Atlantis, UFOs, telepathy, a mutant freak killer melon headed baby, and David Warbeck. These are just a few of the highlights in this mind roasting example of Euro-cinema. It is set in Miami obviously but the style is about as Euro as they come. It is directed by Alberto De Martino whose career stretches all the way back to the early 60's. Like a lot of Italian directors of his age he started in sword and sandal type movies and has wandered through the Western genre as well as horror, thrillers, and police dramas. He even got in on the Exorcist phenomenon with The Tempter. My personal favorite of his work is Strange Shadows in an Empty Room which is a must see if you are a fan of the poliziotteschi genre.
Miami Horror is De Martino's stab at sci-fi. Some scientists find some DNA in a bit of glop on a meteor and start cloning it. I guess these guys have not seen any sci-fi movies made in the past 50 years or they would know better. David Warbeck comes into the scene as Craig, a world weary reporter who is sent to cover the story. He is left to photograph the speciman and freaky shit starts going down. Weird, ghostly images appear and zip around. Needless to say this piques Craig's interest. That night the specimen is stolen by Anderson, the main baddy played by John Ireland. Anderson wants to grow the DNA in order to use the freakbaby to conquer the world or something corny like that. The little blob of goo quickly grows into a little meaty bean looking thing that that looks a lot like the mass that faith healer pulled out of my Aunt Helen's neck that time. The bean quickly evolves into the mutant freak killer melon headed baby and the real fun begins. Craig is contacted by aliens who may or may not have some tie to Atlantis and is told he must destroy the baby. He teams up with a telepathic babe to save the world.
This is a movie where a lot goes on and there is really nothing behind it all. More stilted dubbed dialogue and mind warping supernatural babble than mortal man was meant to endure. There are also glaring holes in the plot. If the babe can control people's minds then why doesn't she make one of the bad guys kill the baby? Why do they make a big deal out of Craig getting the super acid when he just drops the damn thing and spills it? Why does the evil henchman Roach miss repeatedly when he is firing a shotgun at Craig at near point blank range and more importantly what homeless wino did the prop department rob to get Roach's coat? Sergio Stivaletti did the FX work in this but it mainly consists of sqibs for bullet hits and the freakbaby. He has done a lot better than this movie and so had De Martino and Warbeck for that matter. One last note before I wrap this up. The word Miami in the logo is obviously made to look like the logo for Miami Vice. My suspicions were confirmed when the movie opened and the theme kicked in. It sounds like they took the Miami Vice theme and changed it just enough to prevent legal action. The rating of three brains applies to fans of Eurohorror who are accustomed to this kinda stupidity. You normal folks should probably think of this as a one brainer. -Badfish |
