It would take other film industries decades to equal the sheer volume that the Italian exploitation machine could accomplish. In the four years since Django and five since A Fistful of Dollars and West and Soda, a traditionally animated movie whose creation predates Leone’s film, hundreds of cowboys thundered out of the European West and several genres emerged from comedies and Zapata westerns to films centered on the tragic hero, horror westerns and this film, Matalo! (Kill Him), which is uncategorizable but could maybe be an acid horror art deconstruction.

Cesare Canevari, with only nine movies under his belt, managed to traverse nearly every genre with his diverse direction: an early Western (Per un dollaro a Tucson si muore), Giallo (A Hyena In the Safe), an early Italian Emmanuelle (A Man for Emmanuelle), Eurospy (Un tango dalla Russia), Ajita Wilson’s first movie (The Nude Princess), late-era giallo with plenty of sleaze (Killing of the Flesh) and Naziploitation (the go all the way madness that is The Gestapo’s Last Orgy).

The film begins with a desperado named Bart (Corrado Pani) walking through the town as cocky as possible, even though he’s headed to the gallows. He even puts his own neck in the noose, knowing that some Mexican bandits are about to save his neck. His walk back out of town is even more audacious, as he’s just stood on the precipice of death and watched the chaos he ordered come true. He somehow tops that by killing off the men who saved him before meeting up with his friends Ted (Antonio Salines) and Phil (Luis Dávila) in a ghost town where the movie decides to slow down as they explore an abandoned hotel as electric guitars scream and wind blows through every frame of this film.

They’re joined by Mary (Claudia Gravy, Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold, Tuareg: The Desert Warrior), a snarling force of female nature that finds herself strong enough to be on the side of stagecoach robbing evil. That robbery seems to cost Bart his life, and the film switches gears as the gang hides out in the ghost town, abusing an old woman until Ray (Lou Castel) and a younger widow (Mirella Pamphili) arrive, and they too are abused by the gang. Luckily, Ray has a horse that seems smarter than him, and he’s pretty good with a boomerang, which this movie uses for wild POV shots as he whips them at the gunmen.

What’s wild is that a year earlier, Tanio Boccia directed Dio non paga il sabato (Kill the Wickeds), which is nearly the same movie but shot as if it were a normal film, not the sometimes wandering, other times hyperfocused Matalo!

 The Arrow Blood Money: Four Western Classics Vol. 2 set includes 2K restorations of all four films from the original 35mm camera negatives by Arrow Films, original Italian and English front and end titles, restored lossless original Italian and English soundtracks, English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks, brand new introductions to each film by journalist and critic Fabio Melelli, galleries for all four films, an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by author and critic Howard Hughes, a fold-out double-sided poster featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx and limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring original artwork and a slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx. Matalo! is a significant inclusion in this set due to its unique and uncategorizable nature, making it a must-watch for fans of Italian cinema and exploitation films.

Matalo! (Kill Him) has brand new audio commentary by critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson that I promise to listen to because I know how much Troy hates it when people just list the extras and don’t review them. I promise! There’s also an in-depth interview with filmmaker Davide Pulici discussing the career of Matalo! director Cesare Canevari, as well as another appreciation, this time of the soundtrack and its composer, Mario Migliardi, by musician and disc collector Lovely Jon. There’s also a theatrical trailer.

You can get it from MVD.