Massimo de Rita Movies

Craig has a psychic link to Keith, and travels from his home in the United States to Hamburg, Germany, after telepathically sensing details of his brother's gruesome crimes. After bludgeoning an aging boxer (Cameron Mitchell) to death, Keith -- who can also sense his brother -- traps Craig by telling the dead fighter's daughter, Christine (Sarah Langenfeld), where he is. Naturally, Craig and Christine begin an affair, only to have Keith drug Craig and murder Christine after his impotence prevents him from raping her. Craig ends up in jail for the murder and Keith continues his bloody killing spree until Craig's girlfriend (Penelope Milford) shows up from America. And that's when the film starts getting extremely nasty. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

In this Italian sci-fi fantasy, super hero Puma Man endeavors to stop the creepy Dr. Kobras from using his golden mask to take over the world and destroy it. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this fast-paced action/drama, a downtrodden farmer turns to crime and quickly rises to prominence in the Sicilian mafia. Along the way, he learns the importance of political connections and of having legitimate businesses to funnel ill-gotten cash into. Determined to do away with the old and more violent ways of doing things, he lays the groundwork for his own doom. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

An undercover cop deeply entrenched in a lucrative international drug syndicate (Fabio Testi) and a trigger-happy Interpol agent (David Hemmings) attempt to survive on the streets long enough to bring the criminal element to their knees in director Enzo Castellari's explosive poliziotteschi. The city of Rome is about to erupt into violence, and as Inspector Fabio and agent Mike Hamilton become tied up in the twisted world of hard drugs and sexual depravity, the only thing standing between order and complete chaos are two tough law enforcers who may already be too far gone to get the job done. Now, with little time to spare and the specter of death looming on every city block, it's time to pick sides for the final battle and take on a hail of gunfire to take back the streets once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The luridly titled Italian/French/German thriller Blood in the Streets went into production under the more restrained cognomen The Revolver. Oliver Reed plays a prison official whose wife is kidnapped. The price for her return is the release of incarcerated criminal Fabio Testi. When it becomes obvious that Testi's former cohorts plan to murder him once he's set free, Reed and Testi team up to foil the baddies. Blood in the Streets poses as an anti-gun tract, but its plot is still resolved by Oliver Reed wielding a weapon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An Irish journalist (Lynn Redgrave) will do anything she can to support a peasant revolution in Mexico. The rogues played by Franco Nero and Eli Wallach will do almost anything for money, but they will also do a lot for a charming lady: particularly when she has saved one of them from certain death in front of a prison firing squad. After arranging Wallach's prison escape, the trio heads for Mexico, where incredible things happen. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This politically oriented spaghetti western, chronicles the exploits of a mercenary who aligns himself with a revolutionary. Their goal is to liberate a peaceful professor and his students who are being held hostage in Texas. The mercenary's real reason for joining him is that the revolutionary knows the location of a cache of gold. En route to Texas they run into a strange wooden handed gunslinger who likes to smoke marijuana. The gunman is accompanied by his pet falcon. Tension between the mercenary and the rebel rise throughout the movie, but when the opposing forces attack, they unite. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Outlaw and prisoner Graziano Cassitti (Terence Hill) escapes and takes to the hill country in Sardinia. He continually eludes police and continues his raids on the nearby town, becoming a folk hero fighting against authorities. He takes comfort in the arms of Anania (Helen Ronee) as the two lovers meet under cover of darkness. Spina (Frank Wolf) is the local man who attempts to negotiate between the outlaw and the police while the arrogant criminal grants interviews to a sympathetic press. The story is taken from the real-life adventures of Graziano Mesina, who was jailed and awaiting trial for kidnapping, robbery and murder at the time of this film's release. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The low-budget horror film Rome Against Rome concerns the Roman military doing battle against an army of zombies who have been reanimated thanks to the force of an ancient goddess. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Generally considered to be the foremost example of Italian Gothic horror, this darkly atmospheric black-and-white chiller put director Mario Bava on the international map and made the bewitching Barbara Steele a star. Steele plays Princess Asa, a high priestess of Satan who is gruesomely executed in 1600s Moldavia by having a spiked mask hammered into her face. Before she dies, Asa vows revenge on the family who killed her and returns from the grave two centuries later to keep her promise. In a striking resurrection scene replete with bats, scorpions and fog, Asa rises from the tomb to claim her bloody vengeance. With vampires, bubbling flesh, dank crypts, undead servants and torch-bearing mobs, the plot is a little ripe, but the visuals are Bava's primary consideration. The atmosphere is so heavy and the imagery so dense that the film becomes nearly too rich in texture, but the sheer, ghastly beauty of it all is entrancing. Although this was only the second of Bava's twenty-six films as director, it is undoubtedly his best and the one upon which most of his considerable reputation rests. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi