Contraband

CONTRABAND (Lucio Fulci - Italy 1980).

It's great to see all the familiar faces from the heydays of European bad cinema together again. Bad film-making without the slightest wit or irony. Those were the days... They all lined up for this very sleazy and sadistic "Poliziottesco" by Lucio Fulci, his only foray into the crime genre, and I'm glad it was the only one he made. Fabio Testi is the focal point as Luca Di Angelo, an idealistic family man and cigarette smuggler in this tale of mob warfare in economically depressed Naples. When a rival gang massacres his brother and abducts his wife, Luca goes berserk and triggers an all-out mob war, with virtually every Don in town getting involved.

Testi is OK in the lead and Marcel Bozzufi (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) makes quite an impact as "The Margliese", a Frenchman who tries to muscle his way into the Neapolitan crime world. He really is the most sadistic and ruthless crime figure you'll ever see. I figure this film would satisfy most Fulci fans. Torture, rape, bare flesh, endless shoot-outs and plenty of sleaze and violence make this slightly entertaining. I could sit through this because there's quite a lot of action and it's never really dull, but otherwise beware. This film has some of the most atrocious English dubbing I know , real bad, only made worse by the already howlingly awful dialog and some wooden acting. What about that club scene? I think they took some dialog from a totally different movie there (Blue Underground's release didn't include an Italian audiotrack), it didn't make sense whatsoever. Even by grade-Z poliziotteschi standards, this was pretty mystifying.

The film also features a soundtrack with some Italian pseudo-rock 1980 style. I can't really describe it, but it was annoying and totally inappropriate for the scenes. Fulci does show some of his earlier cinematic flair in some (especially interior) scenes, but then ruins it all in the next with bad lighting and bad editing, like showing somebody's head blown off, before the actual shot is being fired. In an earlier comment someone remarked the gore was very realistic. Well, what can I say? If you think blood looks like strawberry juice, I guess it does.

Camera Obscura --- 4/10

A really explicit , disagreeable and twisted thriller with lots of murders committed by heinous mobsters and their hoodlums . It delas with Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) is the leader of a smuggling gang , one member of an organized team trafficking cigarettes and booze up and down the coast off Naples , Italy . After a run-in with the coast guards in which the smugglers get escaped by faking a boat explosion resulting in the police motorboats responding to the false emergency . Then , Luca and his brother Mickey (Enrico Maisto) believe the head of a rival gang of smugglers , Scherino (Ferdinand Murolo) is the mole who's informing to Police on their illegal activities. Lucia and Mickey tell their accusations to their boss Perlante (Saverio Marconi) a sleazy playboy who has his own agend and he agrees to look into it . After an intentional fire at Mickey's racing stables kills a valued racehorse , he and Luca drive over to inspect the damage . On the way, they are stopped at a fake police roadblock , as Luca gets away but his brother is murdered . Luca searches for a haven of safety , while his cronies seek revenge . Things go wrong when a number of fellow smugglers are murdered by a kingpin smuggler from France, known as the Marsigliese (Marcel Bozuffi of French Connection) with numerous Mafia connections , being assisted by his sadist henchman (Romano Puppo) , as he's determined to become the Italian main ringmaster by smuggling drug from Naples ,Italy , to other countries .

Average crime yarn lacks much excitement , filled with sleaziness and non-sense of style . A really brutal thriller with full of killings , sexual violence including rape , red herrings , grisly murders by means of slashing , machine-gun shooting to death , killings in cold blood executed by ominous sicarios , a women's face being burned off with a blow torch , loathsome and lots of blood and gore . A mysoginist gangster movie with plenty of nudism , sadistic frames , graphic violation , explicit scenes of violence and extremely violent style , no for squeamish . Stars the italian idol Fabio Testi who gives a so-so but passable acting as the idealistic family man and dockside worker who actually works for a shady underworld smuggler . He's well acoompanied by a long plethora of familiar faces of the Seventies and Eighties , who participated in all kinds of genres , Spaghetti Western , Peplum , Eurospy , softcore , Poliziesco , such as : Venantino Venantini , Ajita Wilson, Luciano Rossi, Guido Alberti , Romano Puppo , Nello Pazzafini , and brief appearance by Lucio Fulci himself as an Old Boss.

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Lucio Fulci , and being entertaining enough. Fulci was one of the most controversial filmmakers in terror genre , though frequently derided as sheer sensationalism and commerciality , scathing commentary on social themes and state , and at times giving voice to its director's passionate hatred of the Catholic Church . Here Lucio Fulci directs in his usual style filled with flaws , failures and gaps , but professionally made because being a nice artisan . Critics are divided over both the moral and talents of Fulci (1927-1996), who sometimes directed under the alias Louis Fuller . For some reviewers many of his flicks are extremely cruel , grim and savage , yet their gory surface often concealing social , religious , or provoking commentaries or other thoughful , intelligent issues . Nevertheless , most of them considering his works have undeniably provided a considerable influence on the terror genre , creating decent efforts on low-medium budget flicks . Standing out his and ¨A Lizard in a Woman's Skin¨ (1971) and ¨Don't Torture a Duckling¨(1972) deemed to be two of his best pictures . And in the adventure genre with two financially successful Jack London 'White Fang' adventure movies in 1973 and 1974 which were ¨Zanna Bianca¨, and ¨Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca¨. Also during the mid and late 1970s, Fulci directed two 'Spaghetti Westerns' : ¨Four of Apocalypse¨ (1975) and ¨Sella d'argento¨ or ¨Silver Saddle¨(1978), and another good 'giallo' ; ¨The Psychic¨ (1977) with Jennifer O'Neill , as well as a few sex-comedies which include the political spoof : ¨The Eroticist¨(1972) , and the vampire comedy ¨Young Dracula¨ (1975) , and this violent Mafia crime-drama ¨Luca the smuggler¨ (1979) . In 1979, Fulci's film making career successfully another high point with him, breaking into the international market with ¨Zombi 2¨ (1979), an in-name-only sequel to George A. Romero's Zombi : Night of the Living Dead (1978), which had been released in Italy as 'Zombi'. And his big hit ¨New York Ripper¨ , at the time rated as a video nasty , due to it and why the excessive extra violence was heavily cut or prohibited in a large number of countries . With this film established Fulci as a gore director par excellence . Over the next three years , Fulci plied his trade with finesse and flair-play , rivaling even the popularity of his "opponent" the great Dario Argento, with such sanguine classics as ¨City of the Living Dead¨ (1980) and ¨Beyond¨ (1981). These films, as well as the reviled "New York Ripper" (1982) are actually intelligently crafted , with thorny commentaries on everything from American life to religion. Later on , he went on his fall with lousy movies, but eventually Fulci at least found work in television . Rating : 5/10 . Average , only for Lucio Fulci completists .

"Contraband" is Lucio Fulci's sleazy and gloriously violent gangster flick that tells the story of how cigarette smuggler and gangster Luca Di Angelo played by Fabio Testi overcomes the threat of violent cocaine smugglers attempting to muscle in on his operation and overturning the existing order.Being a fan of Lucio Fulci's uncompromising gory mayhem I always wanted to see "Contraband",which is his mix of mafia and poliziotteschi genre.It's undoubtedly the goriest gangster film ever made with its scenes of rape,the brain blow-outs,burn victims and shotgun blasts to the throat.The film has some dull spots and lifeless sequences,the cast is mediocre,but if you are a fan of sadistic Italian gore "Contraband" certainly delivers.Still I prefer early 80's horror movies of maestro Fulci.7 out of 10.

Lucio Fulci's ultraviolent crime film is an enjoyable and unintentionally hilarious action flick with the requisite amount of gore one expects from a Fulci film. Fabio Testi (tee-hee!) plays a cigarette smuggler who gets entangled in a bunch of gang-land shootings. Melting corpses, burning skin, shot-open necks, repeatedly shot paper mache heads, shotgun blasted intestines (that seem to be made out of foam) ensue. In addition to that, there's a decent shootout or punch-up here and there. The highlight is some nerdy guy getting massive breasts shoved in his face. Well, at least for me.

(aka: CONTRABAND)

Normally I don't comment on non-horror or mondo films but since Fulci directed it, and since there's enough gore splatter in here to finance a small horror film, I'm gonna put my two cents in.

Fabio Testi plays a Neapolitan cigarette smuggler who's territory is being muscled in on by the Margliese (Marcel Bozzuffi) who wants a clear way to smuggle heroin into Italy using Naples as an entry point.

One by one, Testi's comrades are being killed off in many different gruesome ways, including the backs of heads being blown off, a rotting cadaver thrown through a window, blood bags exploding in stomachs with intestines flying out, and a pretty female drug courier getting half her face burned off by one of the Margilese's henchman.

This has to be one of the goriest crime thrillers I have seen so far. Fulci pulls no stops here and the bad guys are truly gonna get what they deserve. The ending shootout in the street between the Margilese's men and the retired Camorra bosses is classic Fulci.

The Blue Underground DVD uses an excellent widescreen print that is only marred in a couple of places by bad splicing. The only extras that come with it are a couple of bios (Fulci and Testi) and an American trailer.

If you want to see violent crime thriller that doesn't pull any stops like the American ones do, then go see this one!

Recommended! 7 out of 10