Reviews

Oh, well... Here in my region (Northeast of Brazil), there is a popular term used to refer to something with a very low quality: PEBA. And I think that it is the ideal adjective to describe this. Yes, this is an extremely "peba" movie!

Poor Ajita Wilson. After a few years enjoying kind of a stardom in the sexploitation circuit (her notoriety was such that she was considered for a role in Fellini's "La Città Delle Donne"), the Venus of Ebano had her career severely damaged as a result of some scandals and bad choices in the early 80s. Thus, in the final chapter of her life in show business (1983-1985), she was almost only cast for hardcore porn, with the exception of two ultra cheap Italian woman-in-prison productions shot back-to-back by a certain Gianni Siragusa (who?). One of them is this "Detenute Violente".

Although the print I watched was with terrible quality (the original widescreen aspect ratio was clearly cropped to adjust to a full screen presentation), it is possible to note that little to nothing can be saved here. The atrocious English audio matches very well with the total lack of talent of the cast. Ok, Rita Silva as the sadistic lesbian warden is not that terrible, and Ajita's magnetism compensate her modest acting skill, but all the remaining members of the cast can't even breath in a convincing way! I will give a credit to the protagonist, Linda Jones, only for her exhuberant face

The premise could have resulted in an interesting WIP film: Jones plays a woman whose sister was killed in what was considered an accident, but she believes it was a murder. After knowing the only witness of the tragic event was arrested, our heroine decides to enter the prison passing for a inmate in the hope of having access to the witness and eventually discover the name of her sister's killer. However, the cruel warden makes things very difficult.

All the clichés of the genre are here: the torture of prisoners, a corrupt governor, lots of badly simulated lesbian sex etc. This is not a problem when we have as director a master like Jess Franco, but the complete ineptitude of Siragusa makes the experience of watching this film painful. I don't know if we can consider there was a director here. Everything seems improvised by the cast, and the aesthetic of a poor telefilm rules. The mediocre music is so repetitive and sometimes out of place that gets annoying.

A curious detail is that in her sex scenes, Rita Silva is always with her panties on, while the other actresses have no problem in being fully naked. Well, perhaps the cruel lesbian warden still had some prudishness.

Although this film is listed by many sources as the last effort of Andrea Bianchi, actually it was his penultimate work, shot in 1991, but only released in 1995. Between the shooting and the release, Bianchi did the equally obscure "Formula 3 - I Ragazzi Dell'Autodromo" (1993), after which he retired.

For many people, my interest in Bianchi's filmography may sound weird, after all the man never enjoyed the same cult status as a Fulci, a Lenzi, or even a D'Amato. But there is somenthing in him that attracts me. Perhaps, is the fact he made one of my favorite zombie gore fests, the masterpiece "La Notte Del Terrore" (1980). Or because he also directed the insanely delightful "Malabimba" (1979). The fact is that I can't be indifferent to any film directed by Andrew White (his English alias). And this means that I have to endure a lot of terrible things.

And here we came to this"Bambola Di Carne", quite a charmful title for a very weak product. It was shot in Prague, and judging by the name of the executive producers it was a co-production between Italy and Czech Republic. There is no mention to a scriptwriter in the opening credits (I wonder why?), but it is said that the film was based on a novel by Oscar Wilde!!!!! Well, I never read any of his writings (and I probably never will do), but considering his notorious reputation, it is hard to believe in any similarity between what is seen here and a Wilde work. The script of this movie is terrible. It is something like a soap opera spiced up with long (and boring) erotic segments.

The "story" is about a lady called Jenny (the unknown Pilar Orive, who resembles a poor version of Janine Reynaud) who is about to marry a widow old man, who has a daughter (the also unknown Sonia Franco), who will not accept her father's new bride. Pure soap opera, right? The widow sends his bride together with his daughter to supevise the restauration of a castle, and the evil daughter (stupidly called Lolette) will take the occasion to make Jenny's life a hell. It wouldn't be that bad if we were treated to some evil plans by our Lolette, but being an erotic production, the bulk of the running time is devoted to badly staged scenes of nudity and sex. To make things worse, none of the ladies (in my opinion) is particularly gorgeous, with Lolette owning breasts so small that wouldn't require the use of a bra.

There is a scene with Jenny, Lolette and a horse that is beyond ridiculous. The intent was sounding controversial, but I really doubt one can really be shocked with such a stupid situation. Sonia Franco does her best to look sensually wicked (and her face is interesting), but what could she do with a script devoid of any substance? There is no space for character development or coherence. Little is left to a plot in a genre that demands constant flesh exposition, and if one is not interested in the sex material, the tedium is inevitable. Not even the music, composed by Nico Fidenco (under the alias of Donimak) manages to be interesting.

Andrea Bianchi proved to be an interesting filmmaker in the the horror genre, and in the 70s he was efficient helming some sex comedies too, but during the 80s, he was lost in the world of hardcore pornography, occasionally returning to legitimate cinema with some softcore dramas and a couple of horrors. But, is "Bambola Di Carne" his worst legit film? Oh, no. Just before this, he directed something much worse, the almost unwatchable "Una Donna Da Guardare" (1990).

BLOODY PSYCHO (1989)

This is one of the most medíocre entries in the "Lucio Fulci Presenta" series. Worst than this only the abominable "Hansel E Gretel". I still need to watch "Luna De Sangue" and "Le Porte Dell'Inferno" to stablish a ranking of all the eight titles.

"Blood Psycho" has a terrible and confused plot, with an ending that made me wonder "what the hell was that?". And if the story in itself is a big mess, the uninspired direction by Leandro Lucchetti (who?) does its best to kill us of tedium. Watching this in the company of a criterious cinephile friend must be very funny, but, unfortunately, I checked it alone. Some scenes were embarrassingly ridiculous, like the horrendous flashback showing a silly incident that happened when the protagonist was a child. The scene, bearing a tacky sentimentality typical of soap operas, features two of the most inexpressive child actors I ever saw! Another atrocious moment involves the male protagonist with a woman on a bed doing sex games with yogurt in a stupid rip off of the already stupid "91/2 Weeks" (Adrian Lyne, 1986)!

The gore scenes are few and totally inefficient, mainly due to the poor choice of the menace, kind of a mummy riding a wheelchair (!), whose cheap aspect denounces how low was the budget. And the soundtrack, considered the only highlight by some reviewers on the web, doesn't help at all. Personally, I don't like when they put a "pop" theme to play during horror scenes. This was quite common in Italian horror cinema of the 80s, but I think it destroys any attempt at creating tension. The death scenes were so weak that I felt less bored during the many talky moments, despite the fact that the dialogues were mediocre and nothing interesting was discussed by the characters.

Of the entire cast, only Paul Müller can be saved, although like in other films of the series, he was wasted in an useless supporting role.

Is there anything I liked here? Well, yes, the late 80s feeling and the castle. I always appreciated old European castles and the one used here is fascinating. So bad that they wasted the chance of making a good ghost story.

Lucio Fulci can't be blamed, as it seems his name was merely used for commercial reasons, and he wasn't directly involved in these movies, except for the ones he directed.

TERESA ALTRI DESIDERI (1982)

Terrible porn written and directed by Bruno Vani under the supervision of Renato Polselli. Although some sources put Polselli as co-director, his real duties, according to the book "Luce Rossa" (Franco Grattarola & Andrea Napoli, 2014), were supervising, co-editing and contributing with dialogues.

The result couldn't be worse. The story (yes, this is one of those XXX productions with a plot, stupid, but still a plot) is about Teresa (played by the horrible Antonella Simonetti), who uses sex as a way of becoming a famous actress. Her first encounter is with an actor of B westerns, played by a former "star" of Spaghetti Westerns, called Dino Strano (never heard of him before 🙄). The scene happens in the interior of a train and is ridículously absurd, not to mention the use of body doubles in the footage showing genitals, what resulted in a hell of continuity errors. This problem occurs several times along the movie, although some few hardcore scenes were played by the real actors.

Another unforgivable point was the use (or misuse) of stolen soundtracks, including the excellent theme from "Nude Per L'Assassino" (Andrea Bianchi, 1975). 😡 This was a crime! The cast, is a disaster. In addition to the usual ugly male performers, this film chose some of the less attractive ladies in the business (in my humble opinion). I know that a freak like me complaining about lack of attractiveness may sound too cynical, but at least I am not exposing my dreadful body in a product intended to arouse the audience.

Technically horrendous, this is the kind of oddity that may be of interest for the addicted in obscure crap. Just be prepared for one of the worst transfers ever made. The image quality is as bad as the movie itself, but I think it is more than enough for such a thing.

MUÑECAS DE TRAPO (1984)

Ultra obscure drama directed by Jorge Grau, a filmmaker who, for some unknown reason, had his work (with the exception of two horrors) lost in limbo! This was the 5th film of him I saw and I really think this guy need to be rediscovered (or discovered, to be more exact).

The film here reviewed is among Grau's most forgotten entries. Just to give an idea of such ostracism, there is absolutely no review of it in the web! As expected, the only copy available is a poor VHS transfer and I doubt that a proper release surfaces someday.

"Muñecas de Trapo" deals with a very updated subject matter: homosexuality. In these times where gender and sexual identities are increasingly being debated, a film like this is a must see. Ana Gracia and Beatriz Galbó give solid performances as two best friends who have their lives turned inside out, when they start to love each other. Topics like love, jealousy, conflicts of identity and the role of women in their relationships with men are raised in a sincered way, without falling in the easy trap of cheap sensationalism.

The open ending is one of the high points of a story that couldn't finish in a simple way. It is not a happy ending, but it isn't a sad one either. Just like real life, the film doesn't bring a definitive solution for the protagonists' dilemma and a genuine feeling of "life goes on" is successfully achieved...

COTO DE CAZA (1983)

This is one of the best films I ever saw and I can't help but express my total indignation to the fact that filmmaker Jorge Grau doesn't have the attention he deserves. Only a master to conceive such a impactful work of art. This is a movie that couldn't be produced today with all the correctness imposed to art in general, and I will not take a position in relation to the discussion raised by the story. I believe that cinema must be evaluated not by any moral criteria, but by the excellence of its artistic conception. And what we have here is a perfect production.

Everything works wonderfully well. The script is carefully structured and the character development respects coherence and cohesion, leading us to immerse ourselves in the plot without any hesitation. All this is helped by a fluid editing and an impecable job by all the cast. I was speechless with the perfornance of Assumpta Serna. Previously, I had seen her in a small role in the bomb "Wild Orchid" (Zalman King, 1989) what made me have a negative impression about her, but I was totally wrong.

The disturbing violent scenes will put many viewers off, but they are vital to the efficience of its message. This is not an excercise in exploitation, but a serious drama that hurts our sensibilities precisely because it exposes how fragile our system of values can be. Only open and mature minds are prepared to this, but this is a movie that needs to be rediscovered and appreciated in its uncut format.

After watching the excellent "No Profanar El Sueño De Los Muertos" (1974), I developed an interest in the work of Jorge Grau. Now, after "Coto De Caza", I have no doubt that he is among my favorite authors.

What a masterpiece!!! After watching this film, I have no doubt that Lucio Fulci is in my list of favorite filmmakers. The so called "Godfather of Gore" can also be nicknamed "Godfather of Nightmare", as this film masterfully gives us the sensation of being in the middle of an unbearable nightmare, a feeling that is strenghtened by the haunting dreamlike photography by Sebastiano Celeste.

The original story, conceived by Fulci himself, couldn't be more interesting: three young delinquents are trapped in a house full of clocks, whose owners are a crazy old couple. Based on this premise, the script, impecably written by Gianfranco Clerici and Daniele Stroppa, explores a spiral of insanity in which the reversal of time determines even more disastrous consequences.

Fans of gore will not be disappointed, as the film has some efficient violent scenes that ended up preventing it of being broadcast on TV, as originally planned (the film was co-produced by Reteitalia). But even if you aren't a gore buff, "La Casa Nel Tempo" offers many more things, like an extraordinary atmosphere and the events are so well narrated that it is impossible to feel bored.

All the cast give good perfornances, with my favorite being the female lead, played by Karina Huff, a British actress that I didn't knew, but that let me with an excellent impression. Her perfornance is so convincing that we can't believe she didn't have a big acting career. Sometimes life is very unfair, and searching on the web, I discovered that Karina died prematurely in 2016, at just 55!

"La Casa Nel Tempo" deserves to figure among the best horror movies of Fulci, although it was made in a period not very appreciated by his fans. I know that many will fall of their chairs with what I will say now, but I have to be honest, so, yes, I consider this film much better than the classic "L'Aldilà" (The Beyond)!

AKA "Giochi Erotici Particolari ".

Ultra obscure European porn movie of which it is impossible to know for sure who was the director. Some sources say it was Andrea Bianchi, others credit the film to Michel Berkowitch. The version I saw was the Italian and has no director credited! It seems that the French version is signed by Youri Berko, a pseudonym frequently used by Berkowitch! What a confusion!!!!

The cast is composed by French performers, what makes me believe it was originally a French production. If so, Berkowitch would be most likely to be the real director. Who knows?...

About the movie... Well, it is nothing special, but at least it has a plot. A stupid one, but still a plot. The acting is all bad, but this being a porn, there is not much sense in expecting great perfornances. For Eurociné fans, the film has Olivier Mathot in a non-sexual role (thanks God!).

I picked this because I am a fan of Andrea Bianchi, but the truth is that his XXX filmography is very confuse and we never can be sure what titles he really directed.

This was the first (and probably the last) title from "notorious" XXX producer Marc Dorcel that I watched. Actually, my only reason to check this was the involvement of Jean Rollin as a scriptwriter. Some sources say he also helped Dorcel to direct this, but I am not so sure. The fact is that the only thing resembling the cinema of Rollin is the presence of a beautiful castle.

Being produced in the 90s, the film had to be shot on video and that is one of the problems. The video technology at the period was still very poor and, despite the above average budget for a "movie" of the genre, the image is ugly. It looks like a soap opera, not like a real movie. Dorcel is known for producing "porno-chic", but there is nothing very "chic" here, except for the aforementioned castle.

The "plot" is more "developed" than usual, but it is still far from being minimally solid. I wonder what motivated Rollin to put his name in such a project, but I am glad this is the only porn video he was involved with.

What about the actings? Well, in the 70s and 80s, the genre counted with real actresses, people who many times entered porn after failing in achieving a career in mainstream cinema. However, after the video "revolution", actresses were replaced by models and any vestige of acting skills vanished. That is the case of Draghixa, the protagonist of "Le Parfum de Mathilde". The poor girl can't even breath in a convincing way. However, the award for worst "actress" has to go to the gorgeous Erika Bella. She constantly looks at the camera (?) doing "sexy" expressions, but looks just ridiculous. And her all-girl scene with Simona Valli is a good example of how unconvincing lesbian action is in these productions. Just giving a real kiss in another woman seems much more difficult than engaging in sodomy for these girls!

The music, composed by Dorcel himself, is better than the library medíocre pieces typically used in the genre, but the feeling of soap opera is never surpassed.

As a final note, there is no perfum in the plot, so the title is nonsense. Not even a symbolic meaning can be attributed to it.

In short, for a porn video, this is a classic, but for a real movie, it is a catastrophe.

Oh, well, this was the third porn of Rollin I watched and another disaster. I know that he directed those things to save money for his real movies, but I wonder if he couldn't have put a minimum of dedication. Or maybe he should have found other way of making easy money.

Thankfully, this here was in French and without subtitles, so I didn't have to understand the few lines of dialogues that I am sure were below the level of Ed Wood. We don't need to understand what the "actors" were saying to know that what was happening was the typical succession of stupid situations of porn "movies" made by people that hate the genre. It is not a problem of the genre in itself. Alain Payet showed with the excellent "Prostitution Clandestine" (1975) that it is possible to make XXX with a good story and decent actings. The problem with guys like Jean Rollin, Joe D'Amato and many others is that they weren't into porn, so they did it in a very lazy way, just interested in the payment.

The copy of "Rêves de Sexe" I saw has the title "Furia Erotica" in the opening credits, an appropriate stupid title for a stupid film. The music is horrendous and most of the "plot" segments consist of boring travelling shots of cars and landscapes!

None of the actresses are particularly interesting and the actors...well, Jean-Pierre Armand is good looking and has presence, but in porn movies, male actors are as secondary as the clothes of the actresses. They are just like dildos plugged into the ladies' bodies.

Recommend only to Jean Rollin completists and fanatics of vintage porn. If you aren't in none of these categories avoid it at all cost.

This was the second pornographic film of Rollin that I watched and...well, another disappointment. Unless you are a crazy completist like me or are a fan of ordinary vintage porn, you won't have nothing to enjoy here.

We open with an attempt at a plot, but soon the overdose of endless genital close-ups starts and you have to fight against boredom. The copy I saw was dubbed into Spanish, so I was able to understand the ultra simplory dialogues and my impression was that whoever wrote the script of this must have taken only 5 minutes. The film itself looks like shot in just an afternoon.

No trace of Rollin's style is present. The only evidence that he was involved in this is his brief cameo in the very end alongside Catherine Castel. He really did XXX with zero interest in the material.

About the cast, none of the ladies were familiar to me and the male performers looked like contestants to the title of ugliest man in the world.

Any notable thing to point? Well, the film includes an anal scene, something that was not very usual for the period.

The second effort of Jess Franco as director has everything to please any Francophile. As its predecessor, "Tenemos 18 Años", this film has many of the director's obsessions.

Once again, we have two beautiful young girls as the leads, with the gorgeous Isana Medel making her second and (sadly) last appearance in a Jess movie. Rumor has it that the director didn't like her perfornance, which would have led him to break up their love relationship!!! With all respect to Jess, but I can't disagree more with him in this aspect, because Isana is perfect.

The plot is pure Jess Franco. What could be more Francoan than a story about two beautiful female detectives investigating the case of a stolen diamond after all? This formula would be reused in many other movies throughout his career, with the last one being the terrible "Red Silk" (1999).

In "Labios Rojos", Jess utilizes for the first time the character names Kallman, Radeck and Moroni, something that would be kind of a mania in his cinema. There is also the first reference to a nightclub called Flamingo. Nightclub performances are explored for the second time here, with Lina Canalejas, Isana Medel and Ana Castor doing the job. Do you want one more Franco trademark? What about a police inspector having to deal with conflicting testimonies by different witnesses? In this case, the inspector (played by Manolo Moran) is unusually efficient.

The only two things that are missing are zooms and eroticism, but those two elements are absent in some of his 70s and 80s projects too.

Technically, the film is full of style, with some striking unusual camera angles and a black-and-white photography reminiscent of the film noir genre. Still about the photography, it seems that Emilio Foriscot didn't actually work in this movie, another typical trademark of Jess cinema that makes its debut here.

According to Alain Petit and Stephen Thrower, "Labios Rojos" suffered from financial irregularities, with unpaid crew members walking off the set in protest! Probably, as a result of this, its releasing was delayed.

I really hope more fans of the director give the attention that this film deserves.