Lea Lander Movies
- 1976
In the midst of a wave of Italian Nazi sex/horror films during 1976-1977, this standard sleazefest from director Luigi Batzella (using the pseudonym "Ivan Kathansky") was tarted up with extra scenes of sex and torture and promoted as an Italian version of Ilsa, She-Wolf of the S.S. In spirit, it's actually closer to a hybrid of that film and its sequel, Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, as Allied prisoners and a harem of Arab women end up in a Nazi concentration camp run by a sadistic doctor named Erika (Lea Krugher using her "Lea Lander" pseudonym). The usual atrocities ensue, punched up by occasional stock footage from other Batzella war films and a cast including familiar exploitation faces like Richard Harrison, Gordon Mitchell, and Isarco Ravaioli. It's a mess, too sick for most war film fans and not sick enough for fans of the Nazi S&M subgenre, but Batzella remedied that situation with his next foray, the appalling La Bestia in Calore, which jettisoned action elements to focus on sexual atrocities. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
An unreleased suspense thriller from Italy's master of horror and fantasy, Mario Bava, Rabid Dogs makes its belated debut in this special DVD release. When a bank robbery goes awry for a pair of violent criminals, they take an innocent woman hostage, who must fight for her survival. Shot mostly inside a speeding car, this tense and claustrophobic drama was filmed in 1974 (five years before Bava's death), but shortly before completion the death of one of the principal financiers threw the project into limbo. In 1998, the film's elements were rediscovered and editing was completed using Bava's notes as a guide; the result is a film that takes a decidedly modern detour from Bava's traditional Gothic subject matter and gives a much broader perspective on the range of his talents. A few years later, the film was reworked and retitled Kidnapped for a brief theatrical run in the U.S. That version of the film would later be released on DVD by Anchor Bay, with the original, Rabid Dogs cut included as supplimental material. Curiously enough, the version of Rabid Dogs featured on the Kidnapped disc still differs from the version of the film previously released by Lucertola. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Riccardo Cucciolla, Lea Lander, (more)
