Film Ventures International is an obsession that won’t end. After all, Edward L. Montoro, walked away with a million bucks into the ether, like a movie-making D.B. Cooper and no one ever found him.
Last time, we featured Beyond the Door, Mortuary, Grizzly, Great White and Stunt Rock. The FVI catalog is deep, so that means we’re ready to drop some great films on you. Tune us in on your digital radio, crack open a beer and get ready for some magic. Want to learn more about FVI? Check out our Letterboxd list.
MOVIE 1: Ricco the Mean Machine (Tulio Demichelli, 1973): Is it a giallo? Is it a horror movie? What title — Cauldron of Death, Gangland, Un Tipo Con una Faccia Strana ti Cerca per Ucciderti (A Guy With a Strange Face Is Looking for You to Kill You), The Dirty Mob or Mean Machine — will we be seeing as the title card? Who cares! Sure, Chris Mitchum is blah, but this has Barbara Bouchet dancing naked in the fog atop a convertible, making gangster’s minds into lust-ridden mush, as well as castrations and acid baths. It’s a mess. It’s also entertaining as hell.
MOVE 2: Kill or Be Killed (1980, Ivan Hall): You’d think South Africa wouldn’t make a great martial arts movie and you’d be so wrong. Nazis getting involved? Evil little people? A frenzied arty shooting style that might give you a migraine? Aww yeah. It’s on Tubi.
MOVIE 3: Ator 2: The Blade Master (1982. David Hills AKA Joe D’Amato AKA Aristide Massacces): Miles O’Keefe and the Cinemax After Dark Fanny Hill (Lisa Foster) in a sword and sorcery scum fest with nukes? You may have seen this as The Cave Dwellers, but just imagine seeing Miles in a loincloth under the stars! There’s a Commander USA version of this on YouTube!
MOVIE 4: The Force Beyond (1978, William Sachs): Now that everyone is good and drunk or better, it’s time for the director of The Incredible Melting Man to, well, melt our brains with this tabloid on film, all about UFOs, Bigfoot, Atlantis, Cayce and more. Your narrator? Pirate radio legend Emperor Rosko. You can watch it for free at the Internet Archive.
There are so many insane FVI movies — enough to do a whole year of drive-in nights. But hey — why not pick your own and send them our way? We’d love to feature your own drive-in picks.
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