EXPLORING: Bruno Mattei
Why have we spent an entire week on the films of someone who is almost universally critically savaged, who has been called the Italian Ed Wood, who would rather outright steal footage from other movies than shoot them himself? Because Bruno Mattei understood what he was doing, saying “Movies are supposed to be entertaining. So, […]
BRUNO MATTEI WEEK: Cicciolina Amore Mio (1979)
Ilona Staller was born in Hungary but came to Italy and found fame as a salacious radio hostess, taking the name Cicciolina or “Little Cuddly One.” Her show on Radio Luna, Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?, found her speaking on, well,mostly matters of sex and referring to her male fanbase as cicciolini or little tubby boys. […]
BRUNO MATTEI WEEK: Mondo Cannibal (2004)
If there’s something that all cannibal movies seem to have in common — beyond scenes where white people mistreat the native populace, real animal atrocities and copious levels of gore — it’s the idea that mass media is the root of most of the modern world’s issues. Italian exploitation filmmakers were several decades ahead of […]
BRUNO MATTEI WEEK: Robowar (1988)
I think that I was completely unfair to Robowar the first time I reviewed it. Or maybe the fact that I’m doing an entire week of Bruno Mattei movies has caused me to reevaluate things. On second viewing, I loved every single moment of this film. Vincent Dawn — my favorite Mattei alter ego — worked […]
BRUNO MATTEI WEEK: Women’s Prison Massacre (1983)
Also known as Blade Violent, Emmanuelle in Prison and Emmanuelle Escapes from Hell, this movie was shot at the same time as Violence In a Women’s Prison and let me tell you, it’s a race as to which one of the two is more sordid. Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is sent to a violent women’s prison — just […]
BRUNO MATTEI WEEK: Violence in a Women’s Prison (1982)
The seventh film in the Black Emanuelle series — and the first to be directed by Bruno Mattei — finds our heroine, still played by Laura Gemser, investigating the Santa Catarina Women’s Penitentiary for Amnesty International. Wow. You might think that’s pretty woke for an Italian exploitation film. I am here to assure you — or […]
The Dark Hobby (2021)
The Dark Hobby follows conservationists and scientists who will stop at nothing to protect what’s underwater, which as always comes down to the battle between commerce and conservation. Aquarium trade extraction is an industry worth billions that has devastated reef species and habitats globally. In early 2021, a Hawaii Circuit court upheld the Supreme Court […]
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