each picking a different character to pretend to be and you battle for supremacy of the rope bridge and the twisty slide except it was done on sound stages and you weren't jacked like Lou Ferrigno when you were 7 years old playing on the jungle gym.

The Audio & Video
Kino Lorber brings SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS to Blu-ray for the first time with an anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks good though the master is obviously a bit older which leaves room for improvement. The film has a wide array of colors in its palette and they're bright and vivid and are my favorite aspect of the picture quality of this disc. Detail levels are adequate but even at their best during tight shots and close ups they still lack that really fine detail. Skin tones look healthy and natural and the clarity is pretty good with just a bit of speckling and light imperfections that are par for the course with many Kino titles. I'm not in love with the transfer but I am satisfied with it.

The audio quality features an English dub track in a 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio mix that sounds good. The dub track is typical for Italian productions of the period and make for a strong presence in the mix that is always front and center. The score comes through nicely though with the levels mixed well. The tracks is crisp and clear with little in the way of imperfections or background noise.

The Extras
A theatrical trailer makes up the entirety of the special features.

The Bottom Line
It doesn't take more than a glance at who directed this film and who stars in it to realize it's probably going to be an exercise in campy fantasy storytelling and it is, but in all the right ways. For all of its flaws SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS is a light hearted adventure flick full of laughs and thrills and I'm a fan.

SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS is available HERE

THE NEW BARBARIANS (Blu-ray Review) - Blue Underground

Italy/1983
Directed By: Enzo G. Castellari
Written By: Tito Carpi, Enzo G. Castellari
Starring: Timothy Brent, Fred Williamson, George Eastman
Color/91 Minutes/R
Region FREE
Release Date: June 30, 2015

The Film
The world has been shattered by nuclear war and the remaining survivors fight to survive amidst the roving gang known as The Templars led by their vicious leader One. A solitary warrior known as Scorpion (Timothy Brent) rescues a beautiful woman from The Templars and teams up with Nadir (Fred Williamson) and a fairly rag tag group in a fight against the brutal gang in hopes of reaching a distant land where a society is rumored to exist.

THE NEW BARBARIANS was one of my post-nuke type films to come in the wake of Mad Max being an international hit. The film is brimming with futuristic costume designs, charismatic characters, gore and extremely clever and downright cool vehicle and weapon designs. As cheesy as it may be there is a natural swagger and cool factor that comes along with THE NEW BARBARIANS.

The story is a simple one of survivors trying to find their way to a place where life isn't just about surviving but flourishing and adding to a community. Things are never that easy, especially with George Eastman leading The Templars' thirst for violence and supremacy over the wasteland. Eastman's group has the coolest cars and bikes that are packed with guns, lasers and various implements of death such as rockets and rotating blades. There's no shortage of heads and limbs flying in THE NEW BARBARIANS.

THE NEW BARBARIANS may be a product cashing in on the success of a better known film but it goes heads and shoulders above and beyond almost any other movie in the post-nuke apocalyptic action film category.

The Audio & Video
Do I need to go into at this point? Blue Underground's transfer is stellar. Anamorphic widescreen  very natural looking grain structure, beautiful vivid colors and great detail and sharpness coupled with the DTS-HD 1.0 mono track that takes the original audio and makes it sound perfect. Yeah, I'd say that's stellar.

The Extras
-Audio commentary with Enzo G. Castellari
-"Enzo G. Castellari and Fabrizio De Angelis In Conversation Part 2"
-"Tales Of The Hammer- Interview with star Fred Williamson"
-Theatrical trailer
-Poster and stills gallery

The Bottom Line
THE NEW BARBARIANS out Mad Max's Mad Max and is a wonderful slice of post apocalyptic cheese. Highly Recommended

THE NEW BARBARIANS is available HERE

Exploitation/B-Movie/Drive-In Challenge 2013 - Last Days & Wrap-up

Before I run down the last few days of the challenge I have to give a shout out to the unofficial sponsor of my month's viewing, Wild Eye Releasing who generously sent me a bunch of DVDs to check out and one I had already seen I was able to give away as a prize. Wild Eye is responsible for releasing lots of weird, trashy and independent horror, sleaze, comedy, and other types of crazy movies. Whether I loved the movie or I hated the movie I knew I was in for something different and for that reason alone Wild Eye is a company worth checking out and supporting.

The 26th and 27th of the month had no viewings for various reasons so there was really no reason to update until now. I got back on track on the 28th with 4 flicks.

First was GOLD. This is a weird movie that apparently didn't get shown in the US until very recently despite it being over 40 years old. This is the story of a hippie commune, full of love, nudity, drugs and sex being terrorized by the local law for all of their raunchy indecency. It was made on the fly it seems, with little budget or pre-planning and a lot of drug use. It actually isn't bad and is interesting to look at from a historical standpoint of that time and culture.

Next up was DEAD SUSHI. This movie is a freaking blast, that will have you smiling the entire time. The plot is a basic Kaiju plot with an evil corporation experimenting in drugs that will bring back animals from the dead. Well it works on sushi and the sushi grow teeth, spikes and sharp blades and begin flying around killing people. It is hilarious, and total tongue in cheek fun. This description doesn't even begin to describe the total shenanigans that occur during the very quick 91 minute runtime but you'll have to see it for yourself.

What would this month be without a little Russ Meyer action? I didn't get to see as many as I would've liked, especially since this challenge just screams out for his movies but I did manage to get one in at the end. I'd never seen it before so I popped in the DVD of MOTOR PSYCHO. The story isn't anything you've never heard before, a group of motorcycle riding weirdos terrorize passing cars on a desert road. The women in the cars are of course big breasted and beautiful as women not of that nature seem not to exist in Russ Meyer's world. I'm okay with his world. The movie is a good tale of revenge and has a rather violent finale with TNT. Very enjoyable stuff.

I couldn't decide what to watch after that so with plenty of beverages in hand I popped in XTRO 2. I'm a fan of the creepy weirdness that first movie offers but the second is just crap. Having nothing at all to do with the first Xtro, XTRO 2 is sort of like a really bad Alien ripoff... except that it is more like a ripoff of an Alien ripoff. What a shitty movie.

The 29th featured just one movie, and it would be the final Wild Eye movie of the month. THE DEATH OF ANDY KAUFMAN is an independent documentary digging into the possibility that Kaufman faked his death. This isn't really an exploitation movie in any sense but Kaufman kind of exploited people with his act, and hell, he may be exploiting all of into thinking he's dead... not sure what he'd get out of it than his own satisfaction but whatever. The documentary is okay, probably as good as I could hope for given it's seemingly DIY nature. There is a lengthy interview with Kaufman's brother and a rundown on Kaufman and his history and life. The film never gets deep enough into the idea that he did fake his death or "finding the real Andy Kaufman" and who he truly was. It scratches the surface but could've been so much more.

And on to the final day...

KEOMA was on tap. This is a sort of trippy, psychadelic, dream-like spaghetti western that is great. From Enzo Castellari's direction to Franco Nero's performance as the titular character I love this movie.  Check it out the next time you watch a western. And the image won't upload so no poster... whammy.

And the challenge comes to a conclusion with THE LOVE GARDEN. I won't say much about this now because it is part of a disc review I have coming up in a few days but it is an absolutely textbook definition way to end an exploitation marathon.

THE WRAP UP

Total Films Watched - 64
1st Time viewings - 59 (92%)
Average Film Score - 5.6/10
Best First Time Viewings - Ms. 45, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Emergency Squad, My Dear Killer
Biggest Surprise - That I had as much enjoyment with Nazisploitation as I did.
Biggest Disappointment - The Iguana With The Tongue Of Fire
Thoughts To Sum It Up - There was a metric ton of shitty movies this month and it really drained me at times. From a disappointing giallo to unbelievably shitty shot on video horror fare this month was a struggle. There were some great movies though and putting a big dent in my "to watch" pile is always a good thing. I probably should have planned out what I wanted to watch instead of winging it but where's the fun in that? (Where's the fun in this?) The exploitation fun rolls right on into May with disc Reviews coming from Synapse and Vinegar Syndrome. And a new branch of Celluloid Terror is coming. WOO! Thanks for following along this month.

Exploitation/B-Movie/Drive-In Challenge 2013 - Day 16

First up was MS. 45, the infamous film from Abel Ferarra (Bad Lieutenant, The Driller Killer). I have finally seen it and it was absolutely worth the wait. The film starts out not unlike other rape/revenge films, Thana is a young mute girl, working as a seamstress when she is viciously raped twice in one day. That is the seediness of New York City in the 70s and 80s for you, what a town. While Thana's first attacker gets away her second attacker meets the business end of an iron and then stuffed into the refrigerator to be disposed of slowly. Thana begins to not just take revenge on the men who attacked her, but any man who even looks at her in a breathtaking climax, this. This is what separates MS. 45 from the various other rape/revenge flicks that came before and after this. Thana wasn't out for revenge by the end, she had totally snapped and all men were a target. I want to write more on it but I'll save that for my next viewing.

Enzo G. Castellari's STREET LAW was next, starring Franco Nero as an everyday working man who is running errands when he is beaten and kidnapped during a violent robbery. When the police fail to do anything about the case and find his attackers Nero takes matters into his own hands. First he manages to make underground contacts and set traps for the assailants to get arrested but when that doesn't work and the violence continues he is forced to fight fire with fire alongside his new friend in a nice staged finale inside a giant garage/hangar. I expected this to be more of a Death Wish styled revenge flick but it was more than that and was a nicely paced and well written thriller for the majority of the film.

Today's Rundown
Ms. 45 - 9.5/10
Street Law - 7.5/10

The Heroin Busters (1977)

"...I'm going to put a bullet in your asshole and that could be very messy."

Fabio is an undercover Italian police officer who has teamed up with an INTERPOL agent to break up an international drug ring specializing in the distribution of heroin. Fabio has to do the dirtiest dirt and dealer or junkie would do to obtain information and contacts for his partner who he commonly has to fight with in order to keep his cover. As Fabio rises through the ranks of the Rome drug ring things get messier and more violent for him and his partner until the entire city is in the line of fire and even the skies aren't safe during the finale.

The plot of THE HEROIN BUSTERS is a simple one but director Enzo G. Castellari handles the story written by frequent Castellari collaborators Massimo De Rita and Galliano Juso with such care that it comes out great. The slow start, which is some uncharacteristic for a Euro-Crime film such as this, is never boring thanks to the great performances from Fabio Testi (Four Of The Apocalypse) and David Hemmings (Deep Red). The two leads completely own their performances and fully embody their characters of the undercover cop and INTERPOL agent respectively. The action does pickup throughout the film and there is no shortage of violence or exciting chases, whether they be on foot through the city and on rooftops or in cars and motorcycles or in airplanes (look for Testi to do all of his own piloting during the airplane scene). The music is handled by Goblin so it goes without saying that the soundtrack is great.

THE HEROIN BUSTERS suffers from being rather monotone throughout. The only time the mood really changes is during a few brief surreal scenes when someone is tripping balls after shooting up. Outside of those sequences the feeling the viewer gets is the same throughout, even during the climax, which was fun to watch but that sense of excitement and nervous anticipation for something big to happen really wasn't there. This is by far my biggest problem with an otherwise entertaining and well put together Italian crime film. It may not be among my favorite films of the genre but I wouldn't doubt it is probably one of the better films on the technical side and it is, despite it's flaws, a very entertaining movie.

 7.5/10