jdbmjf Reviews

Kommando Leopard (1985)

Epic, 80s action from the action maestro Anthony M Dawson.

[10/10 · 1 March 2009]

The film is quite well shot, it has some good stars-Kinski, Collins, and Steiner in.

I enjoyed the mixing of scenes shot in the Philippines and Venezula, even though a little confusing.

The special FX and explosion scenes are very well executed.

The budget is equal to that of an 80s Hollywood blockbuster and it shows.

A good film, the helicopter attack scene is another highlight.

The director Anthony M Dawson was a good action director, not the best, but still very good.

Kinski fans should enjoy it, as well as general cinema fans.

Achtung! The Desert Tigers (1977)

The worst film ever made...

[10/10 · 14 December 2008]

The film lasts for 78 minuets on the Dutch DVD, due to its status in cult fandom, this film is regarded as one of the worst ever, here's why: -Has been 1960s stars wide up here, Gordon Mitchell and Mike Monti. -Luigi Batzella is the director, writer, and editor, and no doubt a one man crew, most of his films were garbage, three to four westerns shot on one wooden town built by Gordon Mitchel, three cheap war films and two erotic horror films, shot in crappy locations. -Despite its 78 minuet running time, there are around 15 minuets of stock footage, of things blowing up, and large amounts of soldiers fighting, inter-cut with around a dozen stupid extra's running around. -Poor lighting, most likely done with broken equipment, shot in Spain using locals as Arabs! (no offence intended) -The camp scenes are shot on the same sets as SS Experiment camp. -No ending, just a soldier throwing down a shovel. -Around twenty actors were used for the entire film.

...But despite all that, today's film students, can learn from it, and hopefully make their own.

God bless you Batzella!

I'm actually a big fan of these cult films, I know their shortcomings, but I'd still pick this over any Hollywood blockbuster coming out today, with overflated money grabbing stars and more CGI than actual film!

Nazi Love Camp 27 (1977)

Fairly decent film.

[10/10 · 11 December 2008]

Despite being grouped with a sub genre that was known for low budget extreme gore films, Nazi Love Camp 27, is quite a very good film, saved from an exploitation banner, by its dramatic depressing portrayal of the holocaust, for instance when a gore scene takes place, sad music comes on, it also has a fairly decent budget, with a ruined city, camp and train station showed, a true rarity in Italian Nazi films. It also has a decent crew, crime director Marinao Caino, legendary script writer Grinnafranco Clerici, and white Laura Gemser, Sirpa Lane.

Check out, the only real Nazi film...if you can find it, wft.dvds may have it, or try visualpain.com.

The Beast in Heat (1977)

Pure low budget cheap crap-

[1/10 · 9 December 2008]

SS Hell Camp is an 86min film, financed by morons. Around 30min of the film is the 'real' SS Hell Camp, the other hour has been imported from Luigi Batzella's previous war film, depicting french villagers fighting against some Nazi's, locations are minimal, a street and a few fields, obviously set in Italy. Anyway, SS Hell camp, is split up into 3 sections, in between the war footage, the set appears to be an old room, with a wobbly cage in the middle, and cheap medical equipment hanging on the wall. some other scenes were filmed outside a castle with a pink swastika, and the cameraman's shadow appearing on it. The rest of the scenes take place in an office and a bedroom, with crappy fabric Nazi flags glued to the walls. The main torture scene, consists of the 'lab' set, stripped down, with a few tables with nude people screaming on it. The production values of this film, are mega cheap, most likely it was filmed in a villa or something. The actors are random crappy people, with only one star Macha Magall, who was in 2 other films.

This film can be of some use, it can help film students, create films like this, although prehapes more against the Nazi's and it can also show you, how bad a film can be.

Watch it, but only to see how really cheap it is.

Does anybody have any information on Luigi Batzella, he seems to be a forgotten director?

Celluloid Nightmares (1999 Video)

Crappiest film ever made!

[1/10 · 28 November 2008]

The Camera-work on the film is complete crap, it looks like it was filmed on a second hand camera brought from a car boot sale in Tokyo, and edited on an old junk yard hard drive.

The actors look like they've been pulled off the street or are out of work porn stars,

The special FX consist of a fake knife, and some ketchup.

Its filmed in some kind of basement, with lousy shots of a city street.

In all, it serves only as inspiration to make your own low budget film, you could pick up some techniques,

other than that, don't bother watching it.

Porno Holocaust (1981)

masterwork

[10/10 · 18 November 2008]

I have spent many years studying all the great directors, like Kurosawa, Lean, Fulci, Lenzi, Deodato, Peckinpah, Kubrick and admire them greatly. My favourite film is Once upon a time in America.

I have only recently become a fan of D'Amato, and while he was no horror master, his films were extreme whether it be soft core, hardcore or extreme.

Porno Holocaust is now one of my favourite films, the way its shot is brilliant and the music is catchy.

Joe D'Amato, wasn't a horror master, he's no Fulci or Bava, but however he was a master of erotica, no other director could shoot erotic films like him, he also never tried making any films outside of these genre's either.

Long live Joe D'Aamto-Master of Porn and Erotica!

Women's Camp 119 (1977)

Masterpiece

[10/10 · 26 May 2008]

SS Extirmination camp is a grim and depressing film. Not like the usual Nazi films ie SS Hell Camp, SS Girls. Its cast of characters symbolise the holocaust, and the music is very sad and plays well with the grim scenes.

Bits of the movie are exploitative, but they (medical tests) are all based on Nazi records, so they are realistic.

The cast is actually very well acted, and the script is brilliant, other parts of the movie, belong in schindlers list, as they are so real in their depitction of the holocaust, such as gassing, shot with poison bullets and and the kind doctors getting hung while inmates sing Israel much to the annoyance of the Commandant.

The sets are all very good, the concentration camp looks like an old industrial factory and the guards all wear proper uniforms, as well as the inmates, and the special effects are not bad either.

For the Exploiation fans, there are rapes, whippings, hangings, uterus transplants, vivisection, and shootings, and gang rapes etc.

For the historical fans out there, there are very depressing moments which show the holocaust for what is was, horrible.

The film is no doubt Bruno Mattei's best film, as it contains a good cast, no stock footage and none of the plot is borrowed from any other film.

I seriously suggest you check it out-

Marquis de Sade's Justine (1969)

Fairly decent flick for Franco

[10/10 · 24 May 2008]

Jess Franco to me, is one of the most evil men in cinema. His films in the 60s were Hitchokian thrillers and a few good erotic ones, however by the 80s he had plummeted into making porn films, fairly crappy at best, compared to Joe D'Amatos Caribbean series. These films consisted of Lina Romay masturbating to sex acts, purely vulgar, Laura Gemser fair enough, but her, no way.

Anyhow in the late 60s Franco worked with Harry Allan Towers, and made about 8 damn good films, such as The Bloody Judge, 99 women (less good) and Venus in Furs.

However Justine to me, his nemesis, is a good film. It boasts an all star cast, such as Jack Palace, who gives a good performance as a decadant monk, and Klaus Kinski, as De Sade, just prancing around his cell, being taunted by nude phantoms, actually shot using good green lighting and shadow imagery.

The film is not do depraved, several nude scenes, some mild sex scenes and some cat fighting, but nothing too bad. Also the buildings, soldiers and extras were fairly epic and in good standard with any epic historical film.

The sets were brilliant, hence they were all historical, the film is well shot, cue some blurs etc, well lighted, well cast and well made.

Franco is a decent director here, when he worked with Towers, however in the 70s he declined sadly. When he worked with good budgets and actors he was a Ruggero Deodato, but alas, he failed cinema, which he claimed to love...

A good film, give it a try!, you will not be disappointed.

The Beyond (1981)

Fulci's masterpiece

[10/10 · 17 May 2008]

The beyond opened in 1981, shocking the world with its scenes of zombies getting shot apart, eyes gauged out, and faces melting. Lucio Fulci paid homage to the supernatural and the strange, in no doubt one of the finest Italian exploitation films ever made.

The plot is very simple...or is it, time and space shift around, the only solid plot element is the hotel and the zombies, thats all you need to know. The cast is brilliant, Catrina Macoll and David Warbeck are brilliant, as well as Al Cliver.

The opening music, playing over the book is very atmopsheric, and the idea that we can only escape this world by going into a void is brilliant. Dario the script writer did a good job, there is no crap dialogue or bad acting here, this easily stands up to inferior American films!

This film is Fulci's last great work, after this he broke down, and churned out films, under his quality, he had a sad life, his wife killed herself and one of his daughters fell from a horse and was crippled for life. This is one of the last decent Italian horror films ever made, and is a testament to how great Italian cinema once was.

I'll end by saying Fulci was a true visionary, and his films ranked among those of Deodato and Lenzi.

He was no doubt one of the greatest directors that the world will ever see...not watching his films is like no seeing the sun...

RIP Fulci

Rest in peace friend, for your films will live on in the hearts of fans for generations to come...

Last Cannibal World (1977)

The greatest film ever made!!

[10/10 · 4 April 2008]

Well what can I say an early start into the Genre by Ruggero Deodato, filmed on location in the Philipines, and with an excellent cast, with good visuals, music and a general theme. The music is a stark contrast to the brutal realism of the movie, Deodato learnt realism from Roselini. An excellent film, good pan outs of the location which shows the isolation of Robert Harper from the outside world. Me Me Lai is very good as the native girl, and the film overall contains some good scenes. Hollywood take a back seat, this is a masterpiece not some special FX ridden mess from Hollywood or Art-house Europe!!!! (i mean it!)

The actors are all amazing, in their roles and Deodato is a very good director. He made 24 films in his career, 4 of which were excellent, the rest were rubbish, but when he puts his mind to it, he makes a damn good film!

It also has a professional quality, not found in other Italian films, worthy of Sergio Leone, Pechinpah and Kubrick!!

Its got some good gore scenes, only heightening the realism of this primitive world, in which half the movie takes place, in the cave of the tribe. However this proved to be just a warm up for the Extreme masterpiece that was cannibal Holocaust, made two years later!

Ruggero should have gone to Hollywood out of them all, Mattei Lenzi, Fulci and Batzella, he was the only one good enough!

Italain cinema deserves much more, it should be praised around the world! I hate modern Cinema, so long live Last Cannibal world! By Louis Brentnall

Emanuelle Around the World (1977)

a masterpiece!

[10/10 · 9 March 2008]

This film is amazing. Its the third film in Joe D'Amato's black Emanuelle series. Its not as violent as Emanuelle in America, but it comes pretty close. Emanuelle played by the hot Laura Gemser arrives in India to find out about George Eastman who plays an Indian Guru, who knows the prolong orgasm, after seeing thats its all fake, she soon has sex with him and leaves. She then heads to America and meets up with Cora Norman and both of them go on the trail of a woman smuggling ring...

Its got an all star cast. Laura Gemser, George Eastman, and Joe D'Amato has a cameo! Its got a score by Nico Fidenco and the script was written by Giannfranco Clerci, who wrote house on the edge of the park, Nazi love camp 27 and blazing magnums. Its the Italian gone with the wind! Its quiet violent, there are six rapes, hardcore sex, ugly old woman sex, lesbianism, banana's shoved up women, as well as dildo's in a kuma sautra acamedy. It also features too nasty scenes of two poor women having sex with a snake and a dog, that was pretty bad.

The camera-work and soundtrack was excellent and the acting was decent, its a must see for fans of D'Amato, Black Emanuelle and Exploitation in general.

If you like this check out Emanuelle's Revenge, Emanuelle in America and Porno Holocaust.