Blue Underground | Review by Dan Taylor
When
you hear Lucio Fulci's name, most drive-in
afficianados think of gore-soaked Italian
horror classics like ZOMBIE, GATES OF HELL,
HOUSE
BY THE CEMETERY and THE BEYOND. But
pigeonholing the prolific director - who
died in 1996 - would be a mistake.
Throughout his career, Fulci
seemingly dabbled in every genre under the
cinematic sun including futuristic action
(THE
NEW GLADIATORS), Spaghetti Western (MASSACRE
TIME), comedy (DRACULA IN THE PROVINCES),
giallo (THE PSYCHIC), and sword-and-sandal
(CONQUEST). He even tried his hand at crime
thrillers like CONTRABAND starring Fabio
Testi as Luka, a naíve Italian smuggler
involved in the cigarette trade.
The flick opens with a botched
smuggling operation which leads to a boat
chase between Luka's smuggling cronies and
a somewhat disinterested police force. Using
the old "Exploding Boat Filled with
Rubber Dummies" gag, Luka escapes to
smuggle another day.
But all is not well in the
smuggling underworld. Sure, cigarettes are
great, but why not smuggle something with
a little more street value? Why risk it
all for some packs of smokes? That seems
to be the message from The Margliese (Marcel
Bozzuffi), a shadowy underworld figure applying
pressure to the heads of the various crime
families.
When "pressure"
fails, The Margliese starts offing the various
crime family heads (and some family members)
in graphic fashion, which is where Fulci
shines - and the flick perks up. For violence
buffs there's an uncomfortable sequence
where a chick gets her head set on fire
for trying to pass bad drugs, which is right
up there with the GATES OF HELL drill-to-the-skull
scene on the Itchy-Skitchy Meter.
It's up to the principled
smugglers to strike back once the villainous
drug pushers kidnap Luka's wife. The body
count rises, double crosses ensue, surprise
revelations are, um, revealed and Fulci
paints the screen red and juicy in the gory
finale.
Occasionally confusing and
fairly entertaining, CONTRABAND is a decent
thriller with enough action and gore from
the master to keep viewers interested.
