SHAM032 - Almost Human

[Pete]

STREET LAW is excellent I'm hoping BU will release their Castellari crime titles on blu-ray.

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by nekromantik

anyone who has sceen this, do you recommend it?
its not a horror and I aint really into crime movies so will I enjoy it?

This is a GREAT film and would be a great introduction to the poliziotteschi for newbies. I love much of Lenzi's horror and giallo output but his crime films, for me, are the best thing he did. ALMOST HUMAN is quite atypical for a Lenzi poliziotteschi though - it's sleazy and really quite nasty.

Tomas Milian is NUTS in this film and Silva, as the copper, is on great form too. A wholehearted recommendation from me

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I'm slightly concerned that I might enjoy this so much it will lead onto wanting to buy as many similar films as possible, in order to have the greats of this particular subgenre. That happened when I stumbled onto a giallo (I forget which one) years ago and I'm still not happy with the amount I have!

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

I'm slightly concerned that I might enjoy this so much it will lead onto wanting to buy as many similar films as possible, in order to have the greats of this particular subgenre. That happened when I stumbled onto a giallo (I forget which one) years ago and I'm still not happy with the amount I have!

I guarantee that will happen if you check out this film and some of Lenzi's others. Many of the people I know, myself included, only stumbled upon the poliziotteschi when we were collecting films made by certain directors or those starring favourite actors. First crime flick I saw was VIOLENT NAPLES, which former forum member Inspector Tanzi bought on the strength of it being directed by Lenzi and because John Saxon was in it - and that was it, really. That was almost 20 years ago and the films were a lot harder to find back then. Since the advent of DVD these films have been released in various places around the world and I've tried to keep up with every English-friendly release I could get my hands on.

You'll see what I mean when you start checking them out, they're terrific fun (ALMOST HUMAN less so on account of it being quite nasty but it's every bit as good a film) and the prolific actors of the poliziotteschi (Milian, Maurizio Merli, Luc Merenda, Fabio Testi, et al) are great, the films have superb music scores and are fact paced and (usually) quite violent too. It's a tough call to make to say whether I prefer the poliotteschi or the giallo but I will say that I do rate them higher than the majority of Italian horror and spaghetti westerns.

[Filmbar70]

I concur Paul! There's more scope style-wise to the Poliziotteschi than the giallo - from the political grittiness ('Banditi a Milano' - which Michael Mann's 'Heat' certainly owes a debt to) to all-out action ('Il giustiziere sfida la cittÃ*') to comedy (practically anything starring Milian post '75) - there's something for everyone! And yes, the soundtracks rock!

[Paul@TheOverlook]

I've still got to get around to seeing BANDITS OF MILAN, Justin, but agree, Il giustiziere sfida la cittÃ* (aka SYNDICATE SADISTS) is great fun and probably the first action film to introduce a hero called Rambo!

The Milian comedies (as Nico Giraldi) are patchy but fun. Bruno Corbucci certainly wasn't as an accomplished a director as his brother, Sergio, that's for sure

[Filmbar70]

Bandits is an absolute must watch - political, funny, exciting and heartbreaking. Volonte is, of course, fantastic. Ultimately a non-linear car-chase / man-hunt that packs in the pitfalls of pop stardom, mafioso corruption and that wonder from Wolverhampton, Margaret Lee.

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by Filmbar70

Bandits is an absolute must watch - political, funny, exciting and heartbreaking. Volonte is, of course, fantastic. Ultimately a non-linear car-chase / man-hunt that packs in the pitfalls of pop stardom, mafioso corruption and that wonder from Wolverhampton, Margaret Lee.

Sounds great - will definitely give it a spin when things at home are less hectic. I LOVE Volante. Such a great, underrated actor. I have a whole stack of his films to catch up on, actually.

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by Pete

STREET LAW is excellent I'm hoping BU will release their Castellari crime titles on blu-ray.

STREET LAW is superb. I'd love to see BU release some of its Castellari titles on Blu-ray but would love to see a decent DVD release of HIGH CRIME first

While we're talking of STREET LAW, I was really surprised to hear Guido and Maurizio de Angelis's 'Goodbye My Friend' play extensively throughout the opening of recent Dwayne Johnson revenge thriller FASTER. Goes to show that the influence of these films has affected some of the younger directors making films today.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Just staying with poliziotteschi for a moment, is it me or do The Cop In Blue Jeans and Violent Naples have the same theme music? even though they have different actors, directors etc.