Xtro (1982)

... aka: Judas Goat
... aka: X-tro
... aka: Xtro, attacco alla Terra (Xtro, Attack on Earth)
... aka: Xtro – Extraterrestre (Xtro – Extraterrestrial)

Directed by:
Harry Bromley Davenport

Leonard Maltin called it “crudely directed,” “guided by gruesomeness” and “overwrought but dull.” In an episode of At the Movies, Roger Ebert labeled it “one of the most mean-spirited and ugly thrillers I've seen in a long time” and added that it “doesn't even qualify as acceptable trash,” while Gene Siskel simply shrugged it off (“garbage is the operative word”) as if he had better things to do with his time. A critic for Time Out was a little more lenient, saying that it's “incompetent enough to be prime drive-in fodder.” Those and countless other extremely negative reviews from nearly every major critic of the day were what greeted this film upon release. None of that really mattered in the long run though as this did fairly well at the box office and on video. Part of that was due to an effective marketing campaign painting it as the antithesis (“Not all extraterrestrials are friendly!”) of one of 1982's biggest family-friendly hits: E.T.. Being part of a wave of similar sci-fi / horror films from the early 80s hoping to cash in on the success of ALIEN (1979) probably didn't hurt matters either. This production is also noteworthy for being produced by Robert Shaye and his then fledgling New Line Cinema; who handled the U.S. distribution. It was one of only two horror releases (the other being the entertaining 1982 slasher ALONE IN THE DARK) that predated their company-stabilizing hit A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

Since its theatrical days, this has gone on to amass a minor cult following simply because of how bizarre and ridiculous it is. The director, who'd previously made just one feature (1976's Whispers of Fear, which doesn't appear to have ever been released on home video), claims that he and his crew made this for one reason and one reason only - “to shock people” - and didn't really put much more thought into it than that. He's also the first person to admit that the film “doesn't make much sense.” He is correct. Still, that doesn't mean this isn't still wonderfully entertaining.

While outside playing fetch with the dog, Sam Phillips (Philip Sayer) tosses a stick into the air, there's a sudden explosion of bright light and strong wind and the next thing you know he's gone. Sam's young son Tony (Simon Nash) witnesses the whole incident, but nobody believes him. Instead, wife / mom Rachel (Bernice Stegers) thinks Sam has run off and abandoned them and eventually moves on with her own life. Three years later, the mother and son are out of the country and living in a brownstone in the city. Rachel is now dating a new man, girlie photographer Joe Daniels (Danny Brainin), who lives with them along with French housekeeper / nanny Analise (Maryam d'Abo in her film debut). Tony rejects the potential new father figure in his life, is haunted by recurring nightmares and is convinced his father will come back one day. He's right, of course, but pops isn't quite the same once he does finally show up. The boy also has some kind of bizarre, unexplained psychic connection to his long-missing dad, who communicates with him and makes him wake up one covered in blood (“Daddy sent it!”)

A spaceship swings by Earth long enough to drop off a reptilian alien creature. It immediately kills a couple driving through the country and then breaks into a cottage, attaches its tentacle onto a woman's (Susie Silvey) mouth and then impregnates her. Her stomach immediately swells and she gives birth to a full-grown man right then and there. That man is Sam, of course, or at least a being that looks identical to him. Soon after, Sam hunts down and finds Tony and Rachel and claims he has no idea where he was or what he was doing during those three missing years. Since he doesn't have a place to stay, Rachel is pretty much forced to take him in temporarily, which doesn't sit too well with Joe. While there, Sam exhibits some decidedly strange behavior, including eating snake eggs, and then gives his son a nasty hickey that passes along special supernatural / telekinetic abilities to him in the process. The powers also give him a mean / evil streak.

At first, Tony does simple things, like making a top spin with his mind, but then he creates a dwarf clown (Peter Mandell) with a razor blade yo yo and other deadly playthings. Downstairs tenant Mrs. Goodman (Anna Wing) smashes Tony's pet snake to death with a mallet when it sneaks into her apartment, so he turns his tiny soldier doll into a full-sized plastic assassin and sends it downstairs to stab her death with a bayonet. The young and fertile Analise is up next and they have special plans for her. While they send a toy tank that shoots real bullets and a black panther (!!) out to take care of her boyfriend (David Cardy), the clown bludgeons her with a floppy hammer, Tony breaths into her side and next thing we know she's a cocooned incubator pumping out water balloon alien eggs. An elderly neighbor who swings by to check up on them gets his throat cut with the yo yo and there's also death by piercing sound waves, which make a man's ears start gushing blood. A second, skeletal-looking alien creature shows up toward the end. The original ending was changed later on because the distributor didn't like the first one and were planning to remove it.

Was this plot well thought out? No. Does this make much sense? No, not really. Still, Xtro is an extremely entertaining, nicely-photographed, fairly well-acted and efficient little exploitation movie with fun special effects, lots of gore, some sleaze (including several nude scenes from the stunning D'Abo) and many memorably oddball moments worth checking out. The director also co-wrote it and did the (pretty good) synthesizer score. He later came to America and made Xtro II: The Second Encounter (1990) and Xtro 3: Watch the Skies (1995). There was talk of either a third sequel or a remake of the first but that has yet to happen.

Xtro is one of those movies you couldn't avoid even if you tried. It's been very well-distributed since its initial VHS release back in 1983 and continues to be well-distributed to this day with numerous DVD releases. Still waiting on a Blu-ray, though.

★★1/2

Un angelo per Satana (1966)

... aka: Angel for Satan, An
... aka: Ein Engel für den Teufel (An Angel for the Devil)
... aka: Un ange pour Satan

Directed by:
Camillo Mastrocinque

Because of a drought, a lake decreases in water volume and an ancient, heavily-damaged statue of a nude woman is discovered at the bottom. Count Montebruno (Claudio Gora) has the statue fished out and then hires handsome young artist / sculptor Roberto Merigi (Anthony Steffen) to restore it. Roberto arrives in the small Italian village by boat and soon comes to realize that this isn't going to be just any ordinary project. According to local legend, with the statue comes a curse and restoring this particular piece will bring tragedy and death to the entire village. Roberto has no interest in local superstition. He just wants to get to work. But before he can get started, the two men who brought him there; both fisherman and excellent swimmers, drown when their boat mysteriously capsizes. Roberto then realizes his life may be in danger from the enraged locals themselves, who aren't too happy about the statue resurfacing. When Roberto goes to a pub to work on some sketches, he gets roughed up by local brute Carlo (Mario Brega) and his thugs and barely manages to make it out of there in one piece.

The owner of the Montebruno estate isn't the Count, but his orphaned niece Harriet (Barbara Steele). After her parents died when she was just five years old, she was sent away to London to get an education and hasn't been back to the manor since. Now that it's been fifteen yeas and she's hit her 20th birthday, she can finally collect on her inheritance. Upon returning, she meets the staff, which includes butler Julian (Antonio Corevi), cute young maid Rita (Ursula Davis), retired army soldier and now security guard Sergeant Alfonso (Antonio Acqua), governess Illa (“Maureen Melrose” / Marina Berti) and gardener Victor (Aldo Berti), a “slow” neurotic who's been in and out of a nuthouse as of late. Illa is secretly the Count's lover while Rita is secretly dating school teacher Dario Morelli (Vassili “Karamesinis” / Karis); one of the few people in the area who was kind to the new arrival in town because he knows what it's like to be treated as an outsider by the locals. Romance is also in the air for Roberto and Harriet as soon as they lay eyes on each other and fall in love.

As it turns out, the statue is of Harriet's beautiful ancestor Maddalena (also played by Steele), who lived 200 years ago, was desired by all of the men in the area and hired a sculptor (also Steffen) to preserve her beauty in marble. The statue was then placed in the village public square for all to admire. Maddalena's sister Belinda, who wasn't blessed with her sibling's beauty and couldn't find a single man to love her, walked in on her sister and the sculptor (whom she had fallen in love with) in bed. For revenge, Belinda decides to destroy the statue. Unfortunately, when she attempts to push it into the lake, she falls in with it and drowns. Now her restless spirit wants revenge and a second chance at life. Since the face on the statue is damaged and Harriet looks a lot like Maddalena, Roberto convinces her to model for the restoration. That leaves the door open for the vengeful ancestor to possess Harriet and cause all kinds of problems for everyone.

Since Belinda was something of a sadist, the once-sweet Harriet now gets her kicks sinking her claws into all of the menfolk in the area and basically trying to destroy the lives of everyone she comes into contact with. She chastises Roberto for not holding her tightly enough and manages to completely alienate him in just one day. She strips off her clothes in front of the retarded / virginal gardener (“Have you ever seen a naked woman?”) and then whips him with her riding crop for looking at her. After that encounter, the poor guy loses it and goes on a rape / murder spree until he runs into a mob of angry villagers armed with pitchforks. Belinda then works her magic on both Dario the teacher, who she seduces in a greenhouse, and Rita, who she seduces with lesbian passes, expensive gifts and the promise that “We'll have so much fun... making men suffer.” That all ends in a suicide. Belinda even manages to get Carlo the brute so hot and bothered that he not only forsakes his wife and five kids for her but eventually burns them all alive! A twist ending reveals a conspiracy involving hypnosis but that's not really the main selling point of this one.

Though fairly light on the horror, this is a well-made dark fantasy  / melodrama that should please fans of these kind of movies. There's an elegant, romantic musical score from Francesco De Masi, moody black-and-white photography from Giuseppe Aquari and good art direction, costumes and the like. The plot is nothing to write home about but this works well as a showcase for the gorgeous Steele. The British-born actress delivers big time here with an amazingly sensual and sinister performance that pretty much makes the entire film. When she's on screen, all eyes are on her and she completely dominates the proceedings. This is the exact kind of role Ms. Steele excelled at. While she plays the "good" heroine adequately, she really shines being seductive, manipulative and wickedly evil. If you want to see why she's the only actress from this era held in as high regard as male genre superstars like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, your proof is right here. As far as the rest of the cast is concerned, Steffen makes for a very good, very likable male lead and everyone else does fine. Halina Zalewska  (Snow Devils) and Giovanna Lenzi (Deadly Inheritance) have small roles as peasant girls.

This was the ninth and final Italian horror vehicle for Steele. The others were BLACK SUNDAY (1960), The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Ghost (1963), Castle of Blood (1964), THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH (1964), Nightmare Castle (1965), TERROR-CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE (1965) and THE SHE BEAST (1966). If you count the Roger Corman-directed American production The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), that's an impressive ten horror films in just six years for the actress. Director / co-writer / production manager Mastrocinque (who passed away in 1969, just three years after this was released) also made Crypt of the Vampires (1964), an early adaptation of Le Fanu's Carmilla starring Lee and also featuring Ursula Davis.

Angel was the rarest Steele film for decades and remains one of the actress' least-watched films. Italian-language bootlegs in really bad shape were all that was available for the longest time. In 2009, Midnight Choir / Ryko released a restored French-dubbed cut of the film with English subtitles (for the first time ever). Their release also comes with Long Hair of Death.

★★★