Gabriele Tinti
- 1987
Spanish hack Rene Cardona, Jr. (of Aztec Mummy fame) directed this gory rip-off of The Birds (not a parody as its goofy title suggests) which follows a reporter/photographer team (Michelle Johnson & Christopher Atkins) as they investigate frequent reports of lethal bird attacks on humans. They eventually conclude that the attacks -- which are increasing in size, frequency and severity -- are part of an orchestrated avian plot against mankind. They could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by screening Hitchcock's classic chiller beforehand, just as viewers expecting a spoof of that film can save themselves the grief of enduring this bloody exercise, which pulls no punches in its graphic depiction of flesh-rending bird attacks. Gore-hounds should approve, as the makeup effects are painfully convincing, but die-hard Cardona fans may be disappointed to learn that no lady wrestlers actually step in to swat at the winged tormentors. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Atkins, Michelle Johnson, (more)
- 1986
As directed by sleaze cinema guru Joe D'Amato (Emmanuelle in America) under the pseudonym Dario Donati, the trash film Convent of Sinners weaves the tale of an unfortunate young woman who is raped by her stepfather, then shuttled off to a convent. Therein, she experiences kinky and sordid sexual activity with the other members of the order, and indulges in copious amounts of self-flagellation. Per his typical style, D'Amato packs the picture with wall to wall sexual violence and as many acts of bizarre sexual blasphemy as he can dream up. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1986
One of the more difficult docudramas to come out of Italy in recent years, this is a fictionalized account of the murders that occurred in Florence once a year between 1970 and 1985. The difficulty lies in the fact that the movie was made without the criminal ever being caught. And so the director and writer do not have any idea who he is and have to postulate a young killer whose problems started in early childhood because of a traumatic sexual encounter he witnessed. This serial killer only murders lovers. Another difficulty lies in the fact that the victims' families understandably do not want their slain sons and daughters represented as gory corpses, or in the process of dying. Director Cesare Ferrario has therefore had to tone down his film, and trace the story by focusing mainly on the first and last murders. A fictional reporter named Andreas Ackermann (Leonard Mann) is followed as he tracks down leads in the developing story. The monster in fact turned out to be more than one man. In March, 1998, a 70-year-old ex-postal worker named Mario Vanni was sentenced to life imprisonment for five of the total of 8 double murders committed by the "monster of Florence." At the same time, 58-year-old Giancarlo Lotti was given 30 years for participating in the last four double murders. A third man was acquitted and a fourth convicted but then later released for lack of sufficient evidence. The last man, Pietro Pacciani, died in 1998 at the age of 73. All four men were friends. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Mann, Lidia Mancinelli, (more)
In this Italian adventure, the deadly drug manufacturing and export operation of a prominent South- American drug czar is discovered by an investigative TV news correspondent and her cameraman who went to the jungle to look into evidence that a notorious, corrupt colonel is still alive. While in the jungles, they encounter hostile natives and other typical dangers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Blount, Leonard Mann, (more)
- 1985
- R
When four male criminals are captured by the police, they are temporarily held at a women's penitentiary. However, when the men outwit their captors and take a number of women prisoners hostage, rape, brutality, and violence abounds. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, (more)
- 1983
An unconvincing tale of stolen microfilm, prostitution, and murder barely stretches out to the 94-minute running time of this crime drama. Mystere (Carole Bouquet) is a high-class, sophisticated woman who happens to be a prostitute, and due to her monetary success, she drives a Ferrari and keeps a loaded gun in her purse. She and her friend Pamela go to a client in a hotel room on an assignment that turns out to have unexpected consequences -- Pamela steals a gold lighter that just happens to contain a roll of microfilm that reveals the Russian identity of a hitman. Pamela is murdered by an unseen assassin who is obviously after the microfilm -- though it is typical of the plot that he does not ask her where it is before he kills her. Next, Mystere is questioned by a handsome police detective (Philip Coccioletti), and the two are soon in bed together. But just as the detective is getting close to discovering who killed Pamela, he is taken off the case -- making it clear that dirty cops are also a part of the larger tale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Bouquet, Philip Coccioletti, (more)
When producer/star Michael Landon took on this project, it was geared for theatrical release under the title Comeback. Innumerable production difficulties later (due in great part to Landon's tiltings with the writer and director), the film was retooled as a TV movie titled Love is Forever. TV turned out to be the ideal medium for this film, which despite its "epic" aspirations is at base a Prime Time soap opera. Landon plays real-life journalist John Everingham, who while stationed in Laos in 1977 is accused of being a spy, tortured, and expelled from the country. One year later, Everingham attempts to return to the Communist-controlled country in order to rescue the Laotian woman (Moira Chen) that he loves. The plan is to swim across the Mekong river without attracting attention. Much of the film's potential for suspense is minimized by its flashback structure. Too, much of the credibility is lessened by supporting actor Jurgen Prochnow's "Boris Badenov" portrayal of a Communist espionage agent. Edward Woodward costars as Landon's scuba instructor, while Priscilla Presley makes her TV-movie debut as a friend of Woodward's. Though Landon tried to quell the fact in the publicity packets, leading lady Moira Chen is also known as porn actress Laura Gemser. Originally running 150 minutes, Love Is Forever was cut to 127 minutes for its first telecast on April 3, 1983, then was further snipped to 100 minutes for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Landon, Moira Chen, (more)
Laura Gemser returns as Emanuelle Sterman/Laura Kendall in this rather extreme Italian-French women's prison film from Bruno Mattei (credited on some prints as "Vincent Dawn" and others as "Gilbert Roussel"). Emanuelle is sent to Santa Catarina Women's Penitentiary for drugs and prostitution, meeting the usual sadistic warden (Lorraine De Selle from Cannibal Ferox), lesbian inmates, and hookers with hearts of gold. Emanuelle is actually an undercover reporter for Amnesty International, and when this fact comes to light, she is tortured even worse. Mattei doesn't skimp on the nastiness, presenting a three-way catfight on a floor full of feces, Gemser nibbled by rats in solitary confinement, a homosexual who is sodomized to death after his straight cellmates are aroused by a striptease, and various rapes, tortures, and vomit scenes. Gabriele Tinti is the concerned doctor, who eventually gets a celebratory roll in the bushes with Emanuelle during the escape scene. Claudio Fragasso (Monster Dog) was the assistant director.
~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, (more)
- 1980
This Anglo-Italian production was first seen as a five-part, five-hour miniseries on Britain's ATV in 1980. In Italy to pay a visit to her blind sister, British musician Barbara (Prunella Ransome) was told that her sibling had disappeared -- and may well have been murdered by a serial killer who specialized in knocking off sightless women. In despair, Barbara formed a friendship with fellow Briton David Malcolm (Jeremy Brett), who had exiled himself on a small off-coast island after his wife and son were killed in a diving accident. While pretending to be blind in hopes of trapping her sister's "killer," Barbara discovered that David's son was not dead after all, and might very well be the man she was looking for. But was her sister really dead -- and what did David know that he wasn't telling? After airing on British TV, Seagull Island was reedited and shown theatrically in Italy under the title L'Isola del Gabbiano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This twisted Italian oddity, originally titled L'Odessa, is an incomprehensible muddle of Devil-possession horror and lots of kinky soft-core sex (its original U.S. title was The Sexorcist). The story revolves around a weird religious icon -- depicting one of the two thieves crucified with Christ -- and the demonic sexual influence it exerts on a young art student (Stella Carnacina). After a gory dream sequence in which the woman imagines herself being nailed to a cross herself, the statue eventually comes to life and begins to sexually torment her ... whereupon the entire film careens off-track into Exorcist territory, where it slogs for an uninvolving and unoriginal final hour. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Aristide Massaccesi (aka Joe D'Amato) directed this strange sexploitation item starring Jack Palance as Judas, a hermit-like millionaire who keeps poisonous snakes. Judas falls for an exotic snake-dancer named Eva (Laura Gemser from the Black Emmanuelle movies) and pays her to come live with him. Judas' crazy brother Jules (Gabriele Tinti) is there, too, and tries to get his hands on his sibling's loot by freeing a deadly green mamba to kill all of Eva's friends. Eva gets her gruesome revenge by taking Jules to her home island and watching as the natives ram an eight-foot black cobra up his behind. Needless to say, this film is not for all tastes, but Palance turns in a nicely odd performance and fans of the genre should be amused. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1975
- R
This Italian horror outing is made even more horrible by the fact that the first two thirds were originally a complete feature, Lisa and the Devil by Mario Bava and the last third was tacked on later to capitalize on the continued popularity of The Exorcist by producer Alfredo Leone thereby nearly obliterating the spooky tone created in Bava's original. Innocent, voluptuous Lisa's travails begin when she sees a wax mannequin in her own image. She then sees a sinister fellow, whom she knows is the devil, hanging around nearby and runs for her life. Unfortunately, she ends up hiding in the mansion of a typical creepshow psycho family who prefer spending their evenings making love to everything and every one that moves, or doesn't move in the case of one necrophiliac. If that weren't creepy enough, Lisa gets a luck at the butler and realizes that he is old Satan himself. Surprise! Soon she finds herself possessed and doing the things that post Exorcist demonized movie stars are expected to including the obligatory projectile vomiting (this time it's frogs rather than pea soup), lasciviousness and a few levitation exercises until the brave exorcist arrives to cure her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
An Israeli doctor (Helmut Griem) is working with guerrillas at an enclave when the Palestinians attempt to blow up a dance-hall. The doctor is stunned to discover an old friend among the terrorist dead. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helmut Griem, Olga Georges-Picot, (more)
Claude Lelouch's romantic drama Toute une Vie chronicles three different love affairs over three generations during the 20th century. Marthe Keller and Charles Denner portray different members of the families in each of the generations. The stories involve a cameraman's son who suffers and survives internment in a concentration camp in World War II, and his daughter, who marries a man who begins adulthood as an ex-convict and a scoundrel but gradually matures and becomes a well-respected filmmaker living in New York. Each section of the film utilizes a style of filmmaking that is associated with the time period being portrayed. Lelouch earned an Academy Award nomination (along with co-screenwriter Pierre Uytterhoeven) for his screenplay in 1975. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marthe Keller, Charles Denner, (more)
- 1974
Two inept brothers, who cannot keep a job, call on their brother-in-law looking for work. He runs a detective agency, and they begin doing errands for him. They encounter a group of financiers who want a large shipment of a chemicals delivered from Portugal into France despite a transportation strike. The lads get hold of a boat and manage to evade the strikers, load the stuff on trucks, continue to evade the strikers, and make lots of money. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lamoureux, Pierre Mondy, (more)
- 1973
Le Complot is based on a true spy story of double-, triple- and quadruple-cross. The plot is galvanized by Charles DeGaulle's decision to pull French troops out of Algeria. The central characters include a group of pro-Gaullists, a gang of left-wing insurgents, and the police. It all sounds a great deal like The Battle of Algiers, but there are enough nuances to sustain the suspense. The film's 120 minutes hold up well--though you may not get all 120 minutes on commercial TV, due to the film's "R" rating. Complot is also known by the English-language title The Conspiracy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rochefort, Michel Bouquet, (more)
- 1973
This French film is one of the many efforts to film Jules Verne's novel, Mysterious Island. Here Captain Nemo is Omar Sharif, a seriously misanthropic man, who hides near a tropical island in his fabulous submarine. Flying in on a balloon are a number of refugees from a military dictatorship. The heroes of the story escape as Nemo battles pirates and an erupting volcano. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Omar Sharif, Philippe Nicaud, (more)
- 1972
Against incredible odds, first-time Italian filmmaker Franco Bottari brought this taut political drama to the screen. The German ambassador (Franz von Treuberg) to a South American country has been kidnapped by revolutionaries. The film examines the shifting sands of the negotiations and government decisions. The revolutionaries are demanding the release of their imprisoned comrades. The government, on the other hand, is contemplating ways to exterminate the revolutionaries and their movement under the pretext of negotiating for the Ambassador's release. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
In this chiller from Italian director Mario Bava, Elke Sommer stars as Lisa, a young tourist who keeps running into a strange bald man who carries around a mannequin. The bald man is Leandre (Telly Savalas), the butler at the estate of a blind Countess (Alida Valli) and her slightly off-kilter son Max (Alessio Orano). In a bizarre turn of events, Lisa kills a man in self-defense and winds up hitching a ride with Frances Lehaf, his wife Sophia (Sylva Koscina), and her chauffeur/lover George. Car troubles land them at the Countess' estate where Lisa is plagued by strange dreams and visions of the man she killed. More troubling for Lisa is that both the dead man and Max appear to know her. Meanwhile, the other guests begin to die: George is murdered by an unseen assailant, Sophia runs over her husband with the car, and then is dispatched herself by a killer who is revealed to be Max. Lisa awakens in Leandre's room full of dummies and runs off through the house. She encounters Max, who shows her the skeletal remains of Eleanor, the lover he killed for having an affair with his stepfather. Max believes that Lisa is Eleanor reincarnated. After an odd sex scene, he is confronted by his mother whom he winds up stabbing to death. Moments later, she reappears and the shock sends Max falling to his own death. Lisa awakens in the house, which now appears to have been abandoned for decades. She boards an airplane to head home, but in a chilling climax, she discovers the plane devoid of all passengers...except for a few old friends including the diabolical Leandre. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide
- 1971
In this French crime/action thriller, set in New York City, the young French waiter who stumbles on a killing at his restaurant could not be considered lucky, by any means. He decides to leave New York and return to France to avoid pursuit by the mobster who committed the murder. Unfortunately, he has left too powerful a memento with his American mistress for her to forget that she loves him, for she is pregnant. Even though she marries another, this only adds another person to the list of people searching for him: police, mobster, mistress, mistress's husband. Things look even worse for him when the mobster and the police join forces. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
This French historical comedy/farce, loosely based on Victor Hugo's play Ruy Blas, benefits greatly from having Louis De Funes and Yves Montand in the roles of Saluste and Blaze. Saluste is a nobleman who has been exiled from court and sent to collect taxes in the countryside. Blaze is his assistant, who manages to help the overtaxed peasants behind his boss's back. When Saluste decides to resume meddling in the monarch's affairs using Blaze as his henchman, his schemes backfire badly. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Yves Montand, (more)
- 1971
A private detective is accused of murder when he takes up a case involving a $5 million jewel heist. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
