Two gunmen on motorcycles opens fire at several transvestites at Bois de Boulogne. The inspector conducting the investigation Gérard Lattuada (Thierry de Carbonnières) follows the track back to "The Greek" (Jean-Pierre Bernard) a big shot in the pornindustry. The latter's wife is arrested and killed while attempting to escape the police. "The Greek" sends a killer to avenge her death by killing the judge's wife who is also the sister of inspector Gérard Lattuada. The investigation is then removed from Gerard who however in turn uses the methods of gangsters ...Brigade of Death is written by Roger Le Taillanter, Marc Pécas and Max Pécas who also is the director. The acting is pretty good, it´s professionally shot and edited. The pacing is very good, it has a gritty big city vibe. It´s gory as a character gets a hand chopped off and another gets a hatchet to the head. The gore fx are good! There are also a a visit to the morgue that provides plenty of shot up bodies. And add to this numerous bloody squibs. Yes this is a very violent flick, and besides being violent it is freaking brutal. There is several scenes of sadism and harsh treatment of women in this. There is gratuitous nudity in this, both female and male genitalia is shown. One female character is raped with a bottle (off screen).
This review is based upon the german region all (Region 0) DVD release from Cannon, it´s uncut and german language only.
Rating: 6½ out of 7. It's violent, brutal and sleazy! If I understood all the dialogue it surely would have been getting a full rating (7 out of 7) from me. Highly recommended if you like hardcore, sleazy and ultraviolent action.
/JL
An ex-convict (Paul Naschy), troubled by dreams that he strangles women, is hired as the caretaker on an estate owned by three very strange sisters. Soon after his arrival, a serial killer begins slaughtering blonde, blue-eyed women - leaving their eyeballs in a bowl of water. Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is written by Paul Naschy and Carlos Aured who also is the director. The acting is decent, the camerawork is beautiful and some of the farmland and mountain scenery are quite breathtaking. The soundtrack is pretty good and very 1970s! Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is suspenseful with several twists and turns. There is a, in my opinion unnecessary, scene where a real pig is killed which is not for the squemish or politically correct. It´s squealing loudly as they cut its throat, the scene is just repulsive and doesn´t add anything to the flick. There is gore fx but I was kinda surprised that Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll wasn´t gorier, not sure where I got that impression and the fx aren´t very good. There´s a fair bit of T & A in this, especially from Eva León as nymphomaniac Nicole.
Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is also known as House of Psychotic Women and The House of Doom.
This review is based upon the region 1 DVD release from Bci / Eclipse.
Rating: 3½ out of 7. I did enjoy it but it´s a pretty average thriller. The cinematography is very nice, the plot is suspenseful and it is hard to figure out who the killer is. The scene with the killing of the pig is just repulsive and unnecessary.
/JL
First of all I must mention that this is a spanish language DVD release and my knowledge/understanding of spanish is very limited so I´m missing out on a lot of the dialogue.
Dr. Hugo Arranz (Paul Naschy) is celebrating his 50th birthday with his wife and daughter when the vile thugs break in, rape and kill both his wife and daughter and cut off the tongue on poor Hugo. Luckily, he survives, and turns into a vigilante after some training with knives, guns and weightlifting. The Night of the Executioner is written and directed by Paul Naschy. The acting is decent, the camerawork and editing is professionally done. The soundtrack is good. The pacing is very nice and Paul Naschy certainly doesn´t waste any time to get things going, the homeinvasion is nasty and violent and rivals that of Death Wish 2 (1982). There is some gore, the scene where Paul Naschy´s character gets his tounge cut off is graphic, there´s a off screen castration but besides these scenes most of the kills are by gun or knife. Plenty of bloody squibs in this as Paul Naschy´s silent avenger lets his Magnum revolver speak for him. There is T & A, two rapescenes.. the one of the wife is more or less off screen but the rape of daughter is harsh, sleazy and brutal.
The Night of the Executioner is also known as La noche del ejecutor.
This review is based upon the Spanish region 2 DVD release from Filmax Home Video, it´s uncut and spanish language only.
Rating: 5 out of 7. I enjoyed this a lot despite the language barrier. It´s a nasty and violent vigilante flick and I do love the vigilante subgenre. Recommended!
/JL
.png)