Sergio Martino's Milano trema - la polizia vuole giustizia (The Violent Professionals) 1973

While not as strong as the best of his Italian crime films from the seventies, Sergio Martino's THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS (Milano trema - la polizia vuole giustizia) is a must for fans of the genre. Shot just before the legendary TORSO in 1973 and, like that great Giallo, taken from script by the great Ernesto Gastaldi THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS benefits from some truly inspired action sequences and a winning lead performance from genre favorite Luc Merenda.
Merenda plays police Lt. Giorgio Caneparo, a loose canon who has lost his faith in the legal system. After his mentor is murdered, Caneparo goes undercover to avenge his death. Clearly inspired by both Michael Winner's DEATH WISH and Don Siegel's DIRTY HARRY, THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS doesn't attempt to stray too far from a standard cop and revenge thriller but Martino's exceedingly fine direction and Merenda's ferocious charisma make it stand out much more than it would have otherwise.
Lensed by regular Martino collaborator Giancarlo Ferrando and scored beautifully by The De Angelis Brothers, THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS is a great looking and sounding film. Martino's trademark close-ups and inventive cutting style are firmly in place, and the film moves along at a quick and sometime frenzied pace. The score by the famed Brothers is very solid, although one key cut sounds suspiciously like a sped up version of Simon and Garfunkel's FOR EMILY WHEREVER I MAY FIND HER. Other cuts clearly are leading into their next work with Martino, the magnificent TORSO soundtrack...similarities aside though the score for the film is one of its biggest and most noteworthy aspects.
Many familiar Italian genre favorites pop up in the cast. Silvano Tranquilli, fresh from a film I recently covered MEAN FRANK AND CRAZY TONY, is featured in a major role and is as solid as usual. Martine Brochard is particularly good in her role, as is the American character actor Richard Conte (who was no doubt brought on to help with international distribution). BEHIND THE DOOR favorite Carla Mancini is featured in a smaller role, as is the always creepy Luciano Rossi (who had just completed work on Joe D'Amato's DEATH SMILED AT MURDER) as a crazed convict who violently escapes from a train early in the film.
Ultimately THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONAL falls a bit short. The film is a bit uneven as Martino handles the car chase and shooting sequences much better than some of the more dramatic moments, and they feel a bit stilted next to the action. Part of the blame for this probably goes to the disappointing English dub, which makes the film sound a bit too formal at times. Still, minor quibbles aside, this is a fine example of the early seventies Italian crime genre and shouldn't be missed by fans.
I saw the film through THE GRINDHOUSE EXPERIENCE set. It appears uncut but it seems to run about four minutes shorter than the import Wild East DVD. Whether this is a time transfer issue I couldn't say. The GRINDHOUSE EXPERIENCE print is thankfully widescreen at 2.35, although the ported from a VHS print is very murky and a bit dark. The sound is absolutely atrocious with an annoying scratching hiss that stretches throughout the entire print. Still it is watchable, and with the cost averaging out to just above a dollar I can't complain too much. Actually while I was watching it, the thought occurred to me that this is the kind of thing I would have paid twenty to thirty dollars for a decade ago from VSOM or ETC (and I would have been more than pleased with how it looked).

THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS is well worth giving a look to. Fans of Sergio Martino and Luc Merenda (still as charismatic as hell judging from his spot in HOSTEL PART TWO) should not miss it.

Sergio Martino's Torso on the way from Blue Underground

Blue Underground is getting ready to unleash Sergio Martino's Torso (I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale), one of my favorite films from the seventies, in a couple of weeks on brand-new DVD and Blu-ray versions and I wanted to make special mention of it here and supply links. Martinos ferocious 1973 Giallo starring the dream-team of Tina Aumont, Suzy Kendall and Luc Merenda is absolutely brilliant and hugely influential, more than any other film Torso laid the blueprint for the so called Torture-Porn (a term I despise) genre that came about this past decade, and it has lost none of its power. Eli Roth's equally brilliant Hostel Part 2 is particularly indebted to Martino's shocking classic, and it would make a perfect companion piece for a DIY double-feature. Written by the great Ernesto Gastaldi, Torso will be released on September 27th on a DVD featuring the uncut English language version of the film and Blu-ray, which comes armed with the uncut Italian version as well. Both also feature a new interview with Martino and information can be found at the above links.

Eli Roth and Edwige Fenech Interviewed

Here is a great clip that has been posted at Eli's MySpace from Italian television. Roth is the only one really being interviewed but Edwige's presence is definitely felt and God she is still extraordinary looking.
There has been so much bad blood between people about Roth this year that I don't want to beat the issue into the ground. I'll just say the guy still comes across as incredibly intelligent to me and his reverence towards the names he mentions in the first two minutes of this interview (Argento, Fulci, Martino, Deodato etc) is quite inspiring to see as a long time Italian film fan. He even makes special mention that it was Antonioni and Fellini that originally got him into Italian cinema. Whether you like his films or not, this guy isn't the 'poseur' that some inept reviewer recently called him.
Here's the video for those that would like to see it. I will continue throwing my support Roth's way and am greatly anticipating seeing HOSTEL 2 again when it arrives on dvd later this year.

Some Thoughts On Hostel Part Two

NOTE: This post was written after I first saw Roth's film in the theaters. Since then I have seen it several times and I wanted to point out that my initial problems with the film have faded. HOSTEL PART TWO is a tremendous film that improves with each viewing. I will eventually take a longer look at it, but I wanted to point out that the couple of problems I have listed below don't apply for me anymore. Actually I love HOSTEL PART TWO so much at this point that it made me revisit Roth's first two films, and I must say that my admiration for them as grown as well.


***SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW***

I am going to wait until I can watch HOSTEL 2 on disc before I post a full fledged review of it but I did want to post my initial thoughts and reactions to it. First I would like to ask why in the world was this film was released in the Summer movie season opening against OCEAN'S THIRTEEN and SURF'S UP? I went Sunday afternoon and the theater was empty. I don't mean a relatively small crowd for a weekend, I mean totally empty. I typically like being in a theater alone but for horror and comedy, the audiences reactions are always a highlight. Just before the lights went down for Disney's UNDERDOG trailer (No, I'm not joking) one guy came in and that was it. I totally believe had LionsGate opened Roth's film up back in the early part of the year or in the fall it would have made triple the money it did this past weekend. But it didn't and, after all the discussion and debate this film has caused, it ended up performing very poorly at the box office and will no doubt be gone in a few weeks. I suspect the DVD will perform big but still I am disappointed in its take not just for Roth but for hard R horror films in general.

My feelings towards HOSTEL 2 are for the most part very positive. Roth continues for me to be improving with each film. He has yet to make a great film but I came out of HOSTEL 2 with the feeling that he will someday soon.
My biggest problem with the first HOSTEL was it's opening section. While I appreciated all the abundant nudity, much of the frat boy humor really grated on my nerves and I found myself really disliking the lead characters. Roth has solved this problem for me in casting three very talented young actresses this time as his leads and making them not only likable but very human. One of the aspects of HOSTEL 2 that works incredibly well is that I do indeed come to really like these three young women and I don't want anything to happen to them. By doing this Roth has made the second half of his film much stronger, the horror feels more heartfelt and real.
I was surprised that overall HOSTEL 2 is a bit toned down from the first one. Outside of two magnificent gory set pieces the new film concentrates much more on the characters and dialogue than the first. I felt this worked mostly to its advantage, again I missed some of the originals over the top extremities but overall I preferred the new film to the first.
Much has been made of Edwige Fenech returning to the screen for this film and her involvement was the thing that really made me want to see it in the first place. I have to admit that seeing "and Edwige Fenech" at the end of the opening cast credits gave me chills. Unfortunately her scene is very short. She looks ravishing and it was incredible seeing her again but I wish Roth would have given her a bigger part. There were two roles specifically in the film that I thought she would have been suited for that were considerably larger.
Two more small but very welcome roles were the great Luc Merenda as an Italian detective and a chilling cameo by director Ruggero Deodato that tips its hat to CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and turns out to be a highlight of the film.
Roth's love of the genre really comes through in this picture. Referencing everything from BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE to FRIDAY THE 13 PART TWO to Jean Rollin's FASCINATION, HOSTEL 2 works splendidly as a nod to the films Roth cut his teeth on as a youth.
The cast is exceptional, I was particularly taken with Lauren German. She is a splendid young actress and she invests the role of Beth with a lot of depth and emotion. Also good are Bijou Phillips, Heather Matarazzo and the statuesque Vera Jordanova. In the role of the two main auction winners, Roger Bart and Richard Burgi both are chilling at portraying the very worst aspects of male aggression, cynicism and hostility.
The two goriest scenes are startling and quite brilliant. Specifically the Mrs. Bathory moment is one of the wildest and most effective horror scenes I have seen in a long time. Shot beautifully and played out with wild abandon by both Monika Malacova and Matarazzo, this is a go for broke sequence that proved as haunting as wince inducing. A scene like this would have been unthinkable in an American horror film a few years ago. Less effective but still pretty jaw dropping is the castration sequence. If the Bathory sequence recalled BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE then this is Roth tipping his hat to both CANNIBAL FEROX as well as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. I was frankly amazed by what the MPAA let Roth get away with in this scene and the final payoff with the dog was brilliant.
Okay now the problems. HOSTEL 2 is nowhere near a perfect film and one feels that it could have been a lot more than what it is. Roth gets a little rushed sometimes. The spa sequence starts off as really hypnotic and dreamlike but it soon collapses into just another chase scene. The Prague children aren't used as well in this one as they were the first and I feel he should have thought there scenes out a bit more or just left them out all together.
The film's biggest problem is its very last scene. I don't have any problems with how the film ends but I just wish Roth would have given it a little more thought and life. In what could have been a chilling moment that would have recalled Brigitte Lahaie's scythe wielding peer walk in FASCINATION, the scene instead plays out too quickly. The scene isn't the disaster some fans have made it out to be but it is a let down. The major thing it has going for is German's intensity but man I would have liked to have seen her walking towards the camera in a long tracking shot like Lahaie in Rollin's film. I also again think the kids could have been left completely out although the last few moments in the film reminded me of the gleeful children in Bava's TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE which isn't a bad thought to end the film on.

So overall I am very happy with HOSTEL 2. Roth still hasn't made a film that is as good as his idols but give him time, this guy is very young. Does he occasionally stick his foot in his mouth, sure he does but don't we all? What it really comes down to is that at the end of this film he took the time to thank Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci, Edwige Fenech, Ruggero Deodato and many other names that I never thought I would see mentioned during the closing credits of a modern American horror film. Great film or not...Eli Roth is okay in my book.

Patrizia Adiutori in Sergio Martino's Torso

This is part of my Torso Tribute Week at Harry Moseby Confidential.


Although she only appears in the first few scenes of Torso, mysterious Italian actress Patrizia Adiutori proves to be very memorable as the first victim in Sergio Martino’s seductively savage Giallo from 1973.

I was hoping to find out some information on the lovely Adiutori but I have been unable to locate anything really concrete, with even her date of birth proving allusive. She apparently made her film debut in the 1969 Edwige Fenech vehicle Madame Bovary and it seems that she had done some modeling before that as I found some images from the Italian Google that seem to pre-date that film.

Small roles in Bruno Corbucci’s When Women Played Ding-Dong (1971) and Duccio Tessari’s Winged Devils (also 1971) followed before a larger role in Giuseppe Vari’s 1971 Italian Western Shoot the Living and Pray For The Dead (a Klaus Kinski film featuring one of my favorite titles ever).

More roles followed, most of them small, for directors like Damiano Damiani and Mario Sequi and with actors like Alain Delon before she landed the role of Barbara in Alfonso Brescia’s underrated Naked Girl Killed in the Park (1972).

Her memorable work with Brescia should have led to many more roles but, according to IMDB at least, it marked nearly the end of the line for Adiutori. She appeared in two bawdy period comedies (including one with Sergio Martino) before filming Torso, the film which would provide her with her final role.

Adiutori is a striking presence in Torso and her death scene is one of the most perverse and disturbing in the film. These are some screen shots of Adiutori in, as far I can tell, her final role. I wonder what ever happened to this promising young actress and I wonder why she retired from the screen in 1973.

Images From My All Time Favorite Films: Sergio Martino's All the Colors of the Dark (1972)