Demetrius and the Gladiators

When director Robert Zemeckis decided to shoot both of his Back to the Future sequels back-to-back, industry spin played it up as a risky and revolutionary idea. Risky, maybe (Part 2’s only reason for existence is that cool hoverboard), but revolutionary: hardly. In fact, Demetrius and the Gladiators, the sequel to 1953’s biblical epic The Robe, was shot before its predecessor had even wrapped up production in order to take advantage of the enormous sets and elaborate costumes. The irony is, even though it was a seat-of-your-pants production, Demetrius is a far more entertaining film.

Victor Mature plays Demetrius, an original Christian charged with the safekeeping of the robe Jesus wore on the cross. But fate tosses him into the Roman arena where his Christian vows of “Thou shalt not kill” are put to a very serious test. Meanwhile, his beliefs attract the attention of Messalina (Susan Hayward), a morally corrupt temptress who takes pleasure in leading our hero astray and into a collision course with the truly unbalanced Roman emperor Caligula.

Demetrius uses religion in a much less heavy-handed way than The Robe. In fact, it’s merely a plot device which the characters must maneuver through like an obstacle course. Director Delmer Daves’ movie is all about spectacle and violence; or perhaps more honestly, the spectacle of violence. The scenes in the arena are genuinely awesome in scale, with the half-shell of its enormous stadium playing up the drama of men fighting men, men fighting tigers and (in the case of Demetrius) men fighting themselves. Demetrius’ fall from grace and quest for vengeance are tragic, yes. But the film knows better than to take the pious path, letting the audience revel in his bloody accomplishments just as loudly as the Romans in the stands.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray is well-worth hunting down, but limited to 3000 copies and available only at or and comes with a theatrical trailer and isolated score track.

By the mid-70s Westerns were expected to be something more than just cowboys and Indians. Having become increasingly irrelevant to modern audiences, there was the added pressure to turn the genre into a mouthpiece for contemporary issues or find some sort of hook to bring in someone other than the John Wayne crowd. Yet with limited “tweaking” Richard Brook’s Bite the Bullet updates the classic Western ingredients for one more satisfying ride into the sunset.

Gene Hackman and James Coburn lead an eclectic cast of competitors in 700-mile cross country horse race that tests not only their horse’s endurance but their own survival skills as the course winds through dangerous mountain passes and scorching endless deserts. Everyone gets a backstory: Coburn is a gambler in it for the cash, Jan-Michael Vincent (Airwolf) is a quickdraw punk in it for the glory, Candice Bergan (Murphy Brown) plans to use the cash on her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Hackman winds up saving all their asses at one point or another…but might be even more concerned for the horses they’re riding on.

The film makes a few too many rest stops for heartfelt confessions and the unexpected twist involving Bergan’s character seems like a scrap from another director’s script, yet Bite the Bullet makes the trip worthwhile thanks to Hackman’s steady hand at the reigns and an intriguing scenario that keeps everyone in constant jeopardy. Several of the horse stunts look bone-breakingly dangerous and Brook’s photography is just experimental enough to fit comfortably in the new auteur era.

Twilight Time’s Blu-ray wipes the dust off a real gem of a Western. But, like all their releases, it’s limited to 3000 copies and available only at or . Includes theatrical trailer and isolated score track.

In exploitation movies, a good title probably puts more butts in the seats than the finished product ever will. So behold the power of Strip Nude for Your Killer, a title that could apply to most of the slasher flicks released from 1978 to present. But the Italians got there first with this 1975 giallo – a genre of spaghetti thrillers whose main ingredients are sex, blood and a black gloved killer…in no particular order.

Starring the strikingly beautiful Edwige Fenech (here sporting a fashionable pixie hairstyle), the film ticks the mark on all the giallo cliché established a few years earlier by Bava and Argento, even cribbing the fashion industry background from Bava’s Blood and Black Lace. Fenech plays as assistant photographer whose beautiful co-workers keep winding up dead at the hands of a motorcycle-clad killer. Don’t bother trying to sort out the mystery; like most of these films the murders are tenuously connected by a tragic backstory one could never have guessed. Instead, soak up all the campy sleaze on display from writer/director Andrea Bianchi who uses any excuse to get his scream queens disrobed. So much so that it almost plays like intentional comedy.

Blue Underground’s Blu-ray upgrade carries over all the extras from the DVD edition (featurette, trailers and still gallery) while providing a nice boost in colors and clarity.