CONTRABAND Review On "Violent Maniac's Cage"

CONTRABAND

ALSO KNOWN AS: The Smuggler.

(1980, Italy)

DIRECTED BY: Lucio Fulci.

Goremeister Fulci should have sticked to just that, delivering the sauce. If he did we would have another Italian masterpiece of grue but unfortunately he strayed off into other film genres. Fulci's attempt at the crime-mob genre fails miserably and results in a mediocre and very uninteresting crime drama. This can easily be described as a spaghetti mob film.

You still can still tell it's a Fulci film though in a couple of instances like a gory gunshot through the neck or a two barrel shotgun wound exploding a fellows stomach. The gore crowd will be disappointed because of the lack of it and the crowd looking for something different or original will also be let down because the film is strictly cheese. The version I watched was transferred from a laserdisc but it was surprisingly poor quality and very dark with a reddish fading. Even Fulci made a few film mistakes (Manhattan Baby, Conquest and The Black Cat).

Rating: 1 Skull

Review by: Richard J. Taylor

Email: rtaylor@roadrunner.nf.net

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