Saturday, January 3, 2009

Children, The (1980)

93 minutes in Color
Other Names: Abrazo mortal, Den Gule tåken, The Children of Ravensback

Director(s): Max Kalmanowicz
Writer(s): Carlton J. Albright, Edward Terry

A busload of children disappear in a cloud of radioactive gas from a nuclear-plant leak in the quiet New England town of Ravensback and Sheriff Billy Hart is on the case. A short while later, he manages to track down the kids, but unfortunately they seem to have been transformed into murderous zombies with black fingernails. Will he be able to stop the killer kids before they destroy the town?

Friday, January 2, 2009

Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1975)

77 minutes in B&W
Other Names: Dio sei proprio un padreterno!, Escape from Death Row, Frank and Tony, Gangster Story, Gun Man, I våldets tecken, Il Suo nome faceva tremare, Interpol in allarme, La Pistola, L'Homme aux nerfs d'acier, Mátalos jefe... te ayudo, Power Kill, Tapporaha

Director(s): Michele Lupo
Writer(s): Nicola Badalucco, Sergio Donati, Luciano Vincenzoni

There's trouble in Frankie Diomede's criminal empire in Genoa. A French gangster has moved into Frankie's territory, so Frankie flies home to take care of business. He promptly has himself arrested so that he'll have the perfect alibi when his top local associate dies, but then Frankie's life gets complicated: his enemies have enough juice to keep him in prison for awhile, his associates and allies are killed one at a time, and attempts on his life start. Help comes from an unlikely source: Tony Breda, a wannabe wiseguy who's a Milanese raised in Hoboken. Tony designs a plan to spring Frankie from jail, and then all roads lead to Marseilles.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Violent Professionals (1978)

100 minutes in Color
Other Names: Milán tiembla la policía pide justicia, Milano trema la polizia vuole giustizia, Polices parallèles, Rue de la violence

Director(s): Sergio Martino
Writer(s): Ernesto Gastaldi

When Milano police lieutenant Giorga's chief is murdered by an organized crime ring, he vows to avenge his boss's death. Going undercover to continue the chief's investigation, he plans to take over a pimping outfit and then proceed to beat up enough low-level thugs until the big guys in the crime ring take notice of him, letting him get close enough to uncover their secrets. Should this unorthodox method actually work, he still must take down the entire organization single-handed.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Megaforce 7.9 (1982)

84 minutes in Color
Other Names: Cataclysme force 7.9, Death Quake, Deathquake, Earthquake, Earthquake 7.9, Earthquake Archipelago, Jishin retto, Kataklizma U 15 30, Magnitude 7.9, Seismos 7.9 richter, Terremoto 81

Director(s): Kenjiro Omori
Writer(s): Kaneto Shindô

Seizmologist Hoichi loses touch with his family when he predicts that there will be an earthquake in Tokyo of greater magnitude than the one in 1923, which his father predicted. Because of this he starts seeing another woman, who already has a boyfriend. Hoichi's wife wants to meet her before she will grant a divorce. Eventually, the earthquake he predicted does come, which changes all relationships involved.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Executioner 2 (1975)

85 minutes in Color
Other Names: Ich der Vollstrecker, The Executioner Part II

Director(s): James Bryan
Writer(s): James Bryan

When a priceless jewel owned by rich heiress Sabine is stolen, along with her daughter, Professional thief and hired killer Ryuichi Koga and his gang are hired to retrieve both. At a ransom exchange, the team save the girl but lose the money and the jewel. When Sabine decides to deal directly with the thieves and obtains the jewel on her own by paying the ransom, Koga, having been stiffed of his fee by Sabine, steals the jewel. Little does he know, it’s a fake. Now, Koga and the team must break into a high security bank to steal the real jewel.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Confessions of a Police Captain (1972)

102 minutes in Color
Other Names: Confesión de un comisario a un juez de instrucción, Confesiones de un comisario, Confession d'un commissaire de police au procureur de la république, Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica, Confessions of a Police Commissioner to the District Attorney, Confissões de um Comissário de Polícia, Confissões de um Comissário de Polícia ao Procurador da República, Das Geständnis eines Polizeikommissars vor dem Staatsanwalt der Republik, Der Clan der seine Feinde lebendig einmauert, I Exomologisis enos astynomikou, Polisen mot Maffian, Priznanje policijskog komesara, Puuttuvat todisteet

Director(s): Damiano Damiani
Writer(s): Damiano Damiani, Fulvio Gicca Palli, Salvatore Laurani

A drama about a cop starring Franco Nero and Martin Balsam who is caught up in suffocating and incriminating big city "corruption." Nero tries desperately to bring an elusive criminal to justice who has been a thorn in his side for many years. This cop has a tough decision to make.. does he turn in his partner or turn his head?

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Raw Force (1982)

86 minutes in Color
Other Names: Czysta energia, Força Cruel, Forza bruta, Kung Fu Cannibals, Shogun Island, Taistelijoiden saari

Director(s): Edward D. Murphy
Writer(s): Edward D. Murphy

A group of martial arts students are en route to an island that supposedly is home to the ghosts of martial artists who have lost their honor. A Hitler lookalike and his gang are running a female slavery operation on the island as well. Soon, the two groups meet and all sorts of crazy things happen which include cannibal monks, piranhas, zombies, and more!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Savage Man/Savage Beast (1975)

100 minutes in Color
Other Names: Der Letzte Schrei des Dschungels, Hombres salvajes bestias salvajas, La Grande caccia, Les Derniers cris de la savane, Luonto ja väkivalta, Savage Temptation, The Great Hunting, Ultime grida dalla savana, Zumbalah

Director(s): Antonio Climati, Mario Morra
Writer(s): Antonio Climati, Mario Morra

This is a documentary that's alternately exploitive and informative. The film presents a wide variety of ways that humans interact with nature. It depicts the actual footage of a careless man who leaves the safety of his car to film lions close up and ends up being their dinner. Other highlights include natives humping the ground in hopes of bringing life to the land, various big game hunting and last but not least naked hippies.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Tortured Angels (1982)

80 minutes in Color
Other Names: Strike of the Tortured Angels

Director(s): Roy Rosenberg
Writer(s): Gary Capra Jr., Dick O'Nell

Susan vows revenge on the doctor responsible for her sister's suicide as he got her pregnant then told her to have an abortion. To make things more complicated he is also sleeping with her mother to further his medical career and first she must escape from the women's correctional facility she's in. Her and several other women who are suffering in prison team up and strike back.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Women's Camp 119 (1977)

100 minutes in Color
Other Names: KZ9 Lager di Sterminio, S.S. Extermination Love Camp, S.S. Extermination Camp, S.S. campo de sexo y violencia, S.S. campo extermination, Salon S-S

Director(s): Bruno Mattei
Writer(s): Giacinto Bonacquisti, Aureliano Luppi, Bruno Mattei

A woman prisoner is forced to serve as a doctor's assistant, giving her a front row seat for the horrible goings-on at this secluded camp. There's an experiment to revive Nazi soldiers, who have frozen to death, by having nude women rub their bodies all over the corpse. There's also an experiment that tries to "cure" homosexual men by having nude women dance for them. This is only some of the horrors that are going on there.