FERNANDO DI LEO CRIME COLLECTION

FERNANDO DI LEO CRIME COLLECTION: The films of Quentin Tarantino are a melting pot of b-movie inspirations and outright cinematic thievery. But at least the guy is honest about it! By lending his stamp of approval to this new 4-movie set from Raro Video, he’s paying back one of the filmmakers who helped to shape his career. Like most Italian director’s working in the gangster genre, Di Leo’s films are anything but subtle. Yet there’s a heavy political subtext and enough double and triple crosses to keep even the most experienced genre veteran guessing. The Italian Connection has a chase scene to rival anything put on the screen and a black / white hitman combo that will seem more than a little familiar to Pulp Fiction fans. Caliber 9 makes the most of its hulking anti-hero (Gaston Moschin) and the luscious Barbara Bouchet. The Boss plays off star Henry Silva, whose cold shark-eyes are put to good use as an ambitious hitman. While Rulers of the City twists the genre conventions to wring out a little more humor. Taken as a body of work, you begin to see Di Leo had a unique approach to his family of bad guys, to the hierarchy and rules that governed their lives and the tragic end that almost always awaited them. The set comes with a slick booklet and copious extras on each disc.

JACKSON COUNTY JAIL / CAGED HEAT: Is there any setting more conducive to sex and violence than “Women In Prison?” It was a match made in heaven for producers like Roger Corman who could fill the cells with scantily clad girls, toss them some guns and just let the cameras roll. Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme got his start with Caged Heat, a ridiculously entertaining movie that manages to mix Fellini dream sequences with group shower scenes and shock therapy. Although the film wallows in shallow scenes of exploitation, you can never call it boring. Demme gives each girl and story and wins you over with catfights, breakouts and last-minute rescues. Jackson County Jail takes a classier approach, starring Tommy Lee Jones as a convicted (but honest) criminal who saves Yvette Mimieux from a horny deputy and winds up getting them both in trouble with the law. Although you won’t find this one high up on his resume, it’s nothing for Jones to embarrassed about either. Although he’s nowhere to be seen in the extras, Demme does show up for an audio commentary to defend his first film.

ALIEN FROM THE DEEP: An odd throwback to ’50s atomic monster movies, the titular alien in this 1989 Italian production mostly attacks with one oversized claw that swings across the room like a clumsy plastic prop (which it is). The majority of the film’s running time, though, is a jungle adventure set near a volcano loaded with toxic waste that’s getting ready to blow. While our hero (a snake venom expert) and heroine (a hot Greenpeace activist) try to obtain environmental evidence, the alien ruins everyone’s plans by tunneling under ground and popping up in the most inconvenient places. When veteran director Antonio Margheriti finally reveals the “full monty,” our visitor from another planet is a 30-foot tall transforming crab whose about as mobile as an constipated grandpa. But the movie is good fun anyway, with that innocent “serial movie” appeal that was all the rage in the ‘80s, plus some good miniature work and above-par acting. The transfer from One 7 Movies is remarkably good, as well.

THE SINS OF MADAME BOVARY – Nothing like a little T & A to keep the classics interesting! From the title (and sex kitten Edwige Fenech in the lead role) you’d expect this 1969 Italian / German co-production to be heavy on sleaze and light on history. But it’s a surprisingly balanced approach and true enough to the book that you could use it as a study guide in a jam. Ms. Fenech is, as usual, quite fetching and believable as the country bride who longs for a life of passion and pretty things. But her ambitions come with a price and eventually all her lovers stick her with the bill. As a historical epic, it’s obvious the film was shot on a budget. There’s very little scope to the proceedings, so we’re left with countless drawing room conversations not unlike Hammer films of the time. But Ms. Fenech is an inexhaustible resource of beauty, and just when things get to slow a casual disrobing picks things up again. One 7 Movies presents the film in a nice anamorphic transfer with a few stills by way of extras.

DAUGHTERS OF SATAN: No one wears a ‘70s mustache like Tom Selleck. Even in the new millennium he manages to pull it off! But before he found success wearing a hawaian shirt, his ‘stache was put to the test against a coven of reincarnated witches in this shoddy little supernatural quickie that looks and feels like a TV movie with the naughty parts left in. After bringing home an antique painting depicting a trio of witches burned at the stake, Selleck’s wife begins acting strangely. Turns out she’s possessed by the spirit of one of the women and plans to get revenge against the last living relative of the man who burned them alive (which just happens to be Selleck). Daughters is a depressingly flat looking film with cramped sets and a shooting style that makes The Brady Bunch look like Ben-Hur. But to keep your attention, director Hollingsworth Morse inserts a few topless torture scenes as the coven consecrates their vows. It’s not much, but it’s the most thrills this sad little movie has to offer. That an Selleck’s ‘stache in its prime. Available exclusively as part of MGM’s Limited Edition Collection available on Amazon.

QUEEN OF BLOOD: Why make a movie when you can steal one? Or at least the special effects, anyway. Curtis Harrington cleverly incorporates footage from two Soviet sci-fi flicks into his own story of a space vampire rescued from a crash landing on Mars who begins feeding on the crew during the return trip. Elements of the story pop up in 1985’s Lifeforce and the Alien films, but Harrington is working with much more limited resources. Once the plot kicks into gear, there’s a genuinely creepy vibe…if you can get past the cheesy Star Trek make-up on the seductive visitor from outer space. Her glowing eyes and silent stalking of the crew are more effective than you might think for a film with such low-rent beginnings. As is almost always the case with sci-fi, Queen of Blood proves it’s the idea that matters, not the budget. Watch for a young and handsome Dennis Hopper as the space vampire’s first victim and legendary horror figure Forrest Ackerman as a nameless assistant. Available exclusively as part of MGM’s Limited Edition Collection available on Amazon.