Mosquito der Schänder (1977)

... aka: Bloodlust
... aka: Bloodlust: The Black Forest Vampire
... aka: Bloodlust: The Vampire of Nuremberg
... aka: Mosquito
... aka: Mosquito the Rapist

Directed by:
Marijan David Vajda

A very bleak, disturbing film about a troubled, lonely, reclusive deaf-mute outcast (Werner Pochath) who has endured much abuse in his life and, mistreated and / or shunned by the living since childhood, ends up seeking companionship with the dead. Living in a block apartment house, the man (who is never actually named) spends his evenings alone caring for his pet mouse and haunted by memories of childhood abuse. When he was a young boy, his alcoholic father beat him so severely that he lost his ability to hear or speak. His father also sexually molested his little sister right in front of him. At school he was constantly bullied by his peers. Things aren't any better as an adult. Though he does well at his job, his co-workers have labeled him a "queer" and "pervert" because of his interest in collecting dolls. Because he is unable to have a healthy adult relationship, he seeks the company of prostitutes, who mock him because of his inability to perform. The only person who even really acknowledges in a positive way is an aloof teenage neighbor (Birgit Zamulo), who doesn't seem quite right in head herself and sits outside in the courtyard all day dancing and listening to music. The girl's mother (Ellen Umlauf) warns her to stay away from the man. Though he's polite and well-mannered, she just doesn't trust him.

As the man descends further into madness, he begins sneaking into local morgues and graveyards to visit with perhaps the only people who aren't going to harm him or outright reject him. On his first visit, he simply slices up a body, but his defilement of corpses become more ghastly on each subsequent visit. He decapitates one and removes the eyeballs from another and takes them home to put in a mason jar. He also purchases a glass straw and begins drinking blood from the bodies of the recently deceased. During some of his visits, he defiles the walls with "M.Q." or "Mosquito;" a calling card that has the press equating him to a modern day vampire. When his young female neighbor dies after falling from the rooftop (it's unclear whether by accident or suicide), the man digs up her corpse and interestingly tries to feed her his own blood. By the end of the film, his crimes upon the dead will escalate into crimes upon the living.

Boasting some graphically gory special effects (which are generally effective and probably would have earned this an X certificate at the time of its release), a very haunting organ music score and a compelling wordless central performance from its lead actor, this is an effectively grim and actually quite sad character study that deserves to be seen by a wider audience. The director employs some stylish techniques in presenting the material; shooting the flashbacks with a red tint and the fantasy sequences (where the man temporarily tries to escape from the reality of his own actions) with blurred edges. There are lots of creepy shots of dolls, which are used metaphorically by both the director and the 'Mosquito' character.

Lead actor Pochath (who passed away in 1993) was a regular presence in Euro horror of the 70s and 80s, having already appeared in a small role in Argento's THE CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971) before graduating to lead roles sleazier films, such as the rapist-killers-hijack-a-train trash fest TERROR EXPRESS (1979) and Jess Franco's awful cannibal / zombie movie DEVIL HUNTER (1980). At one point he also came to America to act in the silly cannibal comedy AUNTIE LEE'S MEAT PIES (1991) and a few action movies. Bloodlust would turn out to be the best showcase for his talents within the genre. Regardless of how sick the character is, he and the director ensure he's not just some faceless, one-dimensional psycho, but a tragic figure driven to do unthinkable things because of lifelong abuse and isolation.

Viewers wanting action and excitement may find the film a bit on the slow side, and sticklers for realism might cry foul on scenes with the corpses; were they really not embalmed back in the 70s? The film isn't perfect, but if you're in the mood for a very dark character study, then this is certainly worth a look. It's based on real-life killer / necrophile Kuno Hofmann. The German-born Hofmann was deaf, mute and severely beaten as a child (just as in this film) and spent almost a decade in prison for theft, emerging from his sentence with an interest in Satanism and vampirism. He exhumed dozens of corpses, indulging in cannibalism and necrophilia, and shot and killed three people (so he'd have fresh blood) before being apprehended in 1972. He was sentenced to life in prison.

The Customflix DVD (under the title BLOODLUST: THE BLACK FOREST VAMPIRE) is an OK, English-dubbed print of the film.

★★★1/2

Quella villa in fondo al parco (1987)

... aka: Ratman
... aka: Rat Man, The
... aka: Terror House

Directed by:
Giuliano Carnimeo

2'4" Dominican Republic native Nelson de la Rosa was certified as "the smallest man on Earth" by the Guiness Book of World Records in 1990. Several years before achieving that claim to fame, the diminuative fella had already been 'discovered' by thrifty exploitation filmmakers, who gave him the lead role as a mutant rat/monkey hybrid that runs amuck on a barely-populated Caribbean island. Hey, saves on special effects, doesn't it? Unfortunately, despite de la Rosa's presence, the film itself is something of a bore. There's a little blood, a little nudity, a few familar faces for the faithful and some decent shooting locations, but it's dark, slow-moving, flatly presented and badly-written, with lousy dialogue, a bare minimum of plot, uninteresting characters and absolutely no motivation for its mad science premise (the guy who creates "Ratman" is basically shoved off to the side). The cherry on top is that it's saddled with a groaner of an ending.

On the aforementioned island paradise, sleazy fashion photographer Mark (Werner Pochath), his assistant Monique (Anna Silvia Grullon) and two blonde models; Marilyn (Eva Grimaldi) and Peggy (Luisa Menon), are busy at work taking advantage of the beaches for a swimsuit photo shoot. Too bad for them that it's on the same island a scientist's lab experiment has escaped its cage. Equipped with oversized fangs and razor sharp claws, 'Ratman' makes short work of Peggy while she's out taking a midnight stroll. Strangely, Marilyn's sister Terry (Janet Agren) is informed that her sister has been killed and arrives to ID the body. On the way there, she bumps into mystery novelist Fred Williams (David Warbeck) and he decides to accompany her to the morgue. When Terry discovers the corpse isn't actually her sister she's called back in a second time to ID another body that turns out to not be her sister either. Oops!

Terry and Fred then set out to locate Marilyn, who has ventured inland with Mark and Monique to take more photos. After Monique is killed and her body is discovered, Mark and Marilyn take off and end up stranded at the scientist's home. Guess who else eventually shows up to terrorize them? Can Terry and Mark make it to the home in time to save the sister? I doubt you'll even care by that point.

Warbeck and Agren (previously paired in the dreary and derivative monster flick PANIC in 1982) are saddled with incredibly boring scenes and are given nothing of interest to do. Though third billed, most of the weight is actually carried by the voluptuous Grimaldi, who has to try to survive the night trapped in the house with the lethal lil monster and is also responsible for providing all of the film's nudity, including a lengthy shower scene which is probably the most memorable scene in the entire movie.

Despite the somewhat degrading nature of the role, de la Rosa is used effectively in a handful of scenes. After appearing in this and gaining the Guiness notoriety, he'd go on to become friends with Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez (and would frequently be seen at games), got to appear alongside Marlon Brandon in the badly received THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (1995) and gained employ in a circus. He passed away in 1996. The director (billed as "Anthony Ascot") also made the giallo THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS (1972).

Though released on VHS and DVD in many countries, this one has never been officially released in the U.S. The original title translates to something like House at the End of the Park, but was given the tongue-in-cheek RATMAN title for distribution in the UK. Other DVD's released elsewhere carry the uber generic TERROR HOUSE title.

★1/2

Regazza del vagone letto, La (1979)

...aka: Terror Express

Directed by:

Ferdinando Baldi

Semi-entertaining smut from Italy, falling into the sub-category of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT-inspired flicks that were very popular in the mid to late 70s. This isn't even the first one that's set on train (that would be the humdrum 1974 effort NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS), but it's full of nudity and all the sex, sexual perversion and sexual violence you'd expect from one of these films. In fact, there's so much sex going on in various combinations that the film often forgets to be suspenseful or thrilling, let alone scary, even though it is usually categorized as a horror film. The action starts at a train station. We're briefly introduced to some of the characters before everyone boards for a trip to Germany. There are around a dozen passengers. Among them are a trio of loud, obnoxious, sadistic thugs who seem to get off on acting like jackasses and irritating people. They; German "poet" David (Werner Pochath), Ernie (Carlo De Mejo) and Phil (Fausto Lombardi), start off by harassing a young woman until she gets off a pay phone. At dinner they book a table for four (the extra setting for their "pet corpse"), yell, hit on some of the women, play their music loudly, trip a waiter and then berate him, poor beer on the floor, threaten people with a switchblade and cause even more problems for the passengers, porter and staff.

Top-billed Silvio Dionisio is Juliet; a jaded, high-priced prostitute who seems a little bitter dealing with her perverted customers. One of those customers is a married perv named Jeff who lusts after his boy-crazed 16-year-old daughter Evelyn (Fiammetta Flamini) and wants Juliet to wear his daughter's nightgown while he has sex with her. Yikes. Venantino Venantini is Mike, a frustrated man trying to reconcile his marriage to bitchy wife Anna (Zora Kerova). Anna sneaks off for a tryst with one of the punks that turns into a rape sandwich when another of the goons walks in on them and decides to join in. Gianluigi Chirizzi is Peter, a prisoner being escorted by a policeman who may or may not be innocent. Other characters include a wealthy, middle-aged businessman who makes his assistant Willis buy him porn magazines at a concession stand and a terminally ill elderly woman name Mary (Rita Livesi), who's headed to Switzerland with her husband Harold to have some kind of operation.

After Anna gets raped, the goons manage to knock out a few of the guys, tie them up and get their hands on a gun. Now they have control of the situation. Since David has the hots for Juliet, but she won't give him the time of day, he threatens to rape the 16-year-old "virgin" if she doesn't comply with his wishes. She ends up getting raped by him and Ernie. The punks also try to force some of the passengers to rape Juliet. Nice guys, huh? Frustrated hubby Mike finally gets fed up with Anna and rapes her. Before too long, the "rape" starts to look a little more consensual as Juliet and Peter pair up and Ernie gets to nail the "virgin." The film has four attractive blonde women in it and they all have nude scenes. The men in this one also aren't shy about showing skin, and the soft porn sex/rape scenes are strong enough to merit this an NC-17.

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However, if you want violence and gory thrills, you won't get much of that here. It relegates most of the action and murder scenes to the last ten minutes or so, and even that isn't much. I don't even recall a single drop of blood in this one. The story and screenplay are from Luigi Montefiori (George Eastman) and there's a catchy synthesizer score from Marcello Giombini. All in all, if you're in the mood for a little rough, bad taste sexploitation you'll probably enjoy this one.

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Distributor Camera Obscura (out of Australia) have recently announced they'll be releasing this one on DVD soon. It's yet to receive an official American release.

★★1/2

Il gatto a nove code (1971)

... aka: Cat O' Nine Tails, The
... aka: Die Neunschwänzige Katze
... aka: Le chat á neuf queues

Directed by:
Dario Argento

While not one of Argento’s best - the director himself has even gone on record saying it's his least favorite of all the films he's made (though he's done way worse if you ask me) - this is still a watchable thriller with the enjoyable duo of reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus) and blind crossword puzzle specialist Franco Arno (Karl Malden), a former journalist himself, teaming up to stop a psycho with a chromosome imbalance who is targeting workers at the Terzi Institute, a Rome research hospital run by Professor Fulvio Terzi (Tino Carraro). The plot and characterizations hold together fairly well, there’s a bravura train murder sequence, an Ennio Morricone score and an above average cast (Malden is especially good here and has some charming scenes with the young actress playing his niece). On the downside, the camerawork isn't nearly as elaborate as Dario's other films, the violence is lighter, it's far less stylish, it tends to drag, there are far too suspects and red herrings to try to keep track of and it seems to suffer somewhat from an identity crisis, blending elements of horror, mystery, comedy, action and even romance (enter Dr. Terzi's sulty daughter Anna, played by Catherine Spaak) together, and not always well.

The international cast of this French / Italian / West German production includes Pier Paolo Capponi as the superintendent, Rada Rassimov (the sister of actor Ivan, who also appeared in Bava'a Baron Blood) as a victim, Horst Frank, Carlo Alighiero and Tom Felleghy as doctors, Jacques Stany as a professor, Werner Pochath (later to star in the very good Bloodlust) and Umberto Raho as gay secondary characters and Cinzia de Carolis. Argento's script was based on a story he wrote with two others (including the prolific Dardano Sacchetti) and British mystery writer Bryan Edgar Wallace was also somehow involved, though I'm no entirely sure in what capacity.

An uncut version of this film initially played in American theaters (where it passed with a GP rating), but as much as 22 missing were shaved off for some TV showings. Not sure if any of those hacked prints ever made their way to video or not, but the full run time of the uncut version is said to be 112 minutes. Anchor Bay's DVD release is about as good as you're going to get here in the States, though lesser quality prints are sold through several budget labels.

★★1/2

El caníbal (1980)

... aka: Chasseur de l'enfer

... aka: Devil Hunter

... aka: Mandingo Manhunter

... aka: Manhunter
... aka: Man Hunter, The
... aka: Sexo caníbal

Directed by:

Jesus Franco

Blonde Ursula Buchfellner (a German-born 1979 Playboy Playmate) is Laura Crawford, a saucy actress/model who is location scouting somewhere in South America. After meeting with the press and a photo op on the beach, she is kidnapped (right in the middle of a bubble bath) by a bunch of sadistic thugs (Antonio de Cabo, Werner Pochath, Gisela Hahn, etc.) and brought to an island. While she's being held for 6 million dollars in ransom money, she's raped, beaten up and even has her nipple sliced with a machete to show they mean business. Meanwhile, mustachioed Vietnam vet Peter Weston (Al Cliver) is hired by the girl's agent to find her. He and his group fly a helicopter to the island and agree to trade off the girl for the loot. The switch however is botched, gunfire is exchanged and the kidnappers yank Laura back through the jungle, where they're picked off one by one and she's abducted by the local cannibal tribe. The natives eat human hearts and place an especially high value on light skinned sacrifices, so Laura fits the bill nicely. They strip her naked, bathe her in a stream and rub flowers over her nude body to get her ready to meet their ancient cannibal God. The God (usually shown through a hazy POV shot) is a tall, naked cannibal/zombie-type guy with bloodshot ping pong ball eyes. His interests include ripping off human heads, beating in faces with rocks and eating female genitalia. And yes ladies, he's single!

Despite all the rampant nudity and some cheap looking gore, this is tamer and much less disturbing than most of the major Italian cannibal titles because it's technically inept, slow and never seems to be taking place in reality. First off, the "jungle" doesn't look a thing like a tropical South American jungle. In fact this one was filmed near the coastline in both Spain and Portugal. Secondly, the cannibal tribe consists not only of a bunch of black men and women, but also a slew of white guys, some not even sufficiently tan to pass themselves off as natives. The acting's bad, the direction's bad, it's padded out and the dialogue and dubbing are pretty horrendous ("This wild vegetation gives me the creeps!" hisses one of the kidnappers at one point). Perhaps the worst part is the editing. It's one of the worst hack-jobs I've seen. Hard to tell whether that's just how the movie has always been or if it's been re-cut over the years by different distributors. In any case, it's badly done all the way around.

The DVD version from Videoasia seems to be a Japanese print of the film. While there is a sufficient amount of T&A, the hoo-hoos (and briefly, a hee-hee) have been digitally scrambled. Not that it really matters, this thing wouldn't suck any less with the nude scenes intact. Also the DVD has some of the strangest letterboxing known to man, with about 80 percent of the black strip on to bottom of the screen. I'm not going to deduct any points for the bad print. If I did, it would get a "NO STARS!" rating instead. Franco regulars Antonio Mayans and "Victoria Adams" (Muriel Montosse) are also in it.

★