Contraband

Rating:
Summary: Lucio Corleone
Review: 3:00AM, early this morning-Lucio Fulci night at the Runk house. Basically Fulci night is any time the wife and kid are sleeping coz they don't care much for these kinds of films. I viewed Fulci's Contraband. The saints at Blue Underground re-released it this week. Why they released it last year, stopped and released it again this year is anyone's guess. Anyhow, with Contraband Fulci decided to see what would happen if he took his trademark gore and violence and stick them in a mafioso/crime/action flick. The results? Not too bad actually. Since Fulci's not working in the horror genre this time, the film plays it pretty straightforward-none of the eye closeups or weird, dreamy phantasmagoric horror stuff. In fact, if it weren't for the gore and the Fulci cameo, you'd have no idea he made the film. For a plot we have Fabio Testi as a cigarette smuggler with connections to the mob. His wife's always nagging him to get out of the mob life, but do you think he listens? Some new mafioso comes in and basically tries to wipe out all the competetion and make way for drug smuggling. That's about it. One thing that rubbed me the wrong way about this film is Fabio. He's a decent actor and looks like a butt-kicking Bronson type, but throughout the entire movie he's.....well, basically a wuss. You expect him to snap into high gear and take on the mob, all guns blazing, but he's actually a big wimp. In one particularly disturbing scene he just sits expressionless as he listens to his wife get raped over the phone. The rape is the most unsettling thing in the film-not because it's terribly graphic, but because the actress does such a freakin' convincing job! The gore is not as extreme as you're led to believe. For the casual viewer, yes it is. If you're familiar with Fulci's horror films, it's not all that shocking. It mostly consists of alot of bloody gunshot wounds. Plus, you'll have to wait an hour before you really see any. But there's no need to rely on the gore, coz the film's really not that bad. The story's nothing original, but it's done in a cheesy B movie way that's good enough to keep you interested. All in all, Fulci's stab at a gangster flick wasn't bad, but there's a reason he's famous for his horror films.

Rating:
Summary: Cheap from A to Z
Review: Bad dialogue, bad directing, bad acting, bad camera work, and slow describe this waste of time. Grab a camcorder, go see "The Godfather", and you probably have tools enough to make a better film than this; and as far as action and gore are concerned -- it's lame.

If you don't believe me, by all means buy it. Just don't say you weren't warned.

Rating:
Summary: Not enough of anything!
Review: Contraband is a so-so mafia movie that never achieves its potential. A new group of narcotics gangsters force their way into the Naples underworld. Fabio Testi and other established gang leaders try to deal with it. Except for Fabio Testi, none of the characters is developed enough to be worth your sympathy. That's unfortunate because there were several very promising characters such as his older brother, then there's the leader of a competing gang, then there's the leader of a friendly gang, there's the police captain, etc. All of these characters could have been developed extensively. This is especially true for the guy who was the French assassin in the French Connection. He returns in this movie in a similar role but doesn't get enough screen time and isn't introduced until relatively late. There are some good scenes that are never developed enough. There is a scene where a hot blonde drug mule from Germany tries to cheat the French guy so that he grabs her and holds a torch to her face. Nothing ever came after that. No follow up scenes to show what, if anything, resulted from this example. Later, they kidnap Fabio's beloved wife and rape her while he is forced to listen over the telephone. I thought that this was a good scene but that it was too short. I'm thinking of the Michael Madsen torture scene in Reservoir Dogs that is utterly brilliant and is stretched out for quite a while. This movie could have included several such scenes and been brilliant. As it is, they give us just enough to tease us without ever satisfying us. The police are clueless and wander through the story like a foreign occupying army. The ending was unexpected and condescending. If you invest millions to make a movie how about hiring a novelist or screenwriter capable of coming up with some memorable dialogue.

Rating:
Summary: Great addition to a gorehound's Fulci collection
Review: I'll admit, the artwork on the cover of the DVD case had me thinkin this was some corny James Bond type spy flick, the only thing attractin me to it was that the master Fulci had directed it, and I'm an enormously diehard Lucio Fulci fan. After hearin good things about it, I picked it up, and I'm so glad I did.

Along with New York Ripper, Maniac, Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer , Man Bites Dog and Cannibal Holocaust, this is one of the most violently aggressive movies I have ever seen, I loved every minute of it. It is slow-paced in some parts, and the disco music kinda got to me at some spots, but the blowtorch scene among others made up for any weaknesses. And trust me, the violence and brutality are definitely Fulci-esque: One of the henchmen gets blasted in the gut point blank with a double barrel shotgun, splattering his innards, while another guy gets his throat shot out, and, of course, there's that great 80's exploitation flick staple: gratuitious nudity. Also, the rape scene is pretty intense, anyone with a wife or girlfriend might have a hard time stomaching it, but after all these years of violent cinema, I'm pretty much desensitized to anything. 5 stars for sure, go grab this if you love Fulci's work or bloody Tarantino crime movies.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody Crime Drama
Review: One of Fulci's best films. A violent italian made crime drama about smugglers of cigarettes and dope. Very gory. Starts out a little slow in the beginning but picks half way in with a vengeance. All the action sequences are top notch. Not so much suspenseful as they are shocking. Recommended viewing for anyone that is a fan of Fulci or Italian spaghetti westerns made in seventies like Django and Mannaja.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody Crime Drama
Review: One of Fulci's best films. A violent italian made crime drama about smugglers of cigarettes and dope. Very gory. Starts out a little slow in the beginning but picks half way in with a vengeance. All the action sequences are top notch. Not so much suspenseful as they are shocking. Recommended viewing for anyone that is a fan of Fulci or Italian spaghetti westerns made in seventies like Django and Mannaja.

Rating:
Summary: Fulci's Lost Classic
Review: One of Fulci's most under-rated movies, CONTRABAND (aka - THE SMUGGLER) also holds the honour of being his most mean-spirited and bloodthirsty movie besides NEW YORK RIPPER. The standard plot takes on Mafia bootleggers vs. a perfumed French drug racketeer (THE FRENCH CONNECTION's Marcel Bozzuffi at his most villainous).

With its' fight/chase scenes, brilliantly catchy cheesy disco score, foul-mouthed dialogue, and hundreds of spent bullet casings, the movie rides on the coat-tails of the then-popular Eurocrime genre. It's how vicious the film gets that really sets it apart - someone is boiled in an acid pool, another guy's head is machine-gunned to pieces, a pusher's face is blowtorched into a molten mess, and there's a nearly unwatchable sodomy scene that precedes RIPPER's infamous razor torture scene.

The only real drawback is that the first half-hour is a bit of a drag, but once it starts to get moving (with the well-staged assassination of Testi's brother), it doesn't let up from there.

Well acted and assured, Fulci demonstrates a confident hand in the action scenes and it's a shame he didn't delve more into this genre.

Rating:
Summary: The Goriest Gangster Flick Ever
Review: One question that should be asked is - Why are there hardly any mafia films based in Italy? Sure we have the Godfather series with its flashbacks of Sicily, but what about Italy? There are not many and certainly even the best of movie lovers will have trouble trying to list one or two if any at all! So here you have one... and its good!... in its own very odd strange way.

Contraband is a lost classic that has now been restored here on this DVD. What happens when the world's foremost gore director decides to make a crime caper? Answer - more blood than Al Pacino can shoot up in all his gangster flicks put together. Although the plot is mostly non-existent and certainly there is little here in terms of brains, there is plenty of action and horror to boot.

Basically the plot revolves around several smuggler gang families from Naples all snubbing each other out in the worst possible way imaginable... and that is all there is it to it really.

Everything on display here is pretty pointless but it is not done badly at all and the acting is a little better than what you would expect. There are several gore scenes that stand out - a woman getting her face torched to full melt, a gangster having his head machine gunned to pieces, a mob leader having his throat blown off, plenty backs of the heads flying across the room, cops arresting nuns, horses burning up, mobsters getting boiled alive, gangster shot up in church, a vicious rape sequence, intestines being shot out and lots of screaming - all done to the tune of a funky eighties disco beat that is more apt for a ...movie. No Sir, you will not find this one playing on television any time soon.

If gangsters, guns and gore is your thing then you'll love it, but don't get this expecting the cinematic flair of what Hollywood has done with this genre.

Rating:
Summary: Fulci made a Crime Flick? Fugeddaboudit!
Review: The wonderfully warped world of the late Italian film director Lucio Fulci offers much to the fan of horror films. His most notable films, "City of the Living Dead," "Zombie," "The New York Ripper," and "The Beyond" are legends amongst fans. Rabid Fulciophiles excitedly point to his mind blasting gore scenes as proof positive that he is one of the true greats when it comes to sleazy horror films. Who among us can watch the Olga Karlatos splinter gouge in Zombie and not swell up with pride in a job well done? Or note the razor blade devastation in "The New York Ripper" without cringing in ecstatic delight? Horror fans the world over continue to offer paeans of praise to good old Lucio's memory. I myself have often cast my eyes to heaven after surviving one of Fulci's gorefests. Unfortunately, too many Fulci fans overlook his technical weaknesses while singing praises for his screen violence. Let's face it, several of the maestro's films are all but incomprehensible in terms of script, pacing, and cinematography. At least "Contraband," Fulci's contribution to the crime film genre, has a semi-coherent narrative to go along with his trademark gore.

"Contraband" takes place in Naples, Italy. Two brothers, the Di Angelos, who happen to be cigarette smugglers, run into problems after an opium smuggler attempts to ply his trade in the area. What follows is a lengthy run of assassinations directed against the tobacco syndicate. After Luca Di Angelo, played effectively by Fabio Testi, loses his brother in a hail of bullets, he avoids his wife's advice to get out of the business and launches a vendetta against the men who are trying to take over his smuggling operation. Predictably, Luca's enemy abducts his wife and young son in order to force Di Angelo to join forces with the drug trade. Equally foreseeable is a huge mob war resulting in numerous fatalities before Luca saves the day.

If this summary seems short, that is because this is about all there is to the film. Fulci tries to incorporate a few twists and turns in the plot, but the whole thing is convoluted and often times uninteresting. There is one scene where Luca Di Angelo and the other cigarette smuggling bosses meet to discuss the threat they face from drugs that reminded me of the Vito Corleone/Sollozzo scene in the first Godfather film. The comparison is only fleeting, since "Contraband" could never compete with Coppola's cinematic masterpiece. Ultimately, the best thing in this film is Fabio Testi. The guy looks like a star and can actually act like one as well. The rest of the cast is forgettable.

The gore is really a hit or miss affair in this film. There are several great ideas here, especially a dip in an acid pool and a blowtorch applied to a face. Regrettably, a majority of these effects fail to arouse any interest because the execution is so mediocre. On the other hand, a shotgun blast to an abdomen and a bullet in the throat are notably effective. In short, the effects in "Contraband" are not the best we've seen from Fulci. Personally, the atrocious dubbing continually distracted me from any of the other elements of the film, as did the ultra cheesy disco soundtrack. Oddly enough, as bad as the main disco theme was, it does stick in your head for a few days. So does the song playing during the scene where the Di Angelo brothers meet one of their fellow smugglers in a discotheque. The musical score is not something one usually takes away from a Lucio Fulci film, but it happens with "Contraband."

There are few extras on this DVD version, which is completely expected on such an old, low budget cheese fest. There is a trailer for "Contraband," along with text biographies on Lucio Fulci and Fabio Testi. For a Fulci beginner this film biography of the director is an excellent summary of his career and major works. I think including a few extra trailers from other Fulci films would have been nice. There are no commentary tracks, either. While the director is dead and cannot comment on the film, how about getting an expert on his films to step in and do one?

Lucio Fulci not only dipped his toe into the crime film genre, he also did a western, a science fiction film, and a sword and sandal flick. I am interested in seeing those films because they are a Fulci creation, but I think in the meantime I will stick to his horror movies. At least with his gore films I know where I stand. Fulci completists will want to obtain "Contraband" for their collections, but for the rest of us who admire the work he did in a few memorable films this production falls solidly in the "to rent" category.