The Divide

The Divide

Directed by: Xavier Gens

USA/Canada/Germany, 2011

Horror/Drama, 107min

Second to the “Home invasion” genre, the genre’ that freaks me out the most is the post apocalypse ones. Not the fantastic one’s where we have rebuilt civilization in whatever way we can, but the ones dealing with the hours, days, and weeks after the balloon pops. I blame this all on being part of Generation X, growing up fearing the nuclear bomb, and all those British high on realism survival horrors that blitzed onto our TV screens late eighties, early nineties.

 Sometime back then (or even further if you really look for it) there’s a vital change in movies of what we refer to as “modern age”. They frequently have a theme proving that it makes no matter what the external threat may be, humans will always fight amongst each other. We will not rally up together to communally fight one common foe,  but we will single out individuals within the group and attack them first. Almost like when animals sense the weakness within their pack. But the twist in genre films being that the internal tormentor will be the primary antagonist for the protagonist, and life will not go on – or adapt to new conditions – before this antagonist is taken care of.

Nine people hide away in an underground bunker/safe room in the bottom of their New York building as nukes take out their city. Moment’s later fractions start to form in the small group. Initially it’ seems to be them all against Janitor Mickey, who’ already lives in the shelter below to start with. Then a secondary threat is posed when men in biohazard suits break into the shelter – which the nine at first think is a rescue team – only to kidnap the youngest female child of the group.  From here on the group shatter as they realize they are powerless in the situation. With this insight new forces start to surface within the group, and the small community becomes a merciless dictatorship where one man rules them all.

Xavier Gens really has a knack for stabbing knives into his audience and then slowly twisting them around forming a gaping hole. The Divide, just like his earlier Frontière(s) 2007 is a harsh, haunting chamber piece with a dark insight into the human mind. Several sudden plot twists bring edge to the piece, and every time one thinks the characters will react in one specific way, they go the other. One could definitely call the movie a study of human decay, and how a group, no matter how small it may be, will soon be confronted by choices that will polarize them.

The main narrative is of course survival, in small and larger arcs, the main large arc being staying in the bunker until it’s safe to venture outside, the macro perspective to survival. What’s alarming with the piece is how they react when they realize what is going on outside their shelter, or at least what they think is happening. The group crumbles and plummets into an even deeper darkness as they start to lash out at each other. Restrained food and water start taking its toll and they fall even deeper into desperation and frustration. Here some of the finer subplots come into play, the one concerning Eva [Lauren German] and her boyfriend Sam [Ivan Gonzalez], the triangular tension between bothers Adrien [Ashton Holmes], Josh [Milo Ventimiglia] and his best (perhaps even boyfriend) Bobby [Michael Eklund], the personal grudge between Devlin [Courtney B. Vance] and Mickey the Janitor [Michael Biehn] etc. It al builds neatly off smaller subplots to intertwine with each other to become subplots of their own which later evolve into main narrative.

Just like in zombie drama/horror’s paranoia is a big part of The Divide. The fractions within the constellations don’t dare trust each other, and perhaps they shouldn’t either. I love what Gens has done with the Mickey character, and put moral doubt in an otherwise commonly sacred character, the 9-11 fire fighter. (or perhaps I should say Karl Mueller and Eron Sheefan,  as they wrote the story). Its’s also the character who has the most dimension, as we never really know where we have him. One minute he’s lying, or is he, then he’s telling the truth or is he? He’s a scarred and complex character, who puts many of the others to shame.

German’s Eva more or less comes off as a typical passive female lead – No, she’s no Milla Jovovich or Sigourney Weaver, kicking ass from square one – but she does have a great character arch as she grows with the tension and frustration slowly cranked up throughout the movie. Finally she has no other option but to react, and cut her ties with everything. And talking of past, I love when small hints are given to backstory, without becoming ridiculously daft. At one moment Sam screams “You where nothing, a junkie walking the streets before you met me!” Again these small sub-plots such as the one between Eva and Sam is fascinating and definitely what bring the characters to life. Eva and Sam’s relationship is so over, but they still haven’t dared let go… which is metaphorical for the journey that Eva makes in the movie. She doesn’t really dare, she’s passive until she’s forced beyond the norm.

Cast wise it varies, some are really impressive, especially Milo Ventimiglia and Michael Bien who I feel are completely cast contrary to what one would have expected from them. Venitmiglia gives a great performance as a complete psychopathic guy who stumbles over too much power to fast. An interesting note on the two leading men, where Biehn at first comes off as the antagonist of the piece, values shift through actions and deeds. Despite what we may think of Mickey, it s nothing compared to what Bobby and Joey do to him which shifts the balance of focus. From that moment on we empathise more with him and the two men take over the role of antagonists.

German and Arquette as the only female cast members do what they can, but Arquette does all the real work, she has a traumatizing road ahead of her and loosing her only solid rock – “the only good in me” – she plummets down into chaos and depravation at the hands of Joey and Bobby. Almost like a bully mentality, as long as she sticks with them and let’s them have their way, she’s not at the boot of the torment. Other’s are completely over the top, and perhaps should have toned it down a bit. Then again, who knows how the hell we’d react when faced with death by starvation and radiation poisoning whilst trapped in a fallout shelter with a load of people I hated…

The ending is dark and nihilistic, but at the same time, immersed with the same poetic beauty that I find in other Gens films, and despite the violent climax offers a suggestion of hope and a future after the terrifying ordeal. I also find it kind of interesting that both Frontier(s) and The Divide both feature somewhat passive female characters that transform completely only when then have been pushed to far. This generates a determined fighting machine that will let nothing or anyone stand in their route to survival.

The Divide is an intense ride, a powerful journey of human decay, dark depravity, as it’s characters regress to primal beings, and at the same time an intense ride as the will to endure is tested in extreme ways. The Divide provoked me in several ways, and played with some of my basic fears and definitely made me think about those “What if” scenarios. That’s a good reason to watch if there where any.

The Sky Has Fallen

The Sky Has Fallen

Directed by: Doug Roos

Horror, Drama, 72min

USA

Independent zombie/apocalypse movies are becoming so stereotype that it’s a crime. There’s rarely anything new added to the formula that’s been running on autopilot since 1968. Nevertheless, I love the zombie genre, and can’t tear myself away form watching them. Watching them to find those rare gems that actually bring a new novelty with them to the scenario… Ok, so The Sky Has Fallen might not really be a zombie film, but it does use themes from the genre, and the dead have risen from their graves - even if it is part of a larger scheme of sinister experiments conducted by a strange demonic entity. Perhaps this is where the future of zombie film lies, in crossbreeding it with other niches. Part post apocalypse, part survival horror and part zombie film - just like Doug Roos’ The Sky Has Fallen.

An airborne virus is wiping out mankind. Mysterious black figures are kidnapping the recently dead, experimenting on them and resurrecting them as their undead puppets. The few survivors left, have been fighting the battle for their existence what seems to be an undefeatable foe. One persistent warrior, Lance [Carey MacLaren] is determined to seek and destroy the leader of the shadow beings as to stop the pestilence that’s taking down mankind in rapid succession. Along the path of his quest he encounters Rachel [Laurel Kemper], who also has an agenda of her own… but the encounter also awakens questions of morale, life, death and human nature.

The Sky Has Fallen is a good film, a really good film As far as independent horror films go, I’d be an idiot not to say that Doug Roos is onto something here. This guy obviously knows how to tell a story, bring characters to life and captivate an audience. The Sky Has Fallen has a lot of great fight scenes, some good horror moments, but perhaps most importantly it has heart, soul and intelligence.

There’s a natural interest evoked when certain information, or backstory, is kept from the audience. Both Lance and Rachel are obviously holding back on telling what drives them towards their goal. Roos boldly explores their backstories through intimate dialogue and non-linear crosscutting in-between fight scenes. This is also where a vague, but existing love story sub-plot evolves. Hardly surprising when two people in an extreme situation, are drawn closer to each other as they reveal their darkest secrets, most inner thoughts and reasons for taking up the quest. It’s a cool way to take a story like this and in many ways much more authentic than a lot of other pieces where women just fall head over heals for any bloke who turns up. I can completely relate to these two finding feelings for each other.

There’s a matter of trust between the two. They strive towards the same goal – terminate the white spectre – and keep each other alive. There’s an intriguing scene where Lance decides to take Rachel on as his companion, which comes through a dilemma between taking her life and saving her from the dark road ahead, or sparing her and at the risk of her being tortured by the black shadows. This brings a creative dimension to the character that makes him stand out amongst other “heroic characters”. I was definitely a wtf moment for me, and the outcome made Lance grow in my eyes, and even more so as his backstory is revealed bit by bit.

Our old friend guilt makes a great appearance when Lance finally reveals the reason for him taking on his monumental quest. I really tip my hat to the way Roos moves a classic revenge motivation to the side, to reveal a guilt motivator behind it. The guilt of letting a family member down is much more effective than that of a random person he should have rescued. This is a textbook example of how guilt can be used, and Roos uses it in all the right ways.

I really get a kick out of finding metaphors in genre films. When it comes to The Sky Has Fallen, I’d like to point your attention to the scenes with the Priest that Rachel and Lance find along their way… Being that we all have our roots in Christian society, the scene is a great way to tell the audience, in a sublime way, that we’re fucked. Not even God can save us, and the evil will prevail! Keep an eye open when you watch zombie and post apocalypse releated movies... the clever one's usually have this kind of metaphor. 

Editing if ferocious, and really packs a punch, Roos definitely has a feeling for getting through a lot of material and transforming it to the most effective substance. Backstory is told in dialogue, but also violently spliced into the other wise calm flow of the dialogue scenes. It creates unease as these violent bursts disrupt the sobriety of the tales they are trying to tell. It works brilliantly. I would most likely have gone over the editing of the dialogue scenes once more and create a better flow there – not due to pacing, but because the somewhat restrained delivery of dialogue and pretty straight cuts make those moments feel sagging at times. But these moments are luckily contrasted by the highly efficient editing in between, such as action and fight scenes. It should be pointed out that there is a terrific amount of dialogue in The Sky Has Fallen and Roos deserves every inch of respect you can give him for the amount of dialogue. It’s certainly no small feat to make a movie that mainly relies on it’s dialogue scenes, and at the end of the day, for a low budget feature with what I presume is amateur actors and actresses how they deliver there lines is a small issue.

Sometimes bad luck turns into good luck and works to one’s advantage. Roos had covered wide shot footage but later felt that they weren’t quite working out when he got to post. So he removed them from the edit. Which was kind of unfortunate, as the film never really establishes locations, space or setting. But at the same time it works great for the movie as it forces most shots into being half shots, close ups and extreme close ups that creates an immense intimate feeling with the material. With the subplots that play though the film, this intimacy is exactly what the movie needs and what brings that all so important heart to the movie. The effect is almost as if becoming a third party at the camp fires where Lance and Rachel share their stories, fight the creatures and slowly are drawn to each other.

Roos, never really tries to explain what the creatures are, or what really happened to the world as we knew it... which i feel is a plus. Nothing destroys an atmosphere and tone as well as the quick fix tacked onto the end of a movie, and god knows that way to many indie movies try to patch up questions that never really need to be fixed. This movie is primarily about the people, and the journey they take. The plague, demonic creatures and zombie figurines are all secondary.

The score is absolutely beautiful. For real, I see way to many flicks with synthesizer-orchestrated scores, or even worse goddamned keyboard drones. But the music to The Sky Has Fallen, composed by James Sizemore is magnificent and really adds a layer to this fascinating low budget gem which definitely leaves an impression on it’s audience.

I love the irony that Hollywood can’t get shit to fly, despite huge budgets, extensive re-writes, re-shoots and tossing all the “hot names” into the mix. Then comes a young man with a vision, no budget, amateur actors, shots, directs, writes and edits his own movie and it resonates louder than most the shite the studios “think the kids want”. Doug Roos has created an original, impressive, one of a kind flick that definitely promises a lot for future projects to come. 

You can buy and enjoy The Sky Has Fallen right here!

1990: The Bronx Warriors

1990: The Bronx Warriors
Original Title: 1990: I guerrieri del Bronx
Directed by: Enzo G. Castellari
Italy, 1982
Sci-Fi / Action
Distributed by: Shreik Show

How damned fantastic is this movie? In my sincerest opinion Enzo G. Castellari’s 1990: The Bronx Warriors is one of the absolute best of the Italian sci-fi / post apocalypse flicks ever, and to top it all off - those opening titles are easily among the best opening titles ever. Simple, effective and fucking brilliant.

Castellari is a marvellous director who’s primarily associated with fast paced movies that stay safe in the “real world”, movies like The Inglorious Bastards (Quel maledetto treno blindato) 1978, Keoma 1976, The Last Shark (L’ultimo squalo) 1981, The Bronx Warriors suite 1982-1983, and the many great Poliziotteschi like The Big Racket (Il grande racket) 1976 and Street Law (Il cittadino si ribella) 1974.

Castellari – or Enzo Girolami which his birth names states and why you see that G. in his name – was more or less born into a career in the movie industry. His father Marino Girolami was a director too, responsible for almost a hundred movies where stuff like Violent Rome (Roma violenta) 1975, A Special Cop in Action (Italia a mano armata) 1976 and the classic Zombie Holocaust 1980 can be found. Marino Girolami’s brother, Enzo’s uncle, is Romolo Guerreri, director of films like Johnny Yuma 1966 and The Sweet Body of Deborah (Il dolce corpo di Deborah) 1968. So it’s no surprise that Enzo got himself into the game too. Working his way through a diverse positions – script supervisor, second assistant, editor, actor (he still frequents his own and others movies – more recently Q.T.’s Castellari inspired Inglorious Basterds 2009) and finally the logic step up to directing his own first feature, the spaghetti western Any Gun Can Play (Vado l’ammazzo e tornoro) 1967. The movie was a hit and secured Castellari’s future as he directed several more Spaghetti Westerns before moving into the World War 2 and Poliziotteschi flicks.

The movie that Castellari perhaps is most known for is the 1981 action/thriller The Last Shark, a movie that was seen by Universal – who produced Stephen Spielberg’s original Jaws 1975 and sequel Jaws 2 1978 – as being a bit too close to their movie, and taking a way too much money that close to their own Jaws 3-D 1983 opening (a complete piece of garbage compared to L’ultimo squalo). So they sued, and had the movie taken out of distribution. Castellari’s movie may have been taken off the screens, but it secured a place in cult cinema history for all eternity.

Luckily Castellari has stayed away from the blood drenched euro horror genre – apart from the Italian/Spanish co-production Sensitività (The House by the Edge of the Lake) 1979. The movie made no major impression and as not being a big fan of horror Castellari rejected the offer to direct the next horror film that Fabrizio De Angelis offered to him. Instead Castellari suggested that De Angelis take it to fellow director and friend Lucio Fulci, and the rest is Italian cult movie history. The movie was of course the majestic Zombi 2, one of Fulci’s greatest pieces of his second comeback as a director.

But today we take a look at the absolute best of the many Italian futuristic sci-fi movies that came in the wake of Walter Hill’s The Warriors 1979, George Miller's Mad Max 1979 and John Carpenter’s Escape from New York 1981 – Enzo G. Castellari’s phenomenal 1990: The Bronx Warriors.

In a nutshell 1990: The Bronx Warriors is about a young woman Ann (Stefania Girolami Goodwin – Enzo’s daughter, billed here as Stefania Girolami) who goes missing in, or runs away too, the Bronx – now a no-man’s-land where law enforcement has given up. Instead, gangs who are in constant conflict with each other for neighbourhood domination roam the area. Ann is at first taken by the Zombies, but pretty soon The Riders – who act as some sort of vigilante law keepers in the area – show up and after beating the crap out of the roller-skating Zombie gang member, Riders leader Trash (Mark Gregory) takes her with them. Due to a murder of one of the Riders gang members there’s tension between them and rival gang The Tigers – headed by The Ogre (Fred Williamson in his second of three movies for Castellari). The Tigers have found a tracking device – which obviously belongs o Ann, as they still don’t know that she’s the daughter of the President of the Manhattan Cooperation – but the Tigers suspect that the Riders gang member they wasted was a spy for the cops and this obviously causes a hardened tension between the two gangs. Trash members want to retaliate and avenge Chris’ murder, but Trash opts for a more restrained approach that has his second in command Ice (John Sinclair as John Loffredo) question his leadership.

At this point the executives at Manhattan Cooperation decide to send in Hammer [Vic Morrow] an infamous hit man, to track down Ann at any cost. But Hammer is a cynical cold bastard and he sees a perfect opportunity to start a war between the rival gangs and have them kill off each other once and for all. Hammer sneaks into The Riders hideout and after killing two of their number plants a Tigers ring – tension is wound up to a maximum and gang war is at bay. After a brief romantic moment on the beach, Ann is once again kidnapped by the Zombies and Trash left humiliated, he again opts for a more tactic solution where he suggests to take help of their old rival The Tigers in rescuing Ann. Trash has a hunch that something’s not right and the diplomatic tactic separates him and second in command Ice even further. Trash and a few men, venture through several rival gangs territory including a tap dancing one and the dwellers – seemingly post atomic blast underground beings - to have a meet Ogre and discuss a plan of how to free Ann, and at the same time sort out the concerns he has about the recent happenings.

As Ogre and Trash, assisted by the deadly but charming, Witch [Betty Dessy in her only role], set about to free Ann from Golan’s Zombies [George Eastman], Hammer stays close, provoking things even further, and luring Ice to betray Trash and the Riders loyalty to each other. Now Trash doesn’t only have rival gangs to look out for but also has traitor lurking in his gang.

Still following his sinister agenda to agitate the gangs into a full-fledged war, Hammer wallows in his successful tension between the gangs and having them set against each other, one small step from total gang war. But that’s not enough and finally in one last move to rescue Ann, he brings in the big guns for Operation Burned Earth which orders “ No Evidence, witnesses or other beings left alive” and the movie comes blasting at full speed into the burning climax that still has a few surprise shocks up it’s sleeve.

Starting off with those fabulous opening titles, the movie quickly sets up the obligatory New York location shot as Ann runs across the bridge. Cut to the interior of an office where the Vice president (Enzo himself) and Sam Fisher (his brother Ennio Girolami) of The Manhattan Cooperation are informed of Ann’s absence and start discussing how to act. So far only Castellari and two of his family members have been shown on screen, and finally there’s the text card to explain the current situation in the Bronx. It quickly sets up the plot and gives us a rough idea of the world the movie will be like. Hard, raw and ruthless.

Just watching those opening titles it’s easily understood that this movie is going to be something else. Ok cast wise the choice of seventeen year old Mark Gregory always surprises me, a guy that Castellari found at the gym where he used to work out (and still does), but he’s a well buffed guy and pulls the part as - hard ass biker boss, but still able to show a soft side - Trash like a charm. Gregory, went on to star in the sequel Bronx Warriors 2 (Fuga dal Bronx) 1983 and followed that with a string of Rambo-esque like characters in the Fabrizio De Angelis Thunder trilogy, Fernando Baldi’s Just a Damned Hunter (Un maladetta soldato) 1988, and after leading Pierluigi Ciriaci’s Afghanistan the Last War Bus (L’ultimo bus di Guerra) 1989 he vanished off the face of the earth and never made another movie.

Apart from the wild card Gregory, Castellari’s daughter Stefania Girolami Goodwin plays the second lead. Stefania had starred in several movies previous to 1990: The Bronx Warriors for her father, although this was her largest part in a movie to date, and later followed in her fathers footsteps and became a director herself. Now with the two leads out of the way, just take a look at that supporting cast! Fred Williams as Ogre, Christopher Connelly as Hot Dog, Vic Morrow as Hammer, in his second last performance – as you know he died in that terrible accident on the set of his next movie Twilight Zone: The Movie 1983, Enzo in his customary bit part, his brother Ennio, and Joshua Sinclair as Trash second man Ice, and the always-fantastica George Eastman as Golan. It almost plays like a who’s who of eighties action flicks. And with that said one can’t overlook the guys of Rock Stuntman Team (who did those unbelievable stunts in Ruggero Deodato's The Atlantis Interceptors 1983) once again pull off some great stuff and star as gang members side by side with real New York Bikers. Oh yeah I almost forgot, Bobby “Demoni 1+2” Rhodes is seen briefly in the flick, and he even get’s billing in the title sequence.

The masterful Sergio Salvati’s cinematography is outstanding, and his compositions here are only possibly challenged by the splendid work on Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2. Then I get all giddy again when Gianfranco Amicucci’s name comes up, because I know that this guy edits the beat to perfection, like he did on so many previous Castellari flicks, and 1990: The Bronx Warriors is a really tight and brilliantly edited piece.

Needless to say the knowledge of Dardano Sacchetti and wife Elisa Briganti behind the script (along with Enzo) also adds to the overall affection I have for this piece. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there are very few movies that don’t work with a script by Sacchetti, and he will always be among the greatest screenwriters of all time in my book. Stick his name on any old tripe and I’ll watch it, and I’ll enjoy it because I know it’ Sacchetti!

And being a Sacchetti/Briganti (with Enzo) script I start to see stuff that I don’t find in other scripts/movies. There’s a great little Romeo & Juliet / Stockholm Syndrome thing going on between Ann and Trash which I like, it’s adds to the movie and validates his reason for not simply bursting down the door of his rivals and simply taking them out. There’s a value at stake, and that always set’s up a great narrative. Then again the movie also reads as a critique to large organisations, and with that said, the downbeat ending – sure Trash makes it out, but to what price? – The ruthless cooperation are left standing with their pants down when Hammer pushes his personal mission – exterminate them all – to the top of the list passing the “rescue the princess” plot.

I also feel a strong Spaghetti Western vibe in 1990: The Bronx Warriors, as I feel that it deals with similar themes that have occurred in Spaghetti Westerns. The corruption, the one man vigilante, enemies forming temporary alliances - joining forces against a common foe – and the whole damned show going up in flames. I can’t say that it is a futuristic Spaghetti Western, but there’s definitely that kind of vibe to it, and several of the other Sci-Fi/Post Apocalypse films too.

Finally, and I know that I usually end up leaving the score to the last part, but there’s a reason for that. I frequently find that as I write, and if it’s a score I like through the movie, I listen to the soundtrack as I write, because those tracks may be great on their own, but with the images of the movie fresh at mind they are terrific. Such is also the case with Walter Rizzati’s brilliant score to 1990: The Bronx Warriors, it’s a great piece that uses a wide range of styles to bring depth to the movie. The funky beats to set pace and forward movement, the almost Wagner-ish piece that accompanies the funeral of the Riders gang members and that great progressive rock thumping and heavy bass jive makes an eminent soundtrack that conjures up those great images over and over again.

I love this movie, and each time I revisit it I get worked up like a kid about to get a bag of sweets as that unbelievably cool title sequence rolls by. The movie works for me every time, I never get bored, and I just get drawn in and enjoy the ride. Because it is a heck of a ride without any slack or slow sequences at all, and I do feel that it’s by far the best and most stylish of all the post apocalypse – biker gang movies of this time period. That’s off to the great Enzo G. Castellari who once again proves why we still talk about his movies and so many others have disappeared into the realms of the forgotten.

Image:

2.35:1 Widescreen

Audio:

Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, English dub dialogue.

Extras:

There’s an interview with Fred Williamson, one with Enzo G. Castellari, trailers, a photo gallery and a very entertaining commentary track with Castellari.

And here's that splendid opening sequence with footage shot by Castellari himself, and Walter Rizzati's great score in all it's glory.

The Raiders of Atlantis

The Raiders of Atlantis
Aka: Atlantis Interceptors
Original Title: I predatori di Atlantide
Directed by: Ruggero Deodato
Italy/Philippines, 1983
Action/Adventure, 93min

Weren’t the seventies and eighties just bloody great? Weren’t the B-movies of this time period so much better than they are now? These days cheap DV, crap dialogue and shitty acting all feel so damned rough, raw and most often lack the passion for making an imprint. Back in the eighties (and before then too of course) B-movies and even worse were at least shot on film. There was a larger machinery behind the process, which demanded more than just calling up your mates and shooting. B-movies where still all about telling the best story for the least bucks, and they did make some really great movies. But the best part of it all was that these cheap low budget flicks pretty quick ended up on video (some on the big screen if we where lucky) for the thirsty home entertainment crowds outside of the native countries, which constantly fuelled our cravings for cheap kicks; Hong Kong kung-fu movies, European and American horror, Giallo and exploitation movies, Italian Spaghetti Westerns and Bud Spencer - Terence Hill action comedies that we could watch with our mates in front of the gargantuan video tape recorder. And watch them we did, over and over again.

Following the Australian low budget surprise hit movie Mad Max 1979, directed by George Miller, Italian movie producers, screenwriters and directors went post apocalypse mad. Movies like Sergio Martino’s 2019: After the Fall of New York 1983, Joe D’Amato’s Texas Gladiators 2020 1982, and Endgame 1983, Enzo G. Castellari’s trillogy The Bronx Warriors 1982, The New Barbarians 1982, Escape from The Bronx 1983, Lamberto Bava’s Blastfighter 1984 and Lucio Fulci’s The New Gladiators 1984, to name a few, hit hard and milked the path of the impending doom, biker gangs in barren wasteland to the max, and in it creating the splendid Italian Post Apocalypse genre.

Ruggero Deodato also directed his take on this amusing little subgenre, and even through screenwriters Tito Carpi [one of the writers on Deodato’s Last Cannibal World (together with Deodato regular Gianfranco Clerici), Enzo G. Castellari’s The New Barbarians 1982 and Escape From the Bronx 1983] and Vincenzo Mannino [who wrote Deodato’s The House on the Edge of the Park 1980, Phantom of Death 1988), Castellari’s The Last Shark 1981, Lucio Fulci’s The New York Ripper 1982 and Murder Rock – Dancing Death 1984 together with Gianfranco Clerici too] took the task of setting yet another adventure in the bleak future, they did try something that differs it from the other urban city end of the world movies, they brought in one of mankind’s most cherished and fascinating myths, the legend of Atlantis.

Time for a quick fix if you haven’t seen this delight since the age of video: Shot in 1983, the movies is set in a near future - 1991, Miami, Florida - or rather a distant past watching it these days Mike [Christopher Connelly] is a old school action guy who comes across as a mix between Don Johnson in Miami Vice and Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones films, as he jump starts the movie with his compadre Washington [Tony King], as they rush through a rapid kidnap scenario. The dudes are paid and take off for a weekend of cruising the seas outside Miami. A helicopter blasts by them and tauntingly circles them before taking off for the horizon. We cut to an oilrig like location where Professor Peter Saunders [George Hilton] greets Doctor Cathy Rollins [Gloia Scola], and pretty quickly delivers the exposition needed. ON the bottom of the sea, a Russian atomic submarine lies abandoned, and the plan is to raise the sub, but during the preparation, they have found some strange ancient tablets that can only be encrypted by Dr. Rollins. Well a movie without conflicts is a boring movie, so as soon as they start their successful levitation of the Sub, the shit hit’s the fan and an electrical storm blacks out the entire coast. Up from the bottom of the ocean a glass encased island forces it’s way to the skies, creating such tidal waves that the oilrig topples over and crashes into the ocean. Luckily Mike and Washington are in the area and manage to save but a few survivors – James [Michele Soavi], Professor Saunders, Bill Cook [Ivan Rassimov] Frank [Giancarlo Pratoi] and Dr. Rollins and together they set of for shore, not the island which would have been the obvious choice, but for the safety of land.

At the same time that this strange aquatic phenomenon has been taking place out at sea, mysterious gangs have been roaming the streets, creating chaos and raising havoc amongst the population. Murder is their game, and the Atlantis Interceptors are their name. These gang members, led by Crystal Skull [Bruce Baron] and ancestors of Atlantis, are killing off the people of our world in their quest for the knowledge that will make the Atlantians the truthful rulers of the world once again… and after a few violent battles, the finally find the one they are looking for. Yeah, you may have guessed it, Dr. Rollins is the woman with the knowledge, and the Atlantians snatch her right from under Mike’s nose. Needless to say this is at approximately midpoint, dramatically speaking, movie wise we’re two thirds through. Mike persuades the rest of the gang that they have to go to Atlantis – the island that rose earlier – and take back Cathy. Hence starts the jungle adventure part of the movie, and also gives Deodato yet another opportunity to shoot in the Philippine jungle, which see’s most of the cast meeting their deaths in various battles against the Atlantis Interceptors. As all good things come to an end, so does even The Raiders of Atlantis, and after the the final bout between Crystal Skull and Mike, which you probably already can guess the outcome of, there's a spectacular and enigmatic meeting with Cathy, now hailed and worshiped as a god by the Atlantians as she’s cracked the code to their power. In the somewhat confusing climax, the survivors’ race towards freedom as Atlantis once again closes its glass casing and returns to the bottom of the ocean. Phew - what a rush. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

There are a few wonderful tricks in this movie, tricks that make it an enjoyable flick. The first being the way the sell Christopher Connelly’s character Mike. Just like those hard formulated James Bond movies, and the Indiana Jones flicks, The Raiders of Atlantis starts up with the culmination of the previous mission which shows Mike and his sidekick Washington breaking into a house, kidnapping some dude, punching and shooting their way back out. They deliver the kidnapped victim to the mobster who gave them the task, get paid and take off for new adventures. Just before they get to the rendezvous place, the mobsters’ henchmen deliver the following dialogue: “They made it!” – “They always do!”

This little action opening shows us that Mike and Wash’ are men of action, they don’t talk bollocks they get the job done. No task is too hard for the duo, and we also understand that they have been around the block a few times before. This is further indicated as they get closer to the rig later, and meet up with their fellow adventurers. They already know who Cross [Rassimov] is, and as they alter share a beer, and fly the helicopter they reference previous adventures. The reoccurring gag where Mike calls Washington “Wash”, instead of his new name as a reborn Muslim, Mohammed, also adds to the layers as their friendship obviously goes so far back that Washington has always, and will always be Wash.

And that’s pretty much what you take with you into the movie, as it sets up Mike and Walsh as the shit kicking action heroes that they are, and they do kick some shit in this wonderful, sometimes cheesy, but excellent action flick which manages to do the job and keep me entertained for the ninety-two minute duration of the film.

The stunt team – Rock Stuntman Team – frequently used in Italian movies, pull off some great bits here. Apart from the usual falling off bikes and high cliffs in the jungle of Atlantis (much like they fell off horses and rooftops in the Spaghetti Westerns), they also perform some amazing aerial stunts as they throw themselves out of a moving helicopter onto a moving buss containing our group of protagonists. Impressive stuff to say the least, and definitely one of the highpoints of the movie.

Needless to say the re-naming of the movie: The Raiders of Atlantis, is once again a cunning trick of the marketing department and the producers, and is only there in an attempt to cash in on the success of Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981, and the original title – I predatori di Atlantide translates as The Predators of Atlantis, is a more understandable title, as no one really raids Atlantis, but rather the Atlantians are the predators. And in some bizarre way the screenwriters have even managed to pack in a warning to mankind in the movie. After Atlantis has risen again, the Atlantians start killing mankind as they feel we have misused it. Gang leader Crystal Skull makes it quite clear when he declares his mission with the line of dialogue - ”You have violated our world, and therefore you must be punished. All of you will be executed!”

Directing under his pseudonym Roger Franklin, Deodato’s splendid The Raiders of Atlantis was edited by Vincent Thomas, or rather Vincenzo Tomassi – Fulci’s main man in the edit suite, there’s some pretty grand special effects by Gino De Rossi (decapitations, classic Deodato booby trap in the jungle, deadly darts and an arrow through the head), the mighty Nick Alexander supervised he English dialogue version (and provided the Dub for Rassimov’s Bill Cook) and there’s a real chunky score by Maurizio and Guido De Angelis under the cryptic name Oliver Onions. Great combinations that make it a highly enjoyable movie, and keep an eye out for Deodato in a cameo appearance on the oil rig during the first half.

Image:

Fullfram 4:3

Audio:

Stereo. English Dialogue, Swedish Subtitles

Extras:

Well it’s taken from an old Swedish rental tape, but theirs is actually a trailer for Fabrizio De Angelis’ Thunder 1983 after the movie.

Here's the great trailer, and if you pay attention, you'll even catch Deodato in there.