1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982) / Escape from the Bronx (1983) / The New Barbarians (1983)

Let’s make something clear, this isn’t a box set…but it might as well be. Because, as the saying goes, you can’t eat - or watch - just one of these Italian knock-offs. Stealing as much as the budget allows from films like The Warriors, Escape from New York and The Road Warrior, director Enzo Castellari crams the screen with as many slow-motion stunts, customized vehicles and badly dubbed New York accents as possible. We might just be looking at the pinnacle of second-generation Spaghetti sci-fi actioners from the ‘80s.

What does that mean? Well, lots of unintentional humor mixed with enough impressive technical credits to make each rip-off its own animal. And it all starts with 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982), set in the now-isolated borough that has been overrun by creatively costumed street gangs. Our main character, Trash (Mark Gregory), rescues the runaway daughter of a Manhattan millionaire, only to lose her once again to some rival thugs. His mission to enlist the help of The Ogre (Fred Williamson) while eluding a hired killer (Vic Morrow) serves as the seat-of-its-pant plot.

Using similar bombed-out NYC locations as the previous year’s Wolfen, Castellari and crew don’t even have to bother with set design, just keeping traffic out of the shots (which they manage to do most of the time). Star Mark Gregory makes for a reasonable facsimile of The Warriors Michael Beck, with tight leather duds and rock star hair, but is dubbed with an accent right out of a Simpsons episode. The film glosses right over his effeminate body language – and unreasonably passionate reaction to a fallen male comrade – which only adds to the amusement (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).

Despite the cool concept, Bronx Warriors is a bit of a bore. But its pre-sold success, much of it likely due to the Frazetta-esque poster art, led to a much more entertaining sequel - 1983’s Escape from the Bronx – which put Trash right back into the thick of things as corporate big whigs try to force out the current Bronx residents to create a new high-class metropolis (a la Robocop). Teaming up with a demolitions expert, Trash kidnaps the moneyman behind it all in hopes to saving the urban wasteland he calls home.

An almost non-stop montage of violence, Escape from the Bronx is everything the marketing promises and more with an individual body count easily in the triple digits. Castellari makes sure we enjoy every single one of them, stretching out the flying bodies and exploding heads in a ludicrous slow motion loop. Italian film vet Henry Silva steps in as the psychotic bad-guy while Antonio Sabato Sr. plays a cowardly gang leader with a Napoleon complex. The film bookends everything beautifully…so much so that Castellari and producer partner Fabrizio De Angelis moved on to yet another collaboration.

The New Barbarians (1983) could very well be set in a different corner of the Mad Max universe. There are weird haircuts, shoulder-pads and tricked-out dune buggies. But, in typical Italian fashion, it seems to have been fashioned out of whatever was leftover from some other film. Our hero, Scorpion (Timothy Brent), drives a lumbering muscle car that’s part hearse, part Batmobile hunting down members of a nihilistic cult of “Templars” who want to cleanse the Earth of all remaining life. He’s aided in his mission by Nadir (Fred Williamson again), an archery expert with an explosive tip for every occasion, and a mechanically inclined 8 year-old with a gift for car repairs.

Just when you think it’s nothing but the Road Warrior with the budget of an A-Team episode (which it is), Castellari throws in a man-on-man rape sequence as part of Scorpion’s “initiation” into the Templars that reminds you, nope, this is definitely not your ordinary major motion picture. It’s all shock tactics designed to give Barbarians an edge, but its premeditation doesn’t make it any less unexpected. And it’s the kind of thing that creates a cult reputation out of what was mainly a cash-grab.

Each title is available individually from Blue Underground with “you gotta see it to believe it” hi-def transfers. From the first pop of clarity in the credits you know it’s going to be something special. Extras include a wonderfully casual sit-down reunion with Castellari and De Angelis that is spread across all three releases plus a Castellari commentary. But each feature gets it own set of bonus features, including interviews with Fred Williamson, stuntman Massimo Vanni and weapons expert Paolo Ricci along with trailers, posters and stills.