Riccardo Freda Movies

This psychological drama finds Helen (Margaret Lee) wanting a divorce from her adoring husband John (Klaus Kinski). She leaves him and is killed in an auto wreck. John finds himself the target of a police investigation to determine if the death was an accident, murder or suicide. His wife had owned 90% interest in a British auto company and John is the main suspect should foul play be evident. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The first of two Francis Coplan spy films directed by veteran Riccardo Freda, this flamboyant entry has FX-18 (Richard Wyler of British television's The Man from Interpol) hurtling back and forth between Paris and Istanbul to prevent an Arab nuclear strike on Israel. Teamed with a bumbling Israeli operative (stunt coordinator Gil Delmaire), FX-18 must deal with exploding airplanes, nuclear terrorists, scientists in spiked coffins, murdered strippers, and sadistic torture-killings, all while trying to avoid World War III. Freda loads the film with campy sexual sight-gags and wonderfully silly setpieces such as the film's finale, in which Coplan is strapped inside a nuclear warhead to be launched to a certain doom. Delmaire stages some impressive stunts, and although the supporting cast is rather weak, Wyler, Delmaire, and siren Jany Clare make the film enjoyable for genre devotees. This film has several alternate titles, including: The Exterminators, FX-18, Superspy, Coplan FX-18, and Coplan Casse Tout. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The English title of this Shakespeare adaptation is Juliet and Romeo, according the heroine top billing for the first time in history. Its Spanish title, evidently concocted to obscure its literary roots, was Los Amentes de Verona. Directed by costume-spectacle "regular" Riccardo Freda, the film stars Gerald Meynier and Rosemarie Dexter as Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers. Freda adapted the original text to make room for his usual stylistic grace notes -- not to mention his characteristic spurts of violence. Filmed in 1964, Giulietta e Romeo was distributed in the U.S. in 1968, most likely to cash in on the popularity of the recently released Franco Zeffirelli version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The alluring presence of doe-eyed horror icon Barbara Steele enlivens director Riccardo Freda's passable sequel to his own Horrible Dr. Hichcock. Steele returns as Cynthia, the troubled widow of a sadistic murderer and necrophiliac, who had once conspired with her lover to murder her husband before she could become the next of his tortured playthings. Unfortunately for her, you can't keep an evil man down, as proven by the sudden appearance of the doctor's vengeful ghost. All is not quite as it seems, however, as we learn that the menacing apparition is somehow linked to Steele's mysterious housekeeper. A workmanlike effort from the otherwise capable Freda (I Vampiri), this film plays like a less stylish retread of Diabolique. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In 13th-Century China, the invading Mongol leader Garak (Leopoldo Severini) decides to kill a young prince before he can take the throne, staging a hunting accident to explain the death. The nomadic strongman Maciste (Gordon Scott) saves the prince from a tiger pit and brings him to a monastery, then attempts seven feats of strength which will repel the invaders according to prophecy. During one of Maciste's tests, he is captured and imprisoned beneath the Mongol palace. As rebellion swirls around Garach, Maciste summons all of his strength and breaks free, causing a spectacular earthquake which swallows the invading hordes. This standard sword-and-sandal adventure features some rousing battle scenes, but was so heavily edited for American release that only five of Maciste's seven tests remain. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Maciste, here played by Kirk Morris, is instead a legendary Italian superhero of long standing. In this one, the mighty Mr. M journeys to seventeenth-century Scotland (this is Hell?) His foe is a fearsome Scottish witch who holds awesome power over the local wildlife, and for a while it looks like our hero will get killed. As with many other Maciste films, this Technicolor opus was bundled into the "Sons of Hercules" package syndicated to local TV stations in the mid-1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fantasy adventure, Jason and Orpheus leave Thessaly to quest for the magical Golden Fleece. Along the way they encounter an assortment of monsters, wizards and a conniving witch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two members of an expedition into the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal go into a hidden groto -- only one, Nieto (Arturo Dominici), returns, raving about the ancient Mayan goddess Caltiki. The expedition leader, Dr. John Fielding (John Merivale), follows their trail and finds the missing man's camera in the ruins of an ancient Mayan temple, along with high radiation readings -- the film shows the two men suddenly threatened by something out of the camera shot. A diver (Daniele Vargas) goes into the one unexplored part of the temple, the sacred lake within, and finds its floor littered with human remains and ancient treasure -- on a second dive, he is attacked by something that burns most of the flesh from his body. Suddenly, a huge shapeless, writhing mass rises from the lake, nearly killing Max Gunther (Gerard Herter), whose hand is caught by the creature. Fielding hacks off the fragment holding Max and destroys the main body of the monster by incinerating it. The scientific community is astonished by the fragments of the creature retrieved from Gunther's arm, which is revealed to be a single-celled animal at least 20 million years old; additionally, the fragments, though seemingly inert, are still radioactive and dangerous to the touch, and they react to the presence of atomic radiation by growing at an alarming pace. Gunther gradually loses his sanity as the tissues in his body deteriorate, and he goes on a murderous rampage that takes him to Fielding's home. Meanwhile, the doctor establishes a link between the legends surrounding Caltiki, the Mayans' abandonment of Tikal in the year 607, and a comet that passed the Earth that same year. He learns almost too late that the same comet is making a return visit, putting all of humankind in danger from Caltiki. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This Italian vampire tale stars Gianna Maria Canale as an ancient, sultry bloodsucker who, much like real-life kinswoman Countess Bathory, can only maintain her youthful appearance through the regular consumption of a serum derived from virgins' blood. When she begins to age again, she demands better results from the serum's inventor, who proceeds to capture more young maidens... but her plan is undone by the meddling of an intrepid reporter. Originally titled I Vampiri (The Vampires), this science-fiction-flavored variation on the Vampire Gothic kicked Italy's horror film machine into high gear, helped greatly by the cinematography of noted horror filmmaker Mario Bava -- who shared some directorial duties with Riccardo Freda and designed some of the special effects. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide